Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy New Year

I hope everyone has a fun and safe celebration tonight, and my wish is that we all improve our lives and those around us by a greater margin than we managed in '07.


There are a few older photos waiting to be posted, but I want to push this one to the head of the line.
Yesterday I finally got this particular View of Texas out of my head and into my camera.
I've long been an advocate of planning and doing research to get better photographs.
When combined with luck and skill, impulsiveness and attention to detail, you can truly combine the best of both worlds--right and left brain.
Yin and Yang?

For example, this old and abandoned electrical power station sits in an area I frequently visit (or at least check periodically) whenever I'm shooting downtown.
There's a lot to like about it--crusty and tall and industrial, with many different textures.
But until yesterday it has never been photographed by me, not even once as a test.
The reason for that is simple: I knew it would take some real work to get it right, and I wasn't fully prepared before now.

The side that's visible from the local streets are in complete shadow unless it's morning, and I don't exist in the morning.
The western side which gets afternoon and evening light is closely bordered by the San Antonio River, and beyond that is fencing around the old Lone Star Beer brewery with even less public access.
So there was no easy way to get a well-lit shot casually, but a few weeks ago while hunting for a specific nearby mural I spotted an access route to this angle--but I also saw that I would be close, meaning a vertical shot with no zoom and lots of sky and lens distortion.

For two weeks I kept all this on the 'to do' list in my head. (Other photos of mine have had to wait for years).
Then on Christmas Day I stepped outside and looked at the beautifully stretched and wispy high cirrus clouds we were blessed with, and made a few test shots in infrared.
The results after processing were amazing, and I was tempted to post them here had it not been for a decided lack of a subject in front of those great clouds--so a purely technical exercise entered the equation at just the right time.

On Saturday when I woke up the Xmas Clouds were my desktop wallpaper (a timely reminder) and when I looked outside they were back!
And I had the afternoon to kill on my own, with our good car.
Checking the radar and visible light satellite imaging on the internet confirmed that the conditions would hold for a few hours, so no need to hurry and screw myself out of the lower-angle sunlight which always looks better.

I packed up my gear and cruised downtown, and was quickly denied hitting the train tracks first by the traffic mess of the AlamoBowl®, and went after Plan B: the abandoned CPS power plant next to Roosevelt Park.
Parked in the nearest lot, took my monopod as a visible warning against the undesireables who were around (they don't know exactly what it is, but can sense that it can't be good) and hiked out to shoot.

Attached the needed IR filters, checked exposure, removed an ND4, checked again.
Sat my ass on the dead grass and shot a few dozen, adjusting exposure and CP filter orientation a little but mainly just enjoying the experience.
At this point I know it's going to turn out nicely, I'm just living in-the-moment and letting the clouds move across behind the scene since you never know when they might improve or detract by minor differences in placement.

It got almost Zen-like.

Then I shot some color photos just in case...
They stink compared to the infrared/black and white versions.



I spent another hour or so in various places before going home, and got some more nice views, but the whole time the power plant experience was Tingling in my head.
It's easy to recognize this feeling now because every other time I bagged a possible portfolio-worthy shot the same thing happened.
A feeling that I can't wait to see them onscreen but have to force myself to forget about it and make the best use of my time on-location in good conditions.

I sincerely hope we all Tingle a few times in 2008.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Monolithic

Infrared capture of an abandoned industrial building--possibly contaminated.

Here's a 1024x768 version--making the smaller one above was a headache due to moire patterns being created in the ribbed area. I finally tried resizing with IrfanView for the 800x600 version and it worked. Irfan's lanczos filter is different from Photoshop's bicubic resizer.
You can even see different poire patterns in the two thumbnails!
After a very brief flirtation with colored infrared photos I've gotten bored and gone back to strict black and white conversions of my IR photos.
The Mission photos and the ones I shot today (more coming to Views Of Texas soon) have convinced me that this is where I need to spend my time and energy.
Getting good B&W from digital is problematic at best, and I'm really enjoying the way my latest conversions are coming out so I think I'll forget about color/IR.
Besides, everyone else is doing them now and better than I ever could so I'll stand out more by sticking to monochrome.

My new flash and radio triggers shipped Friday. I expect the flash Monday or Wednesday but the triggers will take longer, coming from Hong Kong. I have a giftcard waiting so I can buy new batteries for the Cactus V2s, and will charge the new AA's for the flash tomorrow. I also have an old cellphone that's going to 'donate' it's antenna to the transmitter, for more range. I've been a Strobist wannabe for over a year--it'll be great to finally put all the knowledge and ideas to use. And then I'll be wanting another flash and receiver...

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Drill Press Action, With Lasers

Actual test drilling after assembly.
Slave flash/umbrella camera-right, triggered by hotshoe flash aimed sideways. Tungsten shop light on background, shutter adjusted for high key and leftside yellowish specular highlights from garage overhead light.
Two lasers project a squashed X where the bit will contact the material, as seen on the wood above.
620rpm is the slowest it goes--moving the belt to different pulleys gives me 5 speeds that reach 3200rpm.

It's a Craftsman®.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Control!

Orders have been placed.
Shipping will soon commence.

Control.
Consistency.
Heaven.

I've been doing pretty well with my current flash system if you judge by the results, but you have no idea how difficult it's been. And some shots had to be abandoned because there was no way to make everything work.
Frustration is an understatement.
Things are about to get really interesting around here...

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Bowl Of Valley Lemons

Shot for a gift print.

Monday, December 24, 2007

Merry Christmas

Saturday, December 22, 2007

More Ornaments

Both of these are posing on the new silver tree in our front window, but normally it only wears the cool pastel thread-covered ornaments.
Rudolph inside an actual snow globe shaped like an Xmas light bulb.

Prancing Santa!
Possibly the best ornament ever.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Nativity Scene

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

A Selection Of Ornaments

The best guitar on the tree.

A wind-up toy looking blimp, and I also enjoy little pinecones.

This 'sliding' Santa was new last year, and it cracks me up.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Foggy Highway

I always believed that this was a good photo deep down in my heart.
After waiting a week or so it turns out that I was correct according to Flickr's Explore feature.
Last night a half-dozen people claimed it as a 'Favorite' and that was enough to push it into the exalted zone.

To my way of thinking it's just another addition to my series of highway photos for better or worse, but it doesn't suck to be in the top 500 photos out of the millions that get uploaded to Flickr every day.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Big Red® & Barbacoa

The new sign painted on the side of Tommy's Restaurant #3, on Wurzback @ Gardendale.
Much better than the old sign.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Mission Concepcion

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Christmas Lights 2



Friday, December 07, 2007

San Antonio Christmas Lights



A sampling of what there is to see downtown.