Trees

I love trees. I love being outdoors. Unless it's 100 degrees. I have a long love affair with photographing trees. Some of my favorite tree photos are "pre-digital" and I don't have them scanned in to show you here. I'll get on that though and post them sometime in the future. But, for now, here are some of my digital favorites.

This was taken last April at Muir Woods in California. It is looking up at a grove of old growth redwood trees.

This is a close-up of old growth redwood bark.

Aspens near Independence Pass, Colorado, taken July 2006.

I went to this very spot, because I purchased a photo taken by a local Colorado photographer when I was in Colorado the year before. His photo was of this place in the spring of the year. I've never been there in spring, but I love that photo. I wanted to see if I could find the exact spot he stood in and take a photo of my own in summer. I actually think I found his spot, but perhaps there are several spots along the pass like this. Nonetheless, I love the photo I got as well. I have a large black and white version of it in my living room.

I even like dead trees, like these, damaged in the 1988 fire in Yellowstone. (photo in 2006)

Forest fires used to be contained and doused immediately in National Parks, but newer studies in the field of ecology point to the fact that fires are a natural part of the ecological cycle. Therefore, while the fires are watched so they do not get out of hand, they are allowed to burn at times because that is what naturalists see as the best thing for the ecosystem. You can see in the photo above that new growth has already returned to the area since the fires wiped the slate clean 20 (or 18 when the photo was taken) years ago. You can read more about this from someone who knows what they are talking about by following that link above.

I took dozens of photos of these trees with the moon as the sun was going down one night. It was a beautiful thing - a fascinating place to be and sort of eerie - but really, none of the photos captured the moment as it was. That being said, this is a cool shot nonetheless that I enjoy looking at once in a while.

Trees can also set the mood. Like the "dead trees and the moon" seem eerie, these photos of trees say other things to the viewer. It often tells you the season, too.

Taken April 2008 just past the entrance to the grounds of the California Veteran's Home.

To me, this driving path welcomes you in. It gives one the feeling that this place where they've arrived is hospitable, and a nice place to be. It also calms the soul with its beauty.

Alia, Sicily (Italy) March 2008

This is one of my favorite photographs from our entire trip to Sicily. I took over 1000 photos and I'm sure more of them will show up here one day. This was taken through a playground, late in the day, overlooking the hills surrounding the city. Doesn't it look like a cool, peaceful tree grove? When I look at this photo, I want to be there.

An autumn day in Dallas, TX, November 2007

Moon over White Rock Lake, December 2007

And, probably my most favorite tree shot of all is to get right next to its trunk and shoot up.

May 2008 on the grounds of my mother's church.

April 2008 on the grounds of the aforementioned California Veteran's Home

April 2008 under an old growth redwood

March 2008 under a palm tree in Corleone, Sicily (Italy)

November 2008 under a beautiful Dallas tree


And, the red oak tree in my front yard, October 2006.
(Editor's note - for some reason, Blogger will only upload this image sideways...it should be oriented like the others, but it clearly isn't.)

Now, go out and enjoy a tree!

Good Conversation

Some good friends of mine got married in June. I'll probably do a couple of posts on those festivities and the photos I took. However, some of my favorite photos were those found in this post that captured a conversation between the bride's grandmother and her son-in-law.

This is grandma.

The photos were taken at my friends' rehearsal dinner which was held at this tasty barbecue restaurant near where they live. It was a great place for me to catch candid photos, since most of the people there didn't know who I was and weren't paying attention to me.

So, here we go.

Grandma's son-in-law (S-i-L) was showing her photos of his grandchild. This is really a fairly irrelevant bit of information, to me. But, for those of you dying to know, now you know. What is interesting in the photos is all the unspoken information therein - you can tell these people have a mutual respect for one another.

I think you can tell they've know one another for a good period of time. You can tell grandma really likes talking to her S-i-L. And the S-i-L likes showing off the photos to grandma. I imagine he's saying, "My grandchild is so sweet, and I love him so much. I feel so lucky to be a grandparent. But, you know, the best part about being a grandparent is you can play with them and love on them and then give them back to their parents whenever you want to and go take a nap." She concurs.

Here, grandma shows us she's an intent listener. I bet she loves listening to her relatives and learning about what makes them tick, what they think, and how they are. Listening is a skill that is hard to come by for most folks. But, one of the best things you can do for a friend. And, one of the best skills to use in the workplace. I often think - if I shut my yammer trap more often and just listened I would be so much better off. Grandma learned this a long time ago!

And, when she listens, she really appreciates learning something new about ol' S-i-L. She's thinking, "He's turned out to not be such a bad SOB after all." Or, something like that.

I love catching photos like these. They are real and honest and not superficial. But, its sometimes hard to capture these moments with the camera. People get self conscious when a camera is around and try to create their version of the photos they'd like taken of them.

Even Grandma got wise to my camera's ways. She caught me. That was the end of it. Darn. But, thanks for letting me catch you in the moment. I loved it.

Beautiful Fall Day

First, an administrative note. I am going to try something a little different, starting with this post. I am going to place comments about each photo under said photo instead of above it. We'll see how it goes.

Now, on to the post. Friday I walked a few blocks from my office to meet some friends for lunch. I arrived at the designated location a little early, so I snapped some photos of this beautiful fall day in Dallas.

This was the day right before Ike was supposed to wreak havoc on the city. Now, Ike did wreak havoc and my prayers are with those on the gulf coast, but he spared my fair city, traveling further east. All we had here were some showers and light winds. But, when I took these photos, I sort of had the idea that the next day, if Ike came right at us, some of these tress could be gone or roof tiles missing, etc. But, if I were to go out there right now, beside the sky color, I am pretty sure it would look the same.

The Cathedral Guadalupe from the side

This church is a magnificent treasure to downtown Dallas, and has been recently undergoing some renovation. On my way back from lunch I took some more photos of this building that I'll post at another time.

The Belo Mansion, across the street from the Cathedral

Chase Tower and plaza obstructed by a large truck

Some green Saint Augustine grass that I found next to the sidewalk.

Green grass - either its well watered or the temperatures have begun to fall!

Then, the clock struck 12 noon and the bells at the Cathedral began to ring. I took a short video to share with you here - if it works - this is my first try at shooting and posting a video.

You'll notice that when you tilt the camera in the "portrait" direction, the cathedral appears on its side. Rest assured, the cathedral did not fall to its side. The earth did not come off its axis at the sound of the bells. I just learned something about my little video camera, or at least about the videos as they are loaded on Blogger.

There are the sounds of the bells, as well as the wind as I zoom in to the bells I could see moving but you cannot see in the video, as the cathedral is on its side. There are also some faint city noises of traffic and people in the background. I bet, with that stirring lead-in, you'll be sure to click fast.

Cathedral Bells at Noon

And, then, one of my friends arrived. There she is crossing the street in her chic urban Dallas black outfit.

I love fall. My favorite colors are associated with the season, the temperatures begin to be tolerable again and of course, there's football to watch. Often, Dallas doesn't get much of a fall. But, after the summer we had, I think we deserve one this year! We've had some nice days, but I don't think summer is quite done with us yet. We'll see.

Florida in January 2008

I took a trip to Florida for work last January. After the work was done, I visited my dad and his wife at their winter home in New Port Richey for the weekend. I had never visited them there, so it was fun to see where they stay while its cold in Indiana and to meet all their friends. Here are some photos from that trip.

First of all, the weather was sort of dreary and rainy most of my trip. The sun did come out the last day, though, which was nice. I am just mentioning this, because you'll see lots of overcast skies in the photos. I actually, don't mind overcast weather. That's a funny sort of change in belief for me. When I was in college, the topic came up one day among friends about what sort of day constituted the best kind of weather. Being from the Midwest, where gray, dreary days are numerous, I said a sunny day in the 70's. My good friend the Cheese Fry, originally from Dallas, said his favorite sort of weather day was an overcast day, a little on the cold side. I looked at him like his head was spinning. What? Are you crazy? Do you need Prozac? What's up man?

But, then, I lived here in the heat for eons. And I get it. The best kind of weather, Mr. Fry, is indeed an overcast, slightly cool day. You were right. But, all those senior citizens in my dad's complex are from the Midwest and the Northeast. They don't get this pearl of wisdom and the whole time I was there kept apologizing for the weather. Now, on to the photos.

These first photos were taken at Clearwater Beach, I think, if I'm remembering correctly. The first one is looking out at the overcast sky over the water and stylized with Photoshop Elements.



Below is a photo of a pelican. There were several out on this pier, but I thought this one was especially majestically photogenic. There were fishermen out on the pier feeding them the small fish, which of course helped keep up the pelican population on the pier. And, Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers right after that, I'm pretty positive.



This is just your garden variety seagull, staring me down. Yes, there in the background are people on the beach, getting into the water in the winter when its cold.



Then, the next day, we went to a different beach, but it was still sort of overcast. I don't remember the name of this beach, but it was very pretty. I think it was outside of Tarpon Springs. I took several shots of these birds, who would land on the beach in little bunches, then take off all together, swirl around a bit and then land again. They were fascinating to watch, really.



I wish the photo below would blow up more on the blog, but it won't - its the coolest when its really large.


Then, we went into the town of Tarpon Springs. This town is known for the sponges it harvest right out off the gulf coast. It was settled by Greeks following the sponge fishing to the area. There are some very wealthy sponge magnates in the area.

My dad likes to make me take silly photos. You know, if there is something to lie under for a photo, or make an optical illusion, etc, he wants me to do it. So, here I am, supposedly losing my fingers to that there shark.



The sun finally came out the next day. I took some photos of their community, below. The first one is right after you drive in. I "hue-d" it up quite a bit in Photoshop to make it look Eden like and other-worldly.



This is their street.


And, of course, very important with a bunch of Q-tips, the shuffleboard area. Q-tip is what the locals call all the senior citizens that over-run the Florida coast. I'll let you think on it.



Below are my hosts, my dad and his wife. It's such a lovely photo with the sun shining in on them. However, they have both lost a lot of weight since this photo was taken, so they don't really look like this anymore. But, it is still a nice shot.



We took a little side trip to Parkesdale Farms in Plant City. They have amazing strawberries there, and my dad and I both love strawberries. Any drive for good strawberries is worth it, I think. You can see I was crowned the strawberry queen while there. It's a very important post. I have lots of official duties and such. It's a great honor.



On the way to plant city, we passed the "Airstream Ranch" on the side of the highway.



When I did a little google search for the Airstream Ranch, I learned this. How can this be? Egad! This is of course in homage, at least in part, to the Cadillac Ranch here in Texas. Where, no one, ever, would think of saying it was in violation of anything. Below is another photo, stylized with Photoshop Elements.



And, that ends our tour of the greater New Port Richey area and the photos thereof.

One More Dog Post

For those of you who aren't animal lovers, I am sure all the animal posts been even more like, "Blah Blah Blah" than my normal posts. I promise I won't post about animals all day every day. But, I want to do one more of some of my photos of the dogs together. Then, I'll drop the animal photos for a while. So, here we go. Since I did outdoor photos near the end on the last two posts, how about outdoor first here. The first two were last spring, the third last fall:







Next, a photo on each of the beds in the house:



And, finally, a shot of the girls with their hoodies on. We bought these little jackets for them one year when we took them to Indiana with us in December. Since they weren't used to the very cold Midwest, we reasoned this might make them feel more comfortable. What it did was further ensure to all my family members that we are just a little off. The funny thing is, years later, my younger brother's oldest daughter asked if I had any photos of my dogs in their jackets. I didn't. But, I summarily got the jackets out and put them on to take a photo for her. Here is one of the two of them, a fitting way to end the string of animal posts. And, I think, for those of you keeping the score - 3 for bad animal parenting, zero for the good:

Chicago in the Rain

In May of 2006 we went to Chicago for a weekend just to get away. While the weekends before and after we went were lovely spring weather, the weekend we ended up there was more like mid-March. And very soggy. But, we didn't let that stop us from seeing the sights. The photos in this post were all taken with the Rebel XT using the lens that comes with the camera.

We stayed at the House of Blues hotel because we got a great rate for a downtown hotel. The decor was colorful and eclectic. Photo below of the main part of the room.



S had never been to Chicago so I took him some of the places I had been - Navy Pier, the museums and aquarium, where the symphony plays, on the Magnificent Mile, etc. But, we both had never been to Millennium Park, since it was built since I had been to Chicago as well. Below is the area where there are two walls that display different faces continuously - I am sure there is a name for it but I've forgotten. This little boy staring at the water with his galoshes on got my attention:



Also in Millennium Park is this giant silver bean. It made for some great photos - here is the outside of the bean.



Below is a self portrait of S and me in the side of the bean. I think, certainly, it made us look wider than we are...it is an optical illusion, yes?



And, then, my favorite photo of the trip - under the bean, shooting upwards. Isn't that fun? You can see me in the photo several times if you look closely, most notable at the bottom center, with my rain jacket on, holding the camera.



And, below, a rainy shot of the amphitheater where Oprah taped her season opener with all the Olympians, on air Sept. 8.


And, on one of the walkways, S standing in front of part of the city skyline. It was a nice weekend.