Safety Harbor, Florida.

Safety Harbor has kept something almost nothing else in Pinellas County has, which is a genuine small town centre you can walk. Main Street runs down to a pier on Old Tampa Bay, the oak canopy over the residential streets is old and heavy, and the housing between the water and the highway is largely 1920s through 1950s bungalow and cottage stock on modest lots. Buyers come here specifically for that, and a shoot that renders the town as generic Pinellas suburb throws away the entire premium.

The single most important technical fact about this waterfront is that it faces east. Every Gulf-side habit is wrong here. The sun rises over the water and sets behind the house, so the good light on the bay is at dawn, and a twilight session on an east-facing waterfront property is shooting a dark bay with a lit sky behind the roofline. Done deliberately that is a strong frame, with the Tampa skyline visible across the water on a clear evening. Done on autopilot, on the assumption that twilight means sunset over water, it produces a muddy set.

The bungalows need light. Small window openings, deep porches and heavy canopy mean interiors run several stops under the exterior, and the original wood, the built-ins and the tile that carry the value vanish into shadow without bracketing and flash.

The Safety Harbor Resort and its mineral springs, Philippe Park with the Tocobaga temple mound, and the pier itself are real buyer signals worth including. Newer construction east toward McMullen Booth is conventional suburban work by comparison, and should be shot as such.