Step Back in Time, Cortez, Florida

The Village of Cortez, on the gulf coast near Bradenton Beach, is an old Florida fishing village. The area was settled by commercial fisherman. Residents called the eastern shore of Sarasota bay south of the village, the kitchen for its wealth of fish, scallops and other seafood. Net fishing was popular due to the large amounts of black mullet. Most of the shoreline structures were destroyed by a hurricane in 1921, but the resilient residents rebuilt them. Today it is still an active fishing village with several fish markets and restaurants. This was a great place to shoot old docks, boats, old wooden buildings and birds. Hope to go back and photograph at sunset instead of high noon and 95 degree temps. The locals were very helpful in pointing me in the direction of scenic areas of interest. There is a small museum housed in the original school house but I didn't have the time to visit it. Lunch was at the Cortez Kitchen next door to Cortez Seafood with a rustic outdoor deck next to the  boat docks.

Welcome to Cortez

Building at the Cortez Historical Museum

Buoys and Beer - Antique and Salvage Shop, Cortez

Dingy's at Bradenton Beach on Sarasota Bay

Spring Training

Spring Garden Ranch, Deleon Springs, FL

Hot Time in O-Town!




Store Fronts in Thornton Park

  Started out on a hot and humid morning with my camera going towards downtown Orlando and Lake Eola. I hadn't taken any photos in a couple of weeks and I was going into withdrawls. With the forecast for high temps and humidity I didn't feel like taking a long road trip so I settled for staying close to home. I have walked past these storefronts dozens of times but never really noticed the colors until this morning. Maybe the lack of parked cars helped me notice them this time. Taking a fresh look at places close to home can sometimes suprise you.

Dudley Farms - HDR Heaven!

The general store

Dining Room

Milking Room at Dudley Farms

Dudley Farm State Park

This was the stop on the trip home from Ft. White. Dudley Farm is made up of 18 historic structures from the 1800’s including the main farm house, the 1880’s kitchen, smoke house, dairy shed, and even the general store. We didn’t see any cows, but there were mules, chickens and turkeys. The last generation of the Dudley family donated the farm to the Florida Park Service in 1983. Dudley Farm is a living history farm museum encompassing 325 acres of the original 640 acres that they owned. The farm is located off of I-75 on SR 26 approximately 7 miles to the west. This is a wonderful place to take HDR photos. Old buildings, animals, farm equipment, interiors, and lots of rust.  It's definately worth a repeat visit when its not 90 degrees.

Cedar Key, Ft. White and Dudley Farm Road Trip

Fishing Pier at Shell Mound north of Cedar Key



First stop on our mini road trip to Ft. White was Cedar Key, a unique little island on the west coast with weathered  buildings and scenic views. After walking around the waterfront and town which didn’t take long, we drove to the south side to the airport (actually a landing strip) and then back east stopping at the town cemetery. Adjacent to the cemetery was a long boardwalk out in the marshes. The tide was low and many tiny crabs were popping out of the mud.

Next stop on our mini road trip took us to Shell Mound, located nine miles north of Cedar Key, on the gulf coast. Beautiful views of the marshes abundant with wading birds and small crabs. There is a fishing dock, hiking trails, boardwalks, boat launches and a small campground.

“This unique feature was created by Archaic period Eastern Woodland Indian cultures by discarding oyster and clam shells they used as a food source. The area was inhabited by this culture for at least 1,000 years from about 450 to 1,800 years ago. Once used as a source of materials for road construction (prior to Refuge ownership) the mound is now protected from all but foot traffic, attracting about 60,000 visitors per year, yet it never seems like anyone else is there.”

We drove through the Upper Suwannee River wildlife refuge, then on to Chiefland for lunch at Barbeque Bill’s.

All the ducks in a row...

Early morning swim at Lake Ivanhoe

Red, Hot and Boom!

Fireworks shot from my friends condo, at Oak Harbor down by the lake. Shot on manual, F16 and around 10 to 20 seconds using a piece of black illustration board to cover the lens between bursts. Being farther from the actual location where the fireworks were being launched helped with less smoke in the background.