My bank is about a mile away downtown. Parking there can be a hassle, getting through the local college cross walk can be a hassle. Riding your bike, walking or running = no hassles. Longboarding = a kind of flying = joy.

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I DVR’d all the local news coverage of the 1515 S. Flagler Drive building implosion and channel 5 did by far the best job of covering all the angles of the implosion and story with views from their helicopter, a close-in streaming cam that got wiped out, and other views. Nice job Channel 5 – WPTV! Take a look.

Hint: If you click on the menu button on the WPTV you can watch in full screen.

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Standing just half a mile from our home in West Palm Beach Florida, 1515 S. Flagler Drive has stood vacant and hurricane ravaged since 2004. A silent companion to my daily walks along the intracoastal waterway with my two dogs, the building, long an eyesore to residents, was strangely a comforting sight to me amongst all the perfection and money that makes up this little slice of South Florida.

Years of wrangling between developers, the city and nearby residents finally culminated in a spectacular building implosion on Valentine’s Day – February 14, 2010.

The third largest building implosion in the U.S. went flawlessly with none of the nearby buildings sustaining any major damage. Chalk another successful blast up for The Kelly family of Advanced Explosives Demolitions of Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. I read in an earlier article that the family planned to have their five year old daughter push the button.

Most spectators were jubilant about the building going down but one viewer who was crying told my sister-in-law that it reminded her of 911.

Over the last few months I’ve read great stories of people who grew up in the building and they’ve expressed fond memories about their former home, memories of family, relatives who have passed on, and happy holidays spent in the building. The permanence of physical things in comparison to our own flesh and blood has always been a fascination for me. Perhaps that’s why this building’s death was so compelling to me. I’ve shot lots of video of the building from all different angles and taken many pictures as well. The building has always been a subject for me even before it was set to be taken down.

I was always hopeful they would restore the building as it had a great South Florida style that’s unlikely to be rivaled by the modern building that will replace it soon.

So long 1515 South.

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I shot this Lumiere video at sunrise looking out towards the Atlantic ocean sky. Captured on a Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1000. Since this plays in HD you may want to hit the pause button, go get some coffee, and then come back when the video is fully downloaded…

/julian

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Lately I’ve been particularly enamored with John’s humor. He has a quirky and irreverent style that I really enjoy. Here’s a moment.

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you notice your heart beating. the earth moves up and it sinks down. you’re along for the ride. unsteady.

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I shot this Lumiere style video for #NaVloPoMo last night of the downtown West Palm Beach Clematis Street fountain looking west down Clematis.

/julian

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For more background on my participation in #NAVLOPOMO 2009 check out my recent collaboration with my dad Lorenz at thepencilofnature.net.

Lumiere of umbrella, structure and clouds shot at Benny’s on the Beach in Lake Worth Florida.

iPhone/iPod version in m4v format here: http://blip.tv/file/get/Jinfinite8-umbrella990.m4v

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