Beaches, Florida, Sunset, Travel Jim Nix Beaches, Florida, Sunset, Travel Jim Nix

A lovely Floridian sunset

A pair of photos from a lovely sunset in Destin, Florida...

I'm hoping that Florida is recovering from the hurricane!

Watching all the hurricane madness in Houston and across Florida and the Caribbean is a pretty sobering thing to do. I feel blessed that I don't know anyone (at least that I have heard of yet) that was seriously impacted by these terrible storms. Such a tragic situation.

I do love Florida and have found many spots there that I enjoy visiting. This is Destin, and it's definitely a beautiful spot (and to my knowledge, not impacted by the storm). We were there well over a year ago for a couple of days, just enough time to squeeze in a little sunset shooting. I'm hoping the beaches and the people are all back together and moving forward soon.

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Florida, Sunset, Travel Jim Nix Florida, Sunset, Travel Jim Nix

Sunset on the Emerald Coast

On our recent jaunt to Florida and back, we spent a night in Destin.  We had heard about the beaches there and just had to check them out.  Check out these photos of a stunning sunset I captured there and get my thoughts on the place as well.  Enjoy!

A stunning sunset in Destin, FL

I'm not really a beach guy.  I tend to prefer the cool air and stunning landscapes of the mountains.  So maybe I'm a mountain man?  Given the choice, I would head for the high ground every time - and bring my camera, of course.

But on our recent trip over to Florida (we were in Orlando to visit the Harry Potter theme park), we made a stop in Destin while making our way back home to Texas.  Destin was chosen primarily out of convenience, but having heard so much about it over the years, we all wanted to check it out and really see if it was as beautiful as we had heard it was (we stopped there for a night on the way to Orlando too, but barely had the time to see it).  We had heard about  how the beaches there have such sugary, white sand and emerald green waters, so we had to inspect it for ourselves.

We're fan.  Big fans.  It's really gorgeous!

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”       ― Rabindranath Tagore

It really just took a short sunset walk along this gorgeous beach to get us all hooked (and what a sunset it turned out to be!).  While we enjoy our trips down to the Texas coast, our beaches here are not the same.  The beach in Destin is just absolutely gorgeous.  The sand feels like sugar - and looks like it (though with these shots being taken at sunset, you can't tell - so just trust me).  The water does look sort of aqua-green in color, which you can get a sense of in the photo above.  I can see why they named it the Emerald Coast.  

We have already talked about planning a return trip.  It's about a 2 day drive from Austin, TX which is pretty doable.  After our trip last summer, 2 days feels like it flies by.  It really does.  That hardly counts as a drive these days.  :-)

While I don't want to lay around on a beach all day - it's just not my thing - I can certainly give it a try, especially if the day ends with a sunset like this one.  Sign me up!

Also, I shot all of these photos handheld with my Sony 28mm f/2 prime lens, which is awesome.  You can read about that here.  It's a fabulously small yet capable lens and I just love walking around with it on my Sony A7II.  They make a great pair!  I've been using it a lot and if you are interested, check out my review.  It includes sample photos (including a couple of these) as well as some thoughts on what I like about the lens.



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