Incarnate Word Christmas Lights

I've grown to really love this building, and am glad to finally have a reason to photograph it in color and show off the copper roof, which is pretty shades of green during the day but rendered blue here due to the lighting and subsequent camera white balance choice I had to make.
My previous views were shot in infrared, then converted to black and white.

I have been holding this photo back for two weeks because it was the leading candidate for our Christmas card picture, but we agreed that a photo I just took on Sunday night is the new winner.
This was only a 'test' version that relies on PhotoShop to partially simulate the look I was after--there's a 10 minute window right after sunset when the sky looks much better than this, so not only do you have to be on location at the right time but also praying to Saint Veronica for partly-cloudy skies.
If Sunday's target hadn't worked, a re-shoot of this would have been needed.

If you're on our card list you'll see the winner soon.
If not, check back here on Christmas Day.

Miscellaneous Info

It rained at last!
Good slow rain for several hours with bonus sleet and hail and possibly snow.
Kind of weird yesterday--it was 85f (a record high temp) around 3pm before the cold front came and delivered the news. It never got below 38 last night, which was also good.

Some idiot crashed his car on the slick streets nearby and killed our electricity for a little while this morning, which is why I'm awake right now.
When it doesn't rain for months the roadways get slippery from all the leaked oil and gassy exhaust deposits near intersections. Please be careful out there.
CPS did a great job fixing it quick--Syl's recon uncovered that they were already on the job and probably turned us off for a short while in order to complete the repair.
I have been informed that drying one's hair at work isn't the preferred method.
And was promised a sausage/egg McMuffin with hashbrowns for being woken up this early--say what you want about McD's but their breakfast doesn't suck hardly at all.

If you bother to scroll all the way to the bottom of this page, I have a surprise for you.
Useless Facts, updated every time you visit!
So if you're ever disappointed in my lack of new content, at least there's a chance to learn something you didn't know before--and often it's the kind of info that's good for quizzing your friends and coworkers, but NOT your spouses!

I used a handheld flash to add some light to the tree on the right side of my new header photo up top--a small amount of extra light to be sure, but it definitely helped compared to the versions without.

When did Views Of Texas pass 30,000 hits?
I totally missed it.
Thanks for your continued support.


That is all--have a nice day.

More Riverwalk Stuff

Arneson River Theater.

Just around the bend from the previous shot.

Another Shot At Getting Our Card Picture

It was just cold enough (40-ish) to give us that wintery flavor while keeping most of the thugs and ho's at home and out of my way. The ones that braved the cold weren't dressed for it.


Not that people matter much--there were several in this shot but as long as they kept moving the magic of long exposures rendered them invisible.
The search continues...

The Riverwalk With Lights In The Trees

One of our favorites, but like most Riverwalk photos featuring Xmas lights it's just too busy and also un-focused--there's no clear subject popping out of a 4x6" print.
It's pretty cool filling the screen of a big CRT monitor, but that wasn't my goal.

I'll also admit to some slight plagiarism here.
A very similar daytime pic was in the newspaper a few days before shooting this, and I liked the other photographer's angle enough to try and copy it at night.
For this reason alone I'll have to disqualify it from the race to be Our Christmas Card Photo For 2008.

Some Holiday Pics

Now that Thanksgiving is over and the Riverwalk is lit up, it's time to get into the Christmas Spirit around here.


A holiday version of my Rivets photo--Presa Street Bridge.


The Nix Hospital.