Day 314. November 9. Countdown 52 Days.

Day Three Hundred Fourteen. November 9. Countdown 52 Days. Picture # 314. "Untitled" I drove by this old fire truck for over a year before I noticed it. It was hidden most of the year by the low hanging branches of a oak tree. The truck is slowly rusting away in the back corner of a small pasture on Spicewood Springs road in Austin,Texas. It was late fall after the leaves had fallen when I first caught a glimpse of the truck from the road. Today I was surprised to see the truck easily even though it was to early in the fall for the leaves to have dropped. While editing the picture I realized the land owner had recently grazed some cattle in this field and the cows had stripped the lower branches off of the trees as high as they could reach. So I have a couple of hungry cows to thank for today's picture. Canon Rebel T3i, handheld. Canon 75-300mm lens. Focal length 300mm. f/6.3. ISO 400. Exposure 1/800 second.

Day 313. November 8. Countdown 53 Days.

Day Three Hundred Thirteen. November 8. Countdown 53 Days. Picture # 313. "Last Point". Cassie Jackson goes low to make a save on the final point of the season. After an extended volley Cassie's middle school team won the game point. The team finished first in the district but there is not playoffs at this classification/grade level, so this became the last volley of this school year. Congratulations to the team on a wonderful season. And personal congratulations to Cassie on this great play to close the season. Canon Rebel T3i, handheld. Canon 75-300mm lens. Focal length 75mm. f/4. ISO 1600. Exposure 1/200 second.

Day 312. November 7. Countdown 54 Days.

Day Three Hundred Twelve. November 7. Countdown 54 Days. Picture # 312. "Yesterday". Another random object in my apartment. My small world is full of useless things that I only have because they make me happy on some level. Eclectic a polite word for weird.  Canon Rebel T3i, handheld. Canon 28-135mm lens. Focal length 41mm. f/4. ISO 400. Exposure 1/200 second. Pop up flash -1.

Day 311. November 6. Countdown 55 Days.

 

Day Three Hundred Eleven. November 6. Countdown 55 Days. Picture # 311. "Freedom". A picture worth a thousand words . . . about a subject that affects hundreds of millions of people. Canon Rebel XTI. Full auto with pop up flash.

Day 310. November 5. Countdown 56 Days.

Day Three Hundred Ten. November 5. Countdown 56 Days. Picture # 310. "Layers". Advertising is everywhere. Our daily lives have almost reached the point of saturation. This is a section of Lamar boulevard in Austin, Texas.There is at least five layers of signage in this one picture. As I sat in traffic what struck me was that there was was nothing about this scene that really stood out and separated it's message from the rest. I saw it as a single flattened image. Driving home I realized I had seen the textures, lighting and the colors but I could not remember any of the company branding. Canon Rebel T3i, on tripod. Canon 75-300mm lens. Focal length 160mm. f/6.3. ISO 200. Exposure 1/2 second.

Day 309. November 4. Countdown 57 Days.

Day Three Hundred Nine. November 4.  Countdown 57 Days. Picture # 309. "Edge of the World". Good thing I stopped. Canon Rebel T3i, handheld. Canon 28-135mm lens. Focal length 60mm. f/8. ISO 400. Exposure 1/500 second.

Day 308. November 3. Countdown 58 Days.

 

Day Three Hundred Eight. November 3. Countdown 58 Days. Picture # 308 A & B. "Beginning & End". My iPhone weather advisery app alarm went off early this morning alerting me to heavy fog conditions. That was all I needed to roll out of bed and hit the road. This bridge is the Capital of Texas Highway (360) where it crosses Lake Austin. I love this area on foggy mornings because the higher ridges pierce the fog and are washed by morning light. This evening as I was editing the morning's shooting my weather alert went off again warning of thunderstorms in the area. I checked the time and guessed the combination of the setting sun and high thunderheads would make for a nice sunset. Above picture; Canon Rebel T3i, on tripod. Canon 75-300mm lens. Focal length 180mm. f/40. ISO 400. Exposure 1/125 second. Pictured below; Canon Rebel T3i, handheld. Canon 28-135mm lens. Focal length 135mm. f/8. ISO 400. Exposure 1/400 second.

 





Day 307. November 2. Countdown 59 Days.

Day Three Hundred Seven. November 2. Countdown 59 Days. Picture # 307. "Untitled" Feeling a little flat today. Shooting was not the normal joy for me today. It felt like work. I will bounce back tomorrow. Canon Rebel T3i, on tripod. Canon 75-300mm lens. Focal length 200mm. f/6.3. ISO 400. Exposure 1/200 second.

Day 306. November 1. Countdown 60 Days.

Day Three Hundred Six. November 1. Countdown 60 Days. Picture # 306. "Untitled". Second day of my Don Quixote like quest for a "Day of the Dead" (DotD) picture. I left work and went to see a friend's daughter play volleyball on her school team. Plan "A" had me  leaving right after the match, to run to a local import shop that primarily stocks handcrafted products from Mexico. I had seen DotD items in there before. I planned to ask the owner/manager if I could shoot a few pictures with my Canon T3i. Plan "B" was to grab some iPhone pics if there were objections to the big camera. Well it never became an issue. The shop was gone, another victim of this horrible economy. So on to plan "C". Drive down to south Austin again to visit the previous days cemetery to see if it had been decorated. I do not know if it was decorated or not. I35 was backed up because of a wreck and I ran out of daylight. I was trying very hard to come up with other DotD options. I conceded defeat for time # 1 and decided to shoot long exposures of the local traffic through the  front windows of the company I work for. After shooting a while I received a text from my good friend Tracy Jackson, it was a picture of an ad from Whole Foods featuring DotD fresh made cookies. So I had a new "plan"! Off to Whole Foods to buy some cookies. Alas they were out of the cookies. I conceded defeat for time # 2. If you read Day 305 you know I started this quest because of my friend Cindy Thoreson. Sorry Cindy, I will try again next year. Maybe I will go to Mexico. Canon Rebel T3i, on tripod. Canon 28-135mm lens. Focal length 50mm. f/29. ISO 100. Exposure 206 seconds.

Day 305. October 31. Countdown 61 Days.

Day Three Hundred Five. October 31. Countdown 61 Days. Picture # 305. "Our Lady of Guadalupe". Two weeks ago my friend Cindy Thoreson gave me title and idea for a future picture. "Day of the Dead". The idea was intriguing. I thought about all of the brightly painted costumes and decorations I had seen in pictures. So my next step was a call to another friend Dale Flatt. Dale is the founder of "Save Austin Cemeteries". I told him I was looking for a Mexican cemetery that might be decorated for the Day of the Dead. He directed me to the historic "Cementerio Mexicano De Maria De La Luz" (pictured below) in south Austin. So for the 305th time this year I tossed my gear in the truck and headed out in search of the day's picture. There was only one slight problem, that became apparent when I arrived at the cemetery. There were no decorations honoring the Day of the Dead. One plot had been decorated with traditional Halloween stuff but that was it. The cemetery itself was interesting with its colorful head stones and statues. So I stayed for a while shooting pictures but the lighting was bad. I looked up Day of the Dead on my iPhone when I was back in the truck. That is when I found out it is celebrated on November 1st & 2nd. Oh well, Like Annie says, "tomorrow, tomorrow . . . Canon Rebel T3i, handheld. Canon 28-135mm lens. Focal length 75mm. f/5. ISO 400. Exposure 1/1000 second.