Can you believe that I looked at that pool every day and I never got in? It was there day after day… alluring and perfect… looking warm and fun… I would walk around it, admire it, take photos of it, pass it on the way to the spa… I did just about everything to that pool but get in. I thought about it a lot, for whatever that’s worth (a lot, actually, I have an active imagination). But next time I get there, I’m goin’ in… I think about what those little tiles will feel like slippin’ around under my toes… It’s gonna be great!

Filed under the categories: Indonesia, Jogjakarta, Nikon D2XS, Travel

I found her after taking a few wayward turns in some confusing corridors in the main temple of Angkor Wat. She was a Buddhist bolt, but lighting incense at the foot of a statue of Shiva, the Hindu god. It turns out that she, and others like her, are from an interesting sect that bridges two of the big religions. I always enjoy talking to people about this sort of thing. It doesn’t really bother me one way or another, but I just find all the thought processes to be interesting.

She’s one of the billions of people alive (and possibly re-alive) that draws into the splinters of the original Vedic Brahminism. She didn’t speak a lot of English, so there were a few pieces missing in our conversation, but I filled them in later after talking to many other monks and worshipers throughout the complex.

Filed under the categories: Angkor Wat, Cambodia, LucisArt, Nikon D2XS, Siem Reap, Travel

I left Brenham early on Sunday morning after crashing in a tiny roadside motel. The motel was pretty sketchy, but sometimes I like that style of drive-up-to-the-door, ditch my camera stuff in the room, crash for 6 hours, then leave in haste to catch the sunrise. Sunday morning turned out to be rainy and freezing… pretty horrible for a lot of outside photography. So I ate in downtown, read a few chapters of Ananthem, drank a lot of coffee, chatted with a waitress who was an aspiring photography student and gave her some golden nuggets of truth, then drove on to Houston.

Several miles outside of Brenham, I saw this strange collection of houses and stores that were all brightly colored but recently abandoned. It was still raining, so I put it on my list to hit on the way back later in the evening. Luckily, the weather was dark and moody when I returned. I spent about an hour walking around this old abandoned place, shooting a bunch of cool and creepy things. I have no idea why everything was boarded up and empty… there might have been some squatters in one distant house, but I was kind of freaked out by some strange music coming out through some of the boarded-up windows, so I decided it was time to leave…

I’ll post more shots of this place later… it was very strange… reminded me a little of a mid-80′s Texas version of my visit to Pripyat (the little town right by Chernobyl that was also abandoned).

Filed under the categories: Brenham, LucisArt, Nikon D3X, Texas, Travel

I arrived at the temple of Borobudur a little after 4 AM. I had a tiny disposable flashlight, and, other than my driver idling about a mile away, I was the only person here. In fact, it was my second day in a row to do this, since I had so much fun the first. I was there with my friend Will, and he decided to sleep in the second day… but I had a few shots in mind I wanted to grab before the sun came up.

There were these strange argon lights around the temple to light up areas of excavation. They cast a gloomy and surreal light on the Buddhist reliefs that make concentric circles up to the top. I was able to get about 45 minutes of nice darkness with unexpected light until the sun started to appear over the nearby volcanoes and jungle mist.

Filed under the categories: Borobudur, Indonesia, Jogjakarta, Nikon D2XS, Travel

After spending a while watching burned out hippies cavalcade on Congress in various states of undress during First Night a few evenings ago, I was reminded of this photo at Disneyworld.  So, I went back to process it and see if it was as idyllic as I remembered.   This is Main Street with the assembled crowds, as everyone awaits the big fireworks show and Disney parade.

Filed under the categories: Disney World, Florida, Nikon D2XS, Orlando, Travel

I arrived in Houston to meet with a friend a bit early. I planned on spending the morning in the museums, but they don’t open until noon on Sunday. So I decided to head to nearby Hermann Park to the famous rose garden there.

As an experiment, I put on my Nikon 14-24mm 2.8 lens to try some new things out… It’s not my usual stuff, but I’m happy with the results. If you are interested, I have a Nikon 14-24 Review here on the site.

Filed under the categories: Houston, Texas, Travel

I hope you have a great 2009! Here is a nice little one to get the new year started in fit and proper form!

I took this when I unexpectedly ended up spending a sunset alone. I was supposed to take an ATV over to another bluff to meet a bunch of paleontologists with whom I had spent the day unearthing a Hadrosaur from some Cretaceous mudstone formation. My forearms had never been so tired in my life after holding that hammer and pick for what seemed like endless hours of nerve-wracking excavation! After getting hopelessly lost on my ATV and having some mechanical troubles, I ended up near the border of Canada. Luckily, I had my camera equipment, so I slipped on my iPod and set up for the right moment.

Yesterday I updated my HDR Tutorial, and you might have noticed a shot from Lightroom with the five originals from this below the New York Times Square photo (which is a good one for the New Year!). Anyway, I thought I would share it because sometimes the other photographers that come here like to see the originals before they have been run through my algorithms… [edit: actually, looking at it closer, it is a "slightly" different perspective...taken about 20 seconds earlier... but, well, you get the idea... just picture it shifted over about 3 feet!]

Filed under the categories: Montana, Rudyard, Travel