awkward eight: those are the biggest strawberries ever.

A fresh produce stand caught my eye with extraordinarily huge strawberries they had next to the road. They almost resemble watermelons. Almost.



While I don't usually pay attention to fruit stands, I noticed this one because it is surrounded by totem poles. In case you are interested, their pears are imported from Argentina. The woman who worked the stand spotted me with my camera decided to brag about her Arteninian fruit.

rust and oranges.

"If you jump the fence on the end of this road, you can see an old school house that they are going to tear down."

This is what a woman walking her dog told me when she saw me taking photos at a rusty barn. "They" being the city, and she obviously isn't happy about the plans to level the old buildings. "I live on the end of this street, when the pavement ends and the dirt road begins. The city bought out every one of these old buildings so that they can level it and build shopping malls."

Well I haven't done much perusing in Estero of US 41, so all she had to do was drop the bait of "jumping a fence" and I was there. I feel like I get the best photos when I probably shouldn't be somewhere. Not only did I discover the school she mentioned, but when I came back to my car, the woman was still hanging around. As I tried to not get eaten by her hyper, oversized dog, she informed me that the house behind me is vacant because the woman who lived there died. "Used to be a really nice barn and house, now look at it. 'They' are tearing it down too."

What was striking was the contrast of this run down home and the surrounding vibrantly colored oranges. It really is a shame that the city feels the need to level land that has such old houses and history that goes along with them.

awkward seven: where are you pointing?

Here is yet another discovery from one of my infamous wanderings around downtown Ft. Myers and Martin Luther King Blvd. This door is a back entrance of what I believe to be an abandoned building, and it does not render too much to talk about. All I know is it is worth posting because of it's random absurdity. What is the orange arrow pointing to? The orange splotch? What is this for?

Who decided to highlight an orange mark on a door frame with an arrow? Someone isn't one for discreteness.

through the eyes of a fish.

One of my favorite lenses is called the fisheye. It is a separate piece that screws onto the end of my Nikon's lens. The fisheye lens is a type of wide-angle lens that offers a unique effect to an image.

I use a 'full frame' fisheye lens, which offers a wide angle view of my subject. Sometimes it's just fun to switch things up and use a different type of lens.

A fun fact: Fisheye lenses are used in door peep holes.

At times, a friend will ask me to take a picture of them with my fisheye that I affectionately call my Fish. "Eugenia, can you use that bubble-type-lens-thing." I always know exactly what they are trying to get at.

This month marks one year of owning my Fish (and only dropping it once).

white shirts blue jeans.

My photography has given me a chance to get jobs around the area, including doing the photography for events held at a local art gallery. It's a good time, even though it's not as creative as I would want to be. It's more about documenting the events.

I got an offer to do photos for the senior girls in my sorority. Friday morning I woke up bright and early to head out to Bonita Springs to do the shoot. The only thing I knew was that all the girls would wear jeans and a white t-shirt, plus we are going to the beach. Although I love my sisters, I wasn't sure how fun this shoot was going to be. I was notified last minute that a local alumni of my sorority was in the area and she wanted to come out to the shoot. Needless to say, I was not excited to hear someone else would be taking photos, since photographers ideas often clash during a shoot.

We headed up to Barefoot Beach, a place I never saw before. If you have never been there, you should definitely make the trip. It is pretty much a Florida post card. I was getting pretty excited when I was scoping out the area, since the girls all wore blue jeans and white shirts. The contrast was very appealing to the eye.

The other photographer pulled out her camera. Canon Rebel. Now, I know I haven't done much ranting about how I feel about Canon cameras as opposed to Nikons. Let's just say I think Canons are overpriced and overrated. I have also been around some "photographers" with a Canon that have no idea what they are doing, and they tote around a Canon because it's popular.

Therefore, when the woman took her camera out I had an automatic stigma. The shoot began, and we had the girls do some formal group shots. Then, since the overall attitude of these girls is very playful and fun, I wanted to get some shots of them having a good time-candid in a way. When we started this part of the shoot, the other photographer got flustered. The timing was always off with her photos. She leaned over to me and said, "You can do the action shots. I can do portraits?"

The way I see it is that a good photographer can interact with subjects and go a little further than just portraits.

You know what I say about SOME of these Canon photog's....

awkward six: you smell like a ninja.

Incense is a great way to keep your room smelling nice, along with wall plug ins, air fresheners, and febreeze. I feel as if incense is a little bit more natural than the chemicals used in these air fresheners. You can find different scents all over- the flea market being one of those places. But while I was checking out the scents at one stand, something jumped out at me.



How exactly does one smell like a ninja?

change the soil and the pot.

During the holiday weekend, my uncle decided to bestow upon me a bit of advice. He kept wanting to know what I plan on doing after I graduate. I have one more year, and quite frankly, I have been so busy lately that I haven't given it much thought.

He could tell I was nervous about what will happen after graduation, and he gave me better advice than I anticipated.

"When you get out of school, make sure you do things that make you so nervous you feel it in your stomach. If it doesn't make you nervous and excited, it's not worth it."

Then he finished up with advice one of his friends told him. His friend jumped around the job market a little bit after college.

"The only way the flower can flourish is if you change the soil and the pot constantly. Keep yourself on your toes, doing only things that keep you happy. Try new things and keep what you like."

For once, my uncle is right. Even though he spent the entire weekend finding ways to upset almost everyone in the family.

I'm pretty excited to see where I'm going to go after college. I've had some unexpected things thrown at me this year, but things are looking up.

ot: live blog, italian edition.

2PM: Festivities begin. The house is packed with thirty five Italians and my friend Francine. She did the head count.



I'm sort of upset at the fact that my cousins ate all the pigs in a blankets.

2:14PM: My uncle sits me down and asks me how school is going. "Everything is fine; I'm doing really well in school."
His response: "Have fun, Eugenia, you only have one more year left. When I was in college, there were some days I woke up and didn't know what school I went to."

2:20PM: Everyone sits down for the first phase of the meal. Lasagna. I'm twenty years old and I still sit at the kids table. My cousin has a fit because we aren't sitting in the order he wanted us to. I give him a piece of bread and butter and tell him to calm down.

2:30PM: Lasagna has been served. My three year old cousin, Stevie, confides to me that he is Buzz Lightyear.

2:45PM: I'm obsessed with Steven, therefore whenever I see him, I take a million pictures. He has learned to deal with it.




3:15PM: The first food wave is over.

Since Steven is the baby, he is subject to the typical boy roughness. I guess since he is now three, the rough housing begins.





Another uncle of mine says to me, "You have matured alot. You are a lot better than you're cousins."

I said, I know this.

He laughed.

3:35PM: I just snagged my parents for a holiday photo.



3:45PM: While sitting around digesting and waiting for stuffed mushrooms and artichokes, my cousin Vinny decides to speak like Borat.


We are discussing how I love FGCU and my sorority, with his answers not straying very far from the "very nice" line that Borat made famous.

4:15PM: The cousins were whining about playing Nintendo Wii. While they argue about who plays before who, I fell asleep on the couch for a good half an hour.

4:55PM: I just got woken up by Steven yelling "TO INFINITY...AND BEYOND"

4:56PM: I have decided to take him outside to burn off some of the energy. He is running in circles.

5:15PM: I was really afraid "To Infinity and..." was going to end in a broken leg.



5:30PM: I swear, there is not much difference between my cousins who are nineteen and three.






...but I love them all anyway.



6PM: Another course is served. Lamb, pork, asparagus, potatoes, salads. I'm trying to explain to my aunt how wireless internet works. With no success. I wont eat lamb because it makes me think of the show I watched when I was little called Lamb Chop's Play Along.

Francine just leaned over to me and says "I just realized. You are the only girl."

Out of fifteen cousins, I am indeed the only girl.

6:30PM: Chocolate pudding pie, scones, canolies, and chocolate covered strawberries are now on the counter. Fair game. I got in there quick. My cousin Vincent is upset because Steven has resorted to calling him "T-rex" instead of his name. I don't know why.

7PM: An uncle is producing a fine display of debauchery. He is yelling something about politics. It is time for me to go.

awkward five: i love you waldy?

Cookie cake is always a hit. Everyone I know loves it. But there's a line.

Yesterday, while shopping with some friends at Coastland Mall in Naples, we passed a cookie store. I spotted this gem out of the corner of my eye. I don't know who thought to turn a heart shape cake upside down and put a thong on it, but it happened.

When would it seem appropriate to add to a party shopping list "Don't forget thong cookie cake?"

Does someone have a creepy uncle who would love this? Who would be a "Waldy?"

positive shadows.

The picture of a shadow is a positive thing.
-John Locke

An overlooked detail in a photograph might be what caught your eye to begin with.

I was out to dinner with my parents over spring break at a restaurant at home called Rumrunners. Besides the great food, they have a really nice "backyard." I spent the time between eating and receiving the check out on the docks with my camera. My Dad was talking to me as we were watching pelicans swoop into the water when I turned around to be met by an unsuspecting visitor. A huge egret was standing so close to me that I was surprised I didn't startle it when I turned. For one thing, I had never seen an egret that big before, let alone that close to me. I noticed how the bird's shadow fell due to the position of the sun, and something about it caught my eye. I started snapping many pictures until it got tired of me and flew away.

I can't quite put my finger on what exactly the bird's shadow adds to the photo, but it just goes to show that we can get more out of something than what originally meets the eye. You just have to pay attention to catch that detail!

good humour.

Growing up in Cape Coral, Florida rendered me a little less than a city kid. Granted I was born in New York, I moved here when I was in second grade. Therefore I missed the chance of scenario of the "ice cream truck on a hot day" seen in movies. Hearing the ice cream truck music before you can even spot the truck was definitely something I wanted to experience.

Fast forward to being twenty years old, spending time at home during spring break. I was actually sitting at my Grandma's house when I heard the classic ice cream truck tune. I grabbed my car keys and drove around the block until I came upon a Good Humour ice cream truck! Needless to say I had to buy an ice cream. I was so excited that the ice cream truck driver probably thought my enthusiasm was awkward and more than he gets from three little kids combined.

put me in your book.

I haven't attempted a great deal to get any of my photos published, even though it would mean a lot to me. This being said, I got quite the surprise over spring break.

Christine emailed me asking if I would submit any photos for the Mangrove Review. Not just to be IN the book FGCU publishes annually, but the cover! Get excited to see my photo on the 2008 issue of Mangrove Review! This is the picture they picked!

Would you eat a fifty year old gumball?

For a mere ten cents, you can tell me how it is. If it's that great, you can take the antique home for $45.

I found this Toy N' Joy gumball machine at an antique store downtown, and I really wanted to know how long those candies might have been in there. I googled it, and I come to find out this machine was around during the 1950's, meaning these gumballs might be...aged. Not in a good way, like cheese or wine.

What I want to know is what color were these gumballs were originally? Maybe blue.

afraid of sunshine.

As much as I enjoy road trips and discovering new places to take pictures, there are two things I do not like. One of these things obviously being filling up my gas tank, and the other being a certain bridge I have to cross in order to get up the state. The Sunshine Skyway is on the way to Tampa, and it is the highest/most terrifying thing I have ever driven on. To add to my fear of driving on this beastly structure, I recently heard about the huge accident that happened in 1980.

The original bridge was hit by a freight ship, and it collapsed killing 35 people who's vehicles plunged into the water. When you drive on the new Skyway that was built to replace the old, you will see two "fishing piers" to the left when you are going north. Those are actually parts of the old bridge, and I find that eerie.

In doing some more research, I discovered that the freight ship is still being used. After the accident, it was sold and renamed. Who would really want to use a ship that was involved in such a terrible accident?

metaphorical snails.

Occasionally, I will take a picture that makes me reflect on my own life. Even if the subject in the photograph has no obvious correlation to me.

I came across a snail on the front porch of a friends apartment, and I sat and watched it trail across the cement. Every few inches, it paused to look back at it's path. With more reflection, I have realized that I can take a lesson from the snail. Keep moving, while still taking some time to look back at the past. Since everything does happen for a reason, right? Which made me think of a song by a band called The Format, called "Snails."

"Snails see the benefits
the beauty in every inch."

Look it up, it's pretty good.

And to think, all of these ideas came from a snail in a picture.

family: myrtaceae genera: eugenia

While spending a day wandering my usual spot, downtown Ft. Myers, I decided to take some pictures of the old Federal Building on First Street. I heard it was being remodeled into the Sidney & Berne Art Center, which should be a really awesome place to visit when it's done. There was only one thing I wanted to make sure they didn't to touch. Outside the steps of the old court house are two metal cylinder light structures with words cut out. I never paid attention to what the words actually are, but the friends who I was with that day mentioned they were names of flowers. When the light on the inside of the cylinder comes on, the words are reflected all over the outside of the building.

For the record, Eugenia is not one of those names you find on a keychain when you visit Florida. It is never on a personalized mug. On a whim, I figured I would look and see if my name was one of the words, since Eugenia is a type of little white flower. My one chance, you know? Much to my surprise...

awkward four.

Think of your ideal "other half." What makes them so attractive? Maybe you are into musicians, who make sure to play their music every morning for all to hear. Maybe they have an affinity for Dr. Pepper. Maybe you like someone who always has cash on them, I don't know. If so, I have someone you can meet.



I passed this man one morning on Duval Street in Key West. He was quite the musician alright, especially since there were no strings on his little guitar. I wonder if he even knew. He actually asked me to marry him (no joke), but don't worry ladies, I declined. He is still up for grabs.

polaroids facing extinction.

Nearly every childhood is peppered by photographs.

For 80's babies, these photographs are far from digital. Instant polaroids were definitely the popular photographic medium. Although I work primarily with manual and digital SLR's, polaroids have kept their place in my heart.

This being said, I was pretty upset when I heard the news. Polaroid is discontinuing their instant film, and they have already stopped producing instant cameras. This is quite depressing to me, because I would love for my hypothetical, not even in existance yet, children to have a few polaroids of their childhood. For old time's sake.

I guess I can stock up, famine style.



me, circa 1987

awkward number three.

The third installment of my Awkward series comes straight out of St. Petersburg, Florida. I took a trip there to visit the Salvador Dali Museum, and after I spent a few hours there I decided to venture downtown.

I was simply waiting to cross the street, minding my own business. Wearing two pairs of sunglasses, a white wig, and a fanny pack (YES! Again with the fanny pack) was a woman who decided to bestow some knowledge onto me. Lucky me.

"You should dye your hair blonde, my dear."

Oh jeeze, I thought to myself, she is definitely talking to me.

I decided to go along with it so I said, "Excuse me?"

Here came the response that didn't need any interjection on my part. It went somewhat like, "Dye your hair blonde, I said, or just get a wig like mine. All princesses have blonde hair. And wear all white. That's what princesses do to. Just look at Princess Diana. What a shame. Blonde hair. Us women will take over the world, someday. We are going to start with St. Petersburg. You just wait. I have to go, the light is saying I can cross."

emotion capture.

It's so dreary outside and I am feeling pretty nostalgic. Looking through pictures I have taken over the last two years has only added to the nostalgia. I don't know if someone who isn't a photographer can relate to this, but I can remember the exact moment that I took each picture. How I was feeling, what was going on in my life, who I was with-everything. It is such an odd sensation to look back at life when you thought you knew exactly how things were going to turn out. The people in my photographs that aren't in my life anymore, the times I can never go back to, as well as the ones that I would never want to. Each photograph I take involves a piece of me. I have an emotional connection with each picture and subject, even years after the photo has already been processed.

spandex, fanny packs, and muscle cars.

I like shows. Art shows, performing arts shows, musical shows... game shows, tv shows. But I can honestly say I have never enjoyed a dog show or a car show.

Luckily, I don't have friends that are into dog shows.

Much to my disappointment, car shows are somewhat of a popular past time. People have tried to convince me to go plenty of times.

"It will be fun!"

Oh, that familiar promise.

So, I gave it a few chances, and I am still not a fan. That being said, I was spending a day downtown (surprise, surprise) when I came across one of my favorite events. Can we guess what it was?

Lined up First and Dean Street were old vintage cars, including Mustangs and Bel-Airs. Those being the only two I know the names of. I almost brushed off the event entirely, which would have been quite unfortunate. What I saw made my day. Crouched next to a nicely polished red vehicle was a man who was...not so polished. Wearing a screamingly unmatched spandex outfit with camera in hand, this man was oblivious to the fact that people were trying to figure out his outfit, not look at the car. He even had a fanny pack and his hair slicked back into a pony tail. I watched him for a while, as he circled the same car to take pictures of it from every angle. Sounds creepy, but he gained the attention of everyone at the car show. I'm pretty sure some children were ushered away by parents, because of the obscene nature of the spandex.

So thank you, SpandexFannyPackMan, for making at least one car show of my life halfway enjoyable.

separation.

Port Charlotte, Florida.

A place often forgotten about unless you are from there. If you aren't, there isn't much of a reason to go. Unless your name is Eugenia, and you waste a lot of gas driving for the sake of getting interesting photos.

I spent a day taking pictures at the old rail car at the Southwest Florida Museum of History in Fort Myers, and I was pretty excited about it. Telling a friend from Port Charlotte about the old railroad station, he gave me directions without telling me where I was going. "GO HERE!" he commanded, "You will want to get pictures of this."

That's all I needed. A little bait, and I was hooked. The next day Doug (the Corolla... introduced in a previous post) and I took our road trip to Port Charlotte. For a while, I drove aimlessly, stopping to snap a few random pictures.

Finally, I made it to the destination on the poorly drawn map. Yes, he drew a map to accompany my directions.

I could not believe what I was looking at; I almost forgot to put Doug in park. The structure, which I later learned, is protected by a historical society. A piece of memorabilia from an ignorant past some would like to forget.

It is the Port Charlotte Train Depot. Judging from the signage on the outside, the building functions as an antique store during the day. But what really made my stomach churn was what still adorned the doorways.

awkward numero dos.

Fleamasters flea market is located off Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. in Fort Myers. It is where most of Southwest Florida's interesting population spend their weekends. Sounds almost like an advertisement, but don't kid yourself. If you weren't interested in taking pictures there, I wouldn't recommend going. Rude people, fanny packs, and food cooked on grills that don't know "clean" reside there. Unless you like that sort of thing.

But... the picture for the second awkward post comes straight from Fleamasters.




If that is a real location, I need to go.

rusty old things.

Lately an odd obsession of mine has been finding rusted, decrepit objects. Whether it is old vehicles, buildings, or fences made of hubcaps, I am all over it.

When one of my best friends moved into an apartment in downtown Ft. Myers, she decided to give me a spare key to her place. For a reason I couldn't even try to explain, one day I realized that the key unlocked a side door. After I got enough guts to walk down the creepy stairs, I discovered that it leads to an unfinished basement decorated with graffiti. There are several staircases that have been filled in with cement, which left me wondering what this building used to be. Turns out, it used to be an orphanage over fifty years ago until it closed down. Sort of creepy, yes, but it only got weirder when I figured out my key opened a door to a staircase on the side of the building.

YES, I had a lot of time on my hands that day.

The stairs were painted green and twisted up along all nine floors. They were unusually steep and narrow, and definitely not up to fire codes.

Another intriguing rust bucket I found was while a few friends and I were walking down Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. It was just a random abandoned pink wagon sitting behind a building, but the weird thing was what was inside. I don't know if someone planted the plants inside of it, or it just started naturally, but it was interesting nontheless.

Further down the road, I discovered a fence constructed of rusted hubcaps. I don't know who had the patience or time to fit them together, because it stretched around the length of two properties. But I am probably not in a position to talk about people having too much free time.

(The last three photos included are of an old van that obviously made it's way down from Alaska to rust in a field located near the airplanes from my previous post.)