Waterfall And Willie's Grill
Dinner And A Movie
February 11, 2004 - Wednesday

I think I'm starting to get the hang of delayed exposure time techniques, especially now that I have this tripod. It came in real handy in this photo since I had the camera propped on a large rock that was sitting in an awkward angle. The tripod made it easy to set the camera level and make it stable long enough to take this picture. A shutter speed of 1/4 of a second was set in order to give the water a soft flowing effect. This was taken at the entrance of the Wood Creek Reserve neighborhood on the west side of Houston.



I had dinner at Willie’s Grill and as I walked up to the front door I noticed how well the building was lit up. I knew I would have to take a picture of it so I took my camera out and got it set up. I decided to set the camera on the ground in order to get a different perspective of the restaurant. I think that setting worked out great and I am very pleased with how the lighting came out.



The inside of the restaurant was filled with many different neon signs and all sorts of different lighting. I still had my tripod attached to my camera so I set up my camera on the table and snapped a few more pictures of various things. 



This is definitely one of my favorite pictures that I have taken so far in this little gallery project of mine. It’s a shot of a portion of the ceiling that was in the restaurant. There were a few people who looked at me as though I was some kind of freak since I was taking pictures from my table. I messed around with a bunch of different aperture and shutter speed settings in order to come up with the right combination. I can say now that the product of my efforts was well worth the strange looks I received. 


 

All Around The World Same Song
Been Online For A Week Now
February 10, 2004 - Tuesday

Please pardon the Digital Underground song reference in the title, I just couldn't help myself. This gallery has been online for exactly one week as of this morning and has had 452 total hits. Views were listed from 18 different U.S. States and 12 countries which include Australia, Brazil, South Korea, Spain, France, Germany, Portugal and Sweden to name a few. Below is a map that shows hits in various time zones across the world. I only need to hit six more time zones in order to have my gallery page complete its trip All Around The World... sorry, I just cant get that song out of my head now.



I got a new mini 6" tripod the other day and this was my first picture with it. Its been raining here nonstop for the past few days so outdoor photo opportunities have been a bit scarce. For this picture, I  setup up my camera and tripod on the hood of my car and snapped a few pics.



This is another tripod picture I took of my cell phone. I had to experiment with different delayed shutter speeds in order to capture enough light to make the photo nice and rich. The tripod definitely makes a huge difference when trying these kind of shots. 


 

Central Park
My Favorite Picture
February 9, 2004 - Monday

This is about as close as to getting to Central Park in New York City that I have ever been. It's a large picture that I have hung in my house that I bought from Ikea a few months back. There's just something about black and white photos that add a whole other sense of character to a photo. For the record, I am very addicted to Ikea, my house looks like a page out of their Spring Catalogue.



This is my lunch tally for the day. I think Taco Bell is the only place that you can feed about six people for like less than $5 total! 


 

My New Friends
Windemere Lakes
February 8, 2004 - Sunday

I drove through Windemere Lakes subdivision here in Houston and made some new friends. It's amazing how far a few french fries from Wendy's can get you these days. These little guys were going crazy! I couldn't help but think about the seagulls in the Finding Nemo movie,  "Mine Mine Mine Mine". 



This guy here seemed like he was just as interested in me as I was in them, well maybe he was just looking for some more french fries.



I was in desperate need of some new tires so instead of just getting tires, I decided to get new wheels as well. This change definitely killed the new car bug I had going a few weeks ago.

A Long Day At The Shipyard
The Middle of Nowhere, Louisiana
February 7, 2004 - Saturday

I got to the shipyard at 6am and man was it cold! It was about 36F degrees outside and as most of you guys know already, I don't like cold weather! My job today was to be a human instruction manual so to speak. I was to oversee and instruct the hired work crew on how to assemble this deck and resolve any fitment problems that might come up during the course of the build. 

The picture below as at about the 9 hour mark in the days build. It took a total of 11 hours to get the project completed. After the long day spent freezing at the shipyard it was then time to make the trek back home.



I thought this would make for an interesting picture. Its the link system in the drive line from one of the massive cranes we were using for the day.



Finally on my way home! I stopped for a late dinner just East of Beaumont, Texas which is about 125 miles from where I live. I saw these very cool looking palm trees and just had to take a picture. Especially since every picture so far today has been worked related.

Trip to Louisiana
Abbeville, Louisiana
February 6, 2004 - Friday

Due to some last minute weather changes I was told to be in Louisiana at our clients ship yard by 6am on Saturday for a deck assembly. The company I work for designs and fabricates offshore oil and gas platforms. In this particular case, the deck is built in pieces and assembled wherever the client needs it. This particular project was just south of Abbeville, LA which was about 4 1/2 hours away from my homestead here in Houston so the plan was to drive the night before and stay in Abbeville.

I still wanted to spend some time with delayed shutter speeds so I decided to try a couple. This photo was taken as I was crossing the Sabine River which makes up the border between Texas and Louisiana.



It was very tempting to pull over here at Harrah's in Lake Charles and try my luck at the roulette tables. My conscience got the best of me and I opted not to since there was still a long drive ahead of me.



I actually stumbled across the town's courthouse building while I drove around Abbeville trying to find a place to stay for the night. Since much of the Louisiana small town architecture has a ton of history to it I decided to take a picture. It was about 43F degrees outside at this time so I opted for the "stick the camera out the window while staying in the heated car" technique. I think it worked pretty well.