Swamp Buggy Queen

Swamp buggy races are traditions in the blue collar, "Old Florida" part of Naples.
A highlight of the races is the coronation of the Swamp Buggy Queen.
This collection is in the Naples Depot.

Palm Cottage

I took a tour of Palm Cottage in December.  Built in 1895, it is the oldest house in Naples.

Today Palm Cottage serves as the headquarters of the Naples Historical Society.

Naples Pier

Time to move on to new photographs from southwest Florida.

Naples Pier re-opened in November after a $2.4 million renovation that took place over the summer.

The 1,000 foot long pier needed ten linear miles of Brazilian ipe, a very hard, termite-resistant wood.
I visited early on a weekday morning.  The view was good.

The pier was built in 1888 to provide ferry access to the little fishing village of Naples.  

It had previously been rebuilt after hurricanes in 1910, 1926 and 1960.

Some Favorite 2015 Shots from Out of the Jurisdiction

Last year I was away from Hartford and Naples much of the time.
It is pretty hard picking favorites from thousands of images, 

but here are some I remember fondly.

The Prato in Padua, visited in March, is Italy's biggest square and one of the biggest in Europe.

This iPhone photo in the Roman Forum on a rainy March day was a favorite.

I was in Duxbury, Massachusetts, for the Fourth of July celebrations.

I liked the ripples in the sand and the positions of the teenagers in this August Cape Cod sundown.

This image of Notre Dame in September is from a quiet garden across the Seine.

It is admittedly quite conventional, but I liked the peacefulness, compared with the noisy crowds

always found in front of the cathedral.

When I run across a photographer and model, I often try my hand, too, so long as I don't interfere with their work.  This Parisian model was in the Palais Royale in September.

This elephant munching palmettos was a favorite Botswana safari photograph from November.

And, out of 13 gazillion photographs of Willa, I particularly liked this November shot of 

Willa discovering her reflection in a mirror.

My Three Favorite 2015 Sunsets

Reviewing my 2015 posts to pick a photo of the year, I realized that I showed quite a few sunsets last year.  Many sunset photos seem bland to me.  You have to show something else in the picture.

I called this boy "the construction worker."  His mother had called to tell him it was time to go home.

I photographed him with the Naples Pier behind him as he decided how big a tantrum to throw.

 After a moment, he just picked up his stuff and went to his mother.  Capitulation.

Naples Pier is usually enough interest by itself at sundown, but low tide adds a bit extra.

I violated my own "show something else" rule in this image captured on an evening boat ride in Naples' Rookery Bay.  The sunset was fairly mediocre, but the boat's wake provided interest. 

My Favorite 2015 Portrait

I show a lot of portraits, so in addition to yesterday's "photo of the year," 

I went looking for a 2015 "portrait of the year."

On a beautiful June day, I walked over to Elizabeth Park to see what I could see.

I ran into Megan posing for the folks in her mother's photography club.

So, I sneaked into the crowd and took my own portraits.

Photo of the Year

One of my self-imposed rules is that my "photo of the year" must be from Hartford or Naples,
which eliminated quite a few candidates in 2015.

In September I was on a plaza at the Connecticut River waterfront when the sun was low in the sky.
Everyone else was behind me at an event.  So, I turned around.  I hid the sun behind
the "boat building" at the left of the image, with some light leaking through.

On January 1, the photographers of the City Daily Photo community show their favorite

photographs of the previous year.  Click here to see them.