While visiting the Van Zandt Hotel in Austin recently, I spotted this photo of Wille hanging on the wall. Looking into this photo, I find the photographer was in the Austin music scene during that time and did a great job perfecting his craft.
The Navy’s Blue Angels fly near downtown Dallas last week.
So here I was all set up on the balcony of our apartment in Dallas waiting for the big show. I had seen the Blue Angels a number of years ago at Carswell so I thought I knew what to expect. Our balcony faces south (downtown) so I was watching some construction workers on the new Marriott off of Maple expecting them to start pointing when they saw them. Not! All of a sudden the Blue Angels were zooming by to my left and my attempt to get a video on the Cannon M6 did not work so here are a couple of shots I got on the first pass. The first one is them going behind the Polsineli building near downtown and then flying by the big comm tower near the AA center. On the 2nd pass they were much further south and thus, no pics.
Driving past the Flat Top Ranch near Glen Rose, TX last night, we spotted a pond full of mature Elk bulls cooling off. I suspect that their species is not used to 90+ degree days and lure of a cool pond (in Texas we call them Tanks) is not to be passed up. The Flat Top Ranch is 20,000 acres of cattle and Elk and I seem to come across a photo opportunity every time I come by. I learned my lesson last year when photographing Elk grazing just across the fence because after I waded into high brush on the fence line to get a better shot only to find my legs covered with chiggers!
Tuf Cooper is a 4X World Champion Roper and comes from a long line of Rodeo stars, His father, Roy is a 8X World Champion Roper and his brothers are top hands themselves. When his name was announced, you could hear the murmur in the area so I set my camera up behind 3 oder cowboys who were watching fro behind the chutes. When Tuf starts his warm up routine you can see all heads turn his way. He scored 8.0 seconds on this run and the closeted roper to him was 10.0 seconds.It was very obvious why he is the World Champion!
Just happened to be in downtown Dallas last Saturday and was taking photos of the ads that were on the side of the building and turned around to catch the reflection of the clouds on this building.
My friend Conrad owns a piece of property on top of Chalk Mountain near Glen Rose, Tx that in every respect, looks like a scene from Tuscany. Conrad is a well known desinger who’s house looks like a Tuscan villa repeat with marble pillars and ornate gardens. Last year I brought my grnaddaugher here for her Senior pictures (color photo) and last week was there at night so I set up the tripod in the same place to get a sense of what a night shot would look like. Actually, I was waiting for the moon rise only to find out it would be way past my bedtime so I settled for the BNW above. We can see the Milky Way from here but there was too much light from the city. The specs in the top photo are actually stars and do look like specs on the lens. Now that fall is here and the air is clear, I will work on the moonrise and Milky Way soon.
The light in the fall is the most wonderful time for photographers. Crisp and clear with no humidity in the air allows me to work with different views and possess. Here, my friend Jean is walking along the site of the pond and with no wind, the reflection is wonderful. I do believe that black and white images convey and lovely tone of the photo and brings outs the true image I was looking for.
It was a dark and raining night on the 13th in Winnsboro, TX at the local High School football game and to top it off, it was Homecoming night. In trying to photograph this evening, I found an interesting contrast between the periods of rain and light bouncing off of the instruments. I though converting them to B+W would be the best effect to use.
This is my 3rd post on the Glen Rose, TX 4th of July Parade and I wanted to highlight a few of the special moments I captured. How American is this that one of the lead vehicles his an old John Deere tractor? We see the crowds waiting in front of the Courthouse, friends gathering on the square, then a gentleman in a World War I uniform followed by the American Legion Post Color Guard (my friend Daryl Best is pictured), Uncle Sam and then another Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty in a float pulled by an old soldier and I am going to assume that he is wearing part of his original Army uniform (something I can admire because I have not been able to get into my Dress Blues in several decades). All in all, this is one of the better parades I have been to in years.
Scott Gipson Photography 