Mooning

News flash: There was an eclipse last week … or was it the week before? Whatever. The lunar eclipse provided an opportunity for more photography abuse. I’ve mentioned before how I really like the idea of photography, how I can see the photo in my twisted brain, and how that vision rarely makes it to final image. So with a new tripod and Old Man Moon putting on a show, it seemed appropriate to try, yet again.

Doing a little research, I saw some HDR composites of eclipses and moonrises and thought I’d give that technique a shot. I wasn’t overly disappointed with the results. Usually, when my name is mentioned in the same sentence with the moon, it’s in a story from high school – where the full moon made numerous unscheduled appearances – from the oddest of locations. Butt that’s another story.

Here are a few results from my more recent moon experience.

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Florida’s Forgotten Coast

Two of my favorite things. In Carrabelle, Florida.

My wife and I recently took a driving trip along that part of the Florida Gulf Coast known as the “Forgotten Coast”. This area includes Apalachicola, Eastpoint, St. George Island and Carrabelle. All are east of the Redneck Riviera (that area of beach communities stretching from Mississippi over to Panama City, Florida), and all that goes with it. Quiet, unhurried, and a step back from the hustle and bustle are all good descriptors for this area where the majority of the oysters produced in Florida are harvested. Rivers, bays and barrier islands create a perfect storm for fishing and quiet beach living. The fact that it’s not super easy to access also, thankfully, keeps the rowdy tourist numbers down.

We spent ten days wandering along the coast, eating as much local seafood as we could, and enjoying a number of nearly deserted beaches.

Here are a few photos from the trip. (click on photos for full size versions)

Sunset following a summer storm over Apalacicola Bay

The docks along the Apalachicola River in downtown “Apalach”.

Building in downtown Apalach. There are a few renovations going on.

A boat next to the original sponge exchange. Apalachicola

Building along the waterfront in Apalach.

Looking back towards Apalachicola from St. George Island.

Presidential

Went to Dallas recently for a client shoot at the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. I took the GoPro Hero along to try and get some fun personal shots. It’s always a toss-up shooting stills with this little camera, mainly because the model I have doesn’t have a viewfinder or view screen. I have to wait to upload to the computer to see what I got. As usual, most of the shots were crap, but I was able to salvage a few from the batch.

Our client, Continental Cut Stone, provided much of the limestone used on and in the building. If you go, do it early to beat the tour buses!

 

Click on the pics for bigger view.

Strategically placed “fountain” for your party pic pleasure.

Entry courtyard, pre-tour bus cattle call.

Sleepy west side of the building.

These are leaves (and flowers).

Looking up.

The Decider, and his dad.

Candidly, I Like Photography. I Just Suck At It.

Really, I try and try, but when I look at what I shot, disappointment. Determined to get more enjoyment out of this hobby, and inspired by photos a buddy shot in Cambodia, I looked around Austin for a workshop to help me work the kinks out of my shitty shuttering.

While I found quite a few  workshops available, most were either full or too danged expensive. I did see one, however that piqued my interest. It was to meet in downtown Austin on Saturday and the group would walk through the Formula 1 Fan Fest. Fan Fest was part of the promotion machine put on by F1 in Downtown Austin to help support their big US Grand Prix debut at Circuit of the Americas just outside of town.  There were demonstrations, racing simulators, sponsor booths with pretty girls, classic car shows, and – because it’s Austin – live music and beer gardens.  With the hoopla surrounding the race, and the glut of international tourists in town for the weekend, there was promise of multiple photo opportunities. So, I dusted off the old digital SLR and joined the workshop last Saturday.

My goal: To suck less at photography.

The workshop was lead by photographer, Michael Long. Great guy. Very enthusiastic and informative. You can learn all about him and his workshops HERE. Mike lead me and three other wannabes up and down the Warehouse District streets blocked off for Fan Fest pointing out interesting subjects, and talked about shapes and colors and layers and f-stops and light and shade and composition. He helped some of us figure out how to operate our very automatic cameras manually. He would stop people and get them to let the four of us start shooting away hoping for that perfect image.

Well, as the day wore on, I felt sure I was going to get home and be disappointed again by a memory card full of under-exposed, out of focus and poorly composed photos. And I was right, almost.

Mixed in with all of the junk were a few that actually show that some progress was made. The trick, it seems, is to just keep on clicking – and remember to look at what’s in the background and the foreground, and make sure the exposure is correct, and make  sure it’s in focus, and remember the Rule of Thirds, and, and, and.

Anyway, I came away from Michael’s workshop slightly more confident that I might actually get the shot I wanted, sometimes. And that is light years from where I was. Thanks, Michael.

Here are a few shots from that day.

A few years ago the slogan, “Keep Austin Weird” was showing up everywhere from t-shirts to bumper stickers. With unique folks like these in town, I don’t think we have to worry too much about that.

Here are some building shots.

Some other folks nice enough to let us shoot their photo.

More Images from Tuscaloosa

You can double-click the images for a larger view.