From Wednesday’s meeting of the Toad Car Club at the redoubtable Richmond Arms Pub:
For Sale
Pretty little thing….
For Sale
Local Color
Just before several inches of rain came pouring down last Saturday, I took a stroll through the International Festival in downtown Houston.
It was a bit of a departure… not the festival itself, I’ve done that regularly for several years. This year, though, I took a single camera with two short lenses, no telephoto at all.
There’s stll work to be done, but I’m not unhappy with some of the results.
It’s THAT time again….
One would think, after this long string of losses, that Santa Anna would change his tactics and his game plan, but he just keeps doing the same thing every year… and he keeps right on losing.
I couldn’t get anyone to bet on the game at ALL this year, even at ten to one odds.
I picked a spot on the other side of the battle this year. It put me closer to the Texian skirmishers and cavalry, but most of the action was going away from me once the battle started. There were some interesting angles from this side, but much less narrative value.
I won’t do this again.
There’s something to be said for “close to the action,” however. I think the term is “adrenalin rush.”
This is full frame… with a wide normal lens. Ten feet, maybe?
Last thing for tonight…
If you’ve ever heard of “The Fog Of War,” this is what it looks like… and, for perspective, that’s from a single shot from one small 3-pound cannon with about half the normal powder charge. Full battles in major wars frequently had dozens if not hundreds of larger cannon firing as quickly as possible.
No wonder nobody ever knew quite what was going on…
Moo. (or whatever.)
Got back from the Bend and more or less immediately turned around and lit out for North Texas to see Mom and do family business and Mom things for a while. Much fun was had, a couple of bookstores were raided, and more than a few bad puns were committed, but there wasn’t a lot of time left over for photography or roaming in search of same.
We did get in a quick scouting run to Glen Rose, though. Met this fine youngster out for a Monday evening roam….
(It’s a bright shot but it was actually evening. The sun was just barely above the horizon to the right, not far out of the frame. I needed to overexpose by about a stop and a half to get detail in the side and the off side of his face, which of course blew all the color out of the sky. I was, for once, quite glad to be working with a digital camera as I’d have burned at least half a roll of film on this one and probably STILl not have been happy with the result…)
There’s Nothing There
Trying to explain the appeal of the Big Bend…
There’s nothing there, but it’s the biggest patch of nothing you’ll ever see in one place. According to a friend, the old legend is that when the Creator was finished building the desert, He took all the parts he hadn’t found a use for and dumped them right here.
I can almost buy that.
Sometimes lucky
Yup. Luck still running…
And a different image, with a few steps backward to get more of the gate and a different exposure to bring it out better.
(I had better software for that second one. My little netbook does reasonably well for on the road, but it’s not intended for heavy pixel-wrangling…)
Look! WORDS!
No, really. Words. Who would have expected? (Okay, there’s a picture too.)
Going out of the world tomorrow – have a chance to hitch a ride to the Bend to see an old mentor and a group of old, new, and potential friends. Will be back, with (I hope) new stories and a few pictures, in a week or so.
Don’t really know what the photo options are going to be, since I AM just hitching along rather than driving. I’m travelling pretty light, especially for cameras (Pens, ink, and notebooks aplenty, though…).
It’s not my preferred way to travel but it DOES cut the gas bill significantly. Thinking of this as a recon/scouting trip – I’ll be looking around and taking notes, mostly. I haven’t been down there in a while, don’t know what’s still there and what’s gone, and although I THINK I’ll have access to at least the bloggery I can’t say whether I’ll be able to post. Or whether I’ll have anything TO post.
But my luck does run pretty well there…. (That’s Emory Peak in the center; the view is from Pittman’s Point on Long Draw, just west of Terlingua Ghost Town.)
Rabbitses!
Long-time friend with band:
Long-time friend with band and weird negative Neon Glow photoshop effect (because I was playing around and decided this looked amusing in a really bizarre sort of way…)
(nb: The band is Wild Rabbit Salad; their online homes are Facebook and Reverb Nation). The music is Texas BarBand… blues, rock, country, country rock, blues rock, country blues rock, and occasionally things you might have heard before.)
Happy New Year
Warming up for the Chinese Community Center Lunar New Year Festival…
Lunchtime Meander
Didn’t walk to this one; it’s 14 miles each way.
They do good coffee, though I think the ‘large’ comes in what’s supposed to be a soup mug….
