N 28° 8’49.32″ W 80°38’37.62″ Google Earth location
Part of the challenge of doing these posts has been seeing just how specific I can get about a location, and this one is within a meter or so (though I probably should have more decimals in the Lat/Lon coordinates for that.) I knew the rough location and started cruising through Google Earth, and with Street View and some comparisons I’ve pinned this down to the exact location, so you can be utterly confident when you visit. This was nearly twenty years ago though, so those flowers probably aren’t there anymore.
Once again in bona fide black & white film, Ilford delta 400 to be exact, out at night with an Olympus OM-10 and only winging it at exposure times, but this came out just fine for that. Perhaps a tad overexposed, but not egregiously so – if I recall correctly (and why would you doubt it?), the wall was a pale cream color offset by the white accent tiling, the flowers yellow, while the almost-directly-overhead streetlight provided good contrast and brought out those textures, far better than if it had been further away or across the street or something.
I was trying to recall if this was the same night as another particular shot, and eventually dug out the negative binders to check; it was. This wasn’t far from a set of train tracks and I wanted a time exposure of the train passing, but had no idea of the schedule other than, ‘at least once a night.’ I was likely stalling when I took this frame, waiting for the train, and had given up and moved on, no small distance either, when I heard the train whistle and rushed back to get the tripod set up in time for a single frame. I did better later on.
Also along this same road, someone’s massive grapefruit tree extended well out over the sidewalk (this being Florida, but of course you knew this because I gave you the link and coordinates,) and some nights I’d steal one when they were ripe. These tree-ripened grapefruit were fabulous, if a bit sticky, though I used to feel a little bad about helping myself until, a few weeks later, I glanced through the fence there to find the ground littered with rotting grapefruit, so I’m guessing they weren’t missing the ones I scarfed down. But emboldened by the fresh flavor, I also found a ripe orange tree and helped myself to one of these, a huge mistake because despite its lovely appearance, this orange was simultaneously bitter and sour, and I mean horrendously so. Crime doesn’t pay (all the time, anyway.)