A BIT OF FLORIDA PARADISE "KEY WEST"

As a native Floridian, I've taken for granted the little places in Florida; the places in Florida which make up for so much history.  So, as my tenth wedding anniversary was approaching, I made sure my husband knew that I wanted to celebrate where there is a story, and a bit of history to engulf myself in. Of course, also a place where I could go "photograph crazy"! We ended up visiting Key West. I haven't been to the Keys since I was 5 years old, and I won't dare say how long ago that was! I didn't remember much about that family outing, just a bridge, a really long and narrow bridge. This bridge, which is now rusty and run down, once provided the gateways to this historical town. I'm so glad we were able to tour the Keys, as it served as a reminder to myself of why I'm so fortunate to live in such a historical and beautiful State. I now appreciate as an adult, the impact history has on us, whether directly or indirectly. History is ours to immerse ourselves in, and photographing what remains of history, gave me a deep appreciation of the things that once were. 

I leave you with my tour of Key West. I hope you too will visit and leave with the deepest appreciation for a bit of Paradise in Florida!



Murals you will find on some of the buildings through out Key West.



The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum
Nobel Prize winner, Ernest Hemingway, was one of America's most respected Authors. He lived and wrote in this Key West home for more than 10 years. This house was built in 1851 and became Mr. Hemingway's home in 1931. According to the tour guides, the house still contains original furniture and Hemingways wife's chandelier collection in all rooms. A penny is located under a glass case near the first Key West residential swimming pool. Story goes that he gave this penny to his wife Pauline and said "well you might as well take my last cent" as he was unpleasantly surprised at the cost of the pool. The tour guides also say that the cats roaming about the house are descendants of one of Hemingway's beloved cats. Hairy Truman is one of those cats and is  pictured above 6 toes and all.  

Flagler Station
Henry Flagler provided modern access to the Keys by extending the Railway from Homestead, Florida to Key West. It was destroyed in 1938 and replaced by what is now known as US Highway 1.

Henry C. "Booty" Singleton was known as the "Shrimp King". He established, in Key West, what was known as "West Pink Shrimp Fishery in 1949."

The Curry Mansion Inn was home to Florida's first known millionaires. Bahamian immigrant William Curry built the mansion in 1855 and it was finally completed in 1899. The home was bought by Al and Edith Amsterdam in 1975 when they saw a for sale sign while walking through downtown.
 Pan Am airlines original head quarters before its demise. It was bought in 1991 by actress Kelly McGillis and is now known as "Kelly's Carribean Bar and Grill."



Old Town Bakery  What can I say but "yum".  My husband had their chocolate croissant and say's "a chocolate croissant will never be the same after he had a taste of  theirs." A must in Old Town.



Conch Harbor Marina

Duval Street

Sculpture based on French Artist Pierre Auguste Renoir's paintings of dancing couples.





Here is your "Conch Train" Tour Guide taking a break.



Key west Ship Wreck Treasures Museum is a trip back to 1851 in a world of ship wrecking and how it made Key West the richest city in the United States



Light House Museum

La Concha Hotel is the tallest building in Key West (7 floors to be exact). A resident told me that the roof top is the place to be if you want to photograph an amazing sunset.

 

These roosters walk amongst the tourist. I just had to!



I thought this captured how laid back Key West really is. Even there pets are laid back.

Key West was declared the "Conch Republic" in 1982. This is there flag which was hanging on someone's porch along the Key West Streets. This photograph also gives you a nice view of  what some of the homes front porches, through out the Keys, look like.

I woke up at early sunrise to get the full fireworks of nature.



Sunrise in its full effect.

 

No one leaves the Keys without a picture of the Southernmost Point. Hard to believe that Cuba is a mere 90 miles away.



This is where it ends at the furthest and ending of US Highway 1.




The simple things in life

A couple of days ago, I was at a photo shoot with three little kids.  This was the view from my perspective.  When I loaded the photos to my computer, I realized how fortunate I am to live so close to a place like this.  We don’t enjoy it enough.  It’s easy to get caught up in the daily routine, that you forget to enjoy the simple things in life.  I am guilty of this!

Stay tune, as I will be sharing the photos from this fun shoot on my Ceci Liz Photo Blog. 

When Family Visits

Getting together with family is so much fun. I'ts especially nice when someone in the bunch shares your same interests. This would be my sisters-in-laws and fellow "Photogranerds". We had been planning our own photo outing for some time now. We decided on a recent visit from my sister-in-law, Ceci Liz, to my hometown the Treasure Coast, we would make it happen. I am so glad we did.

We had such a great time. I got to show Ceci some of what Fort Pierce and Jensen Beach are all about. Although we did not get to stop at all the spots we wanted to, I was able to take her to some of the more historic sites, like the Fort Pierce Marina and The Seven Gables Home. It was awesome to see our final photographs, and I think you will enjoy to see the lengths we go through, to get a great shot. So be sure you check out Ceci Liz's blog posting, where you will see some amusing photos of me being the one-eyed photographer. Yes, let it be known I cannot wink, LOL!       

Here are some of the pictures I was able to capture on our fun outing.

 Jensen Beach area "Bait and Tackle Shop"

Jensen Beach

Jensen Beach Causeway

Fisherman underneath the Jensen Beach Causeway Bridge

Net Fishing in Fort Pierce

Fort Pierce Fisherman

Fort Pierce Marina

"The Seven Gables Home" built in the early 1900's and relocated to the Indian River Lagoon in 1997

 

Photographs of the Slay Family who lived in "The Seven Gables Home" and sold it 1943

And last but not least, here is my Sis-in-Law, Ceci. Many of you know her as "Ceci Liz" from Ceci Liz Photography. In between photographing, I made sure to catch her in action. These are some of the shots I wanted to share with Ceci and our Photogranerd followers. If you have a keen eye, you will notice that in some cases, we ignored our surroundings and forgot to read important signs like "No Trespassing"…Oops!

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Photogranerd-ish! (Ft. Pierce part I)

Every time one of my sisters-in-law and I get together, we can’t help it, we just get into conversations that have to do with photography.  And when all three of us are together, forget it!  The conversations are totally PHOTOGRAPHY!  It’s so “photogranerd-ish”!  It’s no wonder we got that nickname.  We talk about our latest experiences, camera technicalities, other photographers, Photoshop, etc.  

The three of us agree that it’s hard to get creative (photography wise) when we are out with the rest of our family (meaning our husbands).  In other words they don’t have the patience to stop, every time we want to capture something cool (it has no meaning to them).  

When my husband and I decided we were taking a trip to visit our niece in Port St. Lucie, I told Debbie (my sister-in-law), we needed to get away by ourselves, so we can focus on doing our thing!  Unfortunately, this time around Karina was not able to join us.  Hopefully, the next time, we all can meet together. 

Debbie had previously talked to me about taking a drive around Ft. Pierce, an old historic town, near where she lives.  I thought it would be interesting and fun.  I would like to call this part 1 of this photography adventure.  We didn’t have time to capture everything, like the old houses, broken bridges, and the sunset photos we wanted to do.  However, we were able to stop by the Ft. Pierce Marina, the A.E. Backus Museum, the Seven Gables House , crossed the Jensen Bridge Causeway, drove through Hutchinson Island, and captured a photo of the power plant there (this is one of my favorite photos). I hope we can soon get together again so we can continue part 2 of this photo walk.

We were able to stop under the Jensen Beach Causeway, where a lot of fisherman hangout.

We were driving around and when I saw the bright blue water that surrounds this power plant, I had to stop.  This is the St. Lucie FP&L Power Plant.

Inside the Seven Gables Home. 

My own reflection  ;)

Here are some captures I got of my photogranerd sister-in-law, Debbie.  Make sure you visit her blog post to view the photos she captured from this photo walk.  

I love the silhouette jumping photos that we took of each other.  That was totally fun, and a workout too... at least for me! hahaha 

I think it's uniquely cute how Debbie covers one eye with her hand, because she can't keep one eye shut when taking a picture.  She unconsciously does this and I got her in action!