New Smyrna Beach
The "shark bite" capital of the world! Needless to say I do not go in the water. It’s a great place for sunrise shots though. That gazebo you see on the pictures is very busy in the mornings with people drinking coffee and looking out into the morning sun. The trick is timing it right because if you get there too early it can get a bit weird. Once it gets going it can be quite nice though. I have seen some incredible looking sunrises from that spot. Plus the old looking style of the place makes for great pictures when it’s engulfed in golden light. There are tons of pigeons and seagulls around, the occasional crab and plenty of pelicans fly overhead. There is a watch tower next to it and people run and bike on the beach. You can get pretty creative here and people don’t freak out when there is a guy standing there with a tripod.
I have been there in the afternoon also and there are people feeding the seagulls. Since the sun hits them at the right angle you can get some nicely lit action shots while sitting on a bench. People watching is great also. There is a bunch of restaurants nearby. If you drive north from this spot you get to the dog beach. There is a jetty on that end. You can see the Ponce Inlet lighthouse from there and catch the surfers and kite surfers in action. There is a walkway to the beach from the parking lot at the very end of the road. Once you are at the beach there is no “facilities” close by though so you might want to time things right. In the afternoon you will get some nice shots of the marshes and the expensive condos that line the beach. I have heard someone let their dog off the leash and it took a chunk out of a jogger, so they stopped allowing dogs on the beach, but that might change.
The downtown area has some interesting architecture and there are the remains of what used to be a very small fort of some sort by the waterside. Could make for a couple of good shots. The marina gets great light in the morning. There is also a drawbridge worthy of a few shots.