I have an annual state parks pass that I've not use much this past year.  Yesterday, I decided to go to Little Talbot Island SP whether I felt like it or not!  As it turned out, it was interesting to see the beach and the road to it on a weekday morning. Of course, I took my camera! 

I took this photograph in 2018 I think, but never posted it for some reason I no longer remember. As there are coquina rocks at the shore, I must have made the photograph at Marineland Beach.

The gym I go to is in a YMCA. When I finish with the weight machines, I walk outside rather than on a treadmill. The path is quite attractive with two man made lakes and abundant trees. I made a special trip with my camera today, and made these photographs. 

When the ocean is so close, it's easy to overlook the many interesting scenes along the St. Johns River. Here are four I photographed today, January 19th 2023.

 I love this particular place beside the St. Johns River. There is often a shrimp boat tied up to a dock, a great sky, and luminous mud. Here are two photographs from today, January 18th, but no shrimp boat!

As interesting as using the Holga 120WPC is, the photographs I've made with it so far are nothing special beyond their novelty. I've taken my regular film camera with me too, and, though these images aren't particularly notable either,  at least they're sharp and contrasty.  The camera, incidentally, is a Pentax 67. Here is one I made in our side yard, and two I made at Ft. George Inlet after using the Holga.

Ah, the irony!  The film I was using for the Holga 120WPC costs nine dollars and change per roll. The results with this 'toy' camera were just not worth that much money and  time. However, today in the back of a cabinet I found two rolls of Kodak TMax 120 film that had expired in 2001, and got the best results yet! Go figure!!  Here are two of the photographs:

A rather inauspicious outing in the neighborhood with the Holga 120WPC (Wide angle Pinhole Camera) because I forgot to take off the lens cap and most of the roll was blank!  I can't treat this camera like any other I've ever used as EVERYTHING it does has to be done by me!! LOL!  This photograph is the lone survivor! I noticed, too, that my shadow is in the center at the bottom. A truly mysterious selfie!

Returning to Deerwood where I used the Holga pinhole a few days ago, I decided to use my Pentax 67 this time. Here are several of today's photographs. 

 

Today, I took the Holga wide angle pinhole to Deerwood, which is a large corporate park with a lot of natural space. I had more success with it this second time even though I almost left the lens cap on, but realized I'd done that just in time!  Using this camera is a throwback to the early 20th century in a way, and it takes some getting used to. But, thanks to Photoshop, I was somewhat able to compensate for its limitations and adjust sharpness a good deal. (As there's no lens and no way to focus the pinhole, the sharpen tool is a necessity even though I dislike having to use it.) Here are three:

After using the Holga wide-angle pinhole described below, I shot a roll of film with my Pentax 67 in an area I've been to many times. Here are two from there that are similar, but a little different. I'm a real sucker for drooping tree limbs and trunks that are not straight! 

I received a surprisingly interesting Christmas present...a Holga Wide Angle Pinhole camera! If you're not familiar with this instrument, it's the most primitive, simple, low tech, camera there is! The pinhole projection concept has been around for centuries having been described by da Vinci in 1502 and used extensively by Vermeer as a tool for painting.  There is no lens, and no shutter and no focus control (everything already is focused by the extremely tiny light hole) . One just uncovers the pinhole, counts the requisite seconds, and covers the pinhole again having allowed the film to be exposed. Here are two images from my first attempt with it. I did enhance them a little bit in Photoshop Elements 21, but very minimally. 

It's difficult to find the time to travel to new places for photography, but fortunately the places I've already often visited are rarely the same twice. These are from Dutton Island Preserve which is a place once owned by the Dutton family (not the Yellowstone crew! ;) that was donated to the state. 

 Returning again to Cedar Point, I found a few more variations, three of which are presented here:

Returning yet again to Blackrock and Boneyard Beach on Big Talbot Island, I was seduced by what I've presented below.  To a certain degree, I was experimenting with a No. 11 green filter, and I am not particularly impressed by what it did, but I then changed back to the No. 15 deep yellow filter and was able to obtain typical results. I hope I can make a trip farther away from the coast in the coming weeks and see what looks good. 

 

I'm always seeking a new place to photograph that's still in this general area. I just discovered this one called Cradle Creek Preserve. Here is the only image I was happy with from the roll of ten negatives, but I'll go there again when the light is different for another look. 

To get to this area of Little Talbot Island State Park, I walked two miles through a forest.  Stupidly, I had forgoten bug spray, and thus spent every single moment swatting, swiping and slapping myself! It's a good thing that killing bugs is not frowned on, because I was a mass murderer of the swarming, wee bastards! When I finally reached the beach, the little winged nasties were gone and I was free to enjoy making photographs. Here are three I liked from the ten exposures I made. 

I was quite happy to return again to two favorite places in the Timucuan Preserve which are always interesting to me. Here are five photographs I like...three from Pumpkin Point and two from Cedar Point. 

Sometimes, what's close at hand is easy to ignore. The first two photographs taken in our backyard are about the way light reveals tones and textures. The third is from a place I've often photographed from the other side of the road looking east toward the ocean. I took this picture at lowish tide with the sandbar quite our of the water. I was standing on a bridge, and the rock wall with bushes was in the foreground.