Strand Restaurants #6

Set the tripod way low for this one, and took about four exposures, this being the best of the lot.

Strand Restaurants #5

Had to use the perspective control in Elements for this one, due to the wide angle of the shot. The idea was to capture the stars on the ceiling, along with the chairs and mirror. The tripod was my constant companion for these dark interiors...

Strand Restaurants #4

Same place, different angle. I was very fortunate during the shoots done with this particular employer, as she set me loose to do whatever seemed right, with very few directions or restrictions.

I knew that for the magazine I would not be doing any alterations or heavy make-overs during post capture, so was careful about anything that appeared in the background...

Strand Restaurants #3

This was captured at another establishment. Though a tad grainy, the pictures from the 3800 did not disappoint, as the white balance did not have to be adjusted at all during post-capture.

Strand Restaurants #2

One of the establishments we covered was a place where you can make your own wine. This is a photo of the bar at that location...

Strand Restaurants #1

On two occasions I was asked to photograph a magazine shoot. The first was for Texas Parks & Wildlife, and the next was for Texas Highways.

For the TP&W shoot we went to the Fort Boggy State Park, about halfway between Houston and Dallas. I loaded the kids in the van, along with the freelance writer and her husband. By the time we got there it was afternoon under a full sun so the shooting was lousy, but it was an interesting excursion nonetheless. Spent a full day in post-capture work, but only one was published - in the November, 2006, issue, under the writer's byline.

The picture posted here is from the Texas Highways shoot, in Galveston. The objective was to cover some restaurant properties on the Strand, so we (just me and the writer this time) went from one place to the next, with her doing the interviews and me running loose to do my thing. I brought along the trusty 'ole Finepix 3800 with a tripod for interiors - due to its great white balance performance in artificial lighting conditions - and the Finepix 7000 for exterior shots. It was going to be a full-spread story with my own byline, but unfortunately Hurricane Ike literally washed it away a couple of weeks before going to press. Such is life and luck sometimes...

Downtown Houston

Downtown Houston presents many opportunities to juxtapose the old with the new. This shot didn't quite look right in color, so tried converting into black and white with passable results.


The photo was taken in 2006 during a Girl Scout tour of one of the federal buildings...

Trinity County Moths

These two beauties were captured back in 2008, on a Girl Scout trip with my daughter...

Stump Ax

Funeral Flowers

These are funeral flowers from when a friend's father died some years ago, captured with the trusty 'ole Finepix 3800.


It may seem odd that funeral shoots have been one of the most popular - and satisfying - types of photography that I've done.  The recipients of the pictures are so thankful, expressing appreciation that viewing them in the days and weeks afterwards helps bring closure.


A few months ago, in Popular Photography magazine, there was an article about a lady that runs a business doing nothing but funeral pictures.  She uses a Nikon D300 (of course!), with a 300mm telephoto that allows her to discreetly shoot candids.  She changes to another lens for closer-up pics - including those with relatives actually posing with the deceased casketside.
_________________________
Well, they've arrived!  I now have my full order from B&H Photo:  two 32-gig chips (a CF at 60 MB/s and an SD at 90 MB/s, which is the primary for RAW), Lightroom 4.0, and a Nikkor 17-55mm f/2. fixed lens.  These will open the door to a new level of photography - finally, with the lens, I'll have more flexibility with interior shoots.  I've been playing with Lightroom for the past couple of evenings, and find it to be amazing!  Truly I've been blessed with the ability to acquire these tools, and with a wife that gave the green light to go with it...