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)

I've very rarely been out with the camera later in the day since we moved here, but I was yesterday.  I set out to make photographs at low tide, and that was late enough in the day that afternoon quickly became evening.  The upper photograph is looking east, and the lower one is looking west by a river.
(film)

This photograph doesn't begin to capture the reality of the gooey mire that only reveals its true nature when stepped in. With no previous experience, I slogged right into the sticky stuff up to my ankles. When I finally escaped, my sneakers were coated so thickly in it that you couldn't see the laces. I had rubber boots in the car that I didn't think to wear, but if I had, I might not have been able to pull my feet out of the muck without leaving a boot in it. Lesson learned.

After a hurricane, one can expect great turbulence in the sea and sky.   The recent Hermine was mostly a Gulf coast storm that left the Atlantic coast alone for the brunt of it.  Still, though, even days later, the sky was very active with layers of clouds; some scudding rapidly, and others staying a while. The ocean here is just what it would be after a regular storm at high tide with a breeze, but the scudding and static clouds made the sky quite active.  (Film, #15 deep yellow filter)

The ocean front has fewer features than the salt marshes away from it.  Smaller details and man-made structures become more important.  These images are from Castaway Preserve which abuts the Intracoastal Waterway.  It's a tidal marsh much frequented by fishermen who fish for bait to use when they venture out to sea.  At low tide, of course, they have to set their lines well away from the muddy marsh.  This pier serves as a platform for them and a place to launch boats.  (Fim, #15 deep yellow filter)