I left the police station at one in the morning on my lunch break with no idea where to go or what to do. Indecision sometimes is my friend. I stopped on Von Phister Street for a walk with camera in hand, and as I walked I thought to myself how easy it is to sop on almost any Key West street and find something to look at. A Triumph Bonneville for a start, well worn at 38,000 miles but still running just fine:
Key West's houses take on a slightly mysterious air at night. Imagine if you will how quiet and serene the street is,the air warm on the skin and the humidity is high enough to produce a light sweat. From the street there are no sounds.
Some homeowners like to burn electricity all night long illuminating their porches and keeping Keys Energy Services (the old City Electric Company) happy. It cheers up a photographer who wants no part of using an electronic flash. This was a hand held shot at one second's exposure.
This next one could have used half a second but I like the challenge of taking multiple exposures and erasing the wobbly fuzzy ones. It takes a surprisingly long time to gather enough pictures for an essay at night.
According to J. Wills Burke's
The Streets of Key West there are two William Von Phisters buried in the Key West cemetery, one who died in 1850 and owned the building that houses the Green Parrot on Whitehead Street. He dabbled in real estate and ran a store in that building and according to Burke he was one of two men who was responsible for platting much of the island. If you have no offsets today on your lot you should apparently blame Von Phister. This is the eponymous street looking east toward New Town.
Von Phister's offspring was elected a Judge just as the Civil War was about to break out and he refused to serve according to Burke when Florida seceded. He stepped up to the bench once more when Key West was declared Union territory by the soldiers at Fort Zachary and after the war he went on to be elected to the city commission. As Burke reports rather dryly it did not seem to matter to the voters that the younger William Von Phister had been a Union sympathizer.
I took the shot above with the appropriate setting for artificial light but I thought it looked rather cold so I reset the camera for daylight and got this orange glow.
I did finally pop the flash on the Bonneville and got this rather stark rendering of my motorcycle.
Or this without the flash. A group of young loud people on bicycles pedaled by laughing and shouting on their way. For those that like to think the streets of key West are a place of peril at 1:30 in the morning I am sorry to disappoint. There was no drama.
I went back to the station and napped for 20 minutes, and awoke refreshed and ready to answer the phones until 6am.
Key West's houses take on a slightly mysterious air at night. Imagine if you will how quiet and serene the street is,the air warm on the skin and the humidity is high enough to produce a light sweat. From the street there are no sounds. 
Some homeowners like to burn electricity all night long illuminating their porches and keeping Keys Energy Services (the old City Electric Company) happy. It cheers up a photographer who wants no part of using an electronic flash. This was a hand held shot at one second's exposure.
Von Phister's offspring was elected a Judge just as the Civil War was about to break out and he refused to serve according to Burke when Florida seceded. He stepped up to the bench once more when Key West was declared Union territory by the soldiers at Fort Zachary and after the war he went on to be elected to the city commission. As Burke reports rather dryly it did not seem to matter to the voters that the younger William Von Phister had been a Union sympathizer. 
I took the shot above with the appropriate setting for artificial light but I thought it looked rather cold so I reset the camera for daylight and got this orange glow. 
5 comments:
I've always loved Key West in the very early morning.
My favorite time on the Island is just before Sunrise. No one on the streets, so much quite and peace.
Thanks for sharing your images,. I really dig your Diary!
I've always thought the strangest time in Key West is the morning. It seems like a deserted town, especially considering all the hubbub that was going on the night before.
Dear Sir:
I regret I have not been following your blog as religiously as I ought to. The reasons have been purely work-related, as I have just gone through the busiest time of my year with the intent of getting previous salary levels re-instated. There is an air of expectancy and optimism in the business travel industry. But like a hymen or a balloon, one prick will blow it all to hell. After putting in a week of 14-hour days, looking at this computer loses some of its thrill.
Now that that dust of the past week has settled somewhat, I am free to spend more time reading the things that give me joy. And when I was done with that, I turned to your blog again.
It is curious that you chose to park your Bonneville over an open sewer grate. I notice that other Triumph riders often do the same. Is this to conceal the traditional British oil leaks?
You must visit me this summer, and walk through this neighborhood in the middle of the night, taking pictures. I will be peeking out the window as the local cops work you over with night sticks. Then you can tell them -- in your Cockney accent -- that you are an American, and they will beat you all the harder.
I am running down to the Maryland/Delaware shore this weekend to buy some fresg crab and oysters, just as the season starts, and before BP kills everything in the ocean.
I hate BP, and the entire oil industry for failing to get around this thing. One more time, the Obama Administration, or lack thereof, has exposed itself for the shell game it is, and the entire Department of the Interior (Minerals Divsion) is having the hardest time removing the oil industry's dick from its ass.
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
Dear CS:
Von Fister? I thoght that was a service provied on Duval Street.
Riepe
Oh good grief riepe.
Key west in the morning is best thanks to the silence and basence of people. The middle of the night works for me (because that's when I am awake and in town!) and I like to take the time occasionally to go out see what falls into the camera's lense at that hour. It's not usually people as most streets are deserted at 2am.
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