The AMCA met in New Orleans. As always, a good time was had by all. We took the train out of Houston. Next to the AMTRAK station in Houston is the Jefferson David Hospital. This is an old historic hospital dating back to the end of the Civil War. I am not sure what it is used for today, but there was activity in it and cars in the lot. I kind of liked the concept of posing the anatomical model in the window.
This is the skyline of Houston from behind the AMTRAK Station.
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
As always, we were in Galveston for Mardi Gras. The parades out on Seawall do not have the character the ones on the Strand had. But, they were still fun.
Can’t get more decked out than that.
Always pirates, even with beads.
The bead truck.
After Cozumel, we spent a day at sea before getting back to Galveston. Over the course of the cruise, I was able to get some sunrise/sunset pictures. So, I am going to put them all in this post.
This was from Falmouth Jamaica.
This was at sunrise in George Town Grand Cayman Islands.
as was this
And, as we were preparing to leave George Town, I got this shot.
Our third port of call was Cozumel. I am not sure how many times we have been to Cozumel, but it has been enough that we no longer consider doing any organized excursions. We took a cab into town, walked around, and had lunch at Las Palmeres. I have taken so many pictures in Cozumel over the years, that it is hard to take anything new. But, I tried. As we were about to leave port, I got a couple of shots of Cozumel at night.
and
Our second port of call was George Town Cayman Islands. We did a scenic trolley tour, and it was really not worth what we paid. When we went to catch it, we noticed there was a “hop on – hop off” bus tour that would probably have been far better. Even at that, I got a couple good images. The trolley we took went out the main street for a couple miles, and at the end, we stopped at a beach called “Smith’s Barricade.”
When we got back, we walked around George Town for a while, and got this shot.
We could not dock in George Town. So, we had to use tenders. Returning to the ship, I took this picture of our cruise ship.
Our first port was Falmouth Jamaica. From the ship, it looked fantastic, but what we saw was all built specifically for the cruise ships.
We took an excursion to “Good Hope Estate.” This was a 18th century sugar cane plantation. Seldom are cruise excursions worth their cost, but this was one that really was. This plantation was built up on the top of a mountain, and the views were stunning.
and
There was a small pond on the plantation, and when we walked around it, I saw this water lily.
We took a cruise on The Navigator of the Seas the week after New Years. The first two days were at sea, and these are a couple of the images of the ship that I captured.
This first one is The Elissa in Galveston Harbor from the deck of the cruise ship.
The next one is a huge sculpture in the center of the hip that is several stories tall.
This is the 11the deck of the ship facing forward.
We went on a cruise after New Years. Before the cruise, I took a day to go out in Galveston. My original intent was to visit some places looking for birds, but that didn’t work well, as there were few birds around. I drove down to the harbor knowing there were always pelicans at the marina. When I got there, I saw The Elissa had her sails up. It appeared that there was some function on board. The Carnival Triumph was also there, and the two of them juxtaposed made for an interesting study.
and
Afterwards, I went back to looking for birds. but that didn’t last too long. As I was driving down Harborside, I noticed a marina I had never seen before by UTMB. It is apparently a place where the commercial fishing boats dock, and normally, they are out fishing, but on this day they were all docked.
