Floridiana Gloriana

Toddler with Gulls | Flagler Beach

This is another small detail from a much larger photo. I almost missed it when I was flipping through my old snapshots. There's something Rococo about the massiveness of the pier and the tiny little person---this adorable little boy with short little legs---off to the side among the birds. The original picture is much larger even than this. I think Don must have taken it; it shows the whole length of the pier, similar to some of the photographs I posted earlier.  I think it is probably the pier at Flagler, but it might be Crescent Beach.  We visited them both on the same weekend.

The Atlantic in the Late Afternoon Light | Flagler Beach

Here is a photograph from later in the afternoon. This is one that I just about missed. A bit more encroachment of that shadow and it wouldn't have come out at all. As it is, I love the way the shadows fall.

I'm not sure really whether this is Flagler Beach or Crescent Beach. We visited both that same weekend. This doesn't really look like the pier at Flagler to me.

Morning by the Pier | Flagler Beach

Don took this beautiful shot of Flagler beach one sunny morning in October quite a long time ago. We took the kids on a jaunt down the east coast one weekend, starting with Jacksonville Beach. Flagler was such a beautiful clean beach. Cocoa Beach, further south, has---or had---some good places to eat and drink, but the beach was pretty dirty and used-looking when I was there. Cocoa wasn't a place where you could really enjoy a solitary walk: too many teenagers swimming, sunning, surfing, and so forth. I enjoyed the beach bars at Cocoa, but the beach at Flagler is better for walking and photography. I love the contrast between the brownish sand at Flagler Beach and the blue water.

Beachflower | Flagler Beach

  I realized that I've had a number of postings that don't really mention the Atlantic side.

For photographs, the truth is that I prefer the west coast---the Nature Coast. It's much more unspoiled and there are a lot of places that haven't been photographed to death and that even native Floridians have never heard of. Thanks to Mr. Flagler, whose work in promoting the state is commemorated by this beach, Florida's east coast has been an attraction to tourists since the late 1800's.

Don't get me wrong; there is plenty along the Atlantic side to love. Up here in the north we have Amelia Island (for example) and of course as you go further south, you get the amazing stretches of beach found in Daytona and Ormond Beach. I took this photograph years ago in Flagler Beach.  We just stopped along the side of the road and there it was.