Sunday, December 24, 2017

Odd for a day in this part of Florida to be completely overcast without any detail in the sky.  Still, I wanted to use my camera, and I knew where there might be at least a somewhat interesting subject.  So, these two photographs were made in the same spot with the camera pointing in different directions.  (MF Film)




Thursday, December 14, 2017

I was going to stop making photographs at the beach where I walk almost every day, but I just can't give it up! I schlep the camera and tripod (Pentax 67 film camera) instead of walking briskly when there's something dramatic or at least interesting going on. These were from today. 








Saturday, December 2, 2017

I guess the beach where I walk almost every day is the logical place for me to make an extensive series of photographs.  But, since I don't usually carry my backpack with photo gear, tripod, and medium format camera (Pentax 67) when walking, I have to sacrifice a day every now and then to do that.  This is a group of images I've made in the last several days.











Thursday, November 30, 2017

I was quite surprised to see pigeons on the beach, and I don't think the gulls were all that happy about it.  As usual, though, the pigeons could have cared less what the gulls were thinking.  (Film)



Friday, November 24, 2017

Here are two more from Anastasia SP a few days ago.  There used to be significant dunes here.  What's left is being added to naturally by some of the same forces that washed away what had been there.  (MF film, #15 deep yellow filter)




Tuesday, November 21, 2017

I've been somewhat visually exhausted back here in Florida since our visit 'home' to the northeast.  But, during the last two days, I've made a concerted effort to revisit some of my favorite places to photograph. These images are the fruit of that quest.  The first two are from Big Talbot Island SP on a blustery day that chilled me to the core. The other two are from Anastasia SP in St. Augustine.  I suspect the former site became richer in skeletal trees resting on the sand, and the latter site a lot poorer with the deterioration of dunes due to our recent hurricane.  (MF Film, #15 filter)










Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Sometimes the most interesting thing on a given day is in one's own backyard.  Our neighbor keeps a Meyer lemon tree just beside our driveway, and always invites us to help ourselves to the fruit.  Meyer lemons were introduced to this country from China in 1908 by Frank Meyer, an employee of the US Department of Agriculture. A Meyer lemon is a cross between a true lemon and another citrus fruit (either a regular or Mandarin orange). They're larger than common lemons, a bit less tart, and apparently rather hardy.  Here are three views.  (MF Film)









Friday, October 27, 2017

Considering how much film I brought with me and exposed last week, I would have thought there'd be more to show for it.  But, quantity has little to do with what gets culled for quality.  I'm actually rather lucky to be happy with what I've posted.  Here are two more that were made somewhere in North Carolina or Tennessee (I didn't know which state I was in a lot of the time) on our trip south through the Smokies. 





Thursday, October 19, 2017

Here are three more from my trip home.  These were in New York and North Carolina.  (Film, and #15 deep yellow filter)










A visit 'home' to Orange County, NY coincidentally occurred during high autumn color at higher elevations. These two images typify that color as expressed by contrast in tonal values.  (film with #15 deep yellow filter)





Saturday, September 23, 2017

As often as I return to locations I really like, I'm surprised that I still manage to see new things there.  I've photographed at Pumpkin Point a lot at low tide and high.  Today the water wasn't that interesting, and the sky resisted being dramatic, but I still liked at least these two subjects.  (MF film)





Wednesday, September 6, 2017

I walk about 2+ miles on the beach at least four days a week.  It's easiest at low (or at least lower) tide when there's more soft sand available.  All summer, I had to make my way through legions of sun worshipers lying on the sand working on their melanomas, or bobbing about in the surf.  Then, to my surprise, school started in the third week of August and there were a lot fewer people.  Finally, Labor Day arrived...the unofficial end of the summer for a lot of people... and the beach was nearly deserted even in the middle of the day.  These two photographs chronicle the relative solitude I've been able to enjoy since Tuesday morning, September 5th!  (MF Film, deep yellow filter)




Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Here are three more from my trip to Banks Lake.  I think it makes more sense to call it Lilypad Pond!
(MF Film, #15 deep yellow filter)







It's inevitable that sooner or later one wants to expand photographic sites and include new subjects.  So it was with me when I heard from a friend about Banks Lake National Wildlife Sanctuary.  It's a mother lode of cypress trees, Spanish moss, and water.  It was a long schlep to reach the place in Georgia (made longer by my having gotten lost), but it turned out to be very worthwhile.  Here are two images from that trip.  (MF Film, #15 deep yellow filter)





Tuesday, August 8, 2017

I think I've been to most of the accessible photo sites in this immediate areas that I know about at least once.  Still, there are paths and approaches that I'm discovering now for the first time. This photograph was taken along one of them.  It is nearly overgrown, and on the morning I walked there, it was really hot, humid and buggy.  When I came to the clearing where I put the camera for this photograph there was a light but very welcome breeze and I was happy to linger a little while.
(MF film, 105mm, #15 deep yellow filter)


Friday, July 28, 2017

Though I live in Florida...the South...I will always consider myself a Yankee.  Slavery is just not a heritage anyone other than the most abominable racist would celebrate.  Industries of all kinds were manned by slaves and I can never seem to forget that.  The photographs below were made at the Bulow Plantation Ruins State Park. The building pictured was where sugar cane was processed and refined into molasses and granular sugar.  It was destroyed in 1836 by rebelling Seminoles and never rebuilt.  (MF Film, Deep Yellow #15 filter, 55mm lens)










Wednesday, July 5, 2017

The geological history of Florida is the story of the erosion and replenishment of shifting sand as the state is really just a huge, ancient sand bar.  An inevitable part of that erosion and shift is the demise of trees, some quite old, that probably intended to live much longer than they did. So the trees you find lying on the sand lived quite nearby and met their end locally.  Here is a photograph of rather young trees that will topple on the beach relatively soon.  (P67, 135mm lens, Delta 100 film)





Monday, July 3, 2017

It's a really good thing to discover a 'new' place to make photographs even when that place is part of a familiar site.  This image was made at Big Talbot Island SP after a really long walk with my gear in a rather heavy backpack.  It amused me that two girls were taking scores of pictures of each other with their phones.  I admit that I'm a dinosaur!  (Film...NOT a phone!)



Thursday, June 22, 2017

A long time ago in a workshop, I learned that there's rarely only one view of any subject that's worth a photograph.  The subject of this image appears in my last post and a few other times in the past.  I think there may be more to come as well, but it'll be a while until I return here.   (MF Film)



Sunday, June 18, 2017

Making photographs in the same limited area becomes a challenge after a few years.  Working through that challenge is a matter of discovering the sometimes subtle differences that arise from weather, seasons, time of day, or other nuance.  The scenes are the same, but the details change.  (MF Film)





Thursday, June 15, 2017

Here's one more from my trip in March discussed below.  I'm not sure it's obvious that the small white details in and on the tree were early blooms, but that's what they were.  At minimum, they offer a sense of texture.   (Film)


Monday, June 12, 2017

I keep coming back to some of the photographs I made during my return trip from New York and DC to Jacksonville.  I don't know why I overlooked this one, but I now like it well enough to post.  The winter views without leaves are the most revealing, and I was lucky to be making my trip during that period. (MF Film)



Sunday, June 11, 2017

When there's nothing obvious to photograph, it's a good idea to take a look at what's much less obvious.  Sometimes that easily overlooked scene can be very beautiful.   (MF Film)




Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Generally, I tend to select no more than one or two negatives from a developed roll of film to scan or print. And that can be way too generous sometimes!  (I can't imagine what I'd do if I used a digital camera...so many more images to sort through with about the same number of keepers!)  So, here's an image I've decided was worth a second look after having skipped over it the first time through.  It's again a scene from the Kingsley Plantation on the Fort George River.  (MF Film)