The freedom to be free (with your personal watermelon) says it all. I hope everyone enjoyed the day. Recently in Texas & Southwest Category
The freedom to be free (with your personal watermelon) says it all. I hope everyone enjoyed the day. 
Last week 
I did a short "BBQ Tour" with my friend Mark to sample the spiced cuisine in the Austin region of Texas. Unfortunately we did not have the discipline required for what I am sure will become many forays in multiple compass directions. We were overcome with the aromas offered at our first stop, Smitty's Market, in Lockhart, Texas, and ordered too much. It was only 10:30am and we had the full day before us.
I was doing well up until the moment I snapped the photo of the BBQ on the butcher paper in front of me. Carnivore instincts set in and we seemed out of control for a short time. Smitty's got four greasy thumbs up in the end. The sweet ribs were our favorite. We pressed onward to Luling after walking around the heart of Lockhart.
The smoke stained sign in the interior of the Luling City Market was ominous. But our quest for food that only a cardiologist could appreciate was not over yet. We did the "usual" at this point, one link of sauage, four ribs, and a few slices of brisket. Since this was "lunch" we even threw in a Shiner beer too. The line was out the door by the time our eyes glazed over with a coating of cholesterol and we muttered the words "I'm done" and "me too." Wrapped up what was left just in case, and took it with us. Mark and I agreed it wasn't exactly fair to judge the Luling Market in our sated state, but we gave the edge to Smitty's.
"On the road again" as Willie Nelson says in his song. We stopped briefly in Gonzales to take in the local antiques, both in and outside shops. 
A nice place to stop and visit the Gonzales Memorial Museum, full of Texas history. It was near here that on October 2nd, 1835 the first shot was fired in the Texas war of independence from Mexico.
Our own day was running late and we had one final destination to see the K. Spoetzl Brewery, the creator of Shiner beer. We arrived about 90 seconds before the visitor center closed, but not to late for a quick sample to end our day.More to come....
From the Heart of Texas crew races Sunday on Lady Bird Lake, Austin, Texas. 
I played a bit more with my wild valentine sky and then decided it looked somewhat like ocean waves (left). Much like the glacier ice (right) did to me in Iceland (June 2007). Life is full of ups and downs no matter where one looks. It just takes practice in observing.
Texas has been really dry for the past year and a half. Austin and environs are about 24" of rainfall behind. Here are a couple of HDR images from Dripping Springs & Johnson City, Texas. Lastly is an image from inside the wine cellars of Pedernales Cellars (plural seems a bit of a stretch). It's the dribble that counts. Cheers.
From the side of the Ann Richards Bridge (Congress Avenue) over Lady Bird Lake (formerly Town Lake) the Austin Rowing Club filled it's boats with picture perfect volunteers. The two ladies on the left were particularly photogenic just below me. 
A wide panorama of five images spanning almost 180 degrees. 25% of the net proceeds from the sale of the FLEET DAY photo on the right will go to the Austin Rowing Club as a contribution. 
A week ago I went to the Austin Rowng Center, a non-profit organization the shores of Lady Bird Lake in Austin, Texas. It was a "first timers" class. I was just trying to stay out of the way and take a few photos. 
These were taken right at sunset with my Canon 1Ds Mark III and 14mm f/2.8 lens. They are hand held, ISO 200, 1/320th, 1/80th, and 1/20th per second exposures at f/2.8. Auto bracketed at 1 2/3 stop separation, aperture priority. GPS coordinates +30°15' 36.77"N, -97° 44' 32.09"W. These are assembled in Photomatix and then saved as a 16bit TIF file and re-imported into Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0. In the right hand image you can see the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge, a.k.a. "the bat bridge", where the Mexican Free-tailed Bats hang out.
Last week I took up a new hobby, primarily in the hope of giving me a stable and portable platform on the water for photography. It should be fun if I don't get too tense.
A year ago today, I was pondering a lot of cold thoughts. Most due to the weather and not neurons. The Antarctica video is still in progress... but with the help of a talented documentary maker (we were working on it today), it may actually be finished before I do it again in HD. Meanwhile, I have uploaded an odd collection of West Texas images, a few of which I really like. They can be found here.
I'll have more of these online shortly, but I thought this HDR shot of a windmill in Fort Davis, Texas was interesting. Everything is in the extreme, from color to age.
A few days ago I was on my way to Fort Davis, and Big Bend, Texas. But not before a right turn in the settlement of Kent. This school had long closed and only the walls remained. I'll have more of these online soon. This was a hand held HDR image (3 images, 2 f/stops apart).
