Field of View

Classic Car Shows

2009-05-04T17:56:00.003-05:00

We came across this classic car at the Georgetown Poppy Festival. It's a 1940 Ford, and as the sign says on its window, was used for runnin' White Lightnin' back in the day...

We also stumbled upon another nearby classic car show this weekend. I have more images than are maneageable for a single posting so I placed them on my Picasa album for you to view. Here's the link to the slideshow (You will be able to adjust the run time settings at the bottom of the images).

Classic Car Show

Deutschland in January

2009-02-06T18:52:00.017-06:00

I recently spent some time in Germany with my son Aaron who just returned from 15 months in Iraq. We spent three days in Rothenburg and a day in Frankfurt before we departed.

Friends for Life

Dreaming Big

Modern Frankfurt

Towards Enlightenment

Kaiserslautern Street Scene

Gingerbread Houses

Dark Church at Dusk

Delights at the Bakerei

Sunset at the MarktPlatz

Lost in Rothenburg

Field of Fire

Fairytale Shortcut

Nightfall in Rothenburg

Catching Up

2008-11-23T09:05:00.006-06:00

These are just a hodgepodge of images I've taken over the past three months. I placed the title at the bottom of each image. The first one was taken on the south lawn of the State Capitol grounds in Austin. I was killing time there while Kathy and every other woman in Austin attended the annual Christmas Bazaar. These school kids were there on a field trip enjoying their lunch break. Carefree and blissfully ignorant to the challenges facing adults. Those were the days...

"What's a Stockmarket?"

This image was taken during the annual Chisolm Trail Cattle Drive and Chuckwagon Cookoff here in Georgetown.

"Chuckwagon Lawman"

I took this image on a very quiet morning at the well kept horsehoe pits here in Sun City. Something about these horseshoes reminded me of soldiers prepared for battle.

"Horseshow Formation"

The ubiquitous squirrel. This one is a ward of the state, living off of government pecans at the State Capitol...and not the least bit shy.

"Just Another Nutjob"

A daily ritual in the summer and fall is our "walk around the block". Sometimes I take my camera along. Sometimes the sun is just right and the image is right below and in front of us.

"The Long Walk"

This old windmill is all that remains of a ranch water tank here at Sun City. Its long since been unhinged from the pump and spins free with the wind.

"Slave No More"

We were out on one of our late afternoon walks and I saw the sun rays shining through this clump of grass. The luminescence was just fantastic.

"Grass Aglow"

This is another HDR image of one of the ponds here that I took in June. I've been refining it and think I have it the way I want it.

"Morning Calm"

This is an image of one of my sister's zinnias that I converted to black and white except for the bloom.

"Breaking Out"

Another garden Flower shot taken at daybreak. This image has a fairly shallow depth of field and I was able to darken down the background quite a bit. I like the way these stems seem to be moving around each other for a drink of sunlight.

"Competing for Light"

This old garden plow rests up against one of my Dad's and Dru's oaks as an ornamental testament to days gone by.

"Left Behind"

I took this image with my pocket digital point and shoot camera while visiting Las Vegas. Some of you may be familar with the scene. It is the blown glass flower ceiling display in the lobby of the Bellagio Hotel.

"Glass in Full Bloom"

Another Bellagio art design seen along the high end shopping mall of the hotel.

"Leaving Las Vegas"

Fort Donelson

2008-09-15T19:34:00.003-05:00

I spent an early morning at Fort Donelson National Historic Battlefield near my dad's place capturing these images. Fort Donelson is on the Cumberland River (Lake Barkley) adjecant to the town of Dover, TN. This is a small, but well restored Civil War battlefield. General U.S. Grant's first major victory was here and where he earned the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. You can read more about the Battle for Fort Donelson here:

Fort Donelson

Sunrise on the Upper Battery

The Sentinel

Waiting for Grant

The Last Cruise

By lucky chance, I happened to catch the Delta Queen docked in Dover. This is her scheduled last cruise. Why? Bureaucrats and politicians, of course. Read about it here:

Save the Delta Queen

Tennessee Green

2008-09-13T10:28:00.007-05:00

I left the hot and dry dog days of central Texas behind and spent about 10 days in Tennessee recently celebrating my Dad's 77th birthday and enjoying the greenery.

Just a shot of one of my Dad's apple trees. This image really doesn't do justice to how many apples are overloading the tree limbs. The deer are eating well in the orchard.

Flower gardens inspired and planned by my sister Michelle. These are all HDR images, and I never could catch a perfectly calm condition to keep the wind from fuzzing these up a little.

My dad's old tractor. This is a Ferguson 35 (horsepower) circa 1947. He still uses it and it does some tasks better than his much newer Kubota tractor

Birthday fireworks. This was a fun experiment shooting in manual mode and timing the shutter release.

Happy Independence Day!

2008-07-05T14:58:00.004-05:00

Dedicated to American kids, American dogs and American adults who are kids at heart.

Improvise, Adapt, Overcome

Cactus Crazy

2008-06-24T08:51:00.005-05:00

A work in progress. These were a challenge to shoot with a macro lens because the cactus needles add so much depth to the plants that fixing the focal point with a shallow depth of field setting is hard to achieve.

Four Hungry Mouths to Feed

2008-06-20T11:32:00.001-05:00

Sometimes life's little treasures to photograph are right under your nose, or in this case a batch of newborn barn swallows nested in the corner of your neighbor's front porch hanging right above your head.

A Mother's Work...

Family Portrait

Open Wide

The Protector on Station

Two Doors Up Is Macro World

2008-06-19T09:06:00.005-05:00

Our neighbors up the street have some great flowers and I happen to have a great macro lens, so...macro madness ensued in full sun and 100 degree heat. They have an "accidental" sunflower growing tall right out front- the result of bird seed gone awry. Bad news for the birds. Good news for me. A perfect sunflower bloom (images 2 & 4 below). The last image is a sunflower pod on the verge of blooming.

Walkabout

2008-06-17T12:45:00.004-05:00

I've been getting up early these days to avoid the heat. Still, some great photo opportunities out there, especially right as the sun peaks over the horizon.

Squirrel Heaven

Lotus Showing Off

Showtime for Dragonflies

Not Ready for Primetime

Hodge Podge

2008-06-08T20:02:00.003-05:00

These are a mix of older images that I re-worked and a new one that I applied High Dynamic Range (HDR) to.

Nature's Light Catcher

Lava Rainbow

Sunset at Duke's

Down Time

Memorial Day and a Lounge Lizard

2008-06-04T17:23:00.003-05:00

These first two images are of veterans taken at the local Memorial Day observance here. I thought both of these folks had a certain sense of wisdom and certainly must have some interesting stories to tell.
This little guy gave me about 5 minutes of modeling time right outside the front door.

San Marcos and Wimberly

2008-05-04T19:52:00.002-05:00

We drove down to San Marcos and Wimberly to visit Adam and go to the Wimberly Trade Days, which is held on the first weekend of the month from March - December. It was crowded and the bikers were out in force. I'd like to go back and take more photos as Wimberly has a lot of great scenery and interesting architecture. We headed back to San Marcos and Adam guided us to lunch on the banks of the San Marcos River where I found the Blue Heron at close range. A very tranquil setting, but it was mid day and the lighting was a bit harsh. I'd love to go back at sunrise or late in the afternoon to catch the tubers floating by.

The Koi Pond

2008-04-26T20:21:00.004-05:00

Kathy and I were out goofing off today and decided to check on the Koi Pond behind our community center. The first two were taken in mid morning, then I went back for some low light to shoot the last two in the late afternoon.

Rodeo Day

2008-04-25T09:40:00.010-05:00

Here are a few photos that I took at the local rodeo back in February. This first shot is titled "Ready to Ride". This guy was a character and would have jumped on a horse in a heartbeat if his mom would have let her guard down.

This image is titled "Collision Course". The barrel tipped but the horse and rider stayed up.

This is titled "Hot Pursuit". The livestock really got a workout that day.

Maiden Launch

2008-04-24T11:46:00.009-05:00

These are a series of photographs that I processed over the past two weeks. The first one is a macro shot of a water drop taken at a high shutter speed. The remaining photos are images from the LBJ Homestead in Johnson City, Texas. I'll throw up some more photos in the next post.