Ok, this isn’t my story of how I stormed Normandy on June 6th, 1944. No, this is the story of how I spent my longest day trip scouring for photo opportunities. I use the app Geotag Photos to record a GPX track that I can use to tag my images with GPS coordinates through my ingest workflow with Photo Mechanic. Yesterday’s track was only 99.64 miles but it took me just over 6 hours to travel. And that doesn’t include my travel to/from the start/end points. It was, indeed, a long day. But it was very productive.

Worthington Springs

My first stop was Worthington Springs. This is a very small community with less than 400 residents. It was incorporated in 1963 and is close to the banks of the Santa Fe River. I’d wanted to get some pictures of horses and spotted some very soon after turning off of the interstate. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to pull over quickly when you have other cars bearing down on you. Fortunately, I was rewarded a few miles down the road with the largest gathering of horses I think I’ve ever seen. The photo below doesn’t capture the scope of it since most of them were far off in the field, but there had to be at least 100.

I still don’t know why I’m drawn to abandoned, rustic, and rundown buildings, vehicles, etc. but the resonate with me. Maybe I should be concerned. And, of course, who can dislike a stately, rural church? As I was taking a picture of the house, the owner stopped his truck and asked what I was up to. Once I explained, he shared some if its history. It was built in the early 1950s. He was the last of six children and he was the only sibling born in a hospital instead of this house. Thanks for sharing with me, Mr. Reed.

Fort White

Fort White was named, imagine this, after a military fort from the 1830s. It officially became a town in 1884. It, too, is along the Santa Fe River and it’s very close to Ichetucknee Springs. If you have a few hours to spare out of your day, the Springs is a great place to lazily float down the river. Be warned, the water is a constant 70 degrees year-round which can be pretty chilly. It’s population is about double that of Worthington Springs.

The railroad was instrumental for the town’s phosphate mining, turpentine and agriculture industries until each of those were wiped out. There is a nice display setup at the old train depot including a number of signs describing the history of the community. The Fort White High School is known as the Tiwahe Nation. “Tiwahe” is Dakota for “family”. The building shown is the original school building from 1915.

Branford

I continued heading north on US27 until I arrived at Branford, Florida. Branford is actually named after Branford, CT. It once boasted a sawmill and ferry across the Suwannee River. It also has its own springs which are a popular dive spot. It was close to 2pm by this point in the day and I was starving. One of the things I try to do on my outings is avoid chains by shopping local. I stopped at a very small place called Burger Heaven and it lives up to its name. Not only was the burger very good, but the onion rings were light and perfect. I almost wanted another order of rings.

It was a beautiful day (and the inside was completely packed) so I sat outside to enjoy my lunch. This gave me an opportunity to look for some photo ops. I found several within walking distance. Of course, it’s a small town, so most everything is within walking distance. I used the Leica M10 for most of the day and had the Summicron 35 v3 on it. One of the “issues” with this lens is flare. You can see how it looks in the image of Town Hall. I found myself having to shoot into the sun on more than one occasion. I also had several other cameras with me such as the Leica M4 and Nikon F3. I found that with each of those, I could put my hand over the lens and just out of frame which would cut the light enough to ease the problem. I actually don’t mind it in this shot, though.

As I turned onto US 129 to head to my next stop, I found some cool buildings. Ok, it was really the striking red and white station wagon that caught my eye, but as I explored more, the building itself was pretty neat. I also found more wagons in the back. The blue building was gutted so I’m hoping it’s in the process of being renovated. Branford seemed like a pretty cool little town.

Jasper

Jasper is another town along the Suwannee River. It was the largest town I visited with a population of around 3600 making it similar in size to where I group up in South Texas. It also has two cool buildings that are on the National Register of Historic Places, the Old County Jail and the First Methodist Church. If I hadn’t been racing against the clock and the sun going down I probably could’ve spent more time. It seemed to be a fairly target-rich environment for me.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of hopelessness and despair that seems to permeate the air. It radiates out of the many derelict homes and buildings that line Jasper’s streets. I’m sure that in its heyday it was a sight to behold. Today, it was almost impossible to find a street that didn’t have some sense of resignation. I did find a sheep farm just outside of town but even there, the lambs will soon find themselves on a dinner table.

It did seem that the area has some significant storm damage. As I drove through Live Oak on my way to Jasper, I passed a farm with several buildings that looked like they’d been ripped apart. Even in Jasper it appeared that this may have been the case for some of the buildings. Alas, age and neglect accounts for most of it. Despite this, the brick, colors, patterns, etc. provided some interesting scenes for me to capture. You can see that as I neared the end of the day, I had to deal with a lot of mixed lighting.

White Springs

I’ve been to White Springs several times and it’s quite a lovely little town. In addition to the Suwanee River, the Florida Trail, and several state parks, it has a quaint downtown area. It did appear that several of the shops had closed down since the last time I visited, though. I had very little daylight left by the time I arrived. Fifteen minutes tops.

The Country Store is likely one of White Spring’s oldest businesses having opened in 1885. It sits across from the Visitor Center and the bike shop is nearby. Cross the street and you can rent canoes or kayaks to explore the Suwannee on your own. It’s a cool little town.

I really wanted a picture of the rooster when I saw him. If anyone had been around I’m sure they would’ve thought I was in need of mental help. It was eating and wouldn’t look up, so I had to keep making noises to get its attention so I could snap the shutter. The last shot isn’t too exciting, but I loved how the colors came out and how the last rays of the day illuminated the tree.

I left the house around 9:30 in the morning and pulled into the driveway shortly after 7pm. It was a 264-mile trip but I think the results were worth it. In addition to exploring new areas I didn’t know existed, it encouraged me to revisit some other places. I hope you enjoy the images.