Short Road Trip To Florida

Early in the  morning following our arrival, there was a launch of a SpaceX Flacon 9 rocket from
Cape Canaveral, Florida.  This image depicts the second stage of the rocket to the left, the two white
dots are the fairings that cover the Starlink satellites being ejected and the two white spots
on the right is the booster starting its fall back to earth showing the small guidance jets steering it to
its proper trajectory, eventually landing on the barge in the ocean. This is 1/3 of the entire frame.
OM-1 Mark II; 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 100mm (click to enlarge)

Last week, my wife and I made a short road trip from Virginia to Florida to visit her sister.  This is the first trip she has taken since she suffered a couple of severe injuries last fall (you can read a little more about her injuries here).  We both thought it would be a good test of her ability to resume mostly normal activities such as travel, driving on the interstate highways, shopping with her sister and participating in activities she normally doesn't encounter at home.  I'm happy to say, she did very well, in fact, surprised herself as to how much strength and stamina she has gained since suffering from her injuries.  We are both very pleased as we now feel we can travel once again.  Travel = discovering new photographic opportunities! 👍🏻

As for me, I had a choice.  Go shopping with my wife and her sister or grabbing a camera and going out to find something to photograph.  I chose the latter.  Did you wonder even for a second what my choice would be?  LOL

My sister-in-law lives between downtown Jacksonville and St. Augustine.  So, I drove to St. Augustine one morning to do a 'photo walk' in the historic district.  it has been many years since I visited their ‘old town.’  Even at 9-9:30 in the morning the heat and humidity quickly started to make me feel uncomfortable.  I only lasted about an hour and a half before the humidity and heat told me that was enough.  I just casually walked around with my X100VI, made some snapshots and enjoyed my time there.  

Here are a few of the images I made.  They  are nothing special, just snaps mainly on St. George Street, the main touristy street in the historic district.  I call them, “I was there,” shots.

On St. George Street.  Just a pleasant scene.

Mermaid or merman anyone?  There must be a lot of places underwater
to workout as all of these are very muscular!

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine.  The parish was established in 1565.  The original
building burned and this building was then constructed between 1793-1797.

A high view.

Red, white and blue.  I like the repeating pattern as well.

I just like this.  Very serene.  Comfortable.

Whenever I am out and about, I always look for images to add to my long term projects.  You can find them on my website listed below.  In this case, I found a couple of images to add to my project entitled, "Just for the Color."

Yes, the colors were this bright and saturated in the morning sunlight.

An aging Regal movie theater in southern Jacksonville, Florida.  I love the pastel colors and those
typical Florida skies full of rising moisture make for great clouds.

We enjoyed our time in Florida.  But at my age, those 9 1/2 hour drives, mostly on I-95, wear me out!  Since I’m a train guy, we may take the train in the future.  I’ve ridden the train all over the United States and enjoy disconnecting from the world and enjoying the relaxing ride.

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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