awkward number one.

I have decided that every once in a while, just for fun, I am going to compile some pictures of really awkward things I have come across.

Strolling down Duval Street in Key West, I came across this character. With "KWELVIS" emblazoned on his guitar, I could only assume I was looking at Key West's Elvis. He didn't speak to me, only scrunched his lip up like so. There aren't even strings on his guitar.


Downtown Fort Myers, a frequent haunt of mine, provides me with many photo opportunities. However, I couldn't have made this one up. Outside Starbucks sat this shirtless (but definitely not scarfless) man with his bird. I thought he was talking to his wife, or whoever the woman was that was sitting with him, but he definitely wasn't. It was not until I had sat down with some friends and a coffee that I realized he was holding his conversation with the bird. You can only imagine how excited he got when I took their photo.



Taking my camera with me everywhere pays off. Even at a gas station. There isn't much of a story with this one. The broken pay phone is being guarded by a paisley print elephant.



The last awkward photo (for now) is just what it looks like. A random sofa in a field.

Nikon D50

If you are interested in the camera I use, you can go here to read up on the key features and technical specifications of the Nikon D50.

The basic rundown on my Nikon is...

It is a Digital SLR (Single Lens Reflex) and it has auto and manual functions. I mostly use manual, for the sake of not being like every other person that totes around a camera and thinks that they know how to use it, while it's on autofocus. Anyone can point and shoot a photo, but they don't now how to do the adjusting of all the settings by hand to get that perfect shot.

a random trip to Arcadia...

...yielded a fruitful discovery of an airplane graveyard, a pasture full of friendly cows, and an old abandoned gas station.

Headed northbound on I-75, I was on a quest to discover something new. I often get in these moods, and I will just start driving in my Toyota that I fondly refer to as Doug. With my camera packed and my best friend Hayley sitting shotgun, I decided to get off on an exit that pointed towards Arcadia. I stumbled upon my first of three findings of the day within the first few minutes after my exit off the Interstate. It was an abandoned gas station sporting signs advertising gas for 13 cents a gallon. Yes, THIRTEEN cents. Not the almost THIRTEEN dollars of now-a-days. Cents.

A good fifteen minutes continued up that road, I pulled off onto a dirt road and parked Doug in a field next to a cow pasture. Come on, me pass up more pictures of cows? No way. Thats one of my favorite things to take pictures of. At least when they are friendly. As Hayley and I coaxed a brown and white cow we already named "Tank" to come closer, a white pickup truck passed by and doubled back. It was the ranch owner's son. Prepared to make a run to the car, (since most people won't like you messing with their property) I was surprised when he introduced himself and offered to let us inside the fence. We conversed for a good hour, during which he told me about his father's cow collection and the mating season schedule.

I don't know why either.

He also mentioned something about old beat up airplanes in the field up the street, which is where I went shortly after I was able to escape the conversation without making it too obvious that I was ready to end it.

After relocating Doug a short way up the dirt road, I found exactly what Cowboy Junior was talking about. Strewn across a field were bodies of old helicopters and airplanes that had obviously seen their fair share of unfortunate accidents. As I took my photos, I could still hear the mooing of the cows.

the universe inside a shell.

Somewhere I have visited three times to date is Koreshan Unity Settlement, located in a little nitch many seem to drive past without a thought. On the corner of Corkscrew and U.S. 41 is a state preserved historic sight that holds many stories that I discovered during my visits to take photos.

The Koreshans were a community that believed that the universe was actually located inside the Earth; the Earth being a hollow shell. The devout followers of the man who started the community, Cyrus Teed, settled on this land in Estero in 1893. A woman I met while I was taking some photos of the surviving homes and structures told me an interesting tale of their celibacy that made me wonder how smart these individuals really were.

Seeing as how they lived celibate lives from the moment they settled onto this land in Estero, Florida, I'm not quite sure if the Koreshans had functioning minds. The last time I checked, in order to have a "well-oiled" settlement, you would naturally want to have offspring to continue the "legacy," if you will. Making sure no surprise baby bumps appeared, the women actually had separate homes from their husbands and existing children (from before they came to settle at this location). Having no contact with the outside, the Koreshans provided for themselves, excluding the delivery via-boats of supplies that came every once in a while.

Much to everyone's surprise, by 1961, the last surviving Koreshan donated the land to the state shortly before they died, leaving us with the Koreshan Unity Settlement. Even though the settlement itself raises a lot of questions, it provides a great place for photo opportunities, not only of the old buildings, but of the surrounding foliage.