That elusive sunset!

Sunset January 12, 2009

It seems the best sunsets occur when I am at home. I guess I could have included the tops of my neighbors trees in an effort to add interest to this image but the truth is this...I photographed this from the street out in front of my house and there is nothing very interesting to go with these great sunset clouds. Maybe they will follow me to Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. I leave tomorrow for a four day photo trip. Hopefully the journey will be successful.
Clark

Black and white or color or both?

The Plaza and Corner Pocket in Black and White

I converted this image to black and white a few days ago. The color version was posted on Jan 4. I like the bright colors of the original version but I also like this version. Some images work both ways while others only work in either black and white or color.
Clark

Off to the Theater again! Or is it Theatre?

Cinemark Theatre

I guess since I have photographed a couple of theaters lately that my eye has gotten into "Theater Mode". The Cinemark is out in Plano, Texas. I noticed it as I drove down 75 last week so I figured I would head over there some evening when it looked like we would have some nice light. Although this theater is not that old it does look similar to some of the ones built in the 40's or 50's. The next two images were taken last night. The Uptown Theater in Grand Prairie was opened in 1950. More info about it here http://www.uptowntheatergp.com/home.htm

Sold Out

Uptown Theater

All of these images were created the same way as some of the previous theater posts by using a combination of multiple exposures. The Uptown images were only 3 exposures where 5 were used on the Cinimark image. I also had to manually combine the SOLD OUT part of the Marquee in Photoshop.
Next week another photographer(Gary Kelly) and myself are going to spend several days in Oklahoma and Texas photographing parts of Route 66. Should be fun and should provide me with some interesting images.
Clark

Let's do this again!

Lakewood Theater #2

I had lunch with a couple of friends of mine today at the Garden Cafe where I have exhibited my work before. When I mentioned the Lakewood Theater, which is near by, they told me that there was going to be a football watching party there tonight. Hmmmm....It will be 75 degrees today and I going to take advantage of the nice weather and go hit some golf balls, but I could throw the camera gear in the truck and swing by the Lakewood Theater about 5:30. I figure I have about a 30 minute period from 5:45 to 6:15 when the light is at its best. I show up on schedule but at 5:30 they don't have the lights on. At 5:45 they don't have the lights on. Turn the dang lights on! I'm not getting out of the vehicle with the tripod until I can start shooting. At 5:59 they come on and I jump out, set up the tripod, compose and fire off 6 different exposures. I move over the tripod, re-compose and shoot 6 more exposures. These are the images I used. When I started to shoot more images from a slightly different spot, a ladder is quickly put up right in the middle of the entrance. A man climbs up it and begins fiddling with some wires. Then several more men come out and they pull a screen down which soon begins showing football highlights. At 6:15 all I get is black for sky even with the longer exposures. Actually it is black with some unappealing fog and flare from the lights. My 15 minutes of picture taking is over for the day. After getting back home I will spend more time than that on the computer processing this image. Even though I would have liked to have had 3 0r 4 successful compositions, I'm pretty happy with the results.
Clark

Should I leave the tripod at home?

Plaza Theater and the Corner Pocket

After seeing a lot of high wispy clouds in the sky today I decided that there should be a good sunset with a lot of pink clouds. I headed back out to the square in Garland but as you can see...no pink clouds. Not much color in the sunset but I got a different composition of the theater which also includes the Corner Pocket, a little sandwich place on the corner across from the theater. I'm starting to like shooting these multiple exposure HDR images. Before the sun went down I took a few photographs at the nearby DART Station. Its getting harder to pull out a big tripod and not get hassled about taking pictures. I hadn't been there 5 minutes and some guy gets out of the train and comes over and asks me if I have a permit from DART. Of course I don't have no stinkin permit from DART and don't plan on getting one. I told the guy I was a fine art photographer and was just out shooting. I think many of these guys are told by their bosses not to allow any commercial photography without a permit. As soon as they see the tripod...here they come. I went through the same BS in San Antonio when I was photographing the missions. I also think since 9/11 there is this paranoia that I may be a terrorist checking the place out. Would I pull out the big tripod and stick out like a sore thumb? No, I would get one of those pocket sized 12 megapixel cameras and they would never know I snapped a single shot. Its all an exersize in futility if you ask me and I think most of the guys that are ordered to come talk to me know it too.
Clark

That special time right after the sun has set!

Garland's Plaza Theater

The Corner Pocket

Wow, its been less than three hours since I took these two images and they are ready for my blog. Both are a combination of six different exposures that were combined and tone mapped in Photomatix Pro 3. I recently read a whole book about HDR photography. It discussed several types of software and the adjustments that they have. Strangely enough I seem to get the most realistic photos by just using the default settings on the tone mapping. Thats fine with me. Right now I'm more interested in getting realistic results instead of the funky looking stuff that most people are doing with this technique. Both of these images were taken on the square of downtown Garland. No pink clouds tonight. I guess the 81 degree temps today burned them all up. And yes, I'm still wishing the lights at the Lakewood Theater had been on.

Clark

The last sunset of 2008!

Lakewood Theater

Yesterday afternoon I watched some high clouds roll in. It looked like a good opportunity for some pink clouds at sunset. A good sunset still needs something interesting to go with it...but what. I almost went to White Rock Lake but drove near the old Lakewood Theater which I had never photographed before. The choice was made. I got the pink clouds but the lights were not on. Having the lights on probably would have improved this shot but I am not actually sure how often the lights are on since the theater is rarely used for anything. This image was made from 3 combined exposures. I like it but may go shoot it again some time.
Clark