Photography by Tom Lane
New Orleans to Key West
We spent most of April 2022, plus the first few days of May in the United States. Years ago I had spent one night in New Orleans whilst on a business trip and have always had the desire to revisit, as being interested in Street Photography I wanted to spend some time wondering around the old French Quarter. New Orleans is only good for a couple of days and so we decided that we would drive east along the southern coast, staying on Routes US90 and US98, rather than taking the Interstate; then drop down the west coast of the Florida Panhandle as far as Key West and then back up the east coast to Fort Lauderdale from where we would catch a flight back to London.
The following images of the French Quarter were taken with a Leica M10 camera, with the 35 and 50mm F2.0 Summicron lenses.
New Orleans by day, with some of the images showing the damage which Hurricane Katrina left in August, 2005.
Of course, we had to take a trip on a Paddle Steamer, complete with jazz band, along the Mississippi River, which is the second longest river in America. Its original source is Lake Itasca in Northern Minnesota, from where it flows south for 2,340 miles to the Mississippi Delta in the Gulf of Mexico.
Evidently this is a must visit cafe, famous for its Coffee and Beignets, which is a specialist pastry covered in icing sugar. To me it tasted more like partially solidified wallpaper paste and I certainly wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
Drummer on a bike. Although I wondered if he ever got to where he wanted to go as he couldn’t have seen anything when he got going.
We stopped off somewhere along the way and saw this jigsaw in a shopping mall.
Above and below, Destin. These guys certainly looked happy enough with their mornings catch.
Clearwater; this is the only opening bridge I’ve seen for a railway. After walking around for hours the “10 Twenty Five” was a great place to have a beer.
Naples on the west coast of the Florida Panhandle. A place we’ve been to many times on family holidays and which we have always enjoyed. As can be seen by the quality cars parked on the main street it is a place of wealth. Looking at the cost of property it would be well beyond our means.
Tin City, Naples; a great place to eat seafood and have a drink.
Miami Art Deco District which runs along the beach.
Below, Key West; the most southerly point of our journey, the ‘Southermost Point of the Continental USA’ and only 90 miles from Cuba. A great place to spend a couple of days.
Below; there are many bridges along the road from Key Largo in the north and Key West and of course, being exposed to the elements, over time they corrode. This is one such bridge.
Juno Beach Fishing Pier; we had a walk along the pier early one evening and there were many people trying to catch dinner. One guy caught what seemed to me to be a monster fish, which took him about 45 minutes to land. He then proceeded to cut the two fillets and was then going to use what was left as bait to go after shark.
Images below are of Fort Lauderdale, again a place we have been to numerous times on family holidays. Our visit coincided with Navy Week and the Air Show which was held just off the beach.
Above is a Veteran Firefighter who was proud to attend the military parade, a general image of which appears below.
