Backyard Bluejay

I've been stuck at the house today while my house gets a new roof. Since I have to take my shots where I can them today's post is from the backyard...

Baytown Eagle_3

I swung by the Bald Eagles nest in Baytown Friday evening and took a few more shots. As my wife and I arrived I saw so many large lens equipped photographers grouped together that it reminded me of the view over the bow of the Battleship Texas! It's nice to see that after at least three years interest in these majestic birds is still holding strong.

BNC White Ibis

A White Ibis photographed at the Baytown Nature Center this past weekend.

FYI: The annual Trash Bash event is scheduled for March 27, 8:30—11:30 a.m. and will be immediately followed by the first annual Nurture Nature Festival from 12:00—5:00 p.m. Join us for nature demonstrations, guided tours, exhibitors and exciting activities for the kids.

HLSR Rodeo Cowboy

I don't know if it's a new category or not but I'm calling this one, maybe optimistically, a "salvage shot." As I mentioned in earlier postings I was setting up on row "T" at this Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo performance shooting with a 50-200 tele at 200mm in low light. In order to have any kind of stop motion I had to shoot this shot @ ISO 3200 and even then the result was underwhelming. The problem is though that I like the composition! Because of this I was compelled to attempt a rescue of the shot. This resulted in a pretty heavy handed bit of post-processing with Camera Raw, CS3, and Topaz Adjust using blending modes at different opacity's, blurring, textures, high-pass sharpening, vignettes, color correction, etc. At the end of the day I like the finished product which reminds me of what you might see if you were looking through an old ViewMaster. Hope you like it.

Osprey Shots

Two shots of my dependable "model" taken at the Baytown Nature Center recently. These shots were taken with my Oly E-3 @ f10, 50-500 Sigma @ 500MM and FL56F flash with a Better Beamer flash extender and finished in CS3.

Back to the Birds

OK folks, back to photography [for now]... I like these two shots, from the Baytown Nature Center last weekend, more as landscapes than "bird shots." I think conventional wisdom on these would be to crop them tighter on the birds but doing that would have made me miss the larger view of the tranquil setting. Hope you like them.

Hope and Change

Last night the House voted to pass the Senate health care bill in spite of it's overwhelming opposition by the American people. This doesn't mean it's over yet there are still legislative hurtles and pending law suits that could save the American people from this hideous legislation. Legislation that scraps health care for the 85% of Americans that are satisfied with their current insurance [and 100% of the working people] in an effort to accelerate redistribution of wealth from the people who produce it to the alcoholics, drug addicts, illegal aliens, and people that for whatever reason simply don't want it. Their goals here are about 95% pure evil and range from growing a permanent government-dependent class [read Democrats] and punishing achievement to government funded abortion and the remaking of America into the socialist nation in Obama's image that he promised in his campaign. Oh yea, and at least about 5% of the motivation for this unilateral push is for health care reform [notice I didn't say improvement.] Then there is the $2.4 Trillion dollar price tag. If you voted for this man-child community organizer I have one question for you: HOW'S THAT HOPE AND CHANGE WORKING OUT FOR YOU?

Sleepy Calf

I'm thinking this will be my last shot from the HLS&R [unless I make it back this weekend!]

Rodeo Portrait

Another shot from Saturday's Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in Houston, Texas. This one is of our friends Jamie and Mark Neal.

Photo Stuff: Oly E-3, 50-200 2.8-3.5 Tele @ 57MM, F4, ISO500 1/13, Available Light, Camera Raw, Photoshop CS3, Topaz Adjust Clarity Preset

Rodeo Clown

Another shot from Saturday's rodeo competition at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, one of the greatest shows on Earth!

Rodeo Cowboy

With my 50-200 2.8-3.5 lens mounted on my Oly E-3 and using available light only, I was pretty much committed to slower moving shots at Saturdays Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo competition. This saddle bronc rider was watching the replay of his ride on one of the giant overhead screens.

BNC Ducks

I photographed these two ducks at the Baytown Nature Center this past Sunday morning. This bog goes from just a mud patch to one to two feet deep depending on the tides.

Baytown Eagle_2

Another shot of one of the Baytown Eagles taken last Friday evening.

Cypress Pond

This shot was taken last weekend at the Wallisville Bird Rookery just off I-10 east of the Old and Lost Rivers bridge.

Down Spiral

This was my "A" entry in last nights Bay Area Photo Club's "Honors Program". The assignment was "Get Rhythm" and this attempt resulted in a silver award from the panel of judges. Since no advice for improvement was given I would say that it lacked enough impact in the judges eyes to move it to the gold level. Hope you like it.

Wallisville Nature Preserve

Taken this weekend at the Wallisville Texas Nature Preserve [near the boat ramp if your familiar with the area] this shot was one I was considering for tonight's BAPC Honor's Program assignment "Get Rhythm". At the end of the day I didn't think the repetitive elements in the shot were strong enough to carry the theme, but I like the shot.

Baytown Eagle

Another shot of one of the Bald Eagle pair nesting off Tri-Cities Beach Rd. in Chambers County near Baytown, Texas. This shot was taken this weekend with speculation being that the pairs offspring should be hatching soon.

BNC Egret

An Egret photographed at the Baytown Nature Center this past weekend.

Harlie and Tucker_2

Two of our dogs, "Harlie" the Cocker and "Tucker" the Schnauzer, chillin' while they soak up some rays.

Three Pelicans on a Limb

This shot of the Goose Creek stream was taken two weekends ago on a Baytown Photo Club field trip.

"Ol Reliable

After missing my most dependable subject for the last few weeks I spotted "my" Osprey back out at the Baytown Nature Center this weekend.