Creative wiring, Vilano Beach

Cousin Itt and family

From the old Addams family

Walkover to the beach, Jax Beach

Fence and sand, P V Beach

Sea oats, Jax Beach

Swamp maples, Solana

 The Swamp maples are one of the first trees to bud out in the Spring. These are not leaf buds but seed pods. They are like maple pods all over, two wings with seeds at the juncture. Just, in Swamp maples, they are bright crimson.

From my dock at low tide.

The Intracoastal tidal flow has created a nice little Zen garden today.

Sand and grass, PV Beach

I love the way that grass "writes" in the sand on windy days. This turned into a fish.

Older Cadillac.

This model Cadillac always gives me a laugh. In response to the European and Japanese luxury cars that suddenly took over the luxury market here, Cadillac decided to go with three letter names for their models. Their main car was the Seville Touring Sedan or STS. Then came this, the Eldorado Touring Coupe or ETC. I have always wondered when in the development of the name that someone realized that it was the abbreviation for etcetera. There was a short lived career in GM's marketing department for that guy ;-)

Shadowplay, Jax Beach

This is the outside wall of J Johnson Gallery in Jax Beach. They are currently running an exhibit of photography. Quite eclectic with Diane Arbus, Jerry Uelsmann, Robert Mapplethorpe and many others. I spent an hour in there last week. Made me want to photograph.

Walkins and women, Jax Beach

Discards, Jax Beach

I took this outside the ABC liquor store in Jax Beach. After making up the file I realized that it reminded me of the diagrams they use to describe car accidents. Fitting.

Broccoflower, Roscoe

Mannequins, Jax Beach

Live oak leaves, Roscoe

Autumn finally hits the oaks.  They shed late but they will bud out in a few weeks.

The lemons live!

Despite the recent freezes and continuing grey days and low temps., (for here) the lemons continue to ripen. After twenty years here I still get a little thrill when I just go and get a lemon or an herb from my own pots, in February.

Stalker.....for Martina, Vilano Beach

Now they follow me.

Agaves and window II, Jax Beach.....for Markus

Markus, this window is two meters from the ground. I am six feet tall and my head comes to just under the molding. I would guess that the agaves are five feet tall....and growing.

Nocatee updates

 Two years ago, when I first started photographing in Nocatee, our super development, most of the roads ended with signs like these and a sign with the name of the future sub-division. We were still mired in the recession and things were very buttoned up and quiet. In the last year this has changed incredibly.

 This little pink house is one of about forty in a brand new sub-division near the giant Publix supermarket. They are small and brightly colored and, it seems, occupied as soon as they are finished.

 This was woods and scrub last summer. It is immense.

This too was a section of woods and scrub as of a year ago. There was no street and no houses. All of these are occupied and, just to the right of this shot there are ten more in various states of build, with sold signs in front of them. These are no 1%er houses but solid middle class "estates". I hope that it's a sign of a true recovery, but I am skeptical still.

Things in puddles, Jax Beach

 I walked the day after a big rain, in Jax Beach. There were many puddles. The top one reminded me of origami. Someone was making a Dachshund  when the rain hit. The one below is footprints in an inch deep puddle. They are sand and very delicate. I do not know how they survived this long on a sidewalk.

Party van, Jax Beach

Agave, Jax Beach

Chair, Jax Beach, Carl Weese light.

Today I had a dentist appointment in Jax Beach. Just a cleaning and check-up. I have just switched to this practice and have been late for the first two visits. So today, I got there an hour and a half early and wandered around Jax Beach with my new Olympus E-M5. I bought it as a backup to my other one. It has been over a year and I have finally bonded with it. I had to buy one of those guide books so as to finally have it set up the way that is right for me. Olympus has a notoriously obtuse manual, and menu system and a couple of the things that bothered me most were poorly explained. But now I love the little guys to the point that My Pentax stuff will soon be gone and the Canons are here only because of the Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 and the Sigma 50mm f/1.4. Just wonderful lenses that I am not ready to part with. I also still have my two bargain Lumix GX1s, which I love. So my Micro 4/3 kit is full.

Today was what I now call a Carl Weese day. Overcast, cold (for here) and windy. The light was as flat as could be. I have learned from Carl to really like this light. With digital capture's tendency to blow highlights and block shadows, flat light makes my post-production much simpler.

A couple of self-portraits on a clear cold day.

Shadow play, PVIC

 I went to the beach last week on a really cold and clear day. Nobody was around due to temperatures near 33f (0.6C) The air was very clear and the shadows were everywhere. Nice to be there when it happens.