A Day At The Museum

Went back to the SA Museum of Art on Sunday afternoon, paid our money (didn't think name-dropping would work) and toured as much of the place as we could find.
It seemed to be laid-out in such a way as to gently guide you through the whole collection, but if you make a wrong turn would you ever know it?

Didn't feel like taking pictures in Egypt or Greece for some reason, nor of the Chihuly ceiling. Still enjoyed those collections.

China and Japan got me clicking. This was from a re-creation of an artist's room in Japan, and I felt very comfortable there. The sparse yet functional nature appealed to me, in the same way that Japanese gardens relax me and feel right.

The Oceana rooms struck me as primitive and frightening. I moved faster and didn't much care what anything was.
I don't relate well to opera or poetry, either.

Looking out all the windows was rewarding sometimes, both for the grounds (which were originally the Lone Star Beer™ brewery) and for little surprises like this Fokker DR1 Triplane on a rooftop.
The famed WWI German Ace known as the Red Baron is almost universally linked to this plane even though the majority of his career was spent flying the DVII.
Such is history, fraught with misconceptions and glamourization.
The machine guns aren't correct, being more of a general idea of how all such things looked back then. This only bothers me because WWI as a conflict was literally defined by machine guns both in the air and especially in the trenches.
Art doesn't care and shouldn't be expected to, but that doesn't mean the viewer isn't allowed to care. I imagine some hairy jerk complaining about the length of a mammoth's tusks on a cave painting while the artist ponders crushing the critic's skull with a rock.
Some things never change.

I took this photo from afar (it was very big, so I had no choice ) but then didn't want to get close enough to learn more about it--already made the same mistake earlier in the case of a uterus.


Next time we'll head south of the border.
That's when things got strange.

Tomorrow I return to fetch my print, and there's a small chance I'll take a few more pictures.

I Was Speechless...

...but I got over it.
Let me tell you, it's one thing to be told that your photo is going to hang in an art museum--sure you get excited and can appreciate how cool it is--but it's a whole other animal to walk into the gallery and actually see it.
An incredible feeling washed over me, and it lasted for the whole reception.
People immediately started talking to me but I don't remember what was said.

Turned out to be wine and snacks instead of champagne and caviar--the bacon jalapeno things were good and I also liked the pigs in a blanket.

This is my friend Jim getting his picture taken by our museum contact, Cassandra.
Jim is a funny guy, and Cassandra couldn't have been sweeter. When I helped her fix a camera problem she called me a genius, so she must be very perceptive, too.

Proof that I'm an artist.
If an art museum says so, it must be true!

It was great seeing my other camera club friends Susan, Mark and Ken.
We were among the first members after Jim started the group, and I got lucky that they are all kind, sweet, and hilarious. I've been so busy with my bands that well over a year has gone by since I've seen them yet we fell right back into cracking each other up.
Didn't realize how much I missed them.

Our photos were printed beautifully, and the framing was superb.
Of course, it was done by serious professionals.

It won't be the last time.
I want more of this.
The people at the San Antonio Museum of Art had better get used to seeing me.

Champagne And Caviar?

It's finally Thursday, which means we'll be attending a private reception at the San Antonio Museum of Art.
Those of us featured in this weekend's "Museum Reach" RiverWalk Photography Show are being honored in a little after-hours event.
Two of my camera club friends are in the show and two more are on the guest list, so it should be a good time.

Of course I'll be taking pictures and will post them here along with a food and drink review.

In other news, Loud Nine will be at Oasis on Saturday night, so come out and watch me forget a few bass notes.
At tonight's rehearsal we managed to find a few minutes for a portrait session:

Instead of champagne and caviar Loud Nine is more into beer and tacos, but we'll settle for lipstick and bruises...


Don't forget that BLISS will be at Rebar on Broadway Friday night.

Cloud Talk

Click to enlarge the photos, as always.


I call this one Comfort.The obvious reason is because that's the name of the closest town to where I shot this while driving to Kerrville on IH10. (Literally while driving, through the side window).
The other reason is that after the horrible summer we've had so far, ANY clouds offer some measure of comfort, from shade to the possibility of badly needed rain.
In fact, when I got home early the next morning I found that we had gotten an inch of free water, which our lawn appears to have appreciated.
In case you didn't know, plants of all kinds do better with rainwater compared to tap. Trace amounts of chlorine in treated water can't be good, and rain has more oxygen, nitrogen, and nutrient-carrying dirt in it.

The next night I caught this while taking a 2 minute break from working my ass off.
It's title is Rooftops, in the Robertson style, but it could just as easily have been Comfort, Too with a little crop.
A nice sunset calms me.


BTW--if you ever check properties on my photos and notice that the dimensions are exactly 900x602 pixels, you'll know that you're getting the entire frame just as I shot it--no cropping, just resized for the web.
I don't have a preference either way, although I tend to see the world in a slightly narrower aspect ratio than 3:2.
Maybe because I wear glasses, or because I have a 4:3 computer monitor?

Friday Favorites #3

Bee on cape honeysuckle at the SA Zoo.

This Is Fun!

Now I know what 'Corpus Christi Texas' looks like in Russian or some such alphabet.

Might take a long time to get anything done about this one.

Here's a way to find YOUR stolen images: Tin Eye Reverse Image Search.
It's still a fairly new service but they already have over a billion photos in their database. When they were new I never got any returns, but now it's starting to work.

My Photo-Ops Are Drying Up

After I was finished working at SalsaFest in HemisFair Park I shot this at one of my favorite locations.
Stage II (III? I can't remember) means that all city fountains go dry, as well as any private ones that don't recirculate the same water over and over.

It's too hot to go out taking pictures for the hell of it anyway (even at night) but we probably won't have enough rain for the restrictions to lift anytime soon.
Looks like my love of shooting fountains at night will have to wait indefinitely, instead of being able to count on October.


It would be a good time to fix all the blown underwater lighting.

Friday Favorites #2

Taken in Nov2004 on a trip to DC.

Copyright Violation--Resolved?

You might remember how I was a bit pissed over a popular photo of mine being found attached to a semi-commercial website without permission, compensation, or a photo credit in early July:



I decided to start out gently with a comment on their blog hoping for a response of some kind, and had no choice but to follow-up a few weeks later stating my case explicitly:

I thought I was being cool about the whole thing.

Never got a response despite the following proof that my messages were received:

They completely folded without a fight or response even though a simple photo credit might have been easier than finding and posting a new picture.

It makes me wonder who took the new photo, and whether or not they know about it being used on this website.

The San Antonio Museum Of Art...

...is going to display this photo of mine at a special exhibition during the last weekend of August--Friday the 28th through Sunday the 30th.


SAMA is making a museum-quality 11x14" print and putting it in a museum-quality frame. No doubt using museum-quality glass.
I can't wait to see it!

I've been sitting on this since last Tuesday and it's been difficult keeping it to myself, but the official announcement will be later today so I'm only breaking the news a few hours early.

The photo shows a submerged dam from the 1800's that was rediscovered during construction of the new section of our RiverWalk.
Alamo Mills used a waterwheel to grind grain into flour for early residents of San Antonio.
My photo was one of 12 (out of over 1500) that were carefully selected by museum staff to showcase the best features along the "Museum Reach" RiverWalk extension.

It'll take some creative scheduling since I work weekends, but we plan to attend the opening night festivities, and probably spend some time there on Sunday as well.

Not a bad entry for my resume.

*****UPDATE*****
The official announcement is here.
I like how my name is first.

Friday Favorites #1

A new feature to help fight stagnation, "Friday Favorites" will showcase old photos from my archives that (in my opinion) still hold up after all these years.

A viper at the San Antonio Zoo, from Feb. 2005.

Triathlon Continued

After riding 13.8 miles Sylvia navigates the transition area before starting the 3 mile run. (The swim was 500 meters).

No idea why a man would have a Barbie™ in his pocket, unless he knew I was there looking for weirdness. So...thanks?

While at least three women are wasting time high-fiving spectators, Sylvia pulls around the pack and pours it on.
She passed them all and got to "break" the tape.
(It's actually a heavy vinyl banner that race crew members raise again and again when there's a break in traffic).

It was great that some family members attended this event--it meant a lot to Sylvia.
We're all very proud of her!

Jack's Generic Triathlon

Sylvia made me get up after only an hour or two of sleep to watch her compete again.
Sunday morning's event was at the Texas Ski Ranch in New Braunfels, as usual.



Distances were greater than the other two I've attended, but thanfully it was cloudy and reasonably cool this time. I didn't need a hat or a sweat-towel at all, but I was ready just in case.

Eye Of The Tiger!

I went with higher iso than usual due to the early hour and overcast skies.
I wanted to use very fast shutter speeds, so went with aperture-priority mode (wide open) and iso400-800.
Worked well, and there was no noise in the results.

As with any event, I can't resist shots like this.

Another reminder of the drought.


Stay tuned for more