Christmas in Florida

Here’s a collection of photos from our trip to The Villages in December to see my parents. We had a great time, it was a nice break from the winter weather and snow that hit New York while we were gone – thanks Mom and Dad!

Florida in the American imagination is a bit of a mixed bag, the famous “Florida Man” is one example. Then there’s Disney, the Space Program, and other less popular things like suburbia and politics.

As far as actually being in Florida goes, being there is much nicer than the things we think or say about it. What I like to do when in Florida is attempt to distance myself from these ideas – we’re on vacation, after all – and enjoy the suburban beauty of it.

I’ve included some commentary below with each group of photos. I hope I’ve succeeded in transmitting some of the nice elements of Florida without reinforcing any negative stereotypes.

Landscapes

As far as this first group of photos go, I suppose Joel Sternfeld’s American Prospects is an inspiration for the collection below, as he is masterful at combining nature and manmade structures. The way he captures 1980s suburbs is poetic.

Color

These next few remind me a bit of Martin Parr, the British photographer who is famous for his use of color, humorous juxtaposition, and photos from the seaside.

Other Adventures

We went to pick oranges to an orange grove which happened to have goats, which also like oranges. We also went to Leesburg, Florida to a park that is apparently called Venetian Gardens which was great for bird-watching. Two of the photos below and several of the others are from that visit.

This next photo has some nice bright colors. It’s interesting how we use bright yellows to call attention to so many things on the roadway, perhaps because it’s such an uncommon color in nature. I probably had this image of Stephen Shore in mind subconsciously as I took it.

On the same car trip, I managed this one below, which I’m not quite sure how to characterize. It strikes me as a bit ominous. The sky, which was bright blue, is quite overwhelming in black and white and thus balances better against the light foreground.

Relaxation

The remainder are just us relaxing. It really was a relaxing trip.

Here’s a sneaky one on the plane before takeoff, heading back to New York – Paola’s idea 🙂

See everyone next time!