Wood Duck

This picture was taken at Sea World in San Antonio, back in 2003. It's pretty much untouched, though I did photoshop a few bubbles out from the surface of the water.

Winding Road

This one isn't exactly one of my favorites, but so many people have commented on it I decided it was worth posting. I printed a 5x7 and had it up in my cubicle for a long time.

The location is Central Texas, just outside of my brother's apartment. The fence to the left marks the perimeter of the property where the apartments were located.

Those apartments were my kind of place, right between Dripping Springs and Wimberley in the middle of nowhere. That area is chock full of the winding roads, fences, and streams that lead to the nearby Blanco River. Really a great place to take pictures.

Flame (with Mexico story)

We were at a friend's house having a Christmas party back in 2003, and there was a fire pit in his back yard. I took six or seven pictures with the 3800, and this one had the best "pattern", in my opinion.

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It was recommended that I tell this story while it is still fresh, so here it is. I don't have much time to write these days, so will use this as a sort of placeholder and keep it in draft form here. It will be updated and expanded once in a while as time permits.

I lived in Mexico back in 1980, so at church it fell upon me to head up a mission opportunity there. As part of that effort we organize a couple of trips per year to keep up, and be encouraged by, those that we support.

This past November 7th six of us from the congregation left early in the morning, reaching our crossing point at Progreso/Nuevo Progreso just after lunch. We normally cross at that location because of its relative solitude and distance from Nuevo Laredo, which for a time got some pretty bad press due to cartel activity. The crossing went smoothly, and from there we headed west on Highway 2 to catch Hwy 40 on to Monterrey.

From Nuevo Progreso Highway 2 passes to the south of Reynosa. Traffic was just starting to get congested when we noticed a truck blocking the road ahead. Highway 2 has two lanes going west and two lanes going east, with a wide median in the middle. We saw that both of our lanes were blocked by the truck...one of those box-type delivery trucks. I shared with the others that this was not unusual - all we had to do was either stop or figure out a way to go around. I was in the front passenger seat and one of the elders of the church was driving.

Upon approaching the scene we observed that cars were forming a single file line and going down an embankment to the right in order to get around the truck. We decided to follow suit (not that there was much choice) and took a chance that the van would not tip as it leaned over onto the embankment. As we did so the rest of the scene came into view; there was an 18-wheeler tanker truck that was facing the wrong way on our two lanes, and there was another truck at the other end of the 18-wheeler that was identical to the one we initially saw. Both trucks crossed both lanes and were parked very close to the larger truck so that movement in either direction was impossible for the 18-wheeler.

The gravity of the situation still had not dawned on any of us, so on the other side of the scene (after passing the second truck that was blocking the 18-wheeler) we eased back onto the road and went on our way westbound, thinking this was just another traffic hassle.

Not fifteen seconds later I was looking down at the GPS unit as my friend drove and heard something that sounded like a loud "rat-tat-tat-tat-tat". I thought, "Gee, that sounded like a gunfire...could it be?" I looked up just in time to see a Mexican military Hummer traveling the other direction in the opposite lanes; as it came exactly adjacent to us I heard it again, this time seeing the muzzle flash as each round went off. Oddly, the first thought I had was, "Could those be real bullets coming out of that thing?"

Of course they were, a fact that was underscored when we began hearing the answer of machine gun fire from the bad guys at the truck that we just passed. At that point I had only two thoughts: 1) if we get hit (because the bad guys were firing in our general direction back at the military Hummer that just passed us) it had better be below window level; there was enough stuff packed in the back to absorb the impact before reaching the cabin where we were sitting; and 2) we've got to get out of here! There were civilians running from the scene by now parallel to our direction of travel, away from the battle.

The back-and-forth of the gunfire had reached such a pitch that one of the ladies sitting in the back of the van was telling her son to duck, to get below window level. The driver looked at me and asked what we should do. I said, "We've got to get out of here - step on it!"

Well, he did - everything on the dash flew off as we accelerated, and we headed out of there!

For about ten seconds.

Trouble was, everyone else had the same idea, which caused a number of crashes in the stretch ahead of us. The gunfire did subside, but it took us more than an hour to navigate around at least two wrecks caused in the scramble out of there. Finally we cleared the Reynosa area and enjoyed smooth sailing all the way to Monterrey, our first stop on the mission trip.

So that is how we witnessed a battle between the Mexican military and the drug cartels, and missed being in the epicenter by less than 20 seconds.

West Texas Wagon Wheel

One day my wife announced that she had a choice of locations to go for a business trip; either Dallas, San Antonio or Lubbock. Since in those days the whole family accompanied her on these trips, she asked for my input. I chose Lubbock. All of her friends shook their heads in shock and amazement...why would someone want to go to Lubbock, way out there in West Texas?!?

Well, some of the most pivotal events of my life happened there, and there is something that is good for my soul in West Texas. Ever since we got married I've wanted to share that part of my life with her, so off we went.

This picture was taken in Palo Duro Canyon at the outdoor amphitheater just before the famous play, "Texas", started. It was part of the stage, thus completely fabricated in a fictional setting. Even so, the theme, earth tones, and elements thread to a much-romanticized period in our history for a calming shot.

I was able to share with my family a little of that part of my life, but by the last day they shook their heads in shock and amazement and said, "Why would someone want to go to Lubbock, way out here in West Texas?!?"

Bible Collage with Verse

This is a project that took years in the making.

Some time ago the family went on a cruise. I'm an early riser, so the background picture was taken at the crack of dawn from one of the upper decks of the ship. That portion remains untouched...nothing was done in Photoshop.

A year or so later in the making of a church project I photographed the Bible on our dining room table. The book was selected out and pasted in as a layer on top of the cruise photo. The pages were distractingly bright, so the Bible was darkened by 20% to go a little better with the background shot.

The project sat on my computer desktop for a while...unbeknownst to me there were bigger and better plans for this thing.

I've been studying the Old Testament and came across a verse that had been taught to me by a co-worker a few years ago...Exodus 14:14. There was such an impact upon seeing it again that I thought it might be worth displaying in the collage that you see in this posting.

The text at first looked very flat, and I couldn't figure out how to find the bevels and shadows controls to show up in Elements 7.0, so decided to create my own effects. A duplicate layer was created for both sizes of text (the passage and scripture citation), and placed beneath each one respectively. The text was left pure white, but the duplicate layers were to become the shadows so they were colored 100% black. To produce the feathered effect on the shadows I gave each a Gaussian blur - seven pixels for the larger text and five pixels for the smaller underneath. Then the shadows were nudged into position diagonally to the text.

The result still wasn't exactly right, so I began to play with the transparency of the white text overlay. The effect was dramatic! After experimenting with lower and higher levels, I settled on 65%.

In the first 10" wide print (which was given to my co-worker) there were some jaggies that came out at the edges of the pages, so that was fixed with the cloning tool. The finished work was saved in layers so that different verses can be inserted. Both photographs were taken with the S7000, so larger prints look good.

Epcot - Chinese Performer #2

In this one I used the dropper tool to determine the color of light, matching it with her hair decoration.

"Chinese Performer #1" was posted on February 7th. On that date you can see the picture from which this one was derived.

Epcot - Leaning Tower

I have a friend who just started a blog like mine - a really good photographer. Many of his pictures are taken askew... something I've seen in publications also. So I thought, well, why not...

Epcot - Car Ride

As stated earlier, every you turn at Disney there is a picture to be taken. This was the lobby where you waited in line for some sort of car ride. Lots of good color.

There was some camera shake, so had to apply the unsharp mask...

Epcot - Moroccan Door

Always been a fan of foreign writing. When I was a kid there was this book in my brother's book case that had a two-page introduction written in forty-one languages. Countless hours were spent poring over the words and symbols in those pages.

Later on, in New York City, I stopped at the American Bible Society at 61st and Broadway and just went crazy...they had Bibles in hundreds of languages and they were all for sale! I started a collection, but since have given many of them away to, well, to someone who could read them.

This sign was on the outside of a building that we saw on our walk around the lake at Epcot.

Epcot - The Living Seas

Amazing color in this one...the "T" had all kinds of algae growing on it, so I cloned from the "H" next door.

Epcot - Bonsai

I was in Pennsylvania once, at Longwood Gardens, when we came upon an indoor exhibit on bonsai trees. I'd seen bonsais before, but these were different in that they had cultivated entire groves of trees about three feet tall. It was fascinating to be able to look down into a grove of aspens (or whatever they were, but they looked just like aspens) that were perfectly proportioned. Even the dirt and greenery made it appear as though a huge swath of the forest was scooped up, miniaturized, and placed on a table.

Unfortunately on that trip I wasn't into photography, and didn't get any pictures. But my interest in bonsais continued.

This was one of several trees they had outside at this place in Epcot. The bamboo makes a pretty good background.

I did make another trip to Longwood (in fact several, as my parents lived close by) and got some pictures that might be posted some day.

Epcot - Colorful Dome

The inside of this dome was magnificent...lots of color. This is one of those "reproducer" pictures described in the blog entry for January 17th.

Epcot - Blue Performers

These guys were a class act. There were three of them, and on the way to the open-air stage they did this slow, strange, superbly coreographed walk across a large plaza. Naturally that got everyone's attention, and they literally gained quite a following before beginning the staged performance. Then things really got weird...

Epcot - Sphere

From a distance the Epcot sphere looks smallish, but a closer view reveals quite a project, with a full-blown roller coaster ride inside.

Even the girders that hold up the sign are tastefully done...

Epcot - Chinese Performer #1

Think I'll stick with Disney for a while...Epcot first.

Disney World is such an amazing place; the imagineers and management really, really know what they are doing. In any of its five parks, it is impossible to walk anywhere for more than ten minutes without seeing some sort of performance, whether on the sidewalk or in a theater.

We were making our way around the lake at Epcot and saw this girl doing all sorts of contortions on a hand-size platform. Not only was what she was doing impressive, she made it look as though she were enjoying every moment of it.

Some time after we returned home I read in PC Photo about a method using gradients that simulates certain lighting effects in Photoshop - in this case a spot light shining on a surface behind the subject. I found it creatively liberating to be able to choose from among millions of colors in trying this effect.

Interestingly, when when I tried to print it the gradient didn't come out well at all...that's when I learned that it's necessary to save in a much higher resolution than the standard 72dpi in order to get a smooth transition.

Epcot - Mirror Squares

This is a picture taken at Disney Epcot in Florida back in 2004. Disney, like Vegas, is another of those places designed for great pictures everywhere you look. I even took the 3800 on several roller coaster rides. Boy, that camera sure took some abuse! Just kept on ticking...

Wedding Reflection

This picture was taken at the same wedding reception. Aside from the "of things through things" concept, reflection shots are my favorite to capture. All of the columns in the restaurant were covered with these mirrors, which provided the perfect opportunity.

Since I was shooting at a downward angle there was some perspective skewing done in Photoshop, as well as some darkening and saturation. This was a fun one to work with, and another one of those surprises upon revisiting an old photograph.