The Sun Sets . . . For Now

It got harder to leave Key West each time we did it. This should be the last batch of pictures from our Happy Place until we get a chance to make the trip again. We've already decided that when we lose the house, we're making our way down there to be homeless at the south end of Route A1A. Above - Sunset from Mallory Square.

Our 2002 trip had to be pushed back from October to December, thanks to work stuff, but it was cool to see the visual juxtaposition of Christmas decorations and tropical foliage. [Maris]'s shots!

Until we meet again, La Mer...

Sunset #2 - Mallory Square.

Schooner Liberty returning from its sunset cruise.

Mallory Square's daily Sunset Celebration is part boardwalk, part craft show, part street theater and all party. Above, legendary Will Soto prepares to start his long-running tightrope/juggling daredevil extravaganza (as seen from the Schooner Western Union).

Key West Lighthouse, as seen from about a quarter of a mile offshore, aboard the Western Union.

Key West's waterfront, from Mallory Square to Fort Zachary Taylor Park.

Under full sail on the Western Union. Perfection at sea.

(sigh)

Bahia Honda & Islamorada & Not Wanting To Go Home

Okay - the only way we were able to drag ourselves out of Key West was to spend a week in Islamorada. There's a bit less to photograph, but the restaurants are truly amazing. Here's a bit of what we managed to point our cameras at throughout the week. The banner above is a 210mm zoom view from our hotel balcony.

The full view of the banner shot. There was a funky bit of weather off to the east, and this is the actual color we got when the sun peeked out from beneath the cloud deck.

The old (left) and new (right) bridges of Bahia Honda, shot from the beautiful state park of the same name.

Atop the old Bahia Honda bridge. One of the highest points in all the Keys!

Oops.

Pool of sunlight. Islamorada. (Heart)!

A [Maris] shot from the "beach." More (Hearts)!

There's a lighthouse out there. Alligator Reef Light - near the upper left of the shot. Alligator Reef is serious business, as there was a fatal boating accident out there right before we arrived.

Two frames of the magical Morada Bay Beach Café. Did. Not. Want. To. Leave.

Florida Keys, adieu. For now. (sniff)

Thanks for coming along. More to come...

Elsewhere In Florida

There's much more to Florida than lighthouses, theme parks, oranges and hurricanes. Here are a few more non-lighthouse-related images from our 1999 excursion through the Sunshine State. Above - Traffic Light on NW Boca Raton Boulevard in Boca Raton, FL - [Maris]'s shot!

Another one of the few sunrises I've seen in my [large number] years. This is at St. Augustine Beach in February of 1999.

Again, I can't ID this carrier. It's at Naval Station Mayport in mid-February of 1999. Anyone?

Had to crop out some cars, but we love, love, love this shot of Ancient City Baptist Church in St. Augustine.

Um, Daytona International Speedway - Daytona, FL. (You might have guessed.) I was not a NASCAR fan when we arrived, but believe me when I tell you that unless you have been there, you really have no idea how cool this is. Another [Maris] photo.

As a rail fan, one who has stood next to freight trains roaring past at 75 mph, I can attest that the sound and vibration of 43 stock cars coming off a banked curve at 180 mph is something you feel in your stomach and never forget. It's even cooler if you're new to the sport and don't really care who wins.

Okay - we'll be careful, but is that a BEAR? Are there really bears in Florida? This is somewhere near Ocala. [Maris] shot this one - made me back up and everything!

No - not the best photo of a wild bald eagle. But it's the first one I ever saw, so here it is. There was a pair of them hunting over a lake (pond? creek?) near St. Augustine as we waited to shoot Florida East Coast trains.

The Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. They put space shuttles and their fuel tanks and external rocket boosters together in that building. 'Nuff said.

Juvenile and adult little blue herons - Daytona.

Gotta have a sunset, right? This is over the Gulf of Mexico, shot from Fort De Soto Park near St. Petersburg.

Thanks for stopping by. More Florida, more lighthouses, more birds and trains and who knows what - coming soon...

Lights of New England

I'M BACK!! I still have eleventy bazillion more negatives to scan, but for now, let's take a quick trip through New England. In 1998, we drove the coast from Connecticut to around York, Maine (skipping the Cape Cod area, which warrants its own trip), before turning inland. Here are some of the lighthouses we found along the way. Things were still pretty random, back then. Watch for later posts, in which the actual photography just gets better and better. Above: Jameston, RI proves that not all lighthouses are pretty (Beavertail Light).

New London, CT (guarded by police on horseback - they're afraid it will try to make a break for it).

Old Stonington Lighthouse - Stonington, CT. It's made of stone!

Point Judith, RI - as seen on TV, in a recent ad campaign by the US Marines.

Old Scituate Light - Scituate, CT. It has a cool story about little girls thwarting the British here, but we can't remember it right now.

Fort Pickering Light - Winter Island - Salem, MA. Gorgeous spot. Lighthouse and sailboat are just bonus.

Marblehead Range Light - Marblehead, MA.

Goat Island Light - Off Cape Porpoise, ME. This was shot, hand-held, through a 500mm mirror lens - no easy task. I'll just go ahead and say the "soft" focus was my idea. And [Maris] loves it.

Cape Neddick "Nubble" Light - Cape Neddick, ME. One of Maine's perfect lighthouses. More shots of this one are sure to come.

Portland Head Light, at Cape Elizabeth, is Maine's other perfect lighthouse. It's so over-photographed from the sides that I actually waited for a very cold hour for this people-free shot looking straight out to sea. That's Ram Island Ledge Light, off to the left. (More shots of these still to come - we went back in 2004.)

Jamestown, RI sunset.

Happy New Year, everyone. Thanks for encouraging my little hobby. See you in 2010...
-Joe

Look To The Sky

Clouds have always intrigued me as a photographic subject. From a technical perspective, they're usually not difficult to shoot. The trick is to compose an image with the right amount and complexity of cloud cover, and to put the clouds into an appealing context. Before the days of digital photography and at-home editing software, the composition challenge was far greater. It was still just as much fun, though. The frame above is a crop from one of my shots of a Barbados beach in 1993.

Sunbeams - Thurmont, MD - 1999 (Shot by [Maris] on an Olympus Stylus point-and-shoot 35mm camera. That little camera had an incredible piece of glass in it, and that little woman has a hell of an eye.)

Clouds Behaving Weirdly - Harpers Ferry, WV - 1999.

Old Cape Elizabeth Light - Cape Elizabeth, ME - 2004. After slogging through a wall of torrential rain from Brunswick down east to the cape, we were rewarded for our patience here and at Portland Head Light, which will be featured in a future post.

Weird Sky at Point of Rocks, MD - 1997. It was really that color - no filters or retouching!

Sunset over Germantown, MD - 1996.

And one over Burtonsville, MD - 1996.

Storm clouds lit by the sun setting behind the camera - Germantown, MD - 1997.

B&O Railroad Museum and Skyline, shot from Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, MD - September, 1993.

Thanks for stopping by!