We were headed to Galveston the other day and I happened to notice just south of Marlin there was a windmill and a tree on the side of the road. I made not of it and went back the other day to get some pictures. I had been thinking about black and white images, and thought this would make a good one.
Driving there, I noticed along the side of the road in Riesel there was an old barn and a field in which there were several bales of hay. So, I stopped there on the way home and got that as well.
A week ago, while mowing the lawn, I noticed a peony blooming. I thought it would make a nice picture. So, the next day, I took my camera out and started taking pictures. While I was doing that, the mailman came. So, after I thought I had enough images, I took my camera up to the porch and walked out to the mailbox. Sometimes, things just are aligned in a unique way. Debbie has a rose bush next to the mailbox and some of the roses were blooming. It just so happened that the sun coming through the leaves of the trees created a kind of spotlight on one of the roses.
I took a few more than did an HDR bracket. I had watched a video on using some additional software to create a detailed look in the petals. So, I played around with that and came up with this one.
There is a “festival” in Galveston to celebrate the spring bird migration. A friend of Debbie’s from Wisconsin is into birds, and she and her husband came to Galveston for the weekend to attend the festival. On Saturday, we drove all over the island looking for birds. We went to one spot, and didn’t really find much, but I saw this rather cool cats that was in the process of setting buds of a blossom.
We did find birds in the place where I go to look for Sandhill Cranes. One of the things I have always wanted was a good picture of a bird flying. I finally got one. This is a white Ibis that had just taken off.
The TMCA had its annual meeting in Kerrville this week. We stayed at the YO Ranch, and, as always there was a little time for photography. There is an old wagon in front of the hotel.
The lobby of the hotel is quite impressive with lots of trophies and western items.
In back of the meeting rooms, there was a small flower bed with flowers that were reaching the end of their lives, but they still made for good subjects.
The August Guild Image Competition included a “Challenge” Competition. The Challenge was a Black and White natural light photograph. One day last week when I went to get the mail, I noticed cobwebs forming on the remnants of the roses by the mailbox. So, I used those as my subject. I took a series of images, that were pretty good, but when I sent one to Pounds to have it printed, it came back and the focus was not sharp enough. I still had time. So, I took some more images and found one with really sharp focus. I quickly sent it to Pounds. That was last Friday. They did not process it until Monday and shipped it for Tuesday. The competition was Tuesday evening. So, things were tight. At about 5:45, it had not come yet. So, I decided to go without it. I got down to Franklin and New Road, and Debbie called that it had just been delivered. So, I raced back home to get it. The competition was supposed to start at 6:30. So, I had a little time. I drove down to Coach’s and got there in plenty of time. They set up the prints, and all went well. That is, until the prints were revealed. I was amazed at the extraordinary quality of the prints for this competition. Let’s face it, the prints are always strong, but these images were beyond that. Turns out, I didn’t place. But, I am not disappointed The images that won were really better than mine.
The final stop on the cruise was Aruba. Aruba is another Dutch island. Where Curacao was well developed for tourists, Aruba was more rugged, but had some spectacular resort beaches. We tok a tour of the island that took us from Oranjestad in the South to the Northern coast. There, we went to a “Natural Rock Bridge” that was a rugged, rocky coast.
This was not at all what I expected, as I have more or less thought, because of all the resorts that it would be mostly hotels and beaches
The second stop on our cruise was La Romana on the southern side of the Dominican Republic. The tour we took there went to Altos de Chavon, an village/compound of artists. 
This was an amphitheater. We were told that there were regular performances here. There were lots of flowering trees and plants, and there were more butterflies that I an have ever seen before. This is a Gulf Fritillary.
The buildings were all stone and adobe. I was struck by the contrast of materials – wood, stone, adobe, metal – and textures and lines in this wall.
While in Galveston for Mardi Gras, I took a morning out to look for Sandhill Cranes. I drove out West of town to my usual spots and got this pic of one.
I also got a Nice pic of this Yellow Crowned Hight Heron.
The Heart of Texas Professional Photographers Guild holds monthly image competitions. The members submit any image they choose in either the Professional or Associate Category. There is also a monthly “Challenge” competition where members create an image with a specified theme or technique. In February, the theme was a “Domestic Animal.” I decided to try an do something with cattle in a field.
I took an afternoon and drove out Highway 6. My plan was to photograph some cattle and try and get something interesting. I came upon a field in which a rather substantial steer was standing on the rim of a tank. I started taking pictures of it. As things progressed I started thinking more and more about the idea of isolating that one steer in the frame. I decided converting it to Black and White would add a little more emphasis to it, but that left a rather large area of sky to the left. I decided I could reduce that by cropping the scene into more of a panorama. That helped somewhat, but that sky was still too distracting. So, as I considered it, I began to think about cattle and the old Chisholm Trail and the Waco suspension bridge. That made me decide to add an image of the cowboy statue at the suspension bridge. So, the final image is
I had a little spare time on Friday. So, I ran over to the zoo. I knew I did not have enough time to do the entire zoo, so I went to the Asia and Africa areas. The female orangutan gave birth not too long ago, and she and her baby were out.
In the Africa exhibit, the flamingoes were all next to the water, and that made a nice reflection shot.
Finally, right next tot he Flamingoes, there was a flock of Black Vultures in a tree.
