For eight days toward the end of March, I made a road trip 'home' to NY to visit family and friends and then drove south stopping in DC to visit more family.  Leaving there, I decided to get as far away from I95 as was practical and drive through the Shenandoah and Blue Ridge mountains to get back to Jacksonville. It's a very beautiful road, and very scenic though not particularly conducive to making monochrome photographs in this season.  Nonetheless, here are four I think 'work'.  (Film and #15 filter)

A small part of the "Treaty Oak"... when "fake news" did some good! The tree is estimated to be about 250 years old.  ((Film)

"The name's origin is generally believed to be related to some local apocryphal stories about peace accords between Native Americans and Spanish or American settlers signed under its branches. In reality, the name was created by the Florida Times-Union journalist Pat Moran who, in an attempt to rescue it from destruction by developers, wrote an article in the early 1930s claiming a treaty had been signed at the site by native Floridians and early settlers and called it Treaty Oak.[4] Prior to that, the tree was known simply as Giant Oak." Wikipedia

To my great surprise I found a new part of a favorite site where I've already made quite a few photographs.  These two are from that place with a third view yet to be photographed well.  (Film with a #15 deep yellow filter)

Seeking some Florida subjects away from the ocean or salt marshes, I drove inland to Hastings.  It is a small, once prosperous town the principal farm crop of which is potatoes.  Here are a couple images I liked in the area surrounding the town.  (Film, 25A red filter)

The tabby slave cabins of Kingsley Plantation have drawn me back again this year.  It's still difficult to reconcile the internal conflict I have about photographing the cabin ruins as abstract designs when they are also the one-time homes of enslaved people.  Here are three images that do nothing to resolve the problem, but make photographs I like nonetheless.  (Film)

Across the road from the YMCA gym I go to is a park  path beside a small man-made lake.  Lakes like this are common here as water retention projects complete with aerators.  I've made a number of photographs of the place and made these two new ones a couple days ago.   (Film)

Tabby cabin ruin and bower.   (Film)

The principal crop at Kingsley Plantation was sea island cotton having previously been indigo. As overland transportation was cumbersome if not altogether impossible, bales would be loaded on river boats to be transported to markets. This pier is a contemporary version of the one on the Fort George River which runs beside the plantation. The palms grace the river's edge from the front lawn of the main house. (Film)

It's been an unusually warm winter here in northeast Florida rarely getting below 60 something during the day.  But the last few have finally been noticeably cooler.  Don't get upset with me for saying we actually had to wear sweaters!  People at the beach were even wearing winter coats.    (Film)

Here is one more from last Friday, the 20th.  I did succeed in getting through the entire day without hearing or using the name of ....well...you know who I mean.   (Film)

To keep my mind off the inauguration of the creature whose name I will not write here, I went to the beach with my camera.  January has been unseasonably warm and weird.  The sea was glassy calm, while the sky was turbulent as if to presage a storm.  None came, but there was interesting light. Here are two photographs from that morning.  (Film)

In this season, sunlight begins to fade at 4:30, and sets at 5:30 more or less.  It's a beautiful time of day, and the light is usually warm and soft.  Still, in monochrome that's not as obvious as it would be in color.  Here are three photographs taken at a salt marsh near the ocean.  I think it's a bit more interesting at dawn (east coast bias I guess), but it's none too shabby at end of day.  (Film)

If I had the time and the funds, I'd most likely do a lot of traveling with camera gear and spend as long as it would take to explore an area and make meaningful photographs.  However, since I do not have that luxury, I continue to explore and photograph this area, often in the same places, but at different times and seasons.  There's really a lot to find that isn't stale.  I hope that continues, but I guess it's up to me to make that happen.  I do not expect it to be easy.  Here are some more images of familiar places I've been to before.   (Film)

From a few years ago in Orange County, NY, here's a 'real' winter scene to commemorate Christmas and this holiday season.  Best wishes to you, and thank and you for visiting this blog!   (Film)

Once again, the marsh proved to be a fertile visual treat.  I made ten exposures here, and would have liked to post them all, but good sense prevailed, and I'm posting only this one.  Over time I've seen clouds do interesting things besides just showing up and looking good.  Here, the wind must have sculpted this guy just for me.   (Film, #15 deep yellow filter)

Not much to write here.  I love returning to these places, and photographing them in their myriad of moods.  (Film)

As I learn to 'see' what will make a good photograph here in Florida, I've been doing my best to stay away from the ocean which is usually a visual gimme.   Of late, I've been much more inland, and often by the St. Johns River.  But, as good as river views, Spanish moss, and ancient buildings can be, the tidal salt marsh is where I'm most often drawn.  Here is a view of Pumpkin Point preserve at low tide that I've photographed before.  Light, clouds and the mud are always different and usually very attractive visually.  (Film)

Spanish moss is as ubiquitous in Florida as rocky soil is in the northeast.  I guess natives here pay little attention to it, but it really fascinates me.  It photographs really well when backlit against a dark ground, so when I see that somewhere I stop.  Here are a couple of images that meet those conditions!  (Film)

 

                                                        Hoary old relic.
                                                        Sentinel and stalwart guard,
                                                        Manatees laze by.    (Film)

From the same day's trip with my camera as the post below, this scene is actually very close to the St. Johns river.  The pier, and a few derelict wooden buildings suggest there may have been some commerce in the area a long time ago.  Now, what's built by the river are upscale homes and no commercial structures at all.  This relic could be anywhere except that the Spanish Moss identifies it as a very southern structure.    (Film)

I don't know why this pier is so broken, nor how long it's been this way, but it doesn't seem to be under reconstruction at all.   The St Johns river at this place is very, very wide, so it must not have been an attempt at a bridge, and there is a concrete and steel one rather close by anyway.  Whatever it is or was, it's another interesting relic!   (Film)

These images are more typical of the kinds of scenes I've photographed since living in Florida.  (The other typical images are of the ocean and beaches.)  My previous post was focused on much more inland views that also incorporate water.   (Film)

One of the things that's been difficult to adjust to about trees here in Florida, is that it's rare to see them in isolation.  They become part of the forest jungle in areas that aren't pine forests cultivated by paper companies.  But, I saw some beauty in this nonetheless.   (Film)

Though I missed the morning mist rising from the water, I liked the sun floating on it.  (Film)

I passed this place returning from the mountains in Georgia a couple weeks ago, but didn't have time to make careful photographs.  Today I drove the 85 miles back there.  The place is Fargo, but I don't know the name of this stream.  (Film)

While waiting for Hurricane Matthew to do its thing, I developed another roll of film that had a few more exposures from our sojourn in the Georgia mountains.  As I recall, I had changed lenses from the 45mm to the 135mm (very wide to light tele in medium format) and concentrated on close up details of which there were quite a few.  There was surprisingly little water when we were there compared to pictures I've seen on line .  That was a good thing as far as allowing rock details to be seen.  (film, of course!)

I've never seen pumpkins in the kind of abundance and variety available at Burt's Farm just outside of Amicalola Falls State Park in the mountains of Georgia.  When you enter the property, there are scores of wheelbarrows to carry a huge pumpkin or a collection of smaller pumpkins one can purchase.  This photograph depicts less than 10% of what's available in a vast range of sizes and colors.  If you want a distilled concentration of autumnal symbols, the place to find them is Burt's!  (Film)

Susan and I spent several wonderful days in the mountains of northern Georgia.  For me, being in an environment that is so like the Hudson Valley was deeply rewarding.  I won't compare the two places more specifically than to say that one reminds me of and evokes the other.  These three views are of Minnehaha Falls that are not easily accessible, but well worth the short, steep hike after driving on a gravelly dirt road for several miles.  (All are film)