Outside Looking In, Looking Out

With my wife preoccupied with preparations for next Saturday's wedding, basically her daughter trying on the wedding dress over at my wife's mother's where the dress has been stored these past few months, I not only had time to myself but also access to the car.

Incidentally, my stepdaughter looked every bit a fairytale princess in her wedding dress. My wife showed me pictures on her iPhone. But I digress.

The big decision for me was which part of the bustling metropolis that is Jacksonville should I visit? I settled on the squalor of downtown and I kid you not.

Downtown Jacksonville has been surrendered to the poor and homeless and in keeping with those individuals one sees on the streets, the same is also true for many of the downtown buildings that stand empty and neglected.

One I saw had a palmetto growing out of the window frame and it was a building no more than 200 yards from City Hall. The old court building has weeds three-feet high growing in what should be well-manicured flower beds.

This photograph is looking into an abandoned building on Hogan Street and directly opposite City Hall. I can only assume the Mayor of Jacksonville is transported in a limousine whose windows are so tinted that it is impossible to see anything outside and once in his office, he never looks out of the window.

Whatever happened to civic pride? The city -- who are we kidding, it is at best a large town -- is a disgrace. It is like the industrial dereliction that one sees in large cities all over the world, but usually two or three miles from the city centre, has been placed downtown in the case of Jacksonville.

I am not sure what this building on Hogan Street used to be but it is quite large. I looked through the window of one room and could see straight out of the windows on the other side of the room. And the result is this kaleidoscope of windows and reflections.

The other contender was a shot of the Thomas V Porter House.

B&W conversion with Silver Efex Pro in Photoshop CS3