Friday, October 01, 2010

Don't Blow the Horn

I recall as a kid driving through the Baytown tunnel and being told by a family friend driving the car that if you blew the cars horn while inside the tunnel the sound vibrations would cause the tunnel to collapse and kill all those inside. Just as the driver finished telling this horrific story she blew the horn scaring the hell out of us kids. Of course the tunnel didn't collapse.  

Well the old Baytown tunnel is no more and was replaced by the very modern Fred Hartman suspension bridge in 1995. Here the bridge can be seen at sunset with the lights of the many refineries that line the Houston ship channel.  What you can't see are the sunken sail boats (camera right) that still remain after hurricane Ike devastated this region in 2008.  You also can't see the millions of mosquitoes that where eating me alive as I waited for the sun to set in order to capture this image.

This image is a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image composed of three exposures (0, -2 and +2 stops) using a Canon EOS 7D and Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens and a very sturdy tripod.  The properly exposed image was shot in Av mode using ISO 100, F/22 at 2 seconds.  The three RAW images where combined and tone mapped using Photomatix 3.0 and further cleaned up using Lightroom 3.0. 


Fred Hartman Bridge over the Houston ship channel between La Porte and Baytown, Texas

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Reflections of San Jacinto

Many outside Texas know about the battle at the Alamo where the Mexican army decimated the Texas Army, but fewer know about the decisive battle of San Jacinto where the Texas Army defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican forces in a fight that lasted just eighteen minutes..

This was my third visit to the monument and the first visit for my three sons.  They enjoyed the the elevator ride to the top of the 567 foot monument and once at the top they enjoyed the view over Galveston Bay even more.  If you're visiting the greater Houston area I encourage you to visit this one of kind monument and the surrounding grounds.

The above image was taken at the north end of the reflecting pool looking south to the monument.
All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.