On my trip on Highway 6 to photograph trees, I happened to notice this old, derelict farm. There is something about the interaction of the decaying of the structures and the vegetation around them that make for an interesting combination.
Trees in winter display a delicacy that is not present when they have their leaves. Last week, I took a quick drive down Hwy 6 and photographed some of the trees. This one was south of Marlin, on the west side of the road.
This one was at the Falls County/Robinson County line on the east side of the highway.
This one was on the east side of the highway. You can really see the effects of the prevailing South winds with most of the branching being on the North side of the tree.
This one was also on the East side of the highway. The character in this tree is remarkable. It is obvious that this tree has been severaly damaged, but has survived the damage with new growth.
As we left Galveston this morning, the wind was so calm that the water was still. I took this picture of Galveston Bay from the bridge on 61st St.
We awoke this morning to an absolutely beautiful sunrise. I am behind in my blogging, but I wanted to post this picture. It was taken at about 7:30.
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?
I have gone through the over 7000 images from this year and chosen five that I think are the best. I am not going to rank them. Rather, I will present them chronologically.
The first one is from Galveston. Earlier this Spring, Debbie was walking on the beach and saw that someone had started to pile rocks on each other. As other people came along, they created their own piles of rocks to the point where eventually, there were hundreds of piles of rocks. I took this picture of one of the piles. I used a strobe and softbox to help me make the sky a little darker and to help define the surfaces of the rocks.
Earlier this Summer, Pat Jones asked me to serve as a second shooter at a wedding. I enjoyed the process. The wedding was at an interesting outdoor area in Roundrock. As the sun was going down, we got the couple to walk with us. There was a place in the woods where the setting sun was coming through a break in the leaves of a tree. I positioned them in the spot where the sun hit their faces and got this picture.
For the Waco Wild West 100 Bike Ride, last year, I stood at the end of the Washington St, Bridge and tried to get pictures of the cyclists with the suspension bridge and the Hilton in the background. I got some similar shots this year, but noticed that the river was absolutely still. So, I went down along the river and shot up at the cyclists on the bridge, with the reflection in the still water.
Ashley Henager wanted to get some pics at an old house in Speegleville. A couple days before, she contacted me and asked it we could change and shoot with her husband and son. I loved the idea. We shot at Midway Park. Noah was as cute as could be, but he really wanted to get in the water. He kept trying to get away and get in the water, and at one point, the tug between them resulted in this picture.
Finally, the last shoot with a model I did was with Heather Lynn Johnson. I have already discussed the lighting issues, but this shot was really great.
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.
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.
We 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.
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.
My sister and Brother in Law brought my Mother to Frisco to have Christmas with my Nephew and his wife and their 18 month old daughter – Lily. We went to visit them on Sunday, and I took my camera. This was a quick snap inside.
My sister took Lily outside and started up a bubble maker. Lily got really animated, chasing the bubbles all over the yard. This is one of her trying to figure out the bubbles.
After the bubbles, Lily played with her ball, and I got this quick one of her.
I had a session with Heather Lynn Johnson in Harker Heights. We went to a local park for the shoot. The problem was the sun was absolutely terrible. It was mid day, and bright. Since there were no leaves left on most of the trees, there was little actual shade. It was almost like a fight. I kept trying to get her to turn her head for decent light, but every time I did, she couldn’t open her eyes because the sun was so bright. It turned out that I was able to get some good pictures. So, it wasn’t a total loss. The one above was somewhat of an accident. Out of the camera, it was way overexposed. But, in Aperture, I reduced the exposure, and the result was this picture.
I got some pretty even lighting on this one, and I really like the way it turned out. There was a tree that forked at the ground, and she could lean into it and lay her head on it.
She brought several changes of clothes, and from the beginning, she said she had a black dress that she thought would be really good to twirl around in. The problem was the terrain didn’t suite wearing heels. She did several twirls, and some of the shots came out great. Then I had her walk towards me, and this was one of the best of the day.