Saturday, September 30, 2006

Bad Order

(Click to enlarge)

A rail car that is "bad ordered" is one that has some kind of operational defect that needs fixing before it's legal to put it back in service.
It's broken, and will often get taken out of the train and set aside at the first logical opportunity.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Power

(Click on the photos to enlarge)


Substation and powerlines.
B&W and color.
August and September.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

A Railfan Again?

(Click to enlarge)

For the first time in months, I went hunting for trains yesterday and today.
The sun is at a much better angle in the afternoon than it was during the summer, and gas prices are pretty low right now.
I spent several hours searching for new locations, but there was something wrong with every one I found, from the shadows to the safety to the lack of parking.

So, I ended up at the damn Amtrak station again just to bring something home that didn't completely stink.
And wouldn't you know it? There was something fogging my lens the whole time, so all of my shots have a hazy area across the lower third, as you may be able to see here.

Oh well, at least I had fun.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Medical Center 2

(Click to enlarge)

No real story or anything for this post.
Just a photo I've had for over a year that always appealed to me.
Probably wouldn't shoot it the same way today, but the textures, colors and shapes are still nice.
It's a new-ish building and the metal awnings are there both for decoration and to protect people on an external staircase from the elements.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

September Rain

(Click on the photos to enlarge)


After a long, hot and dry summer, September has brought a welcome relief.
It has rained 4 times in the past two weeks.
The good kind, too.
Hours and hours of light but steady precipitation, with enough raging thunderstorms thrown in to keep things interesting.

Everything is turning green again, like a second chance at Spring.

Monday, September 18, 2006

20 Years

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

In Your Face

(Click to enlarge)

A personal favorite train photo of mine, from New Braunfels.

Monday, September 11, 2006

September 11, 2001

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Star .380ACP

(Click to enlarge)

This Star pistol was a bargain when new 13 years ago.
The nickel-plated finish has both brushed and bead-blasted textures that look great.
Construction, fit, finish, and operation surpasses similar offerings at twice the price.

One thing's for certain.
Before making the lightbox I had never been able to produce a photo like this one, and especially so quickly. I spent maybe three or four minutes (each) setting up and shooting these last 3 entries.

This will be the last 'product' shot for now, although a post concerning the construction of my lightbox is forthcoming, after I build a bigger and better one.


PS: It's raining for the 2nd time this week.
Sweet!

Friday, September 08, 2006

Orange LockBlade

(Click to enlarge)

Another lightbox subject, this liner-lock has a pocket clip that makes it easy to attach to my camera bag.
The grey anodizing on the blade is almost as cool as the orange finish of the handle.
Liner-locks are convenient because you can open and close them with one hand.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Time

(Click to enlarge)

I just finished building a small light box for smoother diffused lighting on macro subjects.
This photo was also a good test to confirm that the new CCD Sensor Sony installed is working perfectly.

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Bricks

(Click to enlarge)

Just an old brick building in the heart of downtown.
Looks like a nice place to live.

(I like how blogger took a 219kb jpg and compressed it all the way down to 146kb, but had I saved it at a bit less than 200kb it would have been left alone. I'll do the compressing myself next time and avoid strange artifacts.)