St. Charles Trolley Car

I said one of my goals was to get a good picture of a New Orleans Trolley Car.  Here it is.

St. Charles Trolley

I am really happy with the way it came out.  While on the train coming home, I was watching a video and there was a small commercial for Topaz Impressions software plugin. It transforms images to make them look like impressionist paintings.  It turns out there are two similar packages, and I downloaded both and played with them. Here is what I got.

2014-12-08 at 19-04-53

It creates an interesting image, but it is almost insulting to real impressionist artists. To actually create impressionist art takes a great deal of skill and work. So, I am somewhat torn about this/

 

New Orleans 2

I had to attend the LMCA meeting in New Orleans. This time Debbie came with me and we took the train.  That was a great experience.  It is so much better than flying or driving, although it does take a little longer. Because the train only runs each way three times a week, we had to go a day early, but that was great because it gave me a whole day to take pictures.  I had two goals – a good trolley picture, and a picture of Preservation Hall. I got those an a couple more.

Preservation Hall

Dr. Zombie's House of Voodoo 1

Cafe' Du Monde 1

I am going to discuss the Trolley pic in another post.

Dickens on The Strand 2014

As always, we went to Dickens on The Strand. It has been interesting watching things change.  Although there were no major changes this year, there were a few things that have changed some.  There has been an increase in Steampunk related costumes (although how they relate to Victorian England I am not quite sure) and a decrease in Pirate related costumes. Here are a couple pics of the two

2014-12-06 at 12-09-012014-12-06 at 12-43-10

We joined the Galveston Historic Foundation.  That allowed us access to view the parades from a balcony on The Strand.  So, the pics of the parade were a little different this year.

2014-12-06 at 14-28-172014-12-06 at 14-28-56

Denton Guyer H.S. Silverados

Audrey is in the Denton Guyer HS Dance Squad – The Silverados.  We went and watched them at halftime of a football game on Friday.  These are some of the pictures I got.

2014-10-24 at 18-37-20

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

Cameron Park Zoo

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.

2014-10-10 at 14-50-48

In the Africa exhibit, the flamingoes were all next to the water, and that made a nice reflection shot.

2014-10-10 at 14-59-47

Finally, right next tot he Flamingoes, there was a flock of Black Vultures in a tree.

2014-10-10 at 15-00-21

Football Game

I took Joe and Mathias to see a football game in the new stadium last Saturday night.  I was able to get a couple good pictures from inside the stadium.  This one is from the very top of the upper deck seats.

Baylor Football

It is apparent it was an overcast night.  In fact, it rained quite hard when we were getting to the stadium.  As the night went on, though, the clouds opened, and I got this shot of the stadium with a quite prominent moon.

Moon over McLane

McLane Stadium

Baylor has built a new football stadium on campus.  Everyone has been eager to take photographs of it.  I have a couple in my own style. Here is my picture of the stadium.

McLane Stadium

It is am impressive facility.  I wanted to go a little beyond the normal photograph, though, and I took pictures of the old Floyd Casey Stadium and superimposed on into the reflection in the water.  I call this “Now and Then.”

Now and Then

Double Helix

The Heart of Texas Professional Photographer’s Guild holds monthly competitions.  For August, the theme for one of the competitions was “Around in Circles.” Bryant Stanton is a local artist who works in metal and glass.  He was commissioned to do a chandelier and a sculpture for the new Science Building at the Community College.  His sculpture was in interpretation of the Double Helix.  I decided to work that up as my entry for the competition.  This was my final product, and it won the competition.

Double Helix

Food – More Desserts

Walmart had several things in the bakery clearance yesterday.  So, more dessert pics today. First Oatmeal Cookies.

Oatmeal Cookies

Then a Brownie

Brownie

And finally two pictures of Chocolate Cream Pie.

Chocolate Cream Pie

Chocolate Cream Pie