Downtown from 169

I think this will be my last downtown Kansas City picture for a while; I have processed all the ones I have taken that I like.  I feel this is a pretty unique angle of downtown.  It was taken from north of the city on Highway 169 as I was walking home from the Downtown Kansas City Airport Air Show.  I lived north of downtown, so this is similar to the view I got from my apartment. This is also pretty much the reverse view of my Highway 169 photograph.

I’m not sure what the name of the apartment complex is, but if you notice on the left side of this picture, there is a large parking garage somewhat visible.  It doesn’t look bad in this picture, but in real life, that parking garage and the associated apartment buildings look terrible.  Pretty much all of the other buildings in the River Market area of downtown are old brick buildings.  Many have been renovated and are very nice on the inside, but the historic exterior remains unchanged.  Anyway, these new apartment buildings are architecturally completely different from the rest of the River Market.  They’re poorly constructed, much like many of the suburban apartments in Overland Park (all wood construction, cheap materials, build quickly), and look generally like a suburban apartment complex.  Because these apartments were built surrounding my old gym, I got to see construction progress every day, so I feel that I’m pretty much an expert on the subject.  What I’m really trying to say here is that these apartments are ruining the River Market, and I’m glad I moved away when I did.  I always hoped during construction that the building would ‘accidentally’ burn down and the project would be scrapped.  If you ever get the opportunity, please stop by their office, and tell them to go to hell for me.

Getting back on point, this was taken during my HDR period, so it’s a 5 shot handheld HDR.  Check out the EXIF info below for a little more information.

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2009:08:23 12:34
Exposure time	1/1000 sec
Focal length	18mm
F-Stop	f/8
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure	5 Photo HDR

Corporate Fountain

Here’s an old one that I had intended to re-shoot after I got my wide angle lens.  I never got around to reshooting it before they turned off the fountains for the winter, so I decided to just go with this one for now, because I like it.  It isn’t as wide as I’d like, and now that I have a new filter that will allow me to shoot long exposures during the daylight, I believe I can greatly improve this image with a reshoot, but that probably won’t happen for a while.  I know you’re all disappointed, but that’s very insulting since I gave you this perfectly good picture to hold you over.

Anyway, this is a 5 shot HDR I took at the same time as Quick Turnaround, located in this corporate office park in Overland Park, Kansas called Corporate Woods.

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2009:05:23 19:59
Exposure time	1/500 sec
Focal length	18mm
F-Stop	f/22
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure	5 Photo HDR

Back in Kansas City

No, I’m not back in Kansas City, but I am starting to miss the place.  I took this the last full weekend I lived there.  I had actually gone to that area to take a specific picture I had in mind, but that didn’t turn out well because I didn’t like how it looked with the cloudy sky.  I did like this one though, and a few others from that day.  For those of you not from the area, that is downtown Kansas City’s skyline, with the back lawn of the Liberty Memorial in the foreground.

I’ve been steering away from the HDR photos recently, but I took this one at the beginning of my journey towards primarily single shot photos.  There is something about a cloudy sky though that makes an HDR work very well.  As long as it’s not overdone, I think it’s alright.  This is a 5 shot HDR.  I strengthened some of the more subtle colors in the sky during post-processing, and of course combined the 5 images for the original HDR.


I've got a number of pictures I really like lined up for you all, and many more just waiting for post-processing.  I'm also out and about in southern California pretty much every weekend shooting, so stay tuned for a lot of posts in 2010!

Exif information
Model	Canon EOS 20D
Original date	2009:10:10 14:26
Exposure time	1/100 sec
F-Stop	10mm
Focal number	f/16
ISO speed	ISO-100
Exposure	5 Photo HDR

I Didn’t Even Know What a Nuclear Panner Plant Was

No, this isn’t a nuclear power plant, but that is a really funny line from the classic The Simpsons episode “Homer’s Enemy” featuring Frank ‘Grimey’ Grimes.  What this photograph actually depicts is a power plant located in the River Market District of downtown Kansas City where I used to live.  I was never exactly sure what this plant was, what kind of fuel it burned (I guess I knew it burned coal, since there’s a huge coal pile attached to the facility), and what exactly it powered.  There was no way I was just going to go around all willy-nilly posting pictures featuring buildings I didn’t fully understand.

I set out on trying to figure out what this power plant was all about with a single name I had gotten from a sign hanging on the building.  It wasn’t easy, but I eventually tracked down the parent company and the official name of this generating station, and found an obscure article that made a reference to this power plant.  It’s called the Grand Boulevard Generating Station, and it turns out it burns both coal and natural gas to create super heated steam, which is piped under the city to various buildings downtown for heating.  I didn’t even know that was a thing until I read that article.

This is a hand held 5 shot HDR, with a some sweet post-processing work done after I did the HDR.

Flag Man

I thought about holding on to this photograph and posting it on either the Fourth of July or Memorial Day, but those are both too far away, and I don’t want to hold back any content.  Uncle Sam has been sitting on our front porch every summer since I was in High School.  He has seen better days, but is still looking pretty good.  He used to have an American Flag in his hand, but that’s gone, and although you can’t see it in this photograph, he has an accompanying firecracker the size of his head.  I actually took this when I was at home this last Fourth of July, but by the time I got it on my computer and processed, the holiday was well over.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to share it on that Fourth of July, and what’s wrong with a little patriotism in the beginning of October?

I took this picture at this angle to symbolize the proverbial Uncle Sam’s power over all of us, and his imposing size in America today…  No, just kidding; none of that is true.  I took it at this angle, because in my head, this is what I saw.  That and I thought it looked cool.  The outcome is pretty much exactly what I was going for.

Madison Square Fountain

Sure, everyone has heard of Madison Square Garden, but this the Madison Square Fountain.  Pretty clever right; I just made it up.

But seriously, I took this photograph in Madison, Georgia when I was down there for work.  Madison has a nice little historic downtown area with some shops and restaurants where we had dinner.  I did a little exploring just north of the main downtown and found this little square that was partially under construction.  I left the construction part out of the picture because it was boring; they were just pouring some concrete or something and doing some landscaping.  I enjoyed the fountain and the evening sky though.  When the place is finished it will probably look pretty nice, but at this time, the part under construction was uninteresting.  As you can see from the photograph, it was a nice night.  The days down there were extremely hot, but it had cooled down enough to make it a comfortable evening to be outside taking pictures.  The only problem was the mosquitoes; I got back to the hotel with quite a few bites.  I think it was worth it though for the pictures I got that night.

This is another photograph I combined from two HDR photographs to get a wider perspective on the scene.  I first shot the fountain and the lower part of the sky, and then tilted my camera upwards slightly to capture more of the sky.  I really like square shaped photographs for a lot of subjects, so that was what I was going for when I took these.

I just bought another new piece of equipment for my camera, but more on that later...

Mountain Rocks

As I mentioned in Lufkin Civic Center, I haven’t felt much like working on my artism recently, any further than taking pictures. Luckily, I have a tendency to process photos to a state that is almost finished, but not quite ready for public consumption. It’s a bad habit, but worked out well on this occasion.

This is another photograph from the spring ski trip to Colorado earlier this year. I've had it almost done for a while, and just needed to put a few finishing touches on it.

I did quite a bit of talking in the last post, so I'll keep this one short and let the photograph do the rest of the talking.

Lufkin Civic Center

I haven't felt much like working on photos recently; I've been taking quite a few, but I haven't been doing much past that.  It's easy for me to get into that habit; it's what I've done with my photos for a lot of the time I've been a photographer.  This website helps a lot though, because now I have an audience who expects to see more. Not to go all artist on you, but I need to be in the right mood to work on my artism, and I haven't been lately.  I did get into the mood for a while last weekend though and finished a few photos, and started a few others, so updates should be coming more frequently for a while, especially if I can get some time at home, which has been rare as of late.

I was in Texas last week, and of course brought my camera.  I’ve never been to Texas, aside from layovers in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport, so I was excited to get down here.  I heard southeast Texas could be home to some interesting people, but unfortunately, I didn’t meet any of these people.  We got done with our work early, because I'm an extremely efficient field worker, so I was a little worried I'd run out of free time for photography before I left.  Luckily, the nature of the work we were doing down there took me all over the area around Lufkin, Texas, which is in southeast Texas.  I was able to scope out a few places I wanted to shoot and then go directly to them when we were finished with the work we had to do on the last day.

This photograph, of the Lufkin Civic Center, was not on my original list.  We journeyed into the heart of Lufkin to find a location to host a future public meeting, and this was our first (and most beneficial) stop.  I went outside as the woman I was with worked out the details of renting some space, and grabbed my camera.  With an audience of an obese woman in her truck yelling at her young daughter who didn't want to go to daycare at the church across the street, I composed this photograph.  Boring building you say?  Maybe it’s boring to some, but there is something about this type of large concrete building that I really enjoy.  I can't put my finger on exactly what it is about this type of building I like.  Maybe it's the overall look of this solid, impregnable, prison like building that was designed and built to be a Civic Center.  Maybe it's the fact that it's built to last a long time, and solidly constructed, unlike so many of the crappy buildings I see built today.  Maybe it’s the sheer size of this one story building.  The inside of this place is awesome; my apartment has 20 foot ceilings, and they’re dwarfed by the height of the ceilings in this place.  Maybe it's all of those things.  Regardless, I like this building, and I think the photograph is pretty nice to look at also.

I'll keep the technicalities short on this one, but I did want to mention that in addition to being an HDR photograph, this is a composite of "three" pictures I took of the building in succession.  I say three in quotations because each of those three is an HDR image, so each one of the three is actually five.  I really like the field of view in this picture; it’s around 90 degrees from left to right, mimicking an ultra-wide angle lens.  It’s also a little distorted within that angle of view, which happened during the process of putting the scene together, which I like also.

WSU Baseball

Last time I was in Wichita I had a little time to kill one afternoon, so I grabbed my camera and wandered down the block to Eck Stadium at Wichita State University.  I grew up just a block from this stadium and have watched countless games there.  In high school I even went to a few WSU baseball camps and played some games there.  They have a good baseball program historically, but I think their longtime coach has sort of lost it the last few years and the team is suffering as a consequence.

I wanted to try something a little different with this photograph.  Sometimes new perspectives don't work very well, but I like what I got with this one.  I figure the only way I can grow and improve my photography is by trying new things.

Vidalia Onions

I recently had the chance to travel to Georgia on business, and for part of the trip stayed in Vidalia, Georgia, birthplace of the Vidalia Onion. My hotel happened to be right next door to the Vidalia Onion Factory and Gift Shop, your one stop shop for all things onion. Before I go too far, let me explain that this "factory" is what I would call a southern factory, which in terms of the rest of the US, is more of a warehouse. Splitting hairs, I know, but I feel it necessary to be precise.

This was a very enjoyable trip, and having recently acquired an excellent travel bag for my camera, I brought it along. This photograph is (obviously) of the Vidalia Onion Factory. I learned a few things on this trip, the most notable being that people in southeast Georgia are some of the nicest, most sincere people I have ever encountered. I have examples to back these claims, so if you want to hear them, just ask.

While this photograph may not be one of my best technically, I wanted to share it on here. My hope is that my collection of photographs can be considered travel photography, so I wanted to share something from my travels. That's not to say I don't have more from this trip, so check back soon to see more from my Georgia trip; I found some pretty interesting places.

Georgetown Lake

I've been pretty busy lately, and traveling, so that's why there hasn't been an update for a little while.  I'm in Georgia right now, and finally have some downtime in the hotel to get a post or two ready to publish.  I've had a good time in southeast Georgia.  I learned that there are some great people down here.  I brought my camera along for the trip and got some good photos, so expect them sometime soon, along with more stories from my trip.

This photograph is another I took last spring in Georgetown, Colorado.  It is another view of the lake we could see when we looked off our balcony of the condo in which we stayed.  The stream seen with the fog also feeds into this lake.  As you can see, the lake is partially frozen, and it looks like a storm is rolling in, but it didn't storm, or even snow in Georgetown while we were there.

Downtown Kansas City

Two weekends ago my dad and two of my cousins came to Kansas City for a visit.  On Saturday we went to the Liberty Memorial, which is home to The National World War I Museum.  I like going to Liberty Memorial, and have been there many times, but I had never gone through the museum until that day.  It was a very interesting place and I suggest you go there if you ever have the opportunity.  In addition to the museum, you can also go up in the Liberty Memorial tower.  This photo was taken from the top of the tower, looking north into downtown Kansas City, Missouri (where I live; you can see my building if you know which to look for).

This photo is composed of 5 exposures, and was hand held.  I normally like to use a tripod if I'm going to make an HDR photograph, but hand held was the only way I could do it that day.

Fog Rolls In

This photo is another one I took in Georgetown, Colorado last spring when we went skiing.  We had gotten back from a good day of skiing and my dad and I went and walked around the lake area outside of our condo.  It was already a cloudy day, and as a little rain began to fall we started to head back to the condo.  When we noticed some fog rolling in through the mountains, I quickly set up for a few more shots, and this was one of them.

It's hard to see in this photograph, but there is a guy upstream doing a little fishing.  I didn't see any fish in the stream, but maybe that was because he caught them all before they made it to where I was standing.  I would also note the lack of snow in these pictures.  There was no snow in Georgetown this spring, but there was snow at Loveland, where we skied.  A few areas up high on the mountain coming down from the top were bare, but other than that, the snow was pretty much perfect last spring.  It was also pretty warm, which would probably explain the lack of snow in Georgetown.

Colorado View

This was the view we had from our condo in Georgetown, Colorado last spring when I went skiing with my Dad and Brother.  The lake and mountains were very pretty, and I got a number of pictures I liked in the area.  We have stayed in Georgetown for many years, but we’ve never stayed in these condos or even near the lake before this year.

Although I did get some nice photos from Georgetown, I didn’t get any pictures while skiing.  For one, I’m a little nervous about taking my DSLR up the mountain while I’m skiing, as there is a greater possibility of falling while on skis with a camera than there is while just walking around with a camera.  I also tend to focus more on skiing, and less on taking pictures when I'm on the mountain.  One of these days though, I’ll work up the nerve and spend an afternoon on the mountain with my camera, taking it easy and taking photos.

Average Tree

Here is an average tree. There is nothing particularly special about this tree, but this was the tree I was looking for. And it gave me a little story, which is half of the fun.

As I mentioned in Quick Turnaround, I decided last Saturday to head out to Shawnee Mission Park, which is a large park on the Kansas side of the border. After driving around inside the park for a little seeing what the place had to offer, I found a nice spot that was relatively less crowded than the rest of the park. I grabbed my camera and tripod and hiked off into a grassy area off the beaten path. I took a few pictures here and there and then sat down in the shadow of this tree to get my tripod and camera all set up. After taking the photographs for this picture I looked down to see a tick crawling up my jeans!

In case you don't know; I hate ticks with a passion. Although it's been found that a protein in deer tick saliva interferes with the ability of the AIDS virus to attach to immune cells, and the same protein may help treat immune disorders like asthma and multiple sclerosis, I still hate ticks; they just bug me (Haa! Sorry..).

Anyway, I quickly jumped up and brushed the little guy off, only to see one or two others making their way up my pants in similar fashion. Quickly brushing them off, I began searching my legs for any more of the little buggers. Finding a few more, and what appeared to be a baby tick, or some sort of underdeveloped tick, I brushed them off, grabbed my camera and retreated to the concrete path to regroup. I did my best to search the rest of my clothes for ticks, and luckily my jeans were light colored, and I had a white t-shirt on, so it wasn't too hard. Finding no more I headed back to my car with my next destination in mind.

I'm not afraid of ticks by any means, and I've had many bites, so I can remove and dispatch them with ease. This was an ambush though and I was caught off guard. I would like to go back though; there were some nice hiking trails into the woods that I'd like to explore sometime. I also saw a number of deer while I was out there, just wandering around.

Lesson learned: Use my industrial strength tick spray (the stuff I use for work when I do fieldwork) on my clothes before I go to the park again.

Even though this is just an average tree you could see just about anywhere, I like this photo, and it gives me something to show for my battle with the ticks that day.



In other news, I took 3rd place in my category in the art show at work. Should have placed higher, but I lost to another HDR photo that was physically bigger than mine, and simply overpowered mine. There were numerous technical problems with his, but they didn't matter because it was big (this has been a developing trend with this art show). The thing that was in second place is pretty indescribable. Seems to be something created in Photoshop, but I'm not really sure what it was other than that.

Quick Turnaround

I had been planning all week on getting out and taking some pictures this weekend and here is the first of a few that I like. I first went out to Shawnee Mission Park (more on this later), which is a pretty big place, and apparently the most visited park in Kansas. I found a spot I liked and got some pictures and then headed down south a bit further to a corporate park called Corporate Woods. I used to ride my bike through this area when I lived in Overland Park and knew it was a pretty area so I thought I'd see what I could come up with.

This was pretty much the fastest turnaround I've pulled off as far as taking photos, editing them, and considering them 'finished.' I guess that's the good thing about capturing what I was going for.. That and taking fundamentally good photos ;p



A quick note about this website: I changed the setting so that anyone can comment. Before you had to have a Google Account to comment, but I wanted to make it easier for everyone to comment (because I love to get comments!).

Substation

Well, it's been a while since my last update, but I've been busy lately, and I've been working on finishing up a few photos. I took this photo a couple of months ago somewhere north of Kansas City. I decided to just get in my car and drive up north until I found a good place to take some pictures. I had headed up there with a certain shot in mind, but stumbled upon this substation in a fairly deserted area, and decided to get some pictures of it instead.

I planned on trying out a post-processing method which would produce a High Dynamic Range (HDR) photo. To do this I took a total of 5 exposures from the exact same location. One exposure -2 stops, -1, +1, +2, and one exposed normally at 0. These 5 exposures are combined in a computer program and tweaked using tone mapping, which basically adjusts how the exposures are combined. When done right, I think this produces extraordinary pictures; in the wrong hands though, it can create disturbingly distorted images. I set out to do it right, and tried not to over do the processing. After combining the 5 exposures, I opened the result in Photoshop and tweaked the image a bit more until I liked the results.

I've tried to create HDR photos in the past, but could never get one to look like I thought it should -- until now. Something clicked this time, and I was able to create this image. I like it quite a bit, and decided to enter it into the art show I mentioned in Bean Ball! Regardless of how it does in the show, I'm happy with it. I don't think that I overdid the post-processing, and everyone who I have shown it to has agreed.



For the show, I had this printed at an online shop. After reading reviews I decided to spend a few extra dollars and have it printed on a metallic paper which supposedly looked very good. I was definitely not disappointed. The colors seem to 'pop' more, and with a photo like this, I think that only enhances the picture. Looking at it now, I'm wondering if viewing it on a computer monitor does it justice.