14/365      Old Theater Seats

I traveled to another town today to photograph the Christmas decorations, but alas, the town wasn't decorated yet.  So I spent some time walking around to see what I could see and I came across these old theater seats in a back alley.  Just enough grunge for me.

 13/365   The Christmas Tree

Every year the town puts up a large Christmas Tree in front of the Convention Center.  This year it's in front of the County Building because there's some construction for a new hotel near the Convention Center.  It's really beautiful.  I should have stayed a little later so the sky would have been more blue, but I didn't feel like it.  It was a beautiful 75 degrees so it was really fun photographing the tree in summer-like weather.  

12/365  Watching the Parade

So here in Abilene the Christmas Parade didn't start until 6:30.  Word was that there were almost 200 entries, so needless to say, it was a loooong parade.  When it started it was about 75 degrees, but by the time it ended it was much cooler and the wind was blowing, so not a pleasant end to the event.

I'm not a fan of nighttime photography but since my photo club decided it would be a good thing to attend the parade and try to photograph it, I tried.  But really, I deleted all the images I took because they were just plain awful.  All except this one of this couple watching the parade.  I don't love the image, but it's the only one that's halfway decent.  

 

 11/365    The Sink

I spend a god deal of time in this downtown building.  The upstairs now houses three photographers, a massage therapist a couple of offices and other business, but once upon a time there was an artist or two.  This sink is left over from those days gone by.

 10/365    Key Holder

I've always wanted a key holder.  Yup, how ridiculous that I've wanted one of these and never had one in my entire life.  When I moved into this house, I asked the caretaker to put it up for me and silly as it sounds, I'm really enjoying it.  No more wondering where the keys are, no more looking for them, and if my roommate needs to move my car for any reason, she knows exactly where the keys are.  It's definitely a win/win/win situation. 

I just love how sometimes it's the really little things that can give such joy.

9/365                The Mermaid

So...it's been such a long while since I've posted.  Unbelievably,  I've almost forgotten about my blog.  The days when I posted everyday or even once a week are long gone.  I've been concentrating on Flickr and Fine Art America right now.  Also, I still struggle with what to take photos of.  

Years ago when my friends and I challenged each other to post every day, I forced myself to photograph any ordinary things within my vision. I should probably just do that again instead of waiting for inspiration, which seldom provokes me to photograph these days.  There are about 34 days until the end of the year~~maybe that's what I'll do.  Take a photo of anything, post it and add a little text about why I thought that item was worthy.

But here's today's image.  I took a trip to San Angelo, Texas a few weeks ago.  They have a River Walk and this mermaid statue is one of the destinations along the way.  She intrigues me every time I see her.

 8/365

The Local FireHouse

So it's almost the end of September and this is only my 8th post of the year.  Whaaat???

Fact is I just don't have any inspiration and I don't feel like I have much to say and I don't have any followers. So I basically just forget about the blog.  But once in a while I remember and then feel stupid for forgetting and not posting. 

Several years ago some friends and I made a pact to post a pic a day.  We did that for a couple of years, then we decided one pic a week would work and then we just decided to call it quits.  It's been difficult to keep this going with no motivation.  I actually now have a collection of images I can post, so maybe I'll remember and can post for a couple of weeks almost every day.

Anyway, here's my image for today.  I might just get up to 10 for the year, hahaha.

I made this one today.  I was walking around town in an area I don't usually walk around in and I came across the local fire department.  I started out by just photographing the outside of the building, then I walked around back.  The doors were open, I told them I was taking pics and they invited me in and let me shoot to my heart's content.  

Kudos to these guys.  These first-responders, paid or volunteers, are amazing.  I promised I'd send them some of the images.

 7/365

Reworked Work

I recently listened to the blog post of a working photographer.  He emphasized that we should occasionally go back to previous images, chose one we may have overlooked and rework it.

I took that to heart and found this image from Jan 2021.  I changed it up a little from the original and this is the result.  

I would rather post brand new images, but there aren't many to be had around here.  Spring hasn't completely sprung yet and it's pretty ugly around here even at the best of times.  I keep trying to find new images though, but going back and reworking older images might be a "thing to do" when I'm feeling hopeless about making new work.

 6/365

An Ordinary Thing

A friend took me to the location of a defunct  power plant yesterday.  I couldn't get as near to it as I wanted because of the chain link fence surrounding it, and alas, there were no openings through which to crawl closer.

 I saw this fire hydrant and tried to make something interesting out of it.  Not sure "interesting" is the best word for it, but I like the matching colors of the hydrant, the grass and the building in the background, and as always, I love shooting through chain link.

5/365

An abandoned home on a rural road in Texas.  The winter landscape makes it look even more abandoned and forsaken.

4/365

Silos in Black and White

I decided to stop off in a little town on my way home from an event the other day.  I've been there before and there isn't much to photograph, but hope springs eternal.  

I love these silos and even though I have many images of them, I still make more when I'm there. This time my edit was a little different.  Black and white and a blue sky with clouds.  I love selective color and I really  like the way this turned out.

Hmmmm, 76 days into the year and this is only post 4.  I'm behind on flickr too, but not as behind as here.

Oh well....

3/365

The Annual Rattlesnake Roundup

When I first heard about this Roundup a couple of weeks ago, I thought  they were pulling my leg?  Really?  A rattlesnake roundup????

Well, rattlesnakes are dangerous and they are over populated in Texas and they are NOT endangered.  If you encounter one, feel free to kill it or it might just kill you.  

We got there in the morning.  The  awards ceremonies weren't happening until the afternoon, and when you're with three littles, hanging around anywhere for too long is just too long.  So we walked around the pavilion, got some great carny food and then visited the next pavilion where there seemed to be about an hundred more vendors.  Then we left.  Before the awards.  Awards for:  longest snake, most weight of snakes, beard (probably longest, thickest, or whatever), etc.  

It was interesting, so now I can say: "been there, done that" and unless I'm compelled by photographer friends to go again, I won't have to go back for several years, if ever.  Just sayin'

 2/365

Closed for the Day by Sunset

So here it is, the middle of March and it's only the second time I've posted this year.  I need a shot of umph to get me going.

As I was walking around downtown yesterday, I came across this business that was already closed for the day.  I don't even know what the business is because there isn't a name on the window or the building.  But I could see the shadow of what appears to be a conference table and chairs right inside the door and then a beautiful neon heart decoration.

Nothing spectacular about the image, I just like the lighting, the graphic look and the less-is-more of the structure. One of these days I'll ask a local if they know what the business is.  

 1/365--2022

Keys

I seriously failed to post a photo-a-day on my flickr page for 2021.  It was disappointing, but totally my fault...laziness, lack of inspiration, just-don't-care, nothing interesting to photograph--all very weak excuses for not keeping up.  Really, how difficult is it to take one photo a day a post it?

So I started again for 2022, this time with a list of January prompts from a random site.   8 days into it, it's going well, hahaha.  I didn't like the prompt for today and as I was looking around for a possible photo op, I spied these keys.  

So this is the photo for day 8/365 on flickr. The keys belong to "G" and I just liked the way they were clustered around.  I used a wide angle lens and tried to get as much limited depth-of-field as possible. 

39/365

The last post of 2021.  

I haven't posted very much this year.  I've been trying to post a photo-a-day on my flickr page, and I wasn't even successful at that.  I was about 68 images short of 365.  sigh

Right now I'm visiting my son, He Who Loves Alaska, in Fairbanks until around Jan 12.  They're having an unexpected amount of snow this year and it's cold, which is not unexpected.

When I left NY I figured I'd never have to deal with snow and cold again, but here I am, killing it.

So this is my "farewell to 2021" photo.  I guess I'm a glutton for punishment because I'm going too try the photo-a-day on flickr again starting tomorrow.  

In case you want to take a look, the address is www.flickr.com/photos/intheimage

 38/365

Cold Sunrise on the morning of Christmas Eve

A visit to Fairbanks, AK.  This morning it was -20 degrees, oh my goodness.  But as the sunrise began, the colors in the sky were beautiful.

It's supposed to warm up into the 30s in the next couple of days, but the forecast for those days is 100% chance of snow.  I don't know which I dislike more.....the cold when the roads are clear and it doesn't feel life-threatening to drive, or the warmer temps when the snow is falling and driving is a nightmare.

It's kind of a crapshoot.

 37/365   

I attended a flower photo workshop this past weekend where there was a lot of explanation, instruction, encouragement and flowers.

Flowers are expensive and then they die, so I usually don't buy them.

Also, I don't really have a place to set up for photographing them in my house, so it was fun to be at the workshop and be able to shoot whatever looked interesting.

This is one of my favorites, although I'm editing a few more.

 36/365    

Some of My Favorite Books

There have been other times when I've posted photos of a pile of books, but I decided to do it again because they were composed differently than this one.  

When I moved I got rid of most of my books and only brought my absolute favorites with me so I could read them again.  And read them again I did.

There's a new one on this shelf though.  "Bonhoeffer".  One of the best books I've read in a long while.  Full of the history of how Hitler took over Germany before and during WWII.  Bonhoeffer was a believing Christian who saw the writing on the wall almost immediately.  He became a pastor and spent many years teaching/preaching God's Word while at the same time being part of a group that attempted to assassinate Hitler.

All assassination  attempts failed and Bonhoeffer was ultimately put in prison and then a concentration camp where he was murdered only weeks before the war ended.

It's a history book that should be read by everyone, especially these days.  Be warned.

 35/365

Stair Step Fire Escape

The town/area I live in is photographically boring.  I've wandered around town many, many times looking for photo ops, usually without much success but today I was desperate enough to try again.

This is one of the structures I love, and I was there at just the right time this afternoon to capture this great shadow which helped make the image graphically appealing. 

34/365

In The Cool of the Morning

My new living space has a sweet little patio area off the dining room.  It's in the shade until about mid-day and it's been a pleasure to sit out there in the mornings while it's still cool.  

Today the high will be about 100, so I was happy to take advantage of the morning temps while I did my reading and watched one or two hummingbirds flit around the feeder.