What A Difference!

You might remember last August when the San Antonio Museum of Art showed one of my photos:


I get to see the 11x14" print (+ frame) the museum made every single day, and it still gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to remember the honor and excitement.
So, I still love the print.

However...
The photo itself, not so much anymore.

This past weekend I was working practically on top of the old dam's location.
It was the first time I've been there at night since the end of 2009, and what a difference a few months make!
Or maybe I should say what a difference the city's anti-algae crews make.

Here's how it looks now:

My original picture was made right after the new section of the Riverwalk opened, and because it wasn't a natural ecosystem things hadn't stabilized.
A hot-hot-hot summer with no rain and plenty of sunlight combined with a lack of wildlife that eat algae to create the perfect conditions for extreme green muck.

It was quickly obvious that something had to be done, and if I recall correctly the city parks dept outfitted/bought some barges that are equipped to fight the algae while the biosystem settles into harmony.
I must say it appears to be working well.
I also must say that the white lights submerged in blue water looks a hell of a lot better than the murky green.
The duck is a nice touch, too.

I would have tried to approximate the original photo better, but didn't have my tripod. But the color difference just kills me.
Oh well...


Here's a look just upstream:

2010 Is Here--Nothing Changes

Just like 2009 we went to JIM'S for our 1st breakfast of the year.
I ordered the same exact thing.
It was good, of course.



On the 2nd I went downtown just before sunset to try for the next card picture.
Was hoping the new Museum Reach section would have decorations on par with the old part of the river, but aside from a subtle (to be kind) string of LED lights and a bow on random light poles, it was no different from September.
See if you can spot the Christmas decorations in the pic of SAMA above and the art fish below.

FISH! Since it was too late to abort Plan A, I decided to ride it out and try to have some fun.

This shot was only made because a large group of people had interfered with a previous one by walking into the frame and then milling around (moo-ing, actually) even after noticing that I was waiting on them to move. (Moooove?)
This time they came up the Riverwalk from behind me, so I held out my arm and said "A moment, please".
After chimping, instead of letting them pass I pretended to make adjustments and took this identical one just to have them wait 15 seconds more.
Christmas is over, so I'm back to only being nice to people who aren't rude or stupid.

Reaching the museum again at the end of my trip I found these trees lit with many green floodlights that I had never seen before. I don't know if this is Christmas-related or permanent, but I know it's pretty.
There's the edge of an observation area complete with benches visible on the left.
A nice place for kissing.

I had walked all the way to the Pearl Brewery complex, as you'll see next.

Something Strange At SAMA

Time for some New World art.

Ever meet someone who personifies the old saying "Couldn't find his own ass using both hands"?
Now you know what that looks like.


Another Robertson-inspired composition. This style is growing on me. Did I do it right?
BTW, the shadow behind the man's ear is actually a reflection of my ear.
Clever?
Accident?
So what?
Thought so.

It was in this next room, where I remarked "It looks like they looted a Mexican church", that the weirdness began.
Mexican folk art and religious art appeal to be in a big way, from the Day of the Dead to Catholicism to altars and even tourist junk. At first I was really enjoying myself.

Right around this part of the exhibit I started getting a feeling I know all too well. My heart started racing, my scalp tingled, my stomach dropped out my ass and ran away...
(BTW--while Photoshopping this photo the eye moved while I was looking right at it!)

It didn't take long to figure out (as I almost ran past it) that this big and complicated altar was the source of my discomfort.
In fact, I had to wait a few minutes before returning to get the picture, and I'll be damned if it didn't start all over again.

Say what you will about the supernatural, especially the concepts of ghosts and haunted places.
Can't be proven, agreed. (Yet! Never seen a radio wave but I have enough proof to admit they exist).
But why is it that a large percentage of people from every known civilization since the dawn of time believe?
Coincidence? Don't be foolish. Statistically impossible.
It's because they have experienced very strange things, as have I for most of my life.
Always associated with very specific locations.
Always seen/heard/felt by others.

The place I lived before moving here was haunted as hell, and I have plenty of witnesses. Impossible things happened late at night, and we could actually bring them on by talking about ghosts after 3am.
I would get smacked in the face while sleeping and awake to find my arms were under the covers, so it wasn't me thrashing around hitting myself. A quick run to the mirror would allow me to see the marks before blood started to flow.
As the paint on my walls faded I discovered bullet holes, and asked a neighbor about the deaths in my place. He confirmed.
I'm a rational and intelligent man who could have lived quite happily NOT believing in this stuff, but an open mind and careful examination of the evidence leaves no other explanation.
And like I said, I've got LOTS of witnesses.
(Some of whom would rather not talk about it while others think I should write a book).

So trust me when I tell you that there is a haunted room at the San Antonio Museum of Art. Whether it's connected to the objects displayed within or from something that happened in the building's previous life as a brewery I can't tell you.
I just know what side of which room I'm going to be careful about visiting.

And I fully intend to return, because it's also my favorite exhibit.
I'll just have to work quickly.

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.

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.

Where Was I?

Ten minutes after I made the previous post our internet shut off.
It's been 8.5 days with no webbage, and that wasn't cool at all.
Rene just drove off in his ATT truck, and I'm finally online again.

Here's the rest of my Museum Reach photos, which would have been available here last Saturday had ATT not screwed my pooch so hard:

A neat little footbridge across the river, just around the bend from the Museum.

San Antonio Museum of Art.

SAMA again.

While working on this project an old forgotten dam was discovered.
Archaologists dug around and did the research, and their findings are on a historical marker nearby--I'm just glad they added underwater lights or it wouldn't be noticed.

Museum Reach

Museum Reach is what the newly-opened section of the RiverWalk is called.
It connects the older parts to the San Antonio Museum Of Art, and beyond to the Pearl Brewery and maybe even Brackenridge Park and the Witte Museum--we turned back to save some for another day.

Everything is clean and new and modern and cohesive compared to the rest of the RiverWalk, since it was designed and built all at once.
I can't begin to convey how much we love it.
It's wonderful, beautiful, whimsical, convenient, fun...I could go on and on.

What struck me was that unless you read the newspaper very carefully (or read Dave's blog) you wouldn't even know that all this beauty was being built! It's below street level, so miles of construction was hidden from view for years unless you knew where to look.
Then suddenly it's there, and it's great.


We got to watch several barges use the new locks.
When Lila Cockrell was mayor, she suggested that people get out of their barge and walk past the dam, then board another.
This is SO much better in every way.

I have four more photos and some stuff to tell you next time.