Smoke, a basketball hoop and my motorcycle

Smoke from a brush fire to the north fills the sky over Melbourne.

Winter is a rather drab time in Florida for people who enjoy extremes, like myself. The weather is usually tranquil, with clear skies and little rain, throughout the season.

The one phenomenon that has been known to cause excitement/destruction is fire. The dry season here tends to culminate in the early spring with brush fires, such as the ones in 2008 that burned more than 30 homes here in Brevard County. But it seems to be getting an early start, as the area has seen little precipitation recently.

On Monday, a small brush fire in Rockledge brought smoke to the skies over the Space Coast. At sunset, while riding my motorcycle, I stopped behind the Melbourne Police Department to take a few shots. An old roadside basketball hoop provided something a little different for the scene. And strangely enough, green beads were strewn across the pavement, shimmering in the light from the setting sun.

Discarded green beads glimmer as the sun drops behind the trees. By this point, most of the smoke had quickly drifted to the east.

A shadowy shot.

A ridiculous amount of lens flare encircles my Harley-Davidson.

I don't usually include shots of myself, but here it is. For this photo, I used my helmet instead of a tripod by mounting my camera atop it, setting the delayed timer, then jumping onto my Sportster.

New photographic tool: my Harley Sportster

This motorcycle was purchased from a retiree in the Melbourne area who had been storing - rarely riding - it in his garage, so it's in good shape.

Some readers wanted to see better photos of my new toy, a 2005 Harley-Davidson Sportster 1200 Custom. A friend and I took a golden hour ride Monday night, with the sun now setting just after 5:30 p.m. - way too early.

We stopped for a quick shoot along the Indian River on southern Merritt Island. Still without bags on my motorcycle, it's difficult to carry photographic equipment. But with a few bungee cords, I've been able to strap a backpack to the passenger backrest, or "sissy bar," to haul along one camera, a spare lens and a small tripod.

There will be plenty of photos of motorcycles and photos from motorcycles in the future. Taking my Harley on a trip such as the one to Key West in September certainly could provide a new angle on Florida.

I'm glad I went with the larger of the Sportie models, the 1200 opposed to the 883. The added power helps when trying to avoid the maniacal drivers on Florida roads.

Some errant wax found its way onto the front tire when I was cleaning the bike, and I keep forgetting to rub it off. The streak kind of ruins this photo.

Photo | Experimenting with flash photography on a British motorcycle

There's still so much about taking pictures I'm not familiar with, and flash photography is one such technique. The above photo was taken with an external flash on my Nikon D90. It lit the foreground, the tank of this Triumph motorcycle, while allowing the background, the sun, to be presented without gross overexposure.