As often as I eat lunch at my buddy’s restaurant – as many times as I’ve glanced at the landscape photography that adorns the walls there – I never made the connection.
And why would I?
Why would I look at the breathtaking photographs that decorate the dining room at Wilke’s 14 Bones Barbecue in Vero Beach and think they were the work of an amateur shutterbug better known for selling high-end real estate?
I mean, I’ve known Dale Sorensen Jr. for a few years now. I know he plays tennis. I know he loves fishing. I know he’s one of the nicest people in town.
But I had no clue that he possessed a photographer’s eye and a wonderful talent for capturing picturesque settings with a camera.
Then, a few months back, I began noticing the photos he was posting on his Facebook page, and I couldn’t help but be impressed, even amazed.
The photos, much like the ones hanging on Wilke’s walls, were spectacular.
“I have a real appreciation for my surroundings and I’m spiritual in nature, so I really enjoy landscape photography,” Sorensen said. “I get up early every day, and being out there before dawn and watching the sun rise is very relaxing. It’s a quiet time, a peaceful time, and the lighting is great.
“To be on the beach – or on the river, or at a ranch west of town, or some place out of town, like the oak and palm hamlets north of Okeechobee or even up in North Carolina – and be able to photograph what I’m seeing is very rewarding to me.”
Not financially, though.
He doesn’t do this for money. He doesn’t sell his work, though some of it was featured in Vero Beach Magazine earlier this year.
Photography is a hobby, something he does purely for pleasure.
“I’ve never sold anything, and I don’t have any aspirations to do this professionally,” said Sorensen, 39, who has worked full-time in the family business, Sorensen Real Estate, for the past 12 years. “I enjoy the role I play with the company, especially the marketing side and helping grow the business. So I think I’ll keep my day job.”
Couldn’t he combine the two?
“People ask me that all the time, but you don’t understand how difficult it would be,” Sorensen said. “Real estate photography is an entirely different genre that requires a whole other expertise, which I don’t have.
“So as far as me taking real estate photos, absolutely not.”
Having selected the photographer for his October wedding, in fact, Sorensen said he would “shy away” if another couple asked him to shoot their special day.
“The amount of equipment and the lighting and making sure you don’t miss something important … No thanks,” he said. “The nice thing about landscape photography is that, as long as you get there on time, you can just wait for your shot. There’s no rush, no pressure.
“And I’ve still missed plenty of good skies.”
He is, after all, an amateur – and it’s a relatively new hobby.
It wasn’t until three years ago, at the urging of a friend, that he began to get serious about his photography.
Sorensen said he always enjoyed “taking pictures,” particularly on fishing trips, but didn’t study photography in school and, as an adult, didn’t think he possessed the patience to learn the skills needed to become an accomplished photographer.
South Florida architect Greg Anderson, who does a large percentage of his business in Vero Beach and has designed several custom homes on our barrier island, convinced him to try.
“We were on a job site one day and he broke out this huge camera,” Sorensen recalled. “He said photography had been his hobby for 30 years. He told me to go to his website and see some of his shots, then he invited me to join him on a shoot anytime I wanted.
“Greg and I both had families, so we’d try to get out early and focus mostly on sunrises,” he added. “But I’d also shoot some sunsets on my own.”
Almost instantly, Sorensen was hooked, purchasing the necessary equipment and teaching himself how to use it. As often as his schedule would allow, he would go to the beach or boardwalk at daybreak.
He had plenty to learn about lighting and angles, apertures and shutter speeds. The more he learned, though, the more he wanted to know.
“Fortunately, you can learn a lot faster in the digital age,” he said. “I still had to put a lot of time and work into it, but once you get the basics down, there’s a lot cameras can do these days.”
It wasn’t long before Sorensen progressed to a point where he felt good enough about his photography to start posting shots on his Facebook page.
And, he said, “I got a lot of good comments from a lot of different people.”
One of them was 14 Bones owner Scot Wilke, who nine months ago suggested Sorensen put his photos on public display on the walls of his barbecue place.
“When he first showed me some of his photos, I thought they were really cool, so I just asked him if we could put them up,” Wilke said. “They’re just in inexpensive frames. But we’re planning to re-do our dining room and, when we do, we’re going to put the photos in more suitable frames and feature them.
“They’re good enough that, if he wants to, he could sell them,” he added. “Not only does he have a talent for photography; he’s got a real passion for it.”
Sorensen said he does most of his photography within two hours of Vero Beach, from the Econlockhatchee River in Seminole County to the Blowing Rocks Preserve on Jupiter Island.
Among his favorite places to shoot locally are our beaches, the Indian River Lagoon, the Corrigan Ranch in Fellsmere and the Adams Ranch in St. Lucie, Okeechobee and Osceola counties.
He said he also had taken photographs in the Bahamas and North Carolina, returning there with his family this fall, when he added some magnificent shots of the Smoky Mountains to his portfolio.
“They’re very supportive of my photography,” Sorensen said of his bride, Taylor, and 3-year-old son, J.D. “When we were in North Carolina, J.D. would see me with my camera and say, ‘You take pictures, Daddy?’ He liked seeing what I was shooting.”
Sorensen said he wishes he had more time to focus on photography, but with a full-time job, a family, a lifelong love of fishing and an occasional tennis game at Quail Valley, “I miss a lot of opportunities.”
We all have.
“The sad thing is,” Wilke said, “only about 20 percent of his photographs have been seen.”
Eight of them are hanging on the walls of my buddy’s restaurant, where I admired and appreciated their photographic excellence but never connected them to the amateur shutterbug better known for selling high-end real estate.