I've visited Tampa several times, almost always by myself on business and with no spare time. However, earlier this week I was in Tampa and managed to carve out a couple of hours to look around. I knew that nearby Ybor City was the historic cigar manufacturing part of town so even without my usual preliminary research I grabbed my camera, ordered a Lyft and headed out.
Vicente Martinez Ybor had moved his cigar manufacturing operation from Cuba to Key West in 1869 but discovered he needed someplace else with room to expand and a more harmonious labor situation. Tampa, he decided, was that place. My Lyft driver dropped me on Ybor City's main street, 7th Avenue. He told me that the place really jumps on Friday and Saturday nights, but at midday during the week the street was fairly empty.
Directly across from where I was standing I noticed a large mural celebrating the district and its Cuban history.
Employment in the cigar manufacturing business dropped dramatically in the 1920's and 1930's due to a decline in the popularity of cigars, the Depression and automation. Still, cigar manufacturing and retail shops are easy to find along 7th Avenue.
You don't really see too many cigar-store Indians anymore, so I stopped when I saw this guy.
As I strolled down the street I ran into a couple of other serious photographers. We talked about gear for awhile. They had brought a model friend along and we're shooting against a fancy red gate as a background. I asked the model if I could take a few photos and she happily said yes. I didn't quite nail the focus on this particular image, but I like her smile and the way her hair falls across her face so I'm posting it.
I hadn't done my homework, so I just wandered around and figured I might see something interesting if I ventured off 7th Avenue. I quickly found a few alleys and back lots with some eye-catching graffiti. For the alley image below I took five shots at different exposures and blended them using my SNS-HDR software. I generally don't like the garish effect of many HDR images, but with a light touch I've found that HDR is a good tool for gritty, graffiti-laden shots.
As I explored further away from 7th avenue I noticed that the houses were a curious mix of ramshackle, sometime very small buildings and nicely tended homes.
Like many places in Florida, people make great use of bold colors. This provides many photographic opportunities for tight shots and abstracts.
All of this walking around made me hungry. So I decided to grab lunch at Carmine's. I ordered a Tampa Cuban sandwich with a side of black beans and yellow rice. Delicious!
Two hours was definitely not enough time to explore Ybor City. But, I had to head back to the hotel to lead a panel discussing digitalization in the electrical supplies distribution industry. Damn work! Next time I'm heading back to Ybor City to explore further . . . and maybe see what the weekend nights have to offer.