Avoid the cellphone

When I take street photos, I try to avoid people on their cellphones like the plague. It is just too common to see someone on a phone. However, I grabbed these two shots the other day in two separate alley's. I thought, what the heck? I will post these two cellphone related pictures. Why? I don't know. I guess because they are in a cool looking alley.

Looking back, I have only posted one other cell phone related picture in the past 12-months. In case you wanted to know, my favorite street shot is someone smoking a great big cigar. 

Never stop having fun, despite your situation

"Never, ever underestimate the importance of having fun." - Randy Pausch

Nice cigar friend

"Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman - or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle."  - George Burns 

Fun in the water

There is something about water that kids of all ages love. This picture is another example of that love for water by children. 

The Bar Scene

"I write to discover what I think. After all, the bars aren't open that early." - Daniel J. Boorstin

Just playing

A family is pictured running across a wooden bridge together, having fun, laughing and racing. 

Ghostly Incline Rail Card

Sometimes when I take photos, I feel as if I am walking through a surreal world. I get lost. This was one of those times.

The incline car was somewhat off the beaten path in a train graveyard of sorts. However, many of the rail cars in the rail yard, are undergoing rehabilitation. This old incline car on the back of the lot has been forgotten about - or so it seems. 

SK8

This was shot in East TN. I took this behind an abandoned building with graffiti all over it. These skaters (including the one pictured), were great.

I liked the simplicity of this picture. I took this with my simple, yet great, Fuji X-Pro1. When I shot this, I used a 35mm lens. 

Don't take my picture... Ok, now you can.

This kind gentleman said to me, "Please don't take my picture." We then got to talking and he got to laughing and he said, "Okay, now you can take my picture." I think he just wanted some simple human interaction. 

Night fishermen on the pier

There is so much action on a pier late at night. Have you ever walked a pier after 9PM? Fishermen and even women are at every corner.

I slowed the action down in the Gulf of Mexico by leaving the shutter open for 30-seconds in this picture. I was with my wife and I jokingly told her, "I'm going to ask the fishermen to stand extremely still while I take this photo." She looked at me and said, "You can only ask me to stand extremely still, that would be weird to ask them." So I took the picture as is. 

Just $2.00

As this man approached me he showed me a hot dog and stated, "I could really use some chips with this, could I have just $2?" I said, "Friend, I am from here - I don't have even $1.00... ask a tourist." We both laughed and he said, "That's a good idea, I didn't know you were from here. Then, can I have your camera?" I said, "Of course, take it." He responded with a smile, "No, I'd get jumped if I had that camera." I then snapped a few pictures of him before he walked away. 

Alcohol

As I approached this unknown man, I could smell alcohol from about 10-feet away. I said a small prayer for him as I noticed how incredibly skinny he was. My friend and I briefly checked to make sure he was properly breathing after watching him fall over from a seated position. Alcohol can be scary, regardless of what some believe. 

“Alcohol ruined me financially and morally, broke my heart and the hearts of too many others. Even though it did this to me and it almost killed me and I haven't touched a drop of it in seventeen years, sometimes I wonder if I could get away with drinking some now. I totally subscribe to the notion that alcoholism is a mental illness because thinking like that is clearly insane.” ― Craig Ferguson, American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot

Take a break

When I walks the streets of a big or small city, I am always amazed at the number of smokers. I must admit though, smokers look cooler in pictures. Kids, don't repeat that. 

Empty Places: Population 649

An old farm house next to a stream, the perfect setting. The only thing that is missing on this gravel road are people. 

This home is in Tennessee. The population of the small town where I found this empty picturesque home stands at 649 residents today. 

Empty Places: A house in the country

This photo was taken in Tennessee. The home, that was wired for satellite television, sits vacant in the woods with a wheelchair ramp on one side and stairs on the other. The small town where this house is located has only 502 residents. 

Empty Places: The statue

This is another shot from a ghost apartment complex in Florida. As you can see, when the apartment shut down, residents just left many of their belongings behind for unknown reasons. 

A statue, a grill, a portable stereo and buckets of chlorine are all seen in this picture. 

Empty Places: Defunct motel

Furniture littered the parking lot. Broken beds, desks and nightstands filled the rooms. Beer and liquor bottles were carelessly thrown thrown into windows and mirrors. Remnants of makeshift beds were seen in some motel rooms, although people were no where to be found. 

This shot was taken in a small beach-side town located in Florida. Population stands at just over 36,000 residents. 

Empty Places: Old waverunner

This old waverunner in the center of this shot was sitting in the courtyard area of a once thriving apartment, hotel and office in Florida only one block from the beach. 

Empty Places: Putt Putt Golf

What was once a thriving putt putt golf course in a small Alabama community, is now a lonely place for lizards. As I walked the overgrown course, lizards scurried about the place every other step I took. Amazingly, I did not see any snakes, only lizards. 

The population of this small town where the putt putt course once merely survived... 2,800 residents. 

Empty Places: A deserted Motel

This photo was taken at a vacant motel in Florida. This is a half empty pool adorned by signs posted by the Florida Health Department warning visitors not to swim. A lone Bible, possibly once in a bedside motel room drawer, is seen on the edge of the pool.