I Should Be A Professional Photographer!

You know what? I'm a graphic designer. I take professional photos that I use for my job all the time. I take GREAT photos.

except.

except...

...Except when it comes to photos of my very talented son. Maybe it's him. Hell. Maybe it's the theater we were in that just so happens to be the theater he graduated in. (See How to Take Bad Graduation Photos.)

I don't know.

I just know that I don't have ANY. NONE. NADA. good pictures of him doing the things that he does.

total sadness.

Take tonight, for example. He was playing the Mad Hatter in Queen Theatre's production of "Alice in Wonderland."

I tried to capture his curtain call. Capture him in the moment where everyone was cheering his performance. Capture the excitement...the thrill...the adoration...the...the...blur.

Yep. That blur on the left...that's him. Cool effects, eh? You would think I got into Photoshop and did some fancy new effect, right? Yep. sure. that's what I did. keep telling yourself that.

OK...Let me try again... *snap*

Great. yep. just great. Such lovely colors.

SJFp8#*!($ RU@RUOP!#~~##!!!!**#*)&%^&@#$@!!! sassafrassingsorrysonofabiscuiteater

One last try. Ready. Set. CLICK!

HALLELUJAH!!! HE'S not blurry but I can't see him for the damn hat over his face and he's looked away.

I should just quit. Give my camera away to someone who knows how to use it. Sell it and buy a clue.

Obviously, I don't know what I'm doing and should change careers.
There will be no standing ovations for me.
sadness.

Roadtrip to Days Gone By

This weekend I got to stretch the tires on my new car when we took my 93-year-old grandmother home. To get to grandmother's house we take lots of Texas back roads where there are LOTS of wonderful snippits of days gone by.

One of the places we always drive by is this old gas station that has been closed for years. I mean DECADES! I know that by the last price of gas on the pumps... $0.31 per gallon!!! HELLO!? It's now 12-13 times that now.

We stopped and took lots of pictures. The textures are fabulous not to mention the old gas pumps. Here's a few I took.

 

 
Just a bit of history. Standard Oil Company was renamed in 1955 to Mobilgas. So this gas price is from the late 50s. There's not even a spot for the dollar! Mobilgas became Mobil in 1963. In 1999, Exxon and Mobil merged to become ExxonMobil. I figure at some point, they'll drop the Mobil and just become Exxon.

Spring is in the Air

I had a bunch of errands to run on my day off. But as I was driving out to try to have my driver's license renewed, I noticed these two beautiful horses standing perfectly still on the old bridge. I had to have a picture. In the brief 5 seconds it took me to decide I needed a picture, I had missed the closest exit and had to drive a mile to the next exit. Get off the freeway, cross over, and drive another 3 miles back to the exit past the horses, all the while hoping they hadn't moved.

I finally get back to where they are and pull over onto the narrow shoulder. Can't get a good shot. Now I've got to creep up onto a bridge while all the busy holiday traffic is zooming by, shaking my poor little car with each woooooooooosh. I don't DARE get out of the car to take the picture. So I have to roll down the passenger window and lean over and stick my arm out as faaaaaaaaaar out as it will go. Got the image yet? This is when I wished I had a more powerful zoom on my camera!

After I got the picture, I have to ease back onto the freeway which was NOT easy. I get back to the exit and see the pasture adjacent to the bridge. It has 6-8 mares with 4-5 newborn colts!! There was no where to get a picture. They were sooooooooo cute with their fluffy tails and lanky, awkward legs.

I love Spring!!