november 3

In my late 20's I started taking off the blinders while driving and opened my eyes. Previous to that I would just drive from point A to B without looking around at all during any trip whether long or short.

I have a distinct image in my head from when I first started looking at stuff. I was driving on Ware Road in Ballouville Connecticut right around this time of year, and for some reason I slowed down and just looked around me. I thought Wow, this is really nice. Even though the peak foliage had passed, the trees and color of sky looked cool. Everything was awesome.

I originally started doing this as solace. Because I really didn't like where I was, I decided to concentrate on the good things rather than the bad. It turns out this was definitely for the best because it prompted me to take up photography.

Yesterday as I was driving around running some errands, I looked around and said "Wow." That word does physically come out of me from time to time while driving in the Tampa Bay area. Only on very rare occasion did I ever speak it in reference to scenery while driving in Connecticut.

I honestly feel that many Floridians simply don't realize how good they have it in Tampa Bay. There is so much life and activity - and I make darn sure to soak it in as much as I can.