04 Jan 2026 Photography Abandoned

Driving Around Florida Day 7

On Day 7 we were greeted with the rudest change in weather from the most beautiful 76° just 12 hours earlier to.

Pier in St. Augustine Sunrise (view full res)

On Day 7 we were greeted with the rudest change in weather from the most beautiful 76° just 12 hours earlier to something near 30-40 mph winds and cold in the 45° range. No matter, I decided I wasn't going to let a little wind deter me from my morning walk with a cup of coffee down the beach.

If you are new here, as I mentioned in my previous post in Driving Around Florida Day 1, I’m posting a short recap of some of my favorite images on a trip we took to Florida a few weeks ago. If you would like to see the full length post with all the photos you can click through to our Shanty Travelers blog or follow the link specifically for “Day 7” of our trip at A Week Around Florida: St. Augustine to Valdosta Day 7.

Windy Sunrise Over St. Augustine Atlantic (view full res)

The wind turned out to be a little more difficult to deal with than I had ever imagined when I started out. On the one hand, it had turned the tranquil pool-like Atlantic from yesterday evening into a raging mist of blowing foam and water (see my Instagram video).

In fact the wind was blowing so hard I literally had to walk backwards from my turnaround point all the way back to Loki. What I was hoping for was to get to watch the sunrise over the ocean while I calmly walked down the beach with my morning coffee.

I did get the sunrise part. It was beautiful. Once again I only had my iPhone with me, so the images I got were from my phone not my Nikon, but in case you were wondering, the RAW file 48mp image from an iPhone creates a pretty decent DNG RAW file that leaves you a bit of room to work with that JPG files just don't do. So any time I'm out with just my phone I always hit that RAW file button and shoot away.

Windy Edgar Bad Hair Day on the Beach (view full res)

St. Augustine Lighthouse

Drawbridge Going into St. Augustine (view full res)

Base of St. Augustine Light Lighthouse (view full res)

We briefly stopped at the St. Augustine Lighthouse on the way out. I say briefly because it's buried in a neighborhood and they charge you $18 to walk up to it, so I was only willing to get shots through the bushes like a creepy stalker. There are other shots of the lighthouse on our travel post for this day but my photography rule for lighthouses is, if you can't get an open shot without a huge amount of distortion (caused from looking straight up at it), just get in close and tight and focus on the bricks or surrounding area.

Suwannee River Visitor Center

Abandoned Welcome Center in Fargo Georgia (view full res)

We came across this abandoned welcome center when we entered Fargo, Georgia. It was one of the coolest finds on our trip and I posted a bunch of photos of this on the full length post if you want to see those shots. I do really love taking photos of abandoned places. There is so much history involved in what presents itself to you at the time you arrive. I'm not nearly as good at capturing these locations as a lot of people are that do mostly that kind of photography, but an attempt is always made.

To do those types of shots well you really need a strong subject, super high contrast lighting, a lot of shading, and a bit of boldness (depending on the location). When done well, the shots look apocalyptically cool. The Suwannee River Visitor Center was a total surprise to us. I went into much more detail in the other post, along with the history of the building and why it closed.

Valdosta Murals

Downtown Valdosta Mural in Georgia (view full res)

This was also a surprise. I can't remember the last time we had been through Valdosta, and we had no idea that this mural was in the downtown area. This shot ended up being one of my favorite shots of the day because of all the vibrant colors. We happened to be there at the perfect time of day, late in the day, almost golden hour, and it made the bricks at the top of the image glow while the mural itself looked almost backlit.

Murals are becoming one of my favorite things to photograph. We started making a list of Murals by State, but there are so many of them spread around all over the place, a lot of them in very rural locations like The Murals in Bonifay Florida, that making a comprehensive list is pretty difficult.

A Week in Florida Series

This is series of travel posts originating from our travel site, Shanty Travelers. As I mentioned above, to see the full length post with all the photos you can click through to our Shanty Travelers blog or follow the link specifically for “Day 7” of our trip at A Week Around Florida: St. Augustine to Valdosta Day 7.

See you for the last post from this series, Day 8 sometimes soon. I was hoping to get these out one every day but I'm still in the process of editing Day 8.