Roadside Visit

I've been photographing roadside memorials for some time now as part of a future body of work project for the Bay Area Photo Club in Clear Lake. This past weekend three early twenty-something men were killed in a tragic automobile accident on Bayway Drive down the road from the Baytown Nature Center where I do a lot of shooting. I stopped by to take a few photos of the memorial for the young men and as I was shooting the young man in the photo pulled up and parked behind me. He was obviously a distraught relative or friend of at least one of the deceased men. As I prepared to take one more shot before leaving, to give him some privacy, I noticed his reflection in my rear view mirror. I thought the image was particularly poignant so a took a few shots before leaving.

Roadside Merchant

I spotted a street merchant set up on a corner in the Canal and Wayside (Cesar Chavez Blvd) area of East Houston selling his wares. Among the items for sell were these brooms. I like the scene, I think there's more potential than this shot conveys, and will be going back there for another approach.

High Sign

Another shot at texturing, the base image was a traffic light grab shot of two men hanging a new billboard sign at Red Bluff and Hwy 225.

Wired

I took this shot while I waiting for my wife to run into Food Town to pick up a few last minute groceries. I circled the parking lot [it’s what we guys do] until I found a place where parking wasn’t allowed but looked like I might get away with loitering there for a while. It happened to be in front of this scene. I often rush shots like these and for that reason usually have to live with technical issues. This one is not tack sharp and the sprocket is hot, but I like it anyway.

Tech: Panosonic Lumix Super Zoom @ 20mm, f3.6 for 1/50 at ISO100 and 26mm, Raw, AP Post Processing:Crop to Slight Pano>Dup Background>High Pass Sharpen>TA “Pyschodelic” Preset>Levels for White Point>Curves for Contrast>Merge Visible>Select Concrete>Hue/Saturation>Distort Lens Correction Vignette