Through the Lens

Where can I see your photos?

It is a question I here from time to time.

I have several answers. Most fit my personality as a smart ass.

“On the walls of my house.” I do have several hanging here and there.

“On my web site (RobertWilderJr.com).” I did have someone leave a comment that I should try selling my photos as they are quite good. This was after he/she had visited my web site. Hmm.

The most honest answer is “dunno”. This is true as I don’t know who most of my buyers are.

I use a couple outlets for my sales. Foremost is via a Print On Demand service (POD), Fineart America. Sales from my website go through this platform. Basically the POD sells prints and products using my images. I get a commission for each sale. The cool part is I set the amount of my commission. The bad part is I do not know who bought my art. All I get is a location meaning I have art all around the country (and world) hanging on a wall, but have no idea where.

Another outlet I use is a Stock site. They sell my images and I get commission. They set the prices and commissions. Again, the buyers are their customers so I do not know who has made a purchase.  What is nice is most of the sales are digital images for use on the internet. A quick search often shows me where my art is being used. What is bad is the commissions are small, usually well under a dollar per image though I have sold some that fetched a commission as high as $20. Not much money to be made, but as a good friend told me, I may not be making a lot of money, but a lot of people are seeing my photos and the buyer literally had millions to choose from. It is a nice ego boost.

I am not currently in any galleries, though I do think about it now and then. If you know a place that might be open to displaying my work let me know.

So now the braggy part. Most photos are clickable and will take you to my web site. Many are screen shots (some are foreign language) and a click will take you to the original image. Each has a story to go with it.

My first big “public” sale was to a small magazine catering to apiarists. I actually made the cover (a relatively big payday) and as an added bonus they sent me some beeswax candles as a Christmas gift.

Audubon used one of my photos to illustrate a “Call to Action”. Cool, but they used a pic I had entered into a contest they had so no payday.

Beyond that I have been popping up in on line magazines, newspapers and advertising. Most popular are my photos of firefighting. Many of them came from a single house fire that was a few blocks from my house including one that has sold over forty times.

My favorite though was from a fire demonstration put on by a local fire department. My photo of a burning car was used to illustrate an article on a fatal car crash and fire.

Oh, yeah, I do have a Pinterest Account (floridaphotobob – not sure if I have any sales because of it) and a Redbubble Account. Set it up a few years ago and never did anything with it. Forgot I had it until I got a sale a few weeks ago.

Plus I am on Facebook (RobertWilderJr) and Twitter (@FloridaPhotoBob).

So take a look and leave a comment if you like what you see. Many photos are clickable and will take you to my web site.

June 1st marks the beginning of the Atlantic hurricane season.Across Florida local communities and television stations have been holding seminars and hosting television shows to help residents prepare. PSA’s run day and night about the upcoming storm season.

Once a storm forms, regular updates on the storm’s threat and potential are made. Should one get close those updates come hourly and them even more frequent. While some stay glued to their television to see what is going on others choose to ignore them, complaining that it is too much noise.

In 2017 Hurricane Irma affected most of the state. For many it was their first brush with a big storm. Here is the story of one such person…

I sorta knew there was a storm coming. The weather guy had been yapping about it for days. I never understood why they start talking about it so soon. They don’t know where it is headed, so why get folks all riled up? Wait until it is close enough that you can be sure where it is headed. It just make sense.

Anyhow, the boss decided to close the office early. There were only a couple of us that showed up anyway. The family men had all taken off over the weekend. I guess it was some kind of holiday I did not celebrate? We made sure the computers were all backed up and that they were off the floor. We even covered them with plastic garbage bags. Like that would help. Then he sent us all home to make final preparations. Final preparations? Was I supposed to start making preparations? Why didn’t anyone tell me?

On the way home I decided to stop by Publix after hearing on the radio that the storm was now headed straight for us. When did that happen? I watch the news. Sometimes. But I turn it off when they start with the hourly updates. Yeah, yeah. Storm. Heard it. Shut up already.

You’d think they would have warned us a bit sooner.

The store was a shambles. Long lines at the checkouts, people running around like it’s the end of the world. What is wrong with them? They should have stocked up on hurricane supplies days ago.

There was no water to be found. Nor milk, beer or wine. Canned goods were pretty much wiped out as well. I finally found some prune juice and a couple cans of octopus. As an aside I do not recommend the combination unless you are a bit backed up. In that case I suggest you try it. You will clean out stuff you ate when you were still in diapers. I also scored a couple cans of tuna and a jar of peanut butter.

I was the last customer to check out. Well, second to last. There was some lady screaming at the manager about how someone stole a couple cans of tuna and a jar of peanut butter out of her cart. I hurried back to my car. It was starting to rain.

On the radio they were telling people that if they were not already out of town that it was time to hunker down. I hate that term. Anyhow I decided to swing by the home improvement store to get some stuff. They were getting ready to lock up and I had to convince the guy at the door that I knew exactly what I needed and would only be a minute.

There was no plywood of any size, shape or grade to be found. Instead I got some cardboard boxes, bubble wrap, string and double sided carpet tape. That should work.

Back home I started to board up the house. Well, cardboard and bubble wrap it. The wind was starting to pick up and the boxes started to fly. Not that it mattered. The rain kept the carpet tape from sticking to anything. This was not going to happen I decided as I sat on the toilet (seriously, octopus and prune juice do not play well together) that it was time to hit the road.

There was nobody on the roads which was a blessing as the wind and rain made it hard to keep the car in one lane. The guy on the radio said both I-75 and I-95 north were parking lots. What’s wrong with people? If they wanted to get out of Florida they should have left days ago. Don’t these idiots plan ahead? I would take alternate routes to get around the traffic. Squalls were passing through the area now, bringing heavy rain and strong gusts of wind. One of them was strong enough to push me off the road into a ditch. I called 911 and was told I would have to wait. Sustained winds were too strong. Emergency vehicles would not respond. What? What was I supposed to do? Just sit at home?

I sat in that ditch as the wind howled and the rain fell. Water started to trickle into the car as the ditch filled with water.

Why didn’t anyone tell me it would be like this?

There is weird and then there is Florida weird. We embrace our weirdness. Key West is the place weirdos go to get paid for being weird. We left chads hanging all over the place and ruined a national election. Do you really believe we did not do that on purpose? Well, we didn’t, but that’s neither here nor there. This is Floriduh, the state that is shaped like a certain part of anatomy that should not be on display. As if it’s our fault that the state is shaped like that.

Florida possesses a certain kind of weird that cannot be found anyplace else and we are proud of it. Oh, you have some guy that danced nude in front of the high school glee club? Yawn. ‘Round here we call that Tuesday. We got a guy proposing to his girlfriend with a ring tied to an alligator. Oh, don’t get all excited. It was just a baby alligator and the girlfriend was actually more interested in holding the gator than wearing the ring (she did say yes, though).

We put our weirdness on display for all to see.

Here’s the thing. Being weird does not mean we’re stupid. We’re not. Otherwise we would not know when weird things happen. And nothing can stop the weirdness, not even death.

One of our greatest moments was the death of the first white man in North America. That happened near what is now the city of Punta Gorda back in 1513. Did it really happen there? Can it be verified? Who cares? We put up a marker to commemorate it. We are proud of that weird moment in our past.

Punta Gorda didn’t end it there, either. In order to make sure the cemeteries stay full they have a “fountain of youth” that dispenses radioactive water. The city has tried to remove the “fountain” (it’s really just a spigot on a street downtown) a couple times but was thwarted by locals who demanded the “fountain” stay.

Beyond that we go out of our way to honor our dead. We build graves that look like boats. We put airplanes on graves. We have a gravestone that says “I told you I was sick”. That’s weird. Florida weird.

There are two kinds of snowbirds. Some drive here and some fly. All of them are getting away from the snow up north. There is nothing wrong with being a snowbird. There is a problem only if you are a “damn snowbird”. If you don’t know the difference we’ll let you know. Just ask.

In the meantime here are a few tips to keep you falling into that second cetegory.

We go to the beach, not down to the shore.

They are flip flops not sandals. And they are definitely not thongs. Yikes that is a mistake you do not want to make. Locals are allowed to wear socks with flip flops when it gets chilly. You cannot wear socks with flip flops. Ever.

Chilly means the temperature has dipped below 70. Under Sixty is cold. Fifty is freezing. Forty is Freakin’ Freezing. We don’t even want to talk about lower temperature than that. And, yes, we have seen lower temperatures. It has snowed in Florida. I’ve seen it firsthand. I could count the flakes on that hand.

We have no-see-ums not gnats. Those giant flying things are palmetto bugs.

It does not rain here, but on occasion the sunshine turns liquid and falls to the ground.

Don’t try to use “y’all” until you know how to use it properly. You are “you”. You and y’all’s relations are y’all.

When we  call you “sir”, “ma’am”, “hon”, “sweetie” or “darlin'” don’t get bent out of shape. We don’t mean anything by it. It is just a polite way to address someone you don’t know.

Now, if we say “bless your heart”, it is time for you to shut up and move along. Seriously.

It is perfectly acceptable for a grown-ass man or woman to call their parents mama and daddy.

Grits come with breakfast. Hush puppies come with lunch and supper.

Conch has two hard ‘c”s. It is pronounced “konk”.

When we tell you to do the “stingray shuffle” we do not want to see your killer dance moves. We are just trying to keep you safe. You see stingrays like to bask in the sand in shallow water. They don’t mean to hurt you, but they don’t take kindly to being stepped on (who does?) and as they take off the stinger in their tail might end up in your foot. The solution is to drag your feet along the sand to let them know you are coming so they can scoot away. This is the stingray shuffle.

You don’t have to ask if there is a gator in that pond, lake, creek or water filled ditch. There is.

DO NOT FEED THE WILDLIFE! That goes for seagulls as well as gators. The birds get very agressive and will not leave us alone if they are used to being fed. The gators will eat us if they get used to being fed. It’s that simple. I don’t care how cute a picture it will make, DO NOT FEED THE WILDLIFE!

It’s Publix. Not Wegmans or Krogers or whatever you have back home. Don’t like Publix? Bless your little heart.

Just because a car has Florida tags does not mean they are locals. Lots of snowbirds make Florida their resident state to avoid taxes. So all those bad drivers? Yeah, they are from someplace else.

They are not stickers or prickers. They are sand spurs and they want to kill you, y’all’s relations and your dog. Seriously. They will flatten your car tires if you let them. They can be found most anyplace there is sand. You will step on one or at the very least get one stuck on your pants unless you never walk outside. In which case what are you doing here?

Florida has issues. No need for you to point them out. Everyplace on the planet has issues. Thing is we own ours. We embrace them. We brag about them. We can because we live here. You don’t.

The name Dick Pope Sr is not well known even among long time Florida residents, but it should be.

In January of 1936 he did something that would forever change the Florida landscape and the world, for that matter,

It all started in 1927 when the Florida real estate market fell apart. Pope needed a way to support his wife, Julie, He began staging high speed boat races around the state as publicity stunts for an outboard motor company. His death defying races were successful enough that he started his own PR firm. Soon he had wealthy clients from around the country and an office in Chicago.

Despite his success, he still knew something was missing. He and his wife decided it was time to move back to Florida. Julie showed an article she had seen in “Good Housekeeping” while they were living in New York about a wealthy banker that had opened his estate to the public and charged people admission to visit. The idea stuck with them and Pope decided he would build a beautiful garden in Florida and charge admission.

After a couple false starts work began in earnest on his project. He worked alongside laborers to create his gardens in the middle of a 16 acre marsh. The press called his project a folly and referred to Pope as the “Swami of the Swamp”. Dick was the master of design and used a camera to set op the pathways in the gardens Julie added her expertise with flowers.

On January 2, 1936 the state’s first theme park, Cypress Gardens, opened with 8000 varieties of flowers from over 90 countries. A couple years later electric boats were added to carry visitors along the park’s canals.

Over the years misfortune would change the park for better and for worse.

One of the park’s “hooks” would be the southern belles that strolled the grounds in hoop skirts and posing for photos with tourists (I have a couple photos of myself with a belle or two). That tradition started in the 1940’s when a hard frost killed some of the vines at the park’s front gate. Julie dressed up an employee in a big hoop skirt and told her (I assume it was a female) to go stand at the gate and flirt with the customers to distract them from the dead vegetation. It worked and the belles began.

Another of the park’s big draws happened by accident as well. As WWII raged in Europe Dick was called away to serve. In 1942 a group of soldiers came to the park and saw the Pope kids and friends water skiing in the lake. The teens were showing off as teens tend to do and the soldiers went back to camp and told everyone about the big ski show at the park. Next day several hundred soldiers arrived at the park wanting to see the ski show. Julie was taken aback, but being the PR genius she was she got her kids and their friends together and put on a show for the troops. The Cypress Gardens ski shows would become world famous.

The park did well until someone found a mouse in Florida. The arrival of Disney World brought an end to many of the roadside attractions across the state as the destination became bigger than the journey. The Popes saw ticket sales dwindle and the park was sold several times after their deaths until it was finally closed down in 2003.

A new buyer came on the scene and reopened the park in 2004 as the Cypress Gardens Adventure Park with rides and a water park as well as ice skating shows and concerts (my wife and I attended a few of the concerts). Florida was hit with a series of hurricanes in that same year, causing the delay of his opening as three of the ‘canes battered the fledgling park. He was under insured as he had poured so much into the park instead of insurance and was unable to recover from the losses caused by the storms. The park closed in 2008 though a few feeble attempts were made to resurrect it. The park was sold again and re-opened as Legoland in 2011. The new park has kept the heart of the old park: the gardens. Still, Florida lost a gem that can never be replaced.

I have not made the trip to Lego;and to check out the new old gardens. If anyone has an inside track and could hook me up…

Try to fit in. Never start a conversation with “up north” or “back home”. You can try to use this useless information later in the conversation, but not at the beginning. Keep in mind that the only people that care you are from wherever you are form are people from wherever you are from.

If you do decide to share your advice we will listen patiently until we hear the words “up north” or “back home” then eyes will roll. heads will shake and backs will turn. Trust me when I say we’ve heard it before and do not care to hear it again. If you never use those words in quotes we might actually listen until you are done. Does not mean we will heed your advice, but at least we’ll listen.

This also applies to whatever you call something “back home”. A grinder? I don’t think so.

Things do work different in Florida. That does not mean we are stupid or backwards it just means we are different. Sometimes we do things different because of our climate, our population or because of our southern culture. Other times we do things different just because we want to. Refer to fact one. Maybe things could be done differently and maybe that way might be better, but this is how we do things here. Quit trying to change us. We like us the way we are, moles and all.

Learn the rules of the road. I’m not going to tell you how horrible drivers are wherever you are from because there are bad drivers everywhere.  Just take the time to check out our laws and rules of the road. Seriously.

We have developed a complex system of hand gestures and dialogue to let you know when you are doing it wrong.  It can be a slow learning curve for some, but we are more than willing to help you along.

Dress appropriately. Getting dressed up means you are wearing shoes with laces. Formal means you are also wearing socks. Shorts are good year round, but only because many long time residents don’t own long pants (that’s why they wear a jacket with shorts). Socks with sandals are fine if the temperature dips to unbearable levels (under 70 for most folks).

Gators are everywhere. If there is a body of fresh water (body meaning anything wet) there are alligators there. Do not feed them. Do not harass them. Leave them alone and they will leave you alone.

Gators do not “infest” our waterways. They live there.

Most any visitor to the city of St Augustine on Florida’s east coast, has seen, if not visited the Castillo de San Marcos. The fort is the largest masonry fort in  the continental United States (there is a larger one in Puerto Rico). It is also one of only two forts in the world made of coquina, a variety of limestone common in the area. If one wants to visit the other coquina fort it requires a road trip of fifteen miles or so down the road.

Just south of St Augustine is Fort Matanzas. The story of how this fort got its name is even more interesting than the history of the fort.

In the middle of the 16^th century Spain controlled the Florida Peninsula. Spanish ships plied the waters off the coast before carrying treasures to their homeland. The French established a colony at the mouth of the St Johns River known as Fort Caroline. The location afforded a perfect spot to launch attacks on the Spanish ships.

When King Phillip II learned of the colony he was angry, not only because the French were intruding on Spanish property, but also because these were Huguenots (French Protestants),

When the French sent ships to resupply the colony in 1565 the Spanish responded by sending some ships to wipe out the colony. The French chased the Spanish south where they landed in a Timucuan village they had previously spotted (they had named the area St Augustine as they had discovered in on the Feast of St Augustine).

The French later sailed south from Fort Caroline, at the mouth of the St Johns River,  to attack the village of St Augustine but were caught in a hurricane. Their ships were wrecked south of St Augustine. At the same time the Spanish had marched north and captured Fort Caroline. When the Spanish learned of the wrecks they marched south and found the French at an inlet. The French were without food an weapons and surrendered. The Spanish then demanded the Huguenots abandon their faith and convert to Catholicism. Those that refused were killed. This scene was repeated and an estimated 300 souls were killed in the dunes around the inlet.

The inlet, and river, were named “Matanzas”, a Spanish word meaning slaughters.

Fast forward a couple hundred years.

In 1740 the inlet to the Matanzas River was used to blockade St Augustine. The city survived the thirty nine day siege, but the Spanish realized the to defend this “back door” to the city.

Slaves, convicts and Cuban soldiers were set to work building a fort on Rattlesnake Island,  a short distance up the river. Local materials, coquina, were used to construct the small structure. The Spanish did not even have the opportunity to lay out a welcome mat before the fort faced attack.

The fort was near completion when, in 1742, the British attempted to attack the city via the inlet and river. Soldiers at the new fort opened fire with cannons and the twelve British ships fled. This would be the first, and last, time the fort saw any action.

Upon completion the fort was 50 feet long on each side with a guard tower reaching thirty feet. It boasted four six pounder and one eighteen pounder cannons. Each of these guns could reach the inlet, which is less than a half mile from the fort. A compliment of a single officer, four infantry men and two gunners were normally stationed at the fort. The location offered the option of quickly reinforcing the fort with more men if needed.

By the time the Spanish Empire fell apart, the country was doing nothing to maintain the fort and when the United States took control in 1821 the fort was in rough shape and troops could not live in it. As a result the fort was soon in ruins. At times the old structure was used as target practice by american troops.

The United State Department of War began restoring the fort in 1916 and in 1924 it was declared a national Monument. In 1933 ownership was transferred to the National Park Service.

Today the monument is open every day except for Thanksgiving and Christmas. A ferry boat carries visitors across the river to the fort. While at the park you can explore the beach area and a nature trail. One can spot wildlife and birds in the park’s 100 acres. It is well worth a day trip if visiting St Augustine.  My wife and I stopped by on our drive home from a trip to St Augustine.

The ferry landing was severely damaged by hurricane Matthew in 2016, so tours of the fort have been suspended. Be sure to check with the park to see if they have resumed.

If you would like to visit the fort here is more information: https://www.nps.gov/foma/index.htm