The final day of training was only a half-day, I decided to head home via hwy 98. I stopped off in Bayport and had a great grouper sandwich as a very late lunch, took some decent photos of a nice wetland using an orange filter as an experiment, and headed on up to the Chassahowiska NWR. It was completely empty, so I walked one of their short trails, the 'Wild Turkey Trace.' It was a nice scrub environment, and I felt completely isolated except for the occasional shotgun blast in the distance. I didn't see a single soul until I was leaving the park. I also didn't see much wildlife, but saw plenty of deer tracks and perhaps bear tracks.
From the NWR, I went to the Yulee Sugar Mill ruins and took some interesting photos there, mostly of the giant cogs and of a nearby inlet/bayou/whatever leading up to a bar.
Then on to Homasassa Springs, where I saw manatees, egrets, bald eagles, and a great variety of other wildlife being rehabilitated.
Next came Rainbow Springs, once a resort-type attraction, now a very well maintained state park. It was easily one of the prettiest state parks I've ever seen, with three waterfalls, swimming, and hiking.
By then it began to get dark, so I hit the highway up to Perdido Key, planning to visit the other panhandle locations the next day.
After my training class, my father and I went to the County Extension Service where he volunteers as a Master Gardener. We collected a nice bit of fruit, thewe stopped off at a produce stand where I bought even more fruit. We then wandered from nursery to nursery, looking for a specific tree my father wants. Took some cuttings at his house, and then I headed over to Orlando to meet Ayan for a beer.
The photos I took in Orlando were, well, very bad. We were in a dark bar & grill, so the aperture was f/1.7 (!), and my usual 'get it close' zone focusing didn't quite cut it. Combine the Canonet's softness at large apertures and my poor focusing, and you end up with two fuzzy photos of Ayan.
Probably shouldn't even post them, but I will.
After training, my father and I went to the power station and watched the manatees bathe in the warm exhaust water from the coal furnaces. It was a physical representation of irony: an endangered species, beloved by environmentalists, bathing at the base of a coal-burning power plant, enjoying the heated water exhaust.
I took a few shots on kodak royal 200, but the manatees were too far away to do much good with the 35mm lens on the XA2. I also had the XA in my pack, but I forgetfully left the Canonet behind. Not that the 5mm difference would be a huge improvement, but it would still be an improvement. I did get a few good shots of the power station, so that's something.
Also tooled around the Ft DeSoto park and beaches, but the sun was far too harsh for anything but bad snapshots. I know, I only take bad snapshots as it is, but even I knew better.
Lunch was a crab-cake sandwich on the St Johns pier, and I had an excellent Cuban dinner of ropas viejas (sp?), yucca, and fried plantains. Great Cuban food in this town, even near my father's house.
As before, I'll post photos after I get them processed. Today's film was exclusively Kodak Royal Gold 200. I also have some Provia, and I'm saving my T-Max 100 for later.
The weather is calling for rain tomorrow, so after training, we'll probably check out the museum of fine arts.
Note: Perdido is conspicuously devoid of 'adult' content. No strip clubs, no massage parlors, not even dirty magazines at gas stations. After being surrounded by it for so long, I notice such things when they're absent.
The trip from Perdido on to Tampa was relatively uneventful and very pleasant.
I snapped a few daylight photos of the villa and left early enough to make Tampa by dinner. ASA 400 is just too fast for this daylight in my Canonet, as it really doesn't have a fast enough shutter. I manually took a (probably overexposed) photo while driving a gorgeous bridge (will insert name later after looking it up), and I resolved to get slower film for the rest of FL.
Tallahassee is in a beautifully wooded area and seems to be fairly well laid out. I learned from a guy I met there that the last strip club in town had recently closed, and that most adult bookstores were also closing due to the DA being a bit overzealous. Perhaps he is just trying to help Gov. Bush?
I called a few places in my 'Eat Your Way Across the USA' book without any luck.
No other photos, though I really wanted one of the 'Risque Cafe' billboards. I'll try to get one on the way back. Maybe I will try to take a picture INSIDE the joint? No, probably a bad idea.
I'm on my way to training in Tampa, FL this week, and the trip got off to a pretty good start. Photographically, anyway.
Somewhere in Louisiana, I saw two hot-air balloons drifting over the highway. I pulled over and took about 8 shots. I snapped a few more photos on the way, photographed a gas station where I attempted to evade a patrolman after driving over a median (not on the highway, fortunately), took some shots of the villa in Perdido, and wandered off to find food.
It seems that every restaurant / bar / grocery store / whatever on Perdido Key closes at 11, so in this great area of seafood and decent local food, I ended up ordering from Dominos. The driver drove off the road, between villas, and into the front 'yard' of where I was staying, then stupidly commented to me that he probably shouldn't have done that.
Everything was soaking wet, as though it had been really raining, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Nice and cold, too.
That concluded my roll for Day One. I'll attach photos after they're processed. All were on B&W C41 film.