1 Adventure

Kids

Just some interesting pictures taken with the new lens I thought worth posting. It was really dark out but I think the images came out well.

Gypsy Girl

First off, I didn't want to imply anything derogatory about the girl in the picture by using the term gypsy. I am using it as it was how the locals and everyone else referred to the people that begged for money in Fatima. This girl and a friend of hers of about the same age walked around in front of the cathedral in Fatima asking for money. Many times they know people will be extra giving in these areas and they do take advantage of that. From the way she is dressed, I don't believe she was homeless but I can not know that for sure.

I watched these girls for a few minutes and after awhile realized a photo opportunity develop. I approached the girl and asked to take her picture (gesturing like a retard to my camera), she shook her head no until I offered up 1 euro. She thought for a second, look around for no reason, and said yes or something like yes. Just as I was about to take the picture, her friend ran over and told her not to do the photo. She shouted something in Portuguese and then the girl starting waving her hand in front of my camera laughing and I snapped this shot. I immediately walked away not knowing if they were going to chase me to delete the photo. They keep looking at me as I walked away and then quickly went back to begging from the religious pilgrims. I think she didn't want her picture taken in order to protect her identity. Fortunately for her I don't know her name or where she was from. For 1 euro, it was a decent shot and some fun.

Most all religious sites I have visited in other countries other than the US have this type of begging. It is mentioned in the bible many many times about beggars and people on the fringe. This is one picture from Spain of a beggar in front of church. This picture here is of a homeless man in Mexico I took a while back. Remarkably quite a few people have emailed and asked me to use this image in a very positive way. One person used it to draw attention to the needs of the homeless people by making a poster out of it, 2 bands have used it for the front of their CD cover, a Icelandic government organization used it on their website to for a social work program about homelessness, and finally an umpteen number of myspace kids have used it on there page for one reason or another (popular with the emo kids somewhat I think as it invokes some emotions). For these things I have happy to let people use these photos for free for their projects.

Love that Unibrow, Bevin!

Thought this came out really interesting, hope you agree. One my favorite portraits from a recent trip. That is SOME mega unibrow action going. Luckily it washes off, hopefully.

For those fans, another famous well known unibrow/monobrow from someone who knew how to sport it properly. :-)

Dr. Mary Davis - Napa Chiropractic - Portrait Photography

Click here to visit Napa Family Chiropractic or call (707) 224-4160 to speak to Dr. Mary.

Thought this was a good idea to switch up some of the photos and post a portrait shot. I typically don't do staged portrait shots of people, I find it more fun to get a picture when they are not expecting it or its not being paid for. Anyway, this picture was published with permission and is of a family member who is amazing Chiropractic doctor in Napa, California. She'll keep you straight. ;-) So naturally I am biased to publishing photos from family. Who isn't, you love them. I was kidding her that this shot was so good that she wasn't going to get more patients, she was going to get more dates. haha. Any way, I liked this image, the natural background made the picture trusting and comfortable and the black dress pops out immediately at you. Its centered and interesting to look at. It kinda does have the glamour shot ambiance with the frosted light through the hair. Ohhh... the days back when glamour shots were popular, what were people thinking. So that is one of my only criticism's of the photo. It could become blown out with too much light. It's something the photographer could not have helped as I have trouble with this in my photography as well. Background is a bit busy, but not so much as its an attractive setting. Overall A+.

If you are interested in chiropractic services in Napa Valley, California. Here is the business information for Napa Family Chiropractic.

Some good portrait photography resources:
Portrait Photography Tips
People in Portrait Photography (some great tips in here)
Shooting groups of People

Texas Bird Photography - Amazing Birds of Texas Collection

Birds of Texas

Sometimes you come across an independent photographer's website, whose photos are breathtaking. Once you stop drolling, the first thought that pops into your mind is that you need to bookmark this resource. But then you realize that that is not enough it will get lost in the chaotic mess of your bookmark collection and will not see the light a day again until you need. So naturally, you need to tell someone else.

Check out: Greg Lavaty Birds of South Texas

I spotted a little yellow bird in my backyard today that I wanted to find out more information about. First what in the world was it!? It was fleeting and a master at the duck and cover. But all day it hung out eating insects and spiders in a persimmon tree content as can be. I think it turned out to be a Yellow Warbler. Unfortunately there are like 100 types of warblers. Greg's site had the best collection I could find. The Texas Parks and Wildlife website is information packed but very cumbersome at times to locate anything, and some better pictures couldn't hurt either. However they have a great list here.

I would love to publish some of the texas bird pictures here, but I think I will ask first about the yellow warbler picture.

Farrier Service - Shoe A Horse, Save A Cowboy!

Shoe A Horse, Save A Cowboy. Okay, I didn't really know what title to use for this image besides what it was. A professional farrier shoeing a horse in the rain. The Save A Cowboy part is meant to say, when you have a happy horse who isn't lame, you have a happy cowboy.

This image was the only one that came out. I really liked it. You can't see in the image but it was pouring down rain!! I pulled out the camera, afraid to get it wet and snapped this first image. Captured two more images, and those didn't turn out as the lense fogged up and it looked bad. So the camera did get wet, but it survived and this image was the result of the risk. I like how the big draft horse is so big in such a droppy position (its drugged) and the farrier is behind working on the hoof. Some of the horses we had were quite a bit shy about people working on them like this. Give them a magic 3cc shot and they don't move for a couple hours, saving the cowboy from getting kicked or worse when doing this tough work. These farrier guys were hard workers, this is not an easy job by any means.

If you are looking for a farrier service, may I recommend you visiting the Farrier Association website to find one.

Fly That American Flag At Your Local Rodeo

Enjoyed how the composition of this photo came out so well. It was a chance shot where I had to click the shutter at the right time to get it all in place as the whole scene is rather fast moving. I felt so patriotic after taking this picture. :-)

Christmas Night Downtown San Antonio 2005

Took this near downtown on San Pedro Avenue Christmas night. The night was very clear which aided in getting some great detail on the buildings downtown. It turned out to be a great shot and similar others of the same scene. Shot this with a Canon A95 at 4 sec with a 2.8 f/stop (also the lowest it will go).

Just A Lot Of Dirty Fun - Sharptop Cove, Georgia

Matt

Fashion Statement

I really like both of these photos significantly. Its right at a point where both people are undergoing something extraordinary while being right in the middle of what it's all about.

Crud War - Expressions of Fun

Crud War

This photo is by far one of my favorites recently. I can't stop laughing at how surprised and overjoyed they are at the same time covered in mud and enjoying it all. Awesome. No its not some beauty secret these girls are using. They are getting messy at a Crud War I was at recently in New Braunfels, Texas. Its bascially an all out food fight of sorts in an open field where you throw mud, cereal, wet grain, oatmeal, flour, and just about anything you can wet down in large quatities and throw at each other. If you've never done it, all I can say is that is pure messy fun.

Bo

This is a great shot I thought of Bo. Smiling, drooling, and very bright and alive. Beautiful kid.

Kids On The Bus - Long Lost Negative Surfaces

Its amazing what you rediscover at times when you least expect it. This photo was one I had taken several years ago back from high school of some kids that used to ride the bus I was on. They had this exhuberant energy constantly bouncing off each other and they seemed to like to ride the bus more than kids should. I brought the old Pentax K1000 I had at the time and asked them all to pose for a photo. This is the only one I got, and its probably the only photo that I would save from that time. I thought I had lost the negatives that this photo was on, and hadn't seen them in many years figuring they ended up in places that lost things end up at.

I was home for the holidays to see family and my uncle gave me a call saying he had some stuff of mine downtown that I needed to come pick up. I didn't understand how my uncle had some stuff of mine in a box, seemed odd but I was heading down there to help them with setting up a website so I could pick it up. Ending up finding this photo, several other b&w negatives, lots of random papers, and an archive photo of the Alamo from 1917. Which turned out to be an incredibly awesome and very rare print my grandmother had purchased some 30 years ago. Yeah, so don't know how that ended up in there either. But those lost things found there way back to me. It was a nice unexpected Christmas present. :-)

Looking Through The Leaves

Ethan

This is my younger brother Ethan while we were at the botanical gardens. I really love this photo, its quite different and the color blending together with his shirt went together well. I think why this picture works so well is the combinations of the pinks, skin tones, and just the overall presentation of the leaves overlapping the eyes. Haven't showed it too him yet, but I think he will like it.

A Couple of Roses

I took this picture on a recent trip to the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. I was meeting my dad a local rose show, and came across these ladies as we were walking up. These ladies were so into their roses they had just gotten. One lady in particular was very fond of her rose that she looked 20 year younger as she smiled and smelled the rose. I wish I would have caught the moment it was quite beautiful. Luckily I was able to snap a quick shot of them just for fun.

Gotta Love That Smile

This is my friend and fellow officer Nora, and I felt this shot was post worthy enough cause I felt it really captured the moment and those goofy goggles put a smile on my face. I was taking some pictures at Bobcat Build, a local community service event, where my organization Phi Sigma Pi was painting a house for a local preschool.