Oaklawn Cemetery

 

 I read about Oaklawn Cemetery in the paper this weekend and as luck would have it, I got the chance to visit it today.







 

 

Oaklawn is known as Tampa's first cemetery and buried here are many of Tampa's oldest families, you'll recognize some names for the streets named after them. Mr. Ybor is buried here, along with pirates, slaves, among others.

 

 

 

I tried to time my visit so I would be there for some mid day sun, giving me a chance to break out the IR filter.

 

For more on Oaklawn Cemetery, try the Wikipedia Entry

 

Largo Municipal Cemetery

 Yesterday, off early, bright sun, beautiful day! It was my chance to try something I've been wanting to experiment with. Infrared Photography in a cemetery. The combination of all the green grass, trees, and the tombstones make for some interesting shots as I had seen in other photographer's work.

 There's a couple way to shoot infrared photos. You can use a filter on your lens that blocks most visible light. I guess the preferred method is a IR converted camera. There's good and bad to both methods, but for now I'm using a filter (hoya r72 for anyone interested). Using a filter requires a tripod and some long exposure times. This is why you'll see the dreamlike smeared clouds, and blurring of the tree leaves.


 

  Founded in 1887, Largo Municipal Cemetery is much more interesting then the name would imply. Well kept, with newer graves mixed amongst the old. There's actually a headstone inscribed with the infamous "I told you I was sick"!

  I never would of stumbled across this gem of a cemetery if not for the game of Geocaching as there was a cache here (and may still be. I don't know).



One of the more interesting tombstones here. It's known as "The Man in the Tree" to local Geocachers.

Some of the trees here are magnificent!