The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, Reunion Tower, and the Hyatt Regency!

I shot this several months ago but I am heading to the same location on Monday and Tuesday nights. A full moon will be rising in line with these two Dallas icons and I hope to get some interesting images including it. Wish me luck.

Dart's New Uptown Station

Uptown Station

A few months ago I noticed some neon lights along Central Expressway near the Lemmon Ave exit. They didn't use to be there. I soon found out that it was a new Dart Station for the M-Line Trolley that goes up and down McKinney Ave. Last night I photographed the station for the first time and I did get a shot that included the trolley. While writing this post I did a search for some information about the station and came up with something interesting. http://www.dallasvoice.com/gay-photographer-held-gunpoint-cityplace-dart-station-refuses-give-camera-10117972.html This happened just a few days ago. If I ever get robbed, raped, or murdered while out shooting I hope they just refer to me as "a photographer".

Hamilton Pool and the Texas Capital!

Many times I will take a detour for a photo shoot on my way to or from an art show. Such was the case back in April when I drove to San Antonio, Texas for the Fiesta Art Fair. I left home a day early and gave myself plenty of time to make it to the Hamilton Pool Nature Preserve by mid afternoon. Hamilton Pool is a swimming hole and waterfall about 30 miles southwest of Austin, Texas. Years ago I photographed the preserve with film, a tough scene to shoot when half is in deep shade and half is in full sunlight. However, it is a perfect subject for digital and todays HDR techniques.

 Hamilton Pool

 After entering the preserve you have a 1/4 mile hike to get to the swimming hole and falls. Once I reached my destination, I shot many different compositions, but this is one of my favorites. However, I didn't give myself a lot of extra time to enjoy the area because I still planned to drive back to Austin and photograph the Texas State Capital at sunset. Fortunately, I made it to Austin with enough time for some quick Mexican food at Chuy's before heading on to the capital building.

 The Texas State Capital

On my first visit to the capital a few years ago, I approached the building from the south side and completely missed seeing the underground extension that was added in 1993. Well, better late than never. Part of that area makes a great foreground for pictures of the Capital just after sunset. After darkness set in and I felt I had shot some good images, I drove the rest of the way to San Antonio. The following day I set up my booth in preparation for the art festival. Just across the street from the show is San Antonio's Central Library. It has some very interesting architecture and is painted what many call "Enchilada Red". After the artist's dinner on Saturday night I figured I might as well  take advantage of this and spend the rest of the evening shooting the Library. I was a little limited on what parts of the building I could shoot because they were doing some construction, but did get several images that I really like. Hopefully, I will get a chance next year to photograph the rest of the library.

San Antonio Central Library

A Few Extra Days in Omaha!

My visits to Omaha, Nebraska have usually been short ones. I arrive in town and set up for the Omaha Summer Arts Festival. Immediately after the show I must head back home. I have never been able to leave myself time to see or photograph any of the city. That changed this year. I was at the Mulvane Art Fair last weekend in Topeka, Kansas. It made more sense to drive to Omaha on Monday instead of driving home. I would have had to drive right back where I just came from on Wednesday. 

I spent Monday evening exploring a few areas and took a few pictures, but mainly I was trying to decide where I could shoot the Transit of Venus on Tuesday. The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge was one of the things I wanted to shoot while in town anyway and I realized the people on the bridge would make perfect silhouettes for the setting sun during the transit. Several of the images worked out quite well. As soon as the sun set I quickly headed to the rivers edge to photograph the bridge with downtown Omaha behind it.

On Wednesday evening I arrived downtown a little before sunset in order to check out a few locations I had in mind. Several of my favorites are included below. The skyline reflected in the water is within a few hundred yards of where my booth will be located in this weekends show. The statues and sculpture are in front of the CenturyLink Center.