Geminids

December 13-14 marked the annual Gemini meteor shower so there I was out looking for dark sky in a major metro area.  My first stop was an area right off Gandy Avenue in St. Petersburg that is known around here as the Redneck Riviera.  In the summer this is a place where people and families park right along the water's edge with their grills, picnic gear, dogs and inflatable rafts for the day.  

In the winter, I'm not so sure.  It was kind of creepy, but more on that later.  I thought this might be a good place to find darkness for some meteor shooting.  It is certainly dark over the Bay, and I thought there might be minimal light around here, but I was wrong.   There are street lights all along Gandy so that was that.  But, worse, was the light to the left (Tampa) and to the right (St. Petersburg).    

So I moved over to the Vinoy park, which is around 3 or 4 miles to the south on 4th Avenue.  The creepy part about the Redneck Riviera area was that there were cars interspersed here and there between the hillocks of bushes.  When I got out I could hear a couple guys talking.  And then as I was leaving a police cruiser was driving up and down the area like maybe it was a place where people go to do things best done in the privacy of home. 

There I experimented, again with my new Tokina.  I never got any shooting stars although I saw a few.  

I decided to play with the camera a bit. I sat down at one of the benches and shined my flashlight up into the palm tree.  This is called "light painting" and helps to illuminate pictures or provide a nice background if shooting the sky.  

No meteors tonight but there are several showers each year headed this way so I'll try to do better next time.  The December Geminid's are usually not very plentiful but there are some that are spectacular.  Wish I could have captured one for you.  I'll be out there trying again next time, but probably not at the Redneck Riviera spot.  Gee, I can't even use cold as an excuse.