Galveston – The Elissa

I have been doing quite a bit of HDR imagery using Galveston locations.  We were down there the weekend of the 8th.  I didn’t really feel in the mood on Saturday morning but then remembered we joined the Galveston Historical Society. That meant we could get into The Elissa for free.  So, I decided to go down to the harbor and shoot a little and go on The Elissa and shoot.

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In looking at one of the magazines, I saw a picture take roughly in the same place as this.  Only, it was a night photograph, and all the winds glowed brightly.  It was an effective picture, and I would like to try a similar thing at some point, but this was just take from behind Willie G’s looking back at it.

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While we were in the harbor, this fishing boat came in.  It made an interesting subject for an HDR image. Then I noticed that a woman on the boat was quite busy dealing with the catch and got a nice picture of her.

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We then went over to The Elissa and walked around the ship.

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Hico

I had a free afternoon, and I had been told that there were lots of really interesting places in Hico.  Hico is a small town on Hwy 6.  It is apparently the home of Billy the Kid because there is a statue of him in the middle of town, and apparently a museum as well.  I drove around the town and saw lots of interesting locations.

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There were alleys behind buildings that had back doors like this.  It was really cool.

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I can imagine these as great places for a bridal shoot.

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This shell of an old building had tons of character.

More of Galveston

We were In Galveston again last weekend, and I seriously worked on getting a lot of HDR shots.The stacks of rocks like I photographed last year were back, but not as many.  This one had pretty good light, so I worked on it.  This picture was well received on Flickr and ViewBug.

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The shrimp boats in docked by the harbor seemed to me to be a good subject.

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Ft. Crockett’s white canvas shades impressed me as a good subject as well.

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And I wanted to get one of the Bishop’s Palace.

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Across Broadway from Bishop’s Palace was an old house that had cement flower boxes that were crusted with moss.

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Vision

I just came back upon Don Giannatti’s “Project 52” web site.  I had seen the site several months ago, but it slipped from my memory.  I have been a member of the flickr group for a long time, but, I can’t remember the last time I actually visited the group page.  On this site, there is a weekly photography assignment. The assignments for this year start on February 1.  So, I looked at the 2012 assignments.

The first assignment is to create a Vision Statement.  This is basically a statement describing why it is that I take pictures.  As described on the web site, “Tell us with a single paragraph what you want to be able to do with your images. Tell us what you do without telling us you are a photographer. Accompany that message with a single image taken around your home.”

To me, the reason I enjoy photography is it differs from other modes of expression, and there is something that is transcendently stimulating when I see a really great image I have taken. In 2012, my Aperture Library has over 7700 images.  Every once in a while, as the image would come up on the screen, there was a moment of awe.  Kind of, “Oh boy.  That is good!”

It is becoming easier to take technically perfect images – those with proper exposure, composition, lighting, whatever.  I can look at those and think, “That’s a good image.”  But there is the added, intangible element that is included in an image that is really great.  I take photographs because I enjoy that feeling of producing a picture that is really great.

Now, what kind of image around the house can I make that illustrates that?

Galveston Pleasure Pier

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We went to Galveston for New Years.  The weather was pretty bad – cold and wet for most of the time.  Monday night, we decided to go the The Pleasure Pier for dinner.  I took my camera, and got a couple of pretty good night images of the pier.

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Both of these images were taken in the early evening.  I actually ended up underexposing with exposure compensation because the camera meter wanted to make the pictures brighter than it really was.

Iowa Snow

SONY DSCWe went to Des Moines for Christmas.  They got about a foot of snow a few days before we got there, and I really thought it would less evident.  I didn’t think it would be gone, but the snow still adhered to trees and things more than I expected. That allowed me to get some good pics.

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OK. now full disclosure:  Both of these are after some serious photoshop manipulations.  For the first one, I created two layers.  The exposure on the bottom layer was about -2, and the exposure on the top layer was about +1.5.  I then masked the top layer and brushed out everything above the buildings.  For the second picture, I did a similar thing, only I made a gradient mask for the top layer going through about the center of the picture.

Dickens on the Strand – Steampunks

2012 Dickens on the Strand

Steampunk is an alternative world conceptually akin to Jules Vern.  Lots of gadgets and alternative technologies.  A few years ago, steampunk costumes were scarce at Dickens on the Strand, but over the past couple of years, they have really caught on.  Now, it seems like there were probably more steampunk themed costumes than any of the others.

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Lots of leather and strange accessories adorn these costumes.

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This couple was dressed all up.  Too bad they didn’t have anything for the child.

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This guy was demonstrating his own flying machine.

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And, sometimes, steampunk and pirates co-mingled.

 

Dickens on the Strand – Pirates

2012 Dickens on the Strand

Another favorite theme for costumes was Pirates.  You might think that at a Dickens Christmas festival there would be people dressed as Scrooge or ghosts of Christmas past, present, future, or Jacob Marley.  But by far and away, the character most used was Captain Jack Sparrow.  But, lots of people dressed in various ways in pirate costumes

2012 Dickens on the Strand