Bosque del Apache

My second time at Bosque del Apache (Sicorro NM). There are thousands of Snow Geese and Sand Hill Cranes. This time my travelling companions are Toan and Deep. First day morning was great, mid day excellent, sundown not too good as I picked the wrong spot and the birds landed elsewhere. Oh, well.

Tulsa Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk 2012

My 4th Kelby Photowalk was yesterday. The weather looked iffy and it probably kept the attendance down but about 35 shooters came out and we stayed relatively dry. The walk was held on the campus of Oral Roberts University, a target rich location. We went to Tres Amigos afterward and had a great lunch.

This was probably my last Kelby Photowalk as Organizer. Hope to hand it off to someone else next year.

Moab Photography Workshop

I spent the last week with 9 other photographers shooting landscapes at Mesa Verde and the Moab area. Great people and beautiful landscapes to shoot. I made many images I like including these two which rank high in my all time personal best group. We had some rental car issues and I pretty much ran out of steam on the climb and decent from Delicate Arch. But - I made one of my all time best images there, too.

Doug Henderson organized a great tour / workshop and I certainly would not hesitate to go with him on another one. Thanks, Doug. And, while I knew most of the other participants, we all got to know each other during out time together. Great fun. Sorry it's over.

Gloss Mountain photo group trip

I took a weekend off from shooting races to go to western Oklahoma to shoot with the Tulsa Digital Photography Group. There were about 15 or so photogs and we had a great time, including an afternoon strolling around the mesa top of Gloss Mountain. Sunday we toured Alabaster Caverns and made a short trip to the Great Salt Plains. As well as shooting a few old abandoned farm houses.

Next week: Back to racing with the USMTS at West Plains Mo.

King of America race, Humboldt Ks

I got put on the list to shoot from the infield at the King of America USMTS dirt modified race. One of the features of this type of race is the 4 wide parade lap, the salute to the fans. A great photo op, but challenging. First, it is hard to get all the cars in the frame and second it s hard to light all 30 of them at once. All the photogs were talking about where to shoot. I can light the first few rows with flash but I need track lighting to light the rest. Also, you need high ground and I think it is interesting to have them at least partially in a curve.

Between races I strolled to the top of turn 1 and it was obviously the right place. I waited until the last moment to get up ther and got this shot. A lot of cleanup was necessary, as I had to shoot at ISO 2500 on the 60D. More at SpiveyPhoto.com

Dallas Skyline

Jim J, Toan and I spent the weekend in Dallas shooting the skyline and Dallas Blooms. I wanted to see the new Margaret Hunt Hill bridge, which is really impressive.

Modifieds at Humboldt

I shot the USMTS modifieds at Humboldt last weekend. This was an audition for a slot to shoot the 4 day King of America race at Humboldt next weekend. These are the big guns of modified racing and these are the guys that starred in the reality show Dirt Knights.

Guess I passed the test because I got the word that I am good to go. Now if only I can monetize it.

My first Real Estate attempt.

Don McKee asked me to shoot a couple of homes he had on display at the QuipTrip Center. I've been wanting to get into real estate photography. I wanted to try two different techniques - realistic HDR, and additive flash photography. The flash was a failure - I did something wrong. But the others turned out pretty decent, I thought.

The Battle of Round Mountain

Had a great time at the Civil War reenactment at Yale.

Tip: if you have a hard time asking random people for their permission to take their picture, an event like this is just the ticket. These people have taken the time, effort and expense to look like this and they are not going to refuse to have that effort recorded.

Roller Skate Rink

I've seen this sign for awhile and finally got around to shooting it this weekend.

I got my big gun back last month from Canon repair. The problem was fixed but now it back focuses badly. I've got a ticket open and hope they will fix it. Stay posted. BTW, this is a composite. The lens align from the actual test was cut and pasted into this image.

Bristow Chrysler Plymouth sign

I saw this sign a few months ago on Flickr. I had to go to google streets to find it. I left work Friday afternoon to get to Bristow for sunset. All the way down the Turnpike things were looking great. Spotty clouds for interest but plenty of sun to light the sign. Of course, when I pulled off the turnpike this huge cloudbank covered the sun. I took some brackets while I was waiting for a hole that never came.

The wind was howling and I never could get the branches in the lower part of the picture to align in the bracketed shots, so I used one shot and worked it over in HDR Efex Pro (single shot), Viveza, Color Efex Pro, and Lightroom 4 Beta. Canon 5D Mk II, 24-105.

New BridgeQuest Recon

After our successful BridgQuest Meetup last year, I thought I would organize another one. I have been shooting a lot of Truss Bridges lately and they are relatively easy to find on Google Maps. Toan and I decided to get an early start and so had breakfast at Jimmy's Egg. When we walked in, we found Jim and Leona Jordan who were on their way back to Bosque del Apache New Mexico.

We went to a couple of bridges that we had been to before including one that is very close to a winery. How about a little tasting after the shoot?

There were a few I had listed that were inaccessible or just not very interesting. I was running down the interstate and caught a truss bridge out of the corner of my eye just after Stroud that I didn't have listed. I doubled back to look for it. Found it plus this giant spherical oilfield storage tank. Later, we went to Shamrock which is almost a ghost town. Very enjoyable day.