Oklahoma Skies!

 While driving home from the art show in Oklahoma City last night I couldn't resist pulling into a scenic overlook near the Turner Falls area and checking out how well I could see the Milky Way. Sure enough it was very easy to see the Milky Way in the night sky despite being so close to the city lights of Ardmore, about 10 miles away. Those same lights revealed the silhouette of an old windmill, a perfect addition to any pictures I might take. I got my headlamp out of my camera bag and scampered several hundred yards up the hill in the dark to get a little closer to the windmill. The silhouette in the final image is still pretty small since this was shot with the lens at 16mm but I think it works pretty good that way. After all, this image is really about the vastness and the beauty of the night sky. It is also neat that I could capture an image like this within several hundred yards of the busy night traffic on I35.

Inside Angel's Diner

Inside Angel's Diner

I was looking for an image in my files and when I came across this one I thought "I've never shown this to anyone". So here it is! This was at Angel's Diner in McAlester, Oklahoma.

More Route 66 trip!

When is the best time to process images when you return from a trip? Immediately, weeks later, months later, or years later. All of the above could be correct. Usually, I immediately work on the images that I am most excited about. I may print a few and take them to my next show. I then get busy and will occasionally look a them again when I get a chance. As time goes by my preconceived ideas about the images when I took them will gradually fade and I will see them in a little different light. Sometimes I have processed an excellent image years after I have taken it. Anyway, these were taken about 4 months ago but I didn't process them until today.
These are some images from my Route 66 trip back in January. The Route 66 Restaurant was taken in Clinton, Oklahoma across the street from the Route 66 Museum. http://www.route66.org/index2.html The next image was taken in Shamrock, Texas. The old car and the painted sign were in a couple of small towns that we drove through in Oklahoma.