american idyll

A few weeks ago, I got to go to Rosemary Beach and Seaside -- two master-planned communities on the Gulf of Mexico in Florida's panhandle. The assignment was simple -- I had three days and two nights to make pretty travel photos. The spread ran today in our latitudes section, along with a full-page vertical photo that they used as the cover, and a double truck inside.

The best part was opening up the French doors on the balcony of the cottage I was staying in, and hearing the waves crash onto shore from the beach that was about a minute's walk away. Eating well on an expense account. And spending my downtime with a book at any one of the 4 community pools.

It's a rough life, but someone's got to do it...



These are a few of my favorite photos that didn't make the paper:



The morning sun begins to warm the air and touch the rooftops of homes in Rosemary Beach that line a boardwalk to the beach. (Note: I don't shoot a lot of verticals, so this was the real challenge on this assignment. I had to come up with something for the cover. Which means turning my camera.... I thought this would have looked good... there's a perfect spot for the headline to be dropped in at the top and everything.)



Brothers Ethan, 6, and Cody Pickren, 10, of Watercolor play in the rain-filled grassy knoll separating the shops of Seaside's Central Square from the town's amphitheater. The family moved here from New Orleans about 6 years ago, because they were drawn to the area by the beaches and the lifestyle it provided. "This is about as good as it gets," said the boy's dad, Chris Pickren.



A game of bocce at W. Long Green Park turns serious when a tape measure is pulled out by Stephanie Guffin, left, of Fairhope, Ala. to settle a dispute as to which ball is closer to the pallino (small white ball). The farmer's tanned legs of Jeff Manning, Bill Hammonds and Shawn Guffin await the results.



Detail of the architecture in Rosemary Beach -- A marble fountain is the focal point in the entrance to Rosemary Beach's Barbados Pool. It serves as a washbasin, and a reminder to bathers to wash the sand off themselves before entering the pool.



Architectural details of doors and windows.



Randy and Melinda Merijanian of Montgomery, Ala. take in a sunset from the second-floor open-air bar at Bud & Alley's in Seaside, while celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary with a long weekend in nearby Seagrove Beach.



After the last glimmer of sunlight drops below the horizon line, clouds turn midnight blue as twilight approaches over one of the areas coastal dune lakes.