Bookmark - School Yard Rain (Miscellaneous)

Rains a lot in Taiwan.  This was captured through the fence of a jr high school campus in New Taipei, on our way to a bus stop.

Bookmark - Green Columns (Architecture)

...a little closer to home, on the Galveston Strand back in 2008.

Bookmark - Maui Cloud Bank (Miscellaneous)

Saw the lettering potential here and made a few for church, including the example below; also have one for "Unify" and "Live".  Bookmark made with a wider shot at bottom; got the cloud bank with the Bigger Cahoona in Maui one day...

Bookmark - Discovery Green Art Installation (Miscellaneous)

Will be including some lettering here, but need just the right font and just the right effects in Photoshop.  On the backburner for now...

Bookmark - River Oaks Birdbath

Also on the Azalea Trail, a statue appearing to float atop the water in a small pool.  This estate was probably five or so acres...a lot of land in the most valuable real estate market in Houston.  Some of the River Oaks estates, however, are 14-15 acres...old money to be sure.

Bookmark - River Oaks Glassware (Miscellaneous)

This was taken from inside one of the mansions in River Oaks here in Houston, on the 2020 Azalea Trail in March just before the Pandemic hit.  It's still surprising to see a dozen or so of these rich families opening their estates - five or six including their homes as well - to the paying public.  And it's just as interesting to see the types streaming in and out to take the tours...

Bookmark - Yard Ribbon (Miscellaneous)

Much the same thing happened (see yesterday's post) when picking up our daughter from a friend's house after a party.  Saw this ribbon in the yard and manipulated the bokeh to make it stand out more, and now it's among the ranks of the "famed" bookmarks in this collection (again, LOL)...

Bookmark - Bob's Front Yard (Miscellaneous)

No matter where I go or what I am doing, it doesn't take long for me to turn my head and see a picture in the making...especially if I have a camera in my hands.  This seemingly simple shot of my brother's front yard is a case in point.

Since he's moved out and on to another house, could this now be considered a classic?

Bookmark - Astros Crowd (Miscellaneous)

Gotta be sneaky for these kinds of shots, as the subjects have no idea they're being captured and one day will be famous all over the world as a result of being posted on this blog (LOL).  With the Fuji 7000 it was much easier because, being a mirrorless point-and-shoot, it could be set to make no noise at all.  In fact that's one issue that held me back a long time from buying a DSLR, this business of being so noisy while you're taking pictures.  Technical quality makes up for it, though.

Bookmark - Platform Museum (Miscellaneous)

If they have a pencil museum somewhere, why not an oil drilling platform museum?  I didn't make it inside this one while we were in Galveston in 2008, but maybe one day...

We're proud that our son is an electrical engineer and occasionally works on the premier platform of our day -           Thunder Horse, out in the Gulf of Mexico.

Bookmark - Arboretum Walkway (Miscellaneous)

Created this as an encouragement to a friend in church.  This is a walkway in the Houston Arboretum before they gussied up the place.

Bookmark - Galveston Chandelier (Miscellaneous)

This was taken on the same trip, with the Fujifilm 7000 6MP point-and-shoot and its magical sensor, inside one of the mansions featured in a tour.

Bookmark - Galveston Lighthouse Prism (Miscellaneous)

Just got back from our first real trip since the pandemic, where we visited the Split Rock lighthouse in Minnesota.  Was awesome to be there, where the Bigger Cahoona and I got lots of exercise and had a wonderful time.  Came away with 3,068 pictures, then as usual threw away about two thirds when we got home.  Felt good to reawaken some skills and creativity lain dormant for more than a year.

Takes a long time to process that many pictures, boiling them down to blogworthy posts, but will perhaps have some ready by the time this bookmark series is done.

The lighthouse prism here was not captured there, however... this was in Galveston back in 2008.

Bookmark - Discovery Green Play Fountain (Miscellaneous)

The remaining bookmarks created thus far don't fit neatly into any category, so I'll call them "Miscellaneous" and end the run after a couple dozen more posts.  The pandemic is slowing down significantly, which allows more travel, which in turn means the Bigger Cahoona will be getting more exercise.  Did a shoot in Dallas last weekend (this being posted on 09/29/21), and we're headed to Minneapolis later this morning.  So by the end of October or beginning of November will have more regular photographs - and perhaps stories - to post.

Regarding the above: I rarely take pictures of children, especially if not my own.  I'm simply not very comfortable around them.  But this fountain installation at Discovery Green here in Houston and all the chaos and activity within was too good to pass up.

Bookmark - Wrought Iron with Candles (Abstracts)

Though this guy cannot be easily identified as a church pic, I'm posting it here because I missed it for the Abstracts series of bookmarks.  Captured in York Minster, those are candles beyond a wrought iron divider in one of the sanctuaries.

Bookmark - York Minster Filigree (Religion and Culture)

People are claiming more and more that the camera quality in our cell phones has already surpassed DSLR's like the Big and Bigger Cahoonas.  I quite disagree.  No cell phone today could come close to yielding a pic like this, which, being on the dark side, was heavily touched up in post capture.  This level of touch-up would quickly render a phone pic unusable.

So I'll keep on practicing and playing with my DSLR's for now.

Bookmark - Mormon Steeple (Religion and Culture)

Another favorite...the Mormon church steeple on West Road, across from St Maximilian.  Obviously captured during the winter, my favorite time to shoot.

Bookmarks - Thirsk Cathedral (Religion and Culture)

 

Bookmark - Chinese Lanterns (Religion and Culture)

A favorite, this guy was captured from the temple grounds featured in yesterday's post.  I played with it a little and converted the background to black-and-white, but decided that this full color version looked better.

Bookmark - Temple Steps (Religion and Culture)

 

Bookmark - African Totem (Religion and Culture)

Interesting to see an African-themed object emblazoned with Chinese writing.  Captured at the Taipei Zoo back in May of 2019.

Bookmark - Praying Hands (Religion and Culture)

Beginning a new series today on religion and culture.  Really, every picture can be said to capture culture in one way or another, but these will be tied to what can only be identified with a specific ethnicity or religion, starting here with Catholicism.

Original photo posted here...

Bookmark - Keswick Pencil (Loner Shots)

Originally featured in its greater extent in this series, an amazing example of art from the otherwise mundane.  And it's so English, having a pencil museum...

Bookmark - Navasota Water Logs (Loner Shots)

 

Bookmarks - Loner Nail (Loner Shots)

Found a way to use this one as a means of encouragement at church:

 ...which later was expanded when a minister deserved more than one:

Observe that the heads of these three aren't identical...subtle changes were made so the cloning wouldn't be too obvious.

Bookmark - Bird (Loner Shots)

Taken with the Fuji 7000 at an animal park in Wilmington, NC.

Bookmark - Topsail Kite (Loner Shots)

Captured at the same beach on Topsail, with the Fuji 7000.  We were there for a wedding, and the photographer let me have a look at his Nikon D40, on which was mounted a 70-200mm lens.  I found it interesting, as I was at the time looking into getting a DSLR, but not convinced it was the best thing to have at the beach, especially if changing lenses around all that salt air.

Bookmark - Reading Man (Loner Shots)

And what do I mean by "loner shots"?  Things that stick out by themselves against an otherwise bare background, like this man's head.  Certainly he had no idea that his relaxing day on the Outer Banks of North Carolina would be captured and featured on the web one day...

Bookmark - Hogg Shadow (last of the Abstracts)

...and a little closer to home, this shadow was cast against the wall of the Bayou Bend Hogg mansion here in Houston.

Think this'll do it for the remaining abstract bookmarks created so far.  Think I'll do a few loner shots next.

Bookmark - Bubbles with Sky (Abstracts)

It was windy that day so these guys were moving fast, but managed to capture this abstract of the bubbles against a blustery York sky across the pond...

Bookmark - Medicine Scale with Found Edges (Abstracts)

Captured in the same room that was mentioned in yesterday's post.  Don't know that there's any formula to this, but some pics look better with Glowing Edges and others, such as this one, with the Found Edges effect.