The loblolly bay is a tree I'd never encountered in the northeast.  It has a chalky white textured bark and sports a white blossom in this season.  The trouble is that, rather than have the blooms all emerge at once, the tree doles them out one or two at a time.  There is one here, but it's much harder to see in this photograph than it was in 'reality'.  At least there was a subtle difference in value between the leaves and the other foliage which I exaggerated as much as I could making this print.  (Film)

I try very hard to find 'diamonds in my own backyard'.  It isn't easy here.  I had the idea for this photograph a while ago, and then saw someone else do something similar (hey....it's all been done at one time or another by somebody!), so I decided to claim my version in my own backyard.  For those who know something about cameras, a light leak is a bad, bad thing.  It means a seal is compromised in some way, and light hits the film or sensor that isn't supposed to.  I thought titling this "Light Leak" was appropriate.  That fence just ain't gettin it done.!  ;-)   (Film)

The word 'clabbered' is new to me.  It means mottled, and in this case it refers to a buttermilk sky.  I wasn't even exactly sure what a buttermilk sky was until I saw this and figured it must be one.  As I've noted, the sky here can offer an endless display of interesting cloud forms except on the all too often boringly bright, clear, blue, cloudless days. Florida is not called the sunshine state without reason.  I prefer clouds!  (Film)

I got to the beach earlier this morning than I did a few days ago.  The sky brightened gradually until sun-up and then at a faster pace.  When watching it rise close to the horizon, its surprising how quickly it moves away from the 'edge' of the ocean.  That people thought the earth was flat is easy to understand, but when, instead, one realizes that that speed is the planet's rotation, it's quite astonishing.  (Film)

Photographing directly into the sun is a dicey proposition.  It's likely that there will be flare, glare, and lens artifacts.  Exposure, too, is problematic as there is no light source that's brighter.  To get other parts of a scene to render their normal values is beyond the reach of 10 zones.  So, it seemed a good idea to not even attempt a photograph with a large tonal range, but instead to try something more limited and dramatic.  This was photographed at about 6:45 AM on Jacksonville beach.  (Film)

Other than the Atlantic ocean and its shore, the natural environment of Florida is utterly alien to what I lived with until two years ago.  In the Hudson Valley, you could swing a cat once and find 360 likely images.  Here...not at all, except for a very angry cat.  The forests, if you can call them that, are really jungles cluttered with an ocean of palmettos and a sea of impenetrable low lying plants.   So, I have to look elsewhere.  That search has expanded my appreciation for subjects I might not have stopped for in the past.  (Film)