If columns could talk

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This is one of my old ones, not that old I guess, only about 6 months, but I've only been at this for that long.

This is a close up of one of the columns of Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (Latin: Basilica Sancti Petri) under a Roman summer sky.

I took this on our summer vacation across Europe last year.

You may say: "It's just a column and the sky", but this column is roughly 400 years old. It has been at the forefront of so much history.

Fly me to the moon, Let me play among the stars, Let me see what spring is like On, a Jupiter and Mars

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Here's another at White Lake from a few weeks ago. This one is also a single exposure the I played around with in Lightroom to bring out these colors and give it more contrast. You can barely see the moon at the top of the photo due to the wide angle shot, I should have brought my 70-300mm but I was feeling lazy.

The title is the first four lines of "Fly me to the moon", a Frank Sinatra classic.

Voiceless it cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters

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A single Raw edited in Lightroom, taken at the Imperial Sugar Factory in Sugar Land, Texas.

This just goes to show how much you can do with a single RAW in Lightroom or any other photo-editing software, there wasn't nearly this much color and depth in the original shot.

If there be light, then there is darkness; if cold, heat; if height, depth; if solid, fluid; if hard, soft; if rough, smooth; if calm, tempest; if prosperity, adversity; if life, death.

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Underneath the majestic Sam Houston Tollway(Beltway 8), and Interstate 10(not pictured).

I love light trails, I've been wanted to do this long before I got my first and current DSLR. Can't wait to do it again.

The layout of Houston's highways, specifically it's inner(Interstate 610) and outer(Beltway8) loops have become a popular metropolitan highway design for other large metro areas around the world.

Tittle quote by Pythagoras.

Each, from his peculiar angle of observation, takes in a certain sphere of fact and trouble, which each must deal with in a unique manner

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The other night after class, I walked down to the intersection of Interstate 10 and Sam Houston Toll Way(Beltway 8) and took some long exposures.

There's just something about the freeway system in Houston that is awe inspiring.

This is the only one without light trails (which was my objective for the whole endeavor) but I love the angle.

This is a 30sec exposure tweaked in Lightroom.

The title is an excerpt from the quote:

“. . . I do not see how it is possible that creatures in such different positions and with such different powers as human individuals are, should have exactly the same functions nor should we be expected to work out identical solutions. Each, from his peculiar angle of observation, takes in a certain sphere of fact and trouble, which each must deal with in a unique manner.”

  By William James

Expand your horizons

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As seen from one of the look-out towers at Brazos Bend State Park.

Once upon a time, there lived...

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While on my way back from Brazos Bend State Park, I saw this gem on the side of the road.

Sam Houston Park

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Here we have another from Sam Houston Park in Downtown Houston, Texas. Took this a couple months ago with the old Sony Cyber-Shot. This is another stitched panoramic made up of about 7 or so portrait HDRed shots. I love this shot but I don't think the Cyber-Shot was up to the dynamic range of this scene, there was a lot of noise in the dark areas of the statue. I'll have to take another walk through the park and see what the 5D can make of this scene. 

The evening darkens over, After a day so bright, The windcapt waves discover, That wild will be the night

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My third favorite from the other night at White Lake in Cullinan Park.

Title from "The Evening Darkens Over" by Robert Bridges. Click on the poem title to see the poem in it's entirety.  A great poem, it's worth a read.

The other two from that night:

Only a mighty sadness fills, The silence of the dark

Fire in the sky

City Lights

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Interstate 59 making it's way through Sugar Land, Texas from downtown Houston.
30sec exposure.

The Water Wall

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And facing away from Williams tower you get to see this beauty  the Water Wall. Also located in the Galleria mall area of Uptown Houston, Texas. This too is a 30sec exposure (my first ever in fact), tweaked in Lightroom to bring out the textures and colors, tone down the brights and bring out the darks. Gotta love editing RAWs in Lightroom.

Wlliams Tower at night

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Williams Tower in Uptown near the Houston Galleria shopping mall in Houston, Texas. This is a 30sec long exposure with some lightroom tweaking.

Fire in the sky

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Another one from the other night at Cullinan Park. This time facing into the sunset.

Only a mighty sadness fills, The silence of the dark

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The weather was amazing and the clouds look great yesterday for the first time in a month here in the Houston area. So the wife an I went down to Cullinan Park just north of Sugar Land, TX to check out the sunset. This one is actually facing away from the sunset but the pinks in the clouds just looked amazing.

The absence of meaning seems to be some sort of meaning

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Not a lot going on here, but I love this one. In Searcy, Arkansas.

Title quote from Paul Hegarty on the paradox of  nihilism.

Serenity now

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Another of my bro-in-law's boat, great subject matter in my opinion. Also, if anyone's curious, the vignetting is a natural result of the 5D's full frame sensor and is magnified by the HDR process. One of these days I'm going to learn how to layer in PS and I might start lessening or removing them. For now they don't bother me all that much. 

Let us remember...

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An old brick mausoleum in Searcy, Arkansas.

Rust to rust

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Out on the hunt for interesting subject matter in rural White County Arkansas and came across these two babies.

Now whispered and revealed, To wood and field

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Just a  random road side barn and field with a foot of snow cover in Searcy, Arkansas.


The title is an excerpt from "Snow-flakes" By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Plymouth

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A collection of really old cars rusting away in the snow in Searcy, Ar.