Wednesday June 4, 2008
Georgia and Florida, manmade
More photos from the trip, this time hopefully in contrast to the previous “nature” shots. To answer some of the practical questions I’ve been getting: I took the train up to Savannah last Friday. Upon getting to the train station at 8 pm (just as the sun was setting) I had to put my bike back together (it was boxed for the trip) and search for a camping spot for the night. I began pedaling the next morning, and arrived back in Miami the next Sunday. That’s nine days on the bike, including three night stays in motels and five nights of camping. My speedometer was once again on the fritz during this trip, but my daily mileage averaged over 80 miles, with at least a couple of 100 mile days. Other then an almost-constant headwind, the weather was cooperative, with no rain to speak of, and comfortable days and cool nights (at least until the last few days in South Florida, where the sun laughed at my SPF 30 and cooked me to a crisp).
As a bicycle tourist, I was able to tap into an abundance of goodwill from motorists, truckers, pedestrians, convenience store clerks, waitresses, other cyclists, bike shop workers, park rangers, law enforcement officials, and just plain everyone I ran across. There is a whole taxonomy of friendly waves that I discovered which unfortunately I cannot express in a text format (but ask me if you run into me).
One story I can share is the thing about the dogs. Folks in rural Georgia sometimes have loose dogs hanging around outside their homes, and a cyclists is exactly what these dogs love to chase. In fact, for the first few days of the trip, I’d be chased by dogs several times a day. Usually, a little adrenaline would kick in and I’d hustle a bit and soon pass out of the dogs’ territory, at which point they quickly give up chase. Two occasions stand out. Once, two dogs ran after me and straight into the path of an oncoming minivan, which came to a screeching (and honking) halt, within a hair’s breath of death. The other time, two good sized dogs saw me coming, and ran out to meet me, barking, growling, and blocking my path of escape. I got off the bike and tried to use it as a shield between myself and the animals, but they wisely spilt, each circling me from one side. I fended them off for a bit by yelling and squirting my water bottle in a wide arc, and walked down the left side of the road, my bike a sort of shield. They escorted me, and whenever they got too close I again squirted water and yelled at them (my yelling got gradually friendlier as the threat seemed to subside). Once I was passed their territory I was allowed to get back on my bike and ride on.
So. Anyway, here’s the slideshow of photos of man-made stuff from the trip.
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Tuesday June 3, 2008
Scenic Georgia, Florida
In Miami, a dense urban and suburban strip of communities borders the Everglades on the west and the Atlantic on the east. So it’s easy to forget that most of the rest of the country is rural — a web of roads connecting scattered homes, farms, and the occasional small town. This is commingled with lots and lots of largely raw nature, with forests, prairies, rivers, and lakes, many of which look exactly as they have for thousands of years.
Or rather, on some level we’re aware of it. You can’t leave the state via I-95 without driving through stretches of forest, but it’s always seemed like an abstraction to me that way. And of course the best thing about riding a bike, even around the block, is for the slow way you experience your surroundings. Here then, the first of a few slide shows from the trip. I edited out anything with overt traces of humanity, trying to convey the varied and primal nature that’s still out there.
The route I followed started in Savannah and followed Section 6 and Section 7 of the Adventure Cycling Association’s Atlantic Coast series of maps. Through Georgia the rout heads about 60 miles inland from Savannah and meanders through the interior of the state, then follows the coast for most of Florida. Here’s the slideshow.
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Tuesday May 13, 2008
Sassy photos from Miami (NSFW). Chinese food in the belly button: do not try this at home.
Bulldozed.
Thursday May 8, 2008
Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens
Most people have heard of the Morikami but haven’t been there, because it seems so far away. Actually, it’s less then an hour from Miami, and totally worth the trip. Hours are from 10 am to 5 pm, and I’d recommend getting there on the early side, as the highly rated restaurant inside the museum closes at 3 pm. Click the photo above to see a slideshow of what it’s like.
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Wednesday April 23, 2008
A little pussy chases a big cock. Ok ok let’s be nice — Miami, Bro has been rocking lately. Here’s two recent posts: Jimbo’s B-day bash, and Sneaking into clubs (easy, though it helps if you (1) have some gumption and/or (2) are a babe).
Tuesday April 22, 2008
The new ginger-bread house bridge in Hollywood.
Thursday April 17, 2008
In front of the building at Meridian and 13th, recently redone. Some sort of Philippe Stark meets the old west meets Japanese traditional thing going on here. I tend to frown on this sort of thing when done to multi-residence buildings.
Thursday April 10, 2008
Do not adjust your monitor — the geniuses in Hallandale insisted that the little bike guy face right, even if that meant two overlapping opposite signs.
Tuesday April 8, 2008
Evening air.
Thursday April 3, 2008
YAY!: Article about the March gallery walk in OceanDrive by Brett Sokol with photos by me! No word on when my Bigshot Photojournalist certificate will be mailed.
Wednesday April 2, 2008
What do you mean “ironic”? Photo by Miami Nights.
Wednesday March 26, 2008
The North Shore Community Garden, around 73rd Street on Dickens Avenue, Miami Beach.
Tuesday March 25, 2008
A zip through the Florida Keys
So, the plan was simple: bike down to the Keys over Thursday and Friday and back Saturday and Sunday. I wasn’t sure how far I’d get, but as the weather seemed to be agreeable I decided Friday afternoon to go all the way to Key West. Unfortunately the way back was marred by technical difficulties with the bike (part of the reason for doing this was just to work out these sorts of problems in preparation for the longer trip) resulting in total breakdown at MM(Mile Marker) 69, and rescue. So, here’s the long, heavily annotated slideshow.
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Monday March 24, 2008
Back from the Keys. Whole story later, for now, here’s a picture from somewhere around Marathon. Life would be easier if they put mile markers on maps.
Wednesday March 19, 2008
Haha.. someone stole Trump’s ‘T’. (Tagged ‘activism’?)
Tuesday March 18, 2008
Check out John VanBeekum’s beautiful photos of Metrorail maintenance. And btw, we haven’t been keeping up with the heavier aspects of maintenance, so we’re looking at buying all new cars.
Wednesday March 12, 2008
Jonathan just posted a bunch of new photos. I particularly like this one, of a tractor trailer tower pulling a tractor out of the bay.
Monday March 10, 2008
Port of Miami, from Miami Beach.
Thursday March 6, 2008
Photography equipment rental: I stopped by Word Wide Foto this morning to ask about renting my signature lens (which is currently in the shop after suffering a nasty fall). They were out of stock, and I asked the dude if he knew of any other place I might try to rent it from. “No… not right now.” Whatever. The nice folks at Dale have it, let me reserve it over the phone, and are only charging me for one day ($25) for Friday to Monday. Anyone else know of good places to rent photo equipment? I’d like to borrow a 5D (fever’s weapon of choice) sometime to play around with.
Tuesday March 4, 2008
South Florida roadkill gallery
Here are some pretty troubling pictures. I took most of these late last year, and have been giving serious though about whether or not to run them. In the end, though, this is a slice of reality which we miss zipping around in our fancy cars, but it deserves a little bit of examination. Follow 14 pictures of what happens when nature intersects with our car culture. No cats or dogs — I was spared seeing any, and I wouldn’t have photographed them if I had. Pretty gruesome anyway, though. Click for slideshow.
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Tuesday February 19, 2008
37 photographs of hostesses at South Beach restaurants.
Thursday February 14, 2008
Tuesday January 22, 2008
Villa Serena, built in 1913 and just added to the Miami Register of Historic Places. Photo by, and full story at, Miami Memories.
Monday January 21, 2008
Crazy scene on the Turnpike a couple of weeks ago — a bad accident had traffic tied up so long that almost everyone was out of their cars, a block party of an odd sort.
Wednesday January 16, 2008
A set of images from vintage Florida postcards.
Thursday January 10, 2008
“I always think, why don’t they just slap pictures of their genitalia on there and be done with it? The message would be the same. Sunny Isles Beach is a travesty of overdevelopment. These four men, Jorge Perez in particular, are responsible for turning a sleepy and dilapidated but charming beach town into a glittering canyon of inaccessible glass and steel.” — From Rebecca Wakefield’s brief history of The Related Group.
A great set of photos from Art Basel. (via Provocateur)
Wednesday January 9, 2008
Custom truck(s?), Hollywood. The left side is a GMC, the right side is a Chevy. I have no idea if both sides have operational engines, but the cockpit on each side sure looked complete.
Thursday January 3, 2008
“a pork is roasted at tom’s barbecue on eighth street…not a BBQ place at all, more like a super cuban dive”
Wednesday January 2, 2008
The band that plays Tap-Tap on Thursdays is hot. Bass, electric guitar, tenor sax, and light drum-machine percussion, with revolving vocalists. I’ve seen them a few times, and not only are they great, but they really inhabit the space and fill the room without being overwhelming. They do traditional Haitian songs and jazz standards.
Monday December 31, 2007
Ay Miami at lastnightsparty, which really sort of captures it pretty well. Also: Paris in Miami. Plus, added lnp/miami to the links.
Friday December 21, 2007
Interview with Miami Fever.
Wednesday December 12, 2007
Miami Fever’s photos from Photo Miami. (I just got dizzy typing that sentence.) Also, did you know that MF has a video stream? Here is a nice one of a South Beach club line.
Tuesday December 11, 2007
Kites, Haulover Beach marina.
Wednesday November 28, 2007
Jipsy’s photos from the 80’s Prom rock. Much less interesting pics at New Times. (thanks Lolo)
Tuesday November 27, 2007
Children’s’ block and syringe. Wynwood.
Monday November 26, 2007
I cannot possibly explain to you how much I am hating this Monday. Update: And that was fucking before i lost my fucking cell phone somewhere on the street. Fuck the fucking fuck. Once there was a very ugly barnacle. He was so ugly that everybody died. The End. Update: Believe it or not, I retraced my steps the next morning, and found my phone in the grass, a few inches from the pavement, on a street in Hollywood. A bit the worse for getting morning-dewed on, but fully working. Thank you Jesus, thank you Lord. Y’all may please to resume blowing my shit up, 305.532.2587. Also: the SNPA is far from my dessert-island beer, but I can dig the flowery character once in awhile. A full discussion of beer is beyond the scope of this update.
Tuesday November 20, 2007
It flies! I’d almost forgotten that I snapped this picture over the weekend until I saw Rick’s post of photos from the Skylift.
Monday November 19, 2007
Commitment to place.
Sunday November 18, 2007
The Sahara Hotel of North Miami Beach. If you’re like me, you’re thinking this place will be torn down, for vague political-correctness reasons, any second now (or at least the crazy lawn ornaments will be). Then again, I’ve been thinking that since the 1980s.
Thursday November 15, 2007
Waterfront parking lot.
Monday November 12, 2007
From Saturday’s bike ride. Despite the scenery, I do not recommend that stretch of Krome Ave.
Thursday November 8, 2007
I ♥ Cuba. Same spot as previous photo (see geotag at flickr).
Untitled, from the Castles of Miami series.
Wednesday November 7, 2007
Jorge Rivera, P.A., Immigration Law Office. I love this building.
Wednesday October 31, 2007
Two more roosters found!
Muchas gracias to Suzy of MB411 for sending these photos over. She says: “I found you some more cocks! These aren’t Cuban though…I found each of them outside of Nicaraguan establishments! The first one is on Flagler and NW 16th Ave and the second is on SW 2nd ST and 8th Ave.”
Perfect. I’d say that we now have enough material to get a tag up: cocks. And while careful examination of the shapes suggests that not all the photos are originate from the Miami-Dade Empowerment Trust program, clearly there is a family resemblance. So . . . does anyone have any more cock pictures?
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Noel’s rainbow, from this morning. It was gone by 10 am.
Monday October 29, 2007