Floridiana Gloriana

'Color Fest' by Lucian Badea | Lake Wauberg, Gainesville, Florida | Used by Permission

A lavish sunset taken by photographer Lucian Badea (Twisted Visions) from across Lake Wauberg (just outside of Gainesville, Florida).  These are the colors of a Florida sunset that's still just gearing up:  the crystalline blue of the sky is still visible behind clouds that still have just a touch of gold dust mixed into their colors.   
 

'Color Fest' by Lucian Badea |  See his work at Twisted Visions (!):  Landscape Photography, Fine Art Photography, Black and White Photography, Nature Photography, Abstract Photography, Experimental Photography, and More! |

I do not own the rights to this photograph, but am using it with the express written permission of its owner, Lucian Badea.  Do not save or use it unless you first obtain his permission.

'Mind Blur' | Ginnie Springs, Florida' by Lucian Badea | Used by Permission

Here's another place I've visited, strangely transformed by the photographic art of Lucian Badea (Twisted Visions Photography).

This photograph has deservedly attracted a great deal of attention at Flickr. Notice how the gold of the trees---a winter color here---is strangely reflected among the green within the river---a beautiful juxtaposition of seasonal color.  Or is the gold really the pale green of an early spring?  Is it vernal or autumnal?  Note that you can see the reflections in the water of a bright blue sky---yet the mist among the trees is an autumn or winter phenomenon.  But this is what Ginnie Springs is like in my dreams, where I can have the best of all the seasons. Magic realism, indeed.

  

'Mind Blur' |  Ginnie Springs, Florida' by Lucian Badea |  See his work at Twisted Visions (!):  Landscape Photography, Fine Art Photography, Black and White Photography, Nature Photography, Abstract Photography, Experimental Photography, and More!

I do not own the rights to this photograph, but am using it with the express written permission of its owner, Lucian Badea.  Do not save or use it unless you first obtain his permission.

'Orange and Blue' by Lucian Badea | Lake Alice, Gainesville | Used by Permission

Photographer Lucian Badea, of  Twisted Visions Photography, has taken some fascinating photographs of the landscapes in and around North Florida.  I became fascinated with them because of the way they are simultaneously totally familiar and totally not.  They are like the versions I see in my dreams:  with details and colors picked out that I wouldn't have noticed in the real world. 

I've often passed this place.  And North Florida has its share of orange skies.  But it took a moment or two to process what I was seeing all the same.  So painterly----and please take note of the swatch of blue sky and yellow cloud reflected in the lake. 

Entrancing.

 

Orange and Blue | Lake Alice, Gainesville, Florida' by Lucian Badea |  See his work at Twisted Visions (!):  Landscape Photography, Fine Art Photography, Black and White Photography, Nature Photography, Abstract Photography, Experimental Photography, and More!

I do not own the rights to this photograph, but am using it with the express written permission of its owner, Lucian Badea.  Do not save or use it unless you first obtain his permission. 

University of Florida | Gainesville, Florida

I think I must have taken this photos of the Tower at the University of Florida  (in Gainesville, Florida).  It would have been before 2000, since it's a scanned photograph.  I remember that it was much more difficult than you probably might imagine to get a good photograph of the tower ("a brick falls out every time a virgin graduates").   I didn't have any fancy equipment and if I tried to get far enough back to get in the entire building or the entire tower, there was always some obstruction.  I think these turned out about as well as they could have.

I do love the colors---the winter sky and the dark color of the brick in the late afternoon light.

Baby Alligator | Gainesville (University of Florida)

This little guy looks cute and harmless, like an extra-large lizard. His size in relation to the leaves shows how small he is.

He was hanging out in the woods near "Lake Alice" in the center of the University of Florida campus, a place which seems to be particularly appealing to alligators.
We didn't disturb him; the last time someone I knew messed with a baby alligator (it was on Captiva or Sanibel, I think), the mother suddenly rose up out of nowhere (and they are surprisingly tall when they stand). Thankfully, she was on the other side of the riverbank---because she was hauling ass.

The other reason I didn't mess with him is that I like having a full set of fingers.