Jacksonville Beach

In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, "When you come to the fork in the road, take it."

Not graffiti, France, For Carl

Serendipity again. These appeared in front of our rental in France on the day of Carl's post.

3rd Street, Jax Beach

Evolution.....or the hot sauce to fish fossil transformation, Jax Beach.

 Four weeks ago on my Sunday walk I came upon this spill. Someone had dropped their bottle of hot sauce ( a tragedy in my opinion) and cleaned up most of the glass and left. I came by last week and it had turned into fossil remains of a prehistoric fish. All of this on a fairly well travelled sidewalk (covered) in a shopping center. Looks like one bicycle tire went through it.

Alley, Millbrae, CA

Alley, Millbrae

I'm showing a real Eastern sensibility here. I have not been to California often in my life, and most of it in the last 18 years. I think of the west coast as "new" to the country, with all of the leading edge technology that that implies. So, the overhead power lines that seem cobbled together grated on my preconceptions. Of course, California has been inhabited by Europeans, Africans, Pacific Islanders, Japanese, Chinese, Mexicans and, originally, by Native Americans, who might have come across the Bering Straits. So "new" really doesn't fit.....but I'm old, so I still expect flying cars when I go to San Francisco. Sighhhh

Millbrae, CA

Millbrae, CA

Millbrae, CA

Millbrae colors.

When we go to Millbrae I am presented with totally different light and shapes. My sister-in-law lives on a street in Millbrae, lined with cottages and small houses. There is a line of sycamores on both sides of the narrow street that greatly resemble the plane trees that line so many French allees in Provence. With the crystal clear, humidity-free air and a sun that is getting lower in the sky, I had all kinds of new light to play with. This is the polar opposite of the flat light that Carl Weese loves. The colors are rich in this light, unlike Florida, where the haze/humidity makes the colors more pastel.

Having said this, most of the pictures from our last visit are looking better to me in black and white.  This shot demanded color because of the flowers.

California flattop hydrant #14-106, Millbrae,CA

Japanese maple, Millbrae

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.

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.

Arrows, Jax Beach

These were strangely unfinished. Probably another layer of tar to go down.