Rod & Reel Pier

I ventured out to Anna Maria Island this weekend. Knowing that parking can be difficult on the island, I decided to park at Bayfront Park and walk to Bean Point. This was an area I knew very little about, as it was my first visit to this section of the island.

Little did I know that the path would take me past the remains of the Rod & Reel Pier, pictured above. The pier was hit by two back-to-back hurricanes in 2024. On the night of September 26 and into the early morning of September 27, Hurricane Helene’s storm surge severely damaged the pier, destroying much of its walkway.

Just short of two weeks later, on October 9, Hurricane Milton came along and finished the job. The rest of the pier, including the restaurant at the end, was destroyed. All that remained is what you see in the photograph above.

When I arrived at the pier, what stood out to me was how nature has a funny way of doing things. The remaining pilings had become the perfect habitat for these brown pelicans to hang out and gossip. Something you may not know is that for the past few months, I had been plotting an outing to photograph pelicans—a subject that I love but had yet to photograph.

I recently bought a new backpack that allows me to bring all my lenses with me. For this trip, my thought was that I would primarily use my 24–105mm lens, which is great for general landscape compositions. As I walked through Bayfront Park, I slowly realized that the pilings off in the distance were the remains of the pier. Luckily, my new backpack also had my 200–800mm zoom lens.

With the rising sun still low in the sky, I was able to compose this photograph. I loved the soft glow of the morning light and the way it brought out the white chests of the pelicans.

After swapping to my big lens, I edged as close as I could and stood along the seawall. I leaned over it just a little to give myself the perfect view. I zoomed in as far as my lens would go—all the way to 800mm—and click, the magic happened.

Of course, the click is only part of the process. What comes out of the camera isn’t necessarily what I saw standing there that morning. The RAW file on the left is intentionally flat and gives me the information I need to work with. The finished photograph on the right is where I brought back the light, color, and detail that caught my attention in the first place.

For me, the process doesn’t end when the editing is finished. One of the things I enjoy most is seeing a photograph make the transition from an image on my computer screen to something that can live on a wall.

The mockup below gives me a chance to see the photograph at scale and imagine how it might look as a finished piece of wall art. It is also one of the final checks I make before adding a photograph to my collection.

What started as a morning walk to Bean Point became something I never expected. I found the remains of a piece of Anna Maria Island history, finally photographed the pelicans I had been hoping to find, and came home with a photograph I never planned to take.

Those unexpected moments are one of the reasons I love photography. Sometimes you go looking for the photograph, and sometimes the photograph finds you.