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)

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)

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)

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)

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!)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

Despite being the "Sunshine State", storm clouds and rain show up for at least a part of many days. (Fillm)
 

How minimal is a minimalist photograph?  The second of these two images is about as minimal a subject as I will entertain.  It's the kind of scene that rests the eyes rather than engaging the mind in the way the first one might.  They were both made at the same location within a few minutes of each other.  (Medium format film with #15 deep yellow filter)

  

 

I've been to and made photographs of things that interest me that are not too far from home.  In order not to be repetitive, I try to approach them at different times of day, in different light, weather, and season.  This photograph is from Marineland beach where one could easily make scores of images that would not be repetitious of each other.  (MF film)

It's really, really difficult to get up enough before dawn to travel 30 miles and be set up to photographs the sunrise.  I didn't quite make it last week, but I was close.  (MF Film)

At the end of my journey back from NYC, I couldn't help but visit Jekyll Island again.  I've found good subjects there before, and this time was not different.   (MF film, #15 deep yellow filter)

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)