This trip was initiated by my friend hiring me to make a video for his wedding in Florida. There wasn’t anyway I was going to turn that down, so I accepted the job and started booking everything. I booked my flights via Delta, accommodation via airbnb & marriot, and rental car from turo. I’ve been to Florida a couple times as a kid but never been as an adult. I thought this would be a good opportunity to see somewhere new. The wedding was held in Clearwater Florida which is an area absolutely surrounded by water. I was pretty nervous to take on a such a big job but I like getting uncomfortable, sometimes.
My journey to Florida started in Sacramento @6am, I thought it was a good idea to stay up all night until I found myself extremely tired just a couple hours before I had to leave. The 45 minute drive there was so painful, I just kept repeating “I hate myself, I hate myself,” because I do this ALL THE TIME. I know it sucks but for some reason I don’t really learn my lesson. I swear I always have good intentions but I end up running close on time with lack of sleep. I gotta work on that for sure. So I got to Sac airport, parked my prius in the economy lot and hopped on the flight. We landed in Salt Lake City for layover before heading to Tampa.
First thing I did when I landed after grabbing my rental car was ate at a restaurant that I had just saved on yelp before the trip. I couldn’t really find anything that appealing on my brief yelp search, normally I like having a bunch of options but it was pretty limited this time. I ended up checking out Datz and figured I would get dinner there. I’m not a fan of menus that have a million items since it makes it super hard for me to decide. After browsing the yelp photos for a bit I ordered the Cheesy Todd which featured a burger with a super weird Jalapeno mac and cheese fried bun. It sounded kinda good and looked okay in the photo so I said why not. When the thing came out I was like there is no way I’m going to finish this thing. It was huge and had a big ol serving of chips to go with it. It was too large to bite like a regular burger so I had to fork knife it. Literally after a few bites I was disgustingly full. The server came out and asked if I needed a box, nawh man, check please tyyy. It’s not often that I don’t like what I order, this has got to be a first.
I stopped by verizon to grab a usb cord to charge my phone since the one that I brought was a stupid type c plug. I went to the hotel where the wedding was going to be held that way I could build a game plan and think about lighting.
https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/tpams-clearwater-beach-marriott-suites-on-sand-key/
Before the sun totally went down I got a few shots of my rental car. It was a 2019 Lexus RS350 F Sport that I got from Turo. I instantly fell in love, that car drove so smooth and quiet! It was even quieter than my prius, rolling the windows down was even a silent process. It had a badass stereo AND red leather interior. I wish I drove it more but I didn’t need to since I wasn’t there long nor had enough free time.
This was the exact car I rented: https://turo.com/us/en/suv-rental/united-states/tampa-fl/lexus/rx/952461
In this shot I was crossing the small bridge in town while making my way back to my airbnb.
It was a decent little spot, not really much to say about it besides it was an old 50s motel that had been remodeled.
This car just doesn’t have a bad angle…
Friday morning I got breakfast at Clear Sky Cafe, another spot I had bookmarked on yelp before starting the trip. Yet again, another HUGE menu, this time I was quicker to order since I had a slight time crunch. I ordered the nutella french toast with fruit and black coffee. This dish was so damn big I could only finish half.
Before starting the work day I stopped by the beach real quick to chill for a sec and grab some pics. It’s so cool how in Florida you can drive right up to the water. I don’t know of any places like that in California.
I got to the hotel around 10am and asked if I could pay for my parking, they then informed me I could check in early. I didn’t expect that but I quickly grabbed my bags and went to my room to relax for a little. I was pretty tired since I only got about 4 hours sleep the night before.
The view from my room was INSAAAANE. It looked right out to the water, looked like one of those 4K scenery youtube videos.
View from the balcony
It was time clock in around noon, I took so much video but I made sure to grab a few photos when I got a chance. Just so I could make this post.
This was the bride getting ready
And my friend, the groom
Once they were both dressed, the photographer (travisdanielsphotography) and I got shots of the ladies and gentlemen seperately.
Their first time meeting for the day, I forget what this moment was called. Was cute though.
I’m surprised with how well these photos came out. Most of the day I used my Sigma 30MM f/1.4
The rest of the night I focused on video but did grab a couple group photos upon request.
The next morning I only had time to get breakfast and pack before I had to turn in the rental and make my flight. I really wish I was able to spend more time there, my boy said he’ll be going back out there in January and I plan on meeting him out there. He wants to show me how fishing in Florida is. For my brief stay I was pretty impressed with what the state has to offer, I think it was the gas prices that had me in love, was 3.29 for 93 octane!
See you soon Florida!! I gotta ride a jet ski next time!
m i l k t e a m a n 
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