I mentioned in a previous post that on the way home from Galveston, I noticed that the goldenrods were blooming, and, since I have never gotten any pictures of them, I decided to run down highway 6 and get some pictures.
Of course, there were a variety of insects associated with the blossoms, like bees.
and a Beetle.
I want to write a longer post about what I went through to produce a specific image. When I was coming back to the car after I took the pictures of the “Wacotown” sign on the building at fourth and Franklin, I looked and saw the combination of the clock on the WISD’s Mae Jackson Building and the ALICO Building.
I used the exposure brackets in the camera to take three pictures – one correctly exposed, one under exposed and one over exposed, and used the HDR software to produce an HDR version of it.
I liked that, but, somehow the clock was giving me an art deco vibe, and that made me wonder how this would look as a black and white image. So, I took the HDR image and removed the color in Aperture.
That had a rather dark and brooding nature as a result of the HDR treatment. I decided to try something else, and used NIK effects Color Effects Pro on the HDR image to make a Black and White version.
That made it a little darker and even more broody. I tried Using NIK’s Silver Effects Pro on the HDR image and got this.
That was really dark and broody. It had almost an old horror movie feel to it, and it looked really grainy like it was shot on tri-X film and pushed. So, I wondered what it would look like with less treatment. I went back to the original, single image that was correctly exposed and used Silver Effects on it to get this.
This is much “cleaner.” I think I am going to make an 8×10 print of it, and put it in an 11×14 mat in a simple black frame.
Another Waco landmark is the Dr. Pepper museum.
While photographing the museum, I noticed about a block away, across the street from First Baptist Church were these two structures. I believe they are grain silos, but I am not sure. They appear to be long-ago abandoned, But, they are still interesting.
On Friday, I took these shots on the corner of Fourth and Franklin.
I found this second image interesting, and worked up some variations on it that I will bring back in another post.
After the Texas Ranger Hall, I went down to the Freedom Fountain.
One of the most popular spots in Waco is the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum. 
We had a meeting of the HOTPPG a week ago, and Doug Box took us outside to do some shooting. While doing that, I became interested in the refurbished Waco Hippodrome sign. I went back there on Thursday to see what kinds of angles might exits, and I found one that I could get both the sign and the ALICO building together.
On Thursday I got a couple shots of the county courthouse.
It has been a while since I did HDR imagery. I made a book of the Galveston Images and used some in a calendar for next year. I have been meaning to start some of locations in Waco. So, yesterday, I decided to get started on that project. I shot around the suspension bridge, the courthouse, and the hippodrome.
For this post, I want to post the shots from the suspension bridge/Indian Springs Park area.
We had dinner with a couple of friends a few weeks ago, and while talking, I mentioned that I was seriously considering photography as a means of staying active in retirement. She said she really wanted family pictures, and asked if I would be interested. Well, their three sons and their families visited on Saturday, and they asked me to come and take some pictures.
I had visions of getting some really dramatic shots, as the forecast was for overcast skies and periods of rain. So, I thought we would find a place where I could use some lights to get under-exposed skies. Well, it turned out to be mostly sunny. They had a spot in the yard where they wanted them taken. So, I set up a light, and we shot there. The ended up being really good pictures and just what they wanted.
