Cat Napping

I found our black cat Minoit sleeping in a chair by the window. The natural light streaming in through the window provided plenty of natural light and produced a ton of contrast between her black fur and the white blanket she was laying on. Because of her dark black fur its difficult for the cameras auto exposure system to produce a "properly exposed" image and I also knew the high contrast of the scene and the back lighting of the windows wasn't going to make it any easy either. So, I switched the camera into manual mode in order to get the exposure I wanted. I found I had to under expose two stops below what evaluative metering suggested in order get the exposure I wanted.

I'm pleased with the results, but she wasn't too happy that I woke her up from her cat nap.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Made the Magazine

As I stated in the Friday, November 18, 2011 post, one of my photographs was recently selected as the winner of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine's 2011 photo contest in the People/Activity category and was to be featured in the January 2012 print issue of the magazine. 

The January issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine arrived and I quickly flipped through the pages looking for the article about the photo contest and there it was on page 14. 

It is very gratifying to have one of your images selected as the winner of a photo contest and then to be published in a print magazine is just over the top.... I'm so happy!

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Reminder of my Childhood

This toy tractor and trailer truck is a fond reminder of my childhood.  Not so much for playing with the truck, which I did, but more about how I acquired it and what it meant to me then and now. 

My twin brother and I were raised for the majority of our childhood by our single mother.  While my mother worked hard to provide for us we still didn't have a lot of money which meant that new toys were mostly received at Christmas or on birthdays. 

As I recall, when I was about six or seven years old  I received 25 cents a week allowance.  I saved all my allowance money and any other money I received for months until I had about $6.00 in my piggy bank.  I don't recall if my brother and I asked our mother or she offered, but we went to the near by five and dime TG&Y store which had the best toy department in town so we could spend the money we had saved up for so long. 

I can still remember the feeling of standing in the aisle of the toy department and looking at all the shelves filled with toys and knowing I had enough money to buy just about any toy I wanted. The feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment that I felt at that moment has stayed with me my entire life.  That simple and seemingly uneventful moment in my youth taught me that saving for future needs or wants is a good thing and I have my mother to thank for that.

As I grew older and found other interests I naturally played less and less with the truck but I could never bring myself to part with it.  My mother suggested that I put it away and one day, in the future when I had children they could play with it.  The truck has sat packed away in a cardboard box at my mother's house for over 30 years.  Recently while visiting her I asked about the truck and she pulled it from the closet and we unpacked it and I brought it home for my children to play with it as I did so many years ago.  Today my children play with it and I've told them this story in hopes that they understand what this toy represents to me and maybe some day their children will play with it as well.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Winning...

I just found out this photograph I took during a plein air painting outing at Brazos Bend State Park was selected as the overall winner for the People/Activity category in this years Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPW) Magazine photo contest. Photo contest winners from each category will be featured in the January 2012 issue of the TPW magazine.

In the photograph is Award winning plein air painter Tim Schneider (http://www.timthepainter.com/) as he works along the shore of new horseshoe lake in the Brazos Bend Texas state park.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

My Companion

I spend a lot of time in front of my computer editing photographs, writing my blog, keeping up with friends and family on Facebook and reading photography related blogs. I typically have my companion a tuxedo cat named Gypsy sitting on my lap or curled up on the floor near me.

I recently purchased a new Canon PowerShot S100 camera and I used Gypsy as my test subject. This is the first image from my new camera.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Hodges Garden - Giant Grasshopper

My boys found this giant grasshopper crawling on one of the benches in the garden. My wife, who is not squeemish when it comes to critters picked it up and posed with it for this image.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Hodegs Garden - Orange Moth

I must have chased this poor little guy for 15 minutes from flower to flower. Finally the wind settled down and i was able to creep up and capture this close-up image using a 200mm lens.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Hodges Garden - Nector Sucker

Finally, I was able tp capture a sharp image of a beautiful butterfly sitting on a flower.... patience grasshopper, patience.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Hodges Garden - Purple Stuff

These purple flowers where bouncing around in the blustering wind making it rather difficult for the butterflys to land so I decided for forgo waiting for the butterflys and just capture on image of these flowers.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Hodges Garden - Old Flower

I wish this butterlfy, or moth, I'm not sure which it is would have found a fresher looking flower so that it looked better in this image, but I guess it knows what it needs.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Hodges Garden - Cypress Stump

I ran across this cypress stump surrounded by pine needles and covered with a light green moss. I thought the shadows around the stump and the deep, dark cracks in the wood would result in a nice High Dynamic Range  image.  I'm pleased with the results and how the gree moss on the bark pops out a little more than what I recall.

 
All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Hodges Garden - Willow Point

This was a beautiful early fall day in central Louisiana. This young family utilized the fishing peir at Willow Point in Hodges Gardens to try their luck or possibly skill at cathing a string of fish.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Hodges Garden - Lake Panorama

During a recent week end get-away to lake Toledo-Bend we decided to take our children to Hodges Gardens state park near Many, Louisiana. Both my wife and I visited Hodges Gardens when we were children but that was many many, years ago. Unfortunately due to the extreme drought that impacted much of Texas and Louisiana in the spring, summer and fall of 2011 many of the water features of the park were turned off to conserve water for the botanical gardens. This image is of the main part of the lake adjacent to the botanical gardens.

Hodges Garden - Many, Louisiana
All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Drift Wood and Sea Shells

I found the textures of these objects interesting and thought the use of HDR (High Dynamic Range) would help bring out the textures of the wood which I think it did.

Surfside Beach, texas
All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Sea Shells and Dry Reeds

A large pile of shells and reeds littered the area where my children were playing on the beach. My wife, who is an avid collector of treasures was sifting through the pile searching for something to add to her shell collection.

Surfside Beach, Texas

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Great Day for a Walk

I was setting this image up so the focal point was the wooden railing and the shadows it casted on the concrete walkway. As I was about to capture the image I saw this couple heading my way so I hurriedly changed the focus to automatic put the camera on a ten second timer and stood back like I wasn't going to take a picture. The couple passed me by and wandered right into into the scene of my image. Little did they know they just became the subject of my image. I love it when unforeseen things happen like this that add interest to the image.

Surfside Beach, Texas

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Some things are bigger in California

We've all heard the saying that everything is bigger in Texas. Well that may not apply to some plants that grow in California. Here you can see my Toyota rental car and a row of huge aloe vera growing along the cemetery wall.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Point Loma Cemetery

The fog rolling over the hillside and blanketing the grounds of the Point Loma cemetery begged to be photographed. I stood looking over all the graves of the brave men who served our country and watched as a crow circled low over head. I was hoping he would find a perch among the many headstones that lay before me. He finally found a resting place after hoping and jumping between several headstones and provided me a moment to capture his image along with the final resting place of these many veterans.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Polished and Worn

How long do you think these rocks and stones littering the edges of this tide pool have been here in order to have their edges worn round and the surface polished too a smooth finish.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Texture

I like this image because it almost allows me to feel the course surface texture of the rock.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.