Day 121. April 30.

Day One Hundred Twenty One. I have been sick for almost a week. My iPhone has been with me the whole time. It rests on my lap. I do not even notice it is there. If this was the late seventies I would have a three to four pound big box on my lap that has a corded handset and is plugged into the wall. Picture shot with iPhone, handheld.

Day 120. April 29.

Day One Hundred Twenty. Gear never left bag. I barely have opened my right eye for two days. I have not stepped out side my apartment. Find out tomorrow if eye will be fine or if it might have permanent damage. This will have to be today's picture, there is no others. iPhone, handheld. With flash.

Day 119. April 28.

Day One Hundred Nineteen. April 28. Picture # 119. "Kingsbury Aerodrome".

Day 118. April 27.

Day One Hundred Eighteen. April 27. Picture # 118. "Row House" Canon Rebel XTI, handheld. Canon28-135mm lens. Focal length 135mm. f/9. ISO 400. Exposure 1/400 second.

Day 117. April 26.

Day One Hundred Seventeen. April 26. Picture # 117. "Happy Hatch Day". This beautiful bird decided one year ago to the day, to use his powerful beak to break his egg and discover a much larger world. He is a Sun Conure parrot, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Conure. His human is Jill Jackson. She discovered him at a pet store and it seemed like love at first sight for both of them. Jill with very little effort convinced her mother that they really needed a bird to add to their already ecletic menagerie. Which consists of the dog CoBo Joe who runs herd over two Maine Coon cats,six Guinea Pigs, one Roborovski Hamster and a Goldfish. Jill named her new feathered friend "Sunny". Sunny quickly won over everyone in the house with his personality and amazing ability to learn tricks. He will give his people high fives and fist bumps, He is quite the accomplished dancer bobbing back and forth in greeting. He uses his very sharp scary beak to give the gentlest of kisses. When he is in a good mood he will even talk asking for a kiss in a vaguely German Accent. So "Sunny" is one year old today. Canon Rebel XTI, handheld. 28-135mm lens. Focal length 80mm. f/5. ISO 1600. Exposure 1/160 second.

Day 116. April 25.

Day One Hundred Sixteen. April 25. Picture # 116. "Untitled" A nice spring afternoon spent at Edwards Park near my apartment looking for small things. Canon Rebel XTI, on monopod. Canon  75-300mm zoom lens. Focal length 300mm. f/11. ISO 400. Exposure 1/200 second.

Day 115. April 24.

Day One Hundred Fifteen. April 24. Picture # 115. "Upside Down". This architectural abstract was taken on Richard Garriott's Lake Austin property. Canon Rebel XTI, on tripod. 18-55mm lens. Bower Super Wide lens. Focal length 28mm. f/22. ISO 400. Exposure 1/13 second.

Day 114. April 23.

Day One Hundred Fourteen. April 23. Picture # 114. "Quiet Evening". Dusk at Bull Creek. I am feeling a little under the weather this evening so I stayed close to home. Other than a family playing quietly upstream I had this section of Bull Creek all to myself. Canon Rebel XTI, on tripod. Canon 18-55mm lens. Bower Super Wide lens. Focal length 34mm. f/22. ISO 400. Exposure 3.2 seconds.

Day 113. April 22.

Day One Hundred Thirteen. April 22. Picture # 113. "Textures". Mount Horeb Lodge is located in the "town" of Mahomet, Texas, which seems to consist of this building a church and a cemetery. http://www.main.org/mahomet/earlylodge.html . The outside of this building is covered in sheets of metal stamped to mimic stone. Someone decided to paint the window casings a cheerful bright blue color. The whole building was my first choice for today's picture but the varied textures interested me more. Overview pictures of the building, sign and a historic marker on site are posted below.Canon Rebel XTI, on tripod. Canon 18-55 lens. Focal length 30mm. f/7.1. ISO 400. Exposure 1/1000 second.

Day 112. April 21.

Day One Hundred Twelve. April 21. Picture # 112. "Untitled" Canon Rebel XTI, on tripod. Canon 28-135mm lens. Focal length 75mm. f/32. ISO 400. Exposure 1/20 second.

Day 111. April 20.

Day One Hundred Eleven. April 20. Picture # 111. "Time & Sun" This sign on a long ago closed store is slowly fading in the Texas sun. This sign is moving toward monochrome one layer at a time. The bright red at the top is shaded by the buildings overhang and is vanishing at a slower rate. This sign made me think about aging. Your body ages in layers some qualities staying young others showing and feeling the ravages of time. But like this sign even faded your friends still can see who you are, Canon rebel XTI, handheld. Canon XTI 18-55mm lens. Focal length 18mm. f/6.3. ISO 400. Exposure 1/800 second.

Day 110.April 19.

Day One Hundred Ten. April 19. Picture # 110 A,B,C,D. "Cooperative Model"

Day 109. April 18.

Day One Hundred Nine. April 18. Picture # 109. "School Night". This is a very similar picture to one I took last year at the same location. There were details in that first picture I did not care for. The focus was a little soft and the image was grainy. By now it must be obvious to those who follow this blog, that I am drawn to loney empty scenes. By day this area is full of the life and energy that only teenagers have. By night it is quiet, the benches sit empty. Tomorrow is another day. It will soon come alive again. Canon Rebel XTI, on tripod. Canon 28-135mm lens. Focal length 28mm. f/22. ISO 200. Exposure 2.5 seconds.

Day 108. April 17

Day One Hundred Eight. April 17. Picture # 108. "949". I went to the Amtrak station to shoot an much older steam locomotive number 844. But it had broken down and had not made it to Austin yet. But the day was still a success because this working World War II era train was sitting at the station instead. http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=142028 Canon Rebel XTI, handheld. Canon 28-135mm lens. Focal length 56mm. f/4.5. ISO 200. Exposure 1/800 second.

Day 107.April 16.

Day One Hundred Seven. April 16. Picture # 107. "Untitled". I could not help but wonder if this little sprite was looking so anxious and forlorn because today was tax day. Hope you got your taxes done. Canon Rebel XTI, handheld. Canon 75-300mm zoom lens. Focal length 300mm. f/20. ISO 400. Exposure 1/100 second.

Day 106. April 15.

Day One Hundred Six. April 15. Picture 106. "Morning at Padre". An empty beach and this view was the start to my shooting day. The picture below was the end of my day. Day 106 was a good day. Canon Rebel XTI, on tripod. Canon 28-135 lens. Focal length 28mm. f/22. ISO 800. Exposure 1/400 second.

Day 105. April 14.

Day One Hundred Five. April 14. Picture # 105. "Untitled" Shooting conditions continue to be rough on Day 105. The heavy haze softens and makes all landscape pictures look grainy. The low light conditions are requiring high ISO or slow shutter speeds. The sea spray keeps depositing salt on camera and lens. I can not keep my glasses clean so I have stopped wearing them. I am having to clean off the lens about every five minutes or so. I have to clear as much sand off of the camera and carefully change lenses inside the truck. Between dirty lens and rushing shots, movement blur and not being able to see, I have a lot of blurry unuseable pictures. This was the best focus I hit all day. Canon Rebel XTI, handheld. Canon 75-300mm lens. Focal length 160mm. f/5. ISO 400. Exposure 1/4000 second.

Day 104. April 13.

Day One Hundred Four. April 13. Picture # 104. "Fire" Late start on day. Arrived at Padre Island National Seashore just after five PM. Jim was already somewhere out on the beach. The wind was blowing a steady twenty miles per hour with gusts around thirty. Between the high tide and the wind driven waves the beach was narrow and in bad shape. Making matters worse for photography was the heavy sea spray that instantly coated the camera and lens only to be followed by the blowing sand sticking to everything. I shot a little the first afternoon and evening but I feel like this picture of the fire best depicts the first night. Jim had already set up a camp of sorts and we figured how to park the trucks to block much of the wind. The first night was about friendship and working with nature as best as we could. The two pictures below were taken from the same spot in front of our camp, looking north and south. The bad conditions meant we had the beach pretty much to ourselves. There is additional pictures at https://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1767656972 . They will be in the Padre Island 2012 album. Canon Rebel XTI, on tripod. Canon 28-135mm lens. Focal length 70mm. f/5. ISO 1600. Exposure 1/6 second.

 

Looking north.

Looking south.

No Posts until Sunday 15, 2012

Going to Padre Island National Seashore for the weekend. Once I leave the hard road for the beach I will not have cell coverage until I drive back out. I am meeting my good friend Jim Strain somewhere in 60 miles of beach and we are going to camp, fish, take pictures, drink adult beverages and burn meat on the grill. We are also going to get sun burned, sand blasted and sticky with salt water. Should be fun! Will shoot each day I am gone but posting will have to wait until I rejoin the rat race.

Day 103. April 12.

Day One Hundred Three. April 12. Picture # 103. "Fireplug in the Forest". This is a case of "not seeing the forest for the trees". I had about twenty minutes to find my picture today, because I only had a small window of time that I could meet my best friend for dinner. I wanted to see her before I left town for the weekend. Well anyway, back to the forest and the trees. There is a very wild greenbelt that is just down the street from my apartment. I enjoy hiking and shooting in this area because it gets very few visitors and it offers varied scenery. So I needed a quick but still interesting picture. This fire hydrant is located in an improbable location in the woods within the greenbelt. I walk by this scene everytime I visit this area, but I never noticed the bright red hydrant with it's many layers of paint. Nor did I notice how the red stands in contrast to the vivid green foliage with the flowers as punctuation marks. A big part of the 366 Project was to force myself to look harder at my daily world and train myself to see the little rectangles of art that surround us. It is obvious I am still letting familiarity cloud my vision. "Pictures are moments in time, look around, the moments are everywhere". Canon Rebel XTI, handheld. Canon 28-135mm lens. Focal length 28mm. f/4.5. ISO 800. Exposure 1/250 second.

Day 102. April 11.

Day One Hundred Two. April 11. Picture # 102, A,B,C,D. "Child's Toys in B/W". Ryan Timm a friend of mine is building his young son a "Yellow Submarine" bed. It is very much a labor of love project. He is putting tons of time into it and it is turning out great. He wants faces looking out of the port holes, so he asked me to take pictures of his son's action figures. He now has a nice cheerful colorful set of pictures to use for his project. It might be a product of my current mood, but while taking these pictures, I was reminded how as a child, I found the empty vacant stares of my sister's dolls to be somewhat ominous. I edited the pictures to match my memories. But on a much brighter note, the "Yellow Submarine" near completion in photo below. Canon Rebel XTI, on tripod. Canon 18-55mm lens. Focal length 55mm. f/5.6. ISO 400. Exposure 1/6 second.

Day 101. April 10.

Day One Hundred One. April 10. Picture # 101. "What Does the future hold ?" Today the lesson that life is important came home to roost. This is just a picture. Canon Rebel XTI, handheld. Canon 28-135mm lens. Focal length 60mm. f/4.5. ISO 400. Exposure 1/320 second.

Day 100. April 9.

Day One Hundred. April 9. Picture # 100. "Synchronicity". These large concrete spheres protect the student crossing in front of Webb Middle school in Austin. I first noticed them months ago but at my normal commute time the crossing is full of children leaving school. The sun is also still high in the sky which washes out the scene and makes it unremarkable. I worked late today. As I left the parking lot I noticed the low angle of the Sun. Even though the hour was late, the sunlight was still very bright. It seemed like the perfect time to checkout the school. Canon Rebel XTI, handheld. Canon 28-135mm lens. Focal length 56mm. f/6.3. ISO 400. Exposure 1/640 second.

Day 99. April 8.

Day Ninety Nine. April 8. Picture # 99. "Morris Ranch Hotel". Texas is a state that hides many surprises. My friend Tracy Jackson and I went for an Easter drive in the Hill Country. Somewhere roughly half way between Kerrville and Fredricksburg we turned down a small country road. I was looking for wildflowers or maybe if we were lucky an old barn or building. I was not expecting a town built in the 1880s. These pictures are some of the remaining buildings of the Morris Ranch Community. http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Texas_ghost_towns/Morris_Ranch_Hill_Country/Morris_Ranch_i_homestead.htm

By the time we found this hidden historical gem, we were already pressed for time. So reluctantly we left withthe knowledge that we would be back to further explore this area at some other time. Canon Rebel XTI, handheld. Canon 28-135mm lens. Focal length 28mm. f/8. ISO 400. 1/2000 second.

Day 98. April 8.

Day Ninety Eight. April 8. Picture # 98. "McNeil Post Office". Since 1888 there has been a United States Post Office at this location. This office still is in use but I am not sure by who. Directly behind is the Austin White Lime Company's proccessing plant. The office also sits at the intersection of two rail lines. This location feels very remote but it is only a few minutes from my apartment. Canon Rebel XTI, on tripod. Canon 18-55mm lens. Bower Superwide lens. Focal length 29mm. f/13. ISO 200. Exposure 1/30 second. 

Day 97. April 6.

Day Ninety Seven. April 6. Picture # 97. "After the Fire" Sambets Cajun restaurant was one of my regular eating places. It was a northwest Austin institution. It had a fire on Thankgiving day while deep frying turkeys. http://www.austinchronicle.com/food/2011-12-30/cajun-heat/ . I miss my crawfish etouffee. Picture below was taken with my iPhone while I waited for my dinner. Canon Rebel XTI, handheld. Canon 75-300mm lens. Focal length 205mm. f/5.6/ ISO 400. Exposure 1/1600 second. 

Day 96. April 5.

Day Ninety Six. April 5. Picture # 96. "Gone Fishing # 2". Went fishing at Decker Lake on my friend Steve Sponseller's boat. He had offered to take me out on Lake Georgetown to take pictures. But we decided to combine fishing and pictures at Decker. Fishing was slow but it was a beautiful day on the water.We fished until sunset. You can see the orange suset below reflecting on the side of the fishing lure. Canon XTI Rebel, handheld. Canon 28-135mm lens. Focal length 135mm. f/5.6. ISO 1600. Exposure 1/400 second.

Day 95. April 4.

Day Ninety Five. April 4. Picture # 9. "Just a Butterfly". With the amazing wildflower season Texas is having, there is another bonus. There are butterflies everywhere. The picture above and all the images below were shot today after work. With the exception of the swallowtail on the water lily the rest of the pictures were taken within twenty feet of each other. http://www.texasento.net/Travislist.htm . Canon Rebel XTI, handheld. Canon 75-300mm lens. Focal length 300mm. f/5.6. ISO 800. Exposure 1600 second.