Colorful Rest Stop

I spotted this gentleman at Discovery Green Park in downtown Houston yesterday evening. He had apparently stopped for a breather and a smoke [I know that's somewhat of an oxymoron] after taking his balloons out for a walk!

Father and Daughter

This father and daughter showed up while I was shooting at the lake in Liberty last weekend. They stayed long enough to talk a little about nature and have a quick breakfast. Once again, the background would normally feature more water - Come On Rain!

Hugo Point Pussy WIllow

This photo is from Hugo Point a couple of weeks ago. Hugo Point is a small public area with a boat ramp and nature trail in Chambers County just south of I-10 and East of the Old and Lost Rivers Bridge on the Baytown side of Anahuac.

Ten Bird Tree

Another shot from the Baytown Nature Center on Sunday of last weekend. Apparently it's not just birds of a feather that flock together!

Roseate Spoonbills

Until Sunday, out of all the trips I've made out to the Baytown Nature Center to take photographs, I had never come across any Spoonbills. My luck changed this past Sunday, at about mid-morning, after I decided to drive out there and see if I could spot any photo ops. Not far into the trip I spotted the small flock of Spoonbills hanging out in a tidal pond not too far inside the entrance to the park. I was certainly pleased to have the opportunity to photograph these beautiful birds, especially on a morning shoot I started to pass up due to the time of day!

Gone Fishing

This fellow is fishing at a small wildlife refuge outside of Liberty Texas. I'm not sure of the park's name, I just stumbled upon one day while I was about half lost. As you can see below, the water level was quite low. Under normal conditions the spot this gentlemen is fishing would probably be under about 3-5 feet of water.

Never Too Old

This shot is from Barton Springs at Austin, Texas on our June vacation.

Factory Girl

I believe this young lady races on the Sea-Doo factory team. I hadn't seen this type of watercraft before - a cross between a jet ski and a wave runner. It has a seat, but it's suspended from the steering column instead of being built into the hull. I couldn't find anything on it on the Sea-Doo web page, maybe it's still in development or something. Remember you saw it here first!

Race Day

This was the scene at a Victory Lake, a private lake behind Gene's Power Sports on I-10 in Baytown, Sunday for the 2009 R5WaterXRacing Tour - a national water craft race day.

Danger Man

" Danger Man" braves all manner of potential disaster, be it man made or natural in origin. "Danger Man" faces things that would make Rambo shutter in fear and "The International" ball up in the fetal position under his blankets. All he needs is his bottle and flippers!

Fake Sky Real Sky

At the Bay Area Photo Club's August Honor's Night this past Tuesday I got busted for using a transplanted sky in the image below....

The only problem with that is that it was the original sky! I did add an exposure correction layer in PS3 to lighten the mountain bluff and foreground because the original image was under exposed. I then added a mask with a gradient fill to the sky to eliminate hot spots this caused in the clouds. The mask was just a blunt force dark-to-light quickie from the top of the image to about the bottom third. I did not actually take the time to mask the horizon line.

There are no rules in the contest against using composite images in fact it happens quite a bit. I suppose the issue is mainly one of believability, if it looks real the issue is mostly mute.

I'm not faulting the judges for saying what they said, it's there job to report and comment on what they see. I'm just curious about what you think?

Blue Frog

I've had a larger shot of this frog on file but wasn't all that big on the as-shot version. I do like this 50% cropped and blue-grey toned version though, and hope you do as well.

BNC Skimmer

From the Baytown Nature Center last weekend, a skimmer closes in on a hapless fish...

Trinity Bay

This shot is from the boat ramp at Thompson's Fish Camp on Trinity bay looking out towards the Fred Hartman bridge that crosses the Houston Ship Channel between Baytown and LaPorte, Texas.

Passion Flower

This is another view of a Passion Flower taken at the Baytown Nature Center the other day....

Fishing at the BNC

I managed to squeeze in a couple of hours this Sunday morning to try and shoot something for this months BAPC Honors Night assignment "Summer in Texas". I did have a couple of legit opportunities but failed to capture anything that rose to the level of the contest. I did get this shot from the Baytown Nature Center, and a couple of other "nice shots", but all seemed a little to "light" - for lack of a better word.

BNC Flower 3

This is my last is this three photo shoot from Baytown Nature Center last weekend.

Bnc Butterfly Macro 2

Another macro from this weekends trip to the Baytown Nature Center.

BNC Bee 2

OK, I guess it's official now - the Baytown Nature Center on Bayway Drive [the old Brownwood subdivision] in Baytown has developed into my defacto go-to location for grabbing shots. Seems like I can always find something there to shoot.

Carlsbad Formation

I generally have not had much luck photographing in caves - not that I've had that many opportunities! It seems to me like a very specialized type of photography akin to shooting underwater. Most of the photos I took at Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico in June suffered from exposure issues or were just generally flat or uninteresting. On this particular shot however I did like the way the colors came out and the separation between the subject and the back of the cave.

Hallowed Halls

This will be the last shot in my series from the Texas State Capital in Austin, Texas. This shot is from the Rotunda looking down the eastern corridor. Each side of the corridor is lined with the offices of elected officials.