White Christmas in Garland, Texas!

I've lived in the Dallas area for 57 years and it finally happened...snow on the ground on December 25th. It wasn't very much snow. We never get very much around here. It started Christmas Eve right after lunchtime. For several hours it came down quite hard but the temperature was above freezing and it was melting as soon as it hit the ground. Around 4:30 the temperature had dropped and the snow finally started sticking. It continued for another three hours but was light. We only ended up with a little over an inch at my house, but enough to call it a White Christmas. First one here since 1926, and I missed that one.

I just had to go out Christmas morning and take some pictures in my back yard because I knew the snow would start melting as soon as the sun got up good. We also had to be at my mother in laws around noon. Several critters had left tracks in the fresh snow. Something had crossed the fence and gone over to the edge of the pond and then left the way it came. Probably a cat. The picture above is an interesting set of tracks which came from the back fence and then vanished under the deck through a small opening. If you look close you can see a line down the middle of the tracks. I'm guessing this was a rat or a very large mouse. Looks like I will be going to the hardware store tomorrow and getting a present for this rodent.

A few more images from Death Valley!

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes

I've added a few images from my recent trip to Death Valley. Next time I need to spend a little more time in Death Valley because I actually spent less than 24 hours of my trip there. If you recall a previous blog about the trip, there were a lot of plans that were changed.

 Badwater Reflections

I camped out near Stovepipe Wells. That put me close to the Mesquite Flat Dunes which I photographed at sunset. The next morning I drove to Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the U.S. at 282 feet below sea level. There actually was a little water in one area and I was able to get some reflections of the distant mountains. Right before sunrise I photographed the salt flats. The salt flat was much rougher than I expected it to be.

Badwater Salt Flats

The last image was taken at Zabriski Point, a very popular photo location.

Zabriski Point

Some black and white and a touch of color!

The other day I purchased myself a new computer with the 64 bit version of Windows 7 installed. This is my main Photoshop machine where I do all the processing of my images. I seem to replace computers about every 2 years because the old computer becomes too slow, the hard drive is full, and its just not capable of doing things that I need it to do. The latest version of Photoshop, CS4 seems to need more Ram, a better graphics card, and of course a faster processor always helps.

Lately, in big Garland, Texas where I live we have had some cold and wet days. This morning it is 23 degrees. I know that is nothing to you Minnesota folks out there, but its cold for here. This has given me a chance to look at some of the work I shot earlier this year and test out this new computer.

So where were these images taken? Starting from the top...

1. An old house near Sherman, Texas.
2. Dick's Classic Garage.
3. Sign on the side of a building in Sapulpa, Oklahoma.
4. Dick's Classic Garage.
5. Gauges on an old fire truck in the Texas hill country.
   

A Funny Christmas Email!

I got a funny email today and thought I would share it!

Read the story before looking at the picture below!!

Well, there is good news and bad news about my Christmas decorations this year
Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations.The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had people come screaming up to my house. Great stories. But two things made me take it down. 

First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.

Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder and almost killed herself putting it against my house; she didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy).

By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up into my yard.
I think I made him too real this time...
Oh well,  it was fun while it lasted!  See what you think.........look below......

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Once again I ate way too much and am sitting here feeling like a stuffed pig. I did want to mention that I have some of my work hanging at the Garden Cafe. If you live in the Dallas area you might want to go by and check out my work. It will be on display until the first of the year. Several of my new images are hanging. The Garden Cafe serves breakfast and lunch everyday except Monday.

 

I also wanted to show some of the images I took at the Maxwell Wildlife Refuge last week while in Kansas. Processing raw images that were shot under such foggy conditions is a little different than processing images created under stronger lighting conditions. There was very little contrast in the images and they look quite dull  until you make some big adjustments to the contrast. In the shot of the three elk these adjustments made the color of the grass a little too red and saturated but the elk still needed some contrast in their faces to bring out the details. I used Topaz Adjust to bring out the features and details of the elk. Unlike the examples on the Topaz web site, I use a pretty light touch with my adjustments because I don't want my work to look like an illustration. I also desaturated the grass a little to keep the scene looking the way I remembered it.
 

The image below of the bison was processed a little differently. I created a color version which I liked but then made a second layer which was converted to a black and white. I then made the layer about 40 percent transparent in order to let a little of the color show. It almost looks like a brown toned photograph, but not quite.

 

 

Could I just stay at home for awhile?

 It seems like I have been constantly on the move for the last four weeks. I arrived back home from a week out west only to leave town again less than 48 hrs later. After completing my last two shows of the year I then spent all day Monday driving back home. Early Thursday morning I was off again driving to Kansas with my brother. I got back home about midnight last night.

So... just where did this variety of pictures come from? The top image was taken at Orange Beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama. It was taken on November 11th, the day after the remnants of Hurricane Ira passed through the area. The next image was created in northern Oklahoma while driving to Kansas. Great clouds that day. On Friday we went to the Maxwell Wildlife Refuge just north of Canton, Kansas. The refuge has a lot of Bison and Elk which can be photographed. It was very foggy that day. Notice how quickly the background fades to gray in the image below of a mother Bison and her calf. Later that day we drove to nearby Lindsborg, Kansas to see the gallery of National Geographic Photographer, Jim Richardson. Great work!  On Saturday we attended a program put on by the Great Plains Nature Photographers. It was held at the Great Plains Nature Center in Wichita, Kansas. The main Speaker at the program was photographer, Boyd Norton. He was also photographing with us at the refuge the day before. It was great getting to know him and hear his program on Saturday. Back in the early 90's when I started getting serious about my photography, the first photography book I bought was written by him. The Art Of Outdoor Photography

 

After the program was over we jumped in the car and headed back to Texas. It had been a short but fun trip. I had made some great new friends in Boyd and Barb Norton, Jim and Cindy Griggs, and Duane and Eddy Graham. Special thanks to the Griggs and Grahams for all their hospitality.Check out Jim's blog post about the weekend.

 

The last image was taken at a gas station in Perry,Oklahoma, one of the small towns that we passed through on our drive back home. It was a very old gas station located right off the square and it did appear to still be selling gas. The pumps were fairly modern and I chose not to include them.

Waiting for Covington!

I'm sitting in the McDonald's in Fairhope, Alabama watching it rain. I'm glad it didn't do this yesterday at the show in Pensacola. It would have been every artist's worst nightmare. What's left of Hurricane Ida is going to go right over this area tonight. Thank God it is supposed to clear back up by this weekend where I will be at the Covington Three Rivers Art Festival. Sales have been tough enough this year without getting drowned at the same time. Come out and see me if you are in the New Orleans area.
I've added a couple of images from my recent trip. The top one was shot at Bryce Canyon. The next two were shot about 15 miles away at Red Canyon. Its really weird how Bryce failed to get an accumulation of snow, but it gave me a good excuse to stomp around in the snow for an afternoon and explore the Red Canyon area. I need to go back and explore it some more.