August in Florida is usually really hot and humid, but this year it's been especially so. Nonetheless, I persisted (hehe), and made these photographs yesterday, August 11th. The sky was dramatic enough to feel I was not wasting film or my time. 

 

Because road construction made access to this area impossible for at least two years, I've not been able to return. Not much has changed, but the two year absence has rekindled my interest in it. Here are five photographs I made today when access was restored. 

Now I'm just gon' sit, at the dock of the bay
Watchin' the tide roll away, ooh yeah
Sittin' on the dock of the bay

 Otis Redding 

 

Returning to Florida after a trip to New York,  I chose a route that went through Pennsylvania and then turned south rather than deal with I 95.  I stopped several times in Pennsylvania and Maryland to make photographs, and this was one from that trip in early April. 

Sometimes, the best stuff is in one's own backyard! This is a loblolly bay tree with blooms and buds.

And here it is a day later:

 

I parked my car in a different part of the lot at the YMCA where I use the excellent gym, and this scene was directly in front of the car.  On that day, I did not have my camera, but came back two days later with  it and was able to access the same view. 

Deerwood Corporate Park is one of my favorite places to walk!  There are no palm trees (which I generally loathe anyway), but many, many live oaks and other deciduous trees. There are also several lakes that I enjoy viewing from their shores.  These photographs are from one of them. 

 I took this a while ago, but never processed it. It's a place I've been to quite often and usually found something worthwhile to photograph. It's called Dutton Island Preserve and has nothing to do with the TV show, Yelllowstone! ;)

 

Here are a couple of images I made several years ago, but didn't prepare - now referred to as post processing - to be viewed.  They're from Big Talbot Island SP.

 

The forests in this part of Florida are often wonderful assemblages of interesting trees. Today's images are of such a forest at Big Talbot Island State Park.

I love to return to Cedar Point and did so today - Memorial Day! It seems a national holiday brings out scores of fishermen whose trucks and boat trailers had filled the parking area. I managed to avoid them in these photographs except for a couple of boats with several men aboard waiting to use the little dock. Here are a few of today's images.

I had every intention of experimenting with long exposures at the beach today, but I forgot to set the shutter speed to Bulb so it would stay open for the allotted time in seconds. Every single frame that was supposed to be a long exposure was so completely under exposed that those frames were clear...i.e. blank! But, I knew better than to not include a few 'normal' exposures in case the others were not what I'd hoped....which was exactly the case! These were the only 'keepers'. 

One of my favorite places in this area is the enormous corporate park called Deerwood.  Near the YMCA gym there is a lake where I often walk. Today, I brought my camera and made these photographs.

 

 

I tried to make a ten second exposure with a variable ND filter, but I'm not satisfied with the result...too much guesswork that needed to be more exact. But, after making those exposures, I used the rest of the roll more conventionally and these two images were the ones I liked. 

 

Back again to Alimacani Park where I've done a bunch of photography lately. Here's today's catch.

The Fort George Inlet has been a fertile place for photographs over the years...some facing the ocean and others facing inland. As the tide recedes, sand bars on the inland side of the bridge are revealed in the most interesting patterns. Here are several views of them!

I've not been back to Big Talbot Island SP for a while so I decided to go for a walk there with my camera a few days ago. Here are three photographs from that trip.