Back from vacation

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhh, vacation!!!!!!! Such a wonderful time of year! Nothing better than loading the kids up , grabbing the wife, hopping in the car and heading out of town!

Austin was great, we spent two days just tromping around the city, catching the sights and tasting the local foods. We stopped by Barton springs and had a dip in the natural spring. Did I mention that the water is 68 degrees year round???? That’s cold!!!!! It was an amazing place though, the water was crystal clear and for as many people that were there there was surprisingly ample room for everyone.

We ate at an amazing restaurant called Huts Hamburgers on 6th street. The atmosphere was great, so much stuff on the walls and unlike the newer eateries these were not put here in one day. I ordered The Fats Domino burger and it definitely lived up to it’s name, I’m a weakling for a burger with jalapenos! Another thing we loved about Austin were the little farmers markets they had set up everywhere. We were bringing Ian to do some lego shopping at the mall and while pulling up in the mall parking lot we noticed a HUGE farmers market set up in the parking lot. Even though we weren’t able to load up on fruits and vegs it was still nice to smell the aromas and browse the different vendors.

We also found the best supermarket in the whole…………Whole Foods!!! The place is AMAZING!!!!!!! The fresh fruits and vegetables were like nothing I’d ever seen, so big, and ripe. And the meat department was super huge. Stocked with all grass feed beef and chicken that had never been in a cage and seafood that looked as if it had been plucked from the water as we were in the store. If any of you ever have a chance to stop by one do yourself a favor and don’t pass it up!

Outta town

It is time to skip town for our yearly hill country adventure in Texas. This year we have added Austin to the mix. We’ll start out there with a little visit to Barton Springs, the kids are very excited about this! We are then going to try to catch a glimpse of all the bats that depart every evening from the Congress street bridge, should we get rabies shots?

After Austin we will mosey on down the road to San Marcos for a little shopping then head down to New Braunfels for some fun in the sun. Schlitterbahn here we come!!! Should be a great trip, see ya Sulphur!

2nd Saturday art camp

Time stands still

I have passed this place countless times while driving down Highway 90 in Sulphur. I’m not sure how long it’s been out of business but it looks as if the workers just vanished.

Start of a journey

So here we are. Three weeks into a journey that is so out of the norm for me. Erin and I have recently began taking R.C.I.A classes to become catholic. I am going to attempt to update this blog to so anyone interested in keeping up with this journey can. Feel free to leave any comments or thoughts. Here we go 🙂

FUN FUN FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was the most amazing tube chute I have ever been on. It took about 20 minutes to complete the whole thing. This particular chute is in the old park at Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels, Texas

Deridder, La 1914 Jail (Gothic hanging jail)

In 1928, Beauregard Parish was the scene of a double execution by hanging. It was the first time that a hanging took place and first time that the death penalty had been carried out in Beauregard parish. Both executions were carried out on the same day. Both in this jail…

Friday, my wife, two children and I were allowed to go in and snap a bunch of pictures. We had to get a janitor to come over and unlock it for us. We entered the rear of the building into what was once the jailer and his family’s living quarters. I didnt take to many pictures in this area as it has been used to store things and has lost  its original feel. Beyond that, the original feel came back rather quickly. We entered the heart of the jail, a grand spiral staircase going up three stories, where each floor held cells. You could feel the concrete! the dampness, and if you listened hard enough………voices from people that have long left this dark, sad place. My wife and daughter only made it up to the first floor before they were ready to leave. It was 32 degrees outside but in the jail it felt much colder! The north wind was racing through the bar covered broken glass windows. The higher up we went, the colder it felt. Each cell had its own toilet, sink and shower, some even had pretty good views out the windows. The janitor told us that no one had ever escaped from the jail. There was so much metal!!! Thick, black, rusty metal. As we walked through all the cells I tried to imagine what it must have been like on that day in 1928. One of these cells, was the last place 2 people spent their last night. The walk to the noose wasn’t that far, right outside their cell, and in plain view of all the other inmates. If you look closely in some of my pictures you’ll notice alot of little circles. These circles only showed up in one cell, was it the cell that housed them? Orbs!!! ? Maybe , here are my pictures

HDR (high dynamic range) imaging

In the next few weeks I’m am going to experimenting with a new type of photography for me. HDR consists of taking 3 high speed shots in 3 different exposures and then combining them as one, the results can be pretty dramatic. The one I have added here is my first one I have really experimented with. This is the 1st pic in the series.

this is the 2nd pic

this is the 3rd pic

this is the final result!!

As you can see HDR allows to record a greater range of tonal detail than a given camera could capture in a single photo, makes it POP!!! Anyway let me know what you guys think and Happy Holidays to everyone!!      dean

Framed!!

Update from the 16 x 20 picture I sold last week. The customer had it matted and framed and brought it over to show me. It looks AMAZING!!! I wanted to keep it!! It’s great to see other people so excited about your work. Being a photographer, I take sooo many pictures not thinking how much someone else may enjoy them. I probably have half a million pictures stored on external HD’s, guess it’s time to go through them.

Saints

And so to , all things must come to an end! The saints arent going to finish with an unblemished record, but that’s okay. Who would have thought even last year that we would be talking about this in week 14? Only one team in history has ever won all games, including the superbowl. To me, that means the saints have a better shot of winning the superbowl, their odds just went up with that loss. So as much as it sucked to watch them lose, it may have been for the best. WHO DAT!!!!!!