Have A Fun Halloween

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Just finished ten hours of work on my Halloween Extravaganza.
As my regular visitors know I pull out all the stops and give our trick-or-treaters the biggest and scariest experience of the night.
Besides all of the strobelights, fire, smoke, and death imagery I can also carve a mean jack-o-lantern.
Using the same design as last year, I gutted and cut this pumpkin in 80 minutes tonight.

This shot was a seven second exposure at f8 with added off-camera flash for the bricks and sticks.


As a side note, a recent 3D photo I posted to my other blog saw a huge increase in activity over there.
My hit counter jumped from around 175 to over 450 in two days.
If you can cross your eyes at will, see what all the fuss is about HERE.
If that works for you, bookmark Views Of Texas 3D and visit my stereo photography site every once in a while as I add more images with depth.

Viet Nam Vets Memorial

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Downtown San Antonio, in front of the Municipal Auditorium.

I have taken a few photos just like this one every time I'm in the area but there's always something I don't like about them, from the sun's angle to the clouds (or lack thereof) to operator error.
This is the best so far, even with the pigeon poop.
(Nothing I can do about that. Everybody poops, and pigeons prefer statues.)

I'm going to keep at it until I capture a perfect version of this shot.
If I get really lucky it will be on the day it's been cleaned.

Chalk It Up Part 2

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Chalk It Up 2006

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Every year at this time the city closes part of Houston Street so that ArtPace can put on Chalk It Up.
Invited artists, schools and kids use chalk to make art on the street and sidewalks.
There's music and fajita tacos, and plenty of people-watching to go with the art.


A tribute to the late great Benito Texas native Freddy Fender.


I was shooting the shooters as much as the art and artists.


I'm sure I wasn't the only photographer who was annoyed by all of the rude people who would walk right into your shot or block you. Is it too much to ask that they pause for a second or two when it's obvious that you're taking a photo?
Monkeys have better manners.


More photos in the next post.

Condo Fire 2

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Condo Fire

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Late last night there was a 2-alarm fire in the basement of this 22-floor condominium building. Everyone was evacuated as smoke poured out, according to the TV news.
I got there late, but was able to take pictures as the situation was brought under control as well as answer questions from frightened people who arrived after me.


This young family is nervously waiting for the word, so they can go back into their home. The little girl wrapped in a blanket is up way past her bedtime.


All of the area streets are closed to traffic, but the scene is just down the road from me and I know all of the interconnecting parking lots well, so I was able to sneak alot closer than everyone else.
Here are some firefighters killing time.

(I'll have three more photos for the next post.)

Toad At Night

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This toad hopped into view while I was on our patio last night.
He was very cooperative, waiting for me to get my camera and staying still while I took a few photos with my camera mere inches away.
The scene was lit with an interesting new LED lamp that has 8 bulbs in a line, modified with a tissue paper diffuser.
I like how you can still tell it's nighttime.

I Shure Am Bored

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That's not a typo in the title.
This is a Shure vocal mic, still the standard of the industry after 40-odd years.

But I am bored.
No new photos worth showing, and the weather is crap this weekend so there may not be anything new for awhile.

Anyone done anything cool, photographically speaking, with a laser?
I got the geckos on the patio to chase the red spot tonight.
(Yes, I'm so bored that I've been teasing tiny reptiles.)

I started a Flickr page with many of my personal favorite pictures.
Despite my prediction that Flickr was going nowhere, I'm now of the opinion that 'since I can't beat them, I'll join them'.
(It's here.)

In January, I'll be joining the Greater San Antonio Camera Club.
Despite the excellent TV on Thursday nights, going to meetings twice a month and meeting other photographers in-person sounds like a better use of my time.

Ring Around The Moon

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1am Oct 7, 2006.
It was so big I couldn't get it all.

Texas Spiny Lizard

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Sceloporus Olivaceous is an active and intelligent lizard that inhabits much of central Texas. I have kept several as pets, including ones that hatched from eggs I incubated myself.
They can raise their pointed scales, which is an excellent deterrant against predators.


This view shows how effective their markings are as camouflage, and they prefer trees with similar bark for this reason.
According to one published study, they have a vestigial 'third eye' on top of their heads, under the scales. When it's covered with black tape, lizards that have been taken a few hundred meters out of their home range were unable to find their way back, while un-taped lizards ran straight to their favorite tree again.

Later That Evening...

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Central Christian Church, across the street from the main library.
8 seconds at f5, iso100
I saw the lens flare while setting this shot up, and decided to keep it.

Riverwalk In Sepia

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On the Riverwalk Saturday evening just after sunset.
Usually this is the very worst time for photography because the sky is still bright, but the ground is dark. I usually take a break for half an hour until the brightness levels equalize.
But if you eliminate the sky and use a long exposure (with a tripod of course) you can bring home something worth looking at.

Yard Marble

A big green marble wrapped in copper tubing makes the tail of a spinning kite-shaped decorative geegaw in our yard.
(A geegaw is a thingamajig that's pretty. Usually found at small town 'Market Days' and other tourist haunts where crafts are king.)

If anyone found this post by googling 'yard marble', please leave a comment explaining yourself.
What did you hope to find?