Flagler Museum (Part 2)

I've had a whole week to process more pictures from our Flagler Museum meetup (see Week 16 blog post) and once again, I am very surprised at the wide variety of photo "opps" that our group found there.  So far our group posted 118 pictures and they're all pretty different.

I took quite a few shots of the front of the building... from way back in the grassy area in front to right in front of the steps. With my new wide angle lens I was able to get a large amount of the view in the shot. I think this ended up being my favorite picture of the whole building:

Another thing I didn't post last week was any pictures from the pretty little courtyard area. It has a fountain in the middle with the most odd little statue things peering into the water. I'm pretty sure everyone in our group got at least one shot of these:

The courtyard also contained quite a few different trees & plants and I did take a few pictures of them (not too many since most of them can be found elsewhere in PB County):

Another subject that's always fun to capture are the other photographers in our group.

  Oh, this room wins the prize for the most hideously decorated room in the house (in my opinion of course);

Out in the back yard is an 8,100 square foot Pavilion, which houses Henry Morrison Flagler's private railcar. This building was just amazing to take pictures of from the inside.

Close up -
That's WPB across the intracoastal

(From the museum's website... pretty interesting stuff) Flagler’s private railcar, railcar #91, exhibited in the Pavilion, was built in 1886 by the Jackson and Sharp Company of Wilmington, Delaware. A newspaper article written at the time of its delivery to Flagler heralded the railcar as “A Palace on Wheels” and went on to praise the car’s fine appointments such as its oak paneling and desk. The railcar was one of two private railcars Flagler used to survey his railroad empire. Flagler traveled by this railcar in 1912 along the Overseas Railway to Key West to celebrate the completion of the FEC Railway to Key West, a phenomenal engineering feat.  Here's the railcar itself (inside and out):

Here are a few more of the outside of the building. The first one is on the side of the building (our group shot was taken on those stairs) and the second picture is from the front, and this one is my Palm Beach County photo of the week on DPC.

Flagler Museum (Part 1)

 I was very excited to join my fellow PBC Photo Walkers at Flagler Museum this past Saturday for our April meetup.

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I did visit once a number of years ago but this was the first time I went with my camera. We were told in advance that we couldn't use flash, which wouldn't be much of an issue if we were allowed tripods... but those weren't allowed either (or monopods or big bags apparently). Therefore, we had to rely on a steady hand and a good lens (and also decent post processing skills) to get shots that weren't too dark and/or blurry.

Only about 20 showed up for this month's meetup but it was the perfect size group (ok, only 18 showed up and we needed 20 to get the group discount, so we "recruited" a couple going in and offered them 4 bucks off each admission).

Once we got there, it took us a good 20 minutes before we even walked in the front door because the outside was so beautiful:

I really have so many more pictures that I haven't even Photoshopped yet but I really wanted to get this blog posted. What I usually do is process my favorites first and then go on from there. Sometimes I'm happily surprised and my favorite shot ends up being one that I didn't really like so much to begin with. This is why I usually don't post pictures for my blog until a few weeks after I go somewhere so I have time to really see them all. However, since I was SO happy with the ones I did so far, I was excited to share them.


My new lens came through for me and I used it pretty much exclusively inside the museum. It really made SUCH a difference:

 

The light coming through the windows really created some unique opportunities:

 

(I really love this one... it's actually a separate building in the back yard)

The best part of Flagler Museum (at least in my mind) is the amazing architecture. This shot is (so far) my favorite of the bunch and it is my Palm Beach County photo of the week on DPC.

Bostons on the Beach

This is it... the home stretch. Just finished a 75 hour work week and my blog post will be very simple this week (because I'm too mentally exhausted to do anything more complicated). This week will feature a really cool restaurant in Delray Beach called Bostons on the Beach.

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I definitely have plans to do at least one future blog post of Delray Beach, and maybe even more about Bostons, but for now, this is what's on my mind. My friend Dina & I went there one day and each ordered a different mojito. She had the The Classic Bacardi Mojito (Bacardi, simple syrup, fresh mint and splash of club soda) and I had the Berry Berry Mojito (Rum, simple syrup, fresh mint, fresh blackberries, splash of club soda).... I was VERY pleased with my choice, and they made a fun picture. Yes, the waitress & other guests were looking at us funny while we were taking the pictures... and yes, Dina was anxious for me to be done taking pictures so she could drink her drink (I think we had at least a 2nd).

So, "dueling mojitos" is my Palm Beach County photo of the week on DPC and it's in my dreams between now and BEACH DAY on April 16th.

Grassy Waters Preserve

My time is really short today... but I am determined not to miss a week so I'm going to post another quick one.

The last few Saturdays on my way home from the office I've been stopping at Grassy Waters Preserve, which is about 15 minutes from my house and I drive past it every day.

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I kind of feel bad that I'm going to devote so little time to this place because it really is incredible. Since I'm so short on time I'm going to copy & paste some info from their website (for those of you who don't feel like linking over).

"Grassy Waters Preserve (GWP) is dedicated to the promotion of environmental education and recreation programs at the 20-square mile wetland nature preserve and water supply for the City of West Palm Beach. We are also charged with pursuit of funding in the form of grants from public, private and foundation sources, in addtion to fund-raising events to assist in the creation and operation of environmental programs at the preserve.Managed by the City of West Palm Beach Public Utilities Department, GWP provides fresh drinking water to more than 130,000 people in West Palm Beach, the Town of Palm Beach, and the Town of South Palm Beach. The preserve includes nature center pavilions, meandering boardwalk trails, hiking, biking, canoeing, programs, entertainment, and more!"

Pretty cool huh? Our Leadership PBC class went there in 2008 and it was super cool to learn all about this place.

Anyway, let's get to the pictures:

Wildlife (I really need to try to get more wildlife pictures from there... maybe a future blog post):

Landscape & flora:

 

I was truly overwhelmed by this photo when I saw it for the first time on my computer. Not only is this my Palm Beach County photo of the week on DPC, but I also entered this photo in Grassy Water's annual photo contest. If you can get there in the next month or so, please vote for me!