Fat Tuesday

Street photography can be fun when you find someone that really stands out from the crowd and commands your attention.  Recently I saw this young couple and knew I wanted to get a candid photo of them.  Obviously they stand out because not too many guys wear hats anymore, although I here they are coming back into style, and young women don't wear aqua colored sequin flapper dresses from the 1920's.  So these two really should catch your attention right?

HDR to the Rescue

Earlier this week I was visiting Galveston Island, Texas and the scenery was absolutely beautiful.  As usual I had my camera with me and I wanted to capture the spectacular scenes, but I knew the photographic images I'd capture would not to justice to what I was witnessing so I put my camera up and called it a day. 

Hah, not a chance!  I turned to the photographic technique known as High Dynamic Range (HDR) to help me deliver an image that was truer to the scene I wanted to capture.  HDR can be used to capture the wide dynamic range of tones in an scene by slicing the dynamic range into three or more exposures and then using computer software to layer the multiple images into a single image that has a wider tonal range than the camera could capture with just one exposure.

What follows are a few images from that day that I captured as three JPEG images at exposures of -2 stops, +2 stops and a proper exposure with no exposure compensation.  The three JPEG images were then combined and tone mapped using Photomatix 3.0 and further adjusted using Adobe Lightroom 3.0.

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The Gulf of Mexico. No oil here thank God.

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My wife painting a seascape as she watched our three boys play in the surf. I particularly like the golden color of the setting sun that illuminated the rocks behind her.


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A large collection of rocks that have been placed at the base of the seawall to protect it from future storms. I believe these rocks were added after hurricane Ike devastated Galveston island in September 2008.

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Looking west down the beach with the seawall on the far right side and the 61st street fishing pier in the far background

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Seawall graffiti
 
All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Saturday in Galveston

Last Saturday we headed to Galveston Island so our boys could play on the beach and in the Gulf of Mexico. The weather was nice with the temperatures in the low 90s and the humidity at nearly 100% or so it seemed. I think it's going to be a HOT summer. The following are some images from a walk up and down the beach while I was looking for interesting objects or subjects to photograph.

These bright red freshly painted poles caught my eve. They are used to divide Stewart beach between the area where you can drive on the beach, where we were located, and the pedestrian only area of the beach that you can see behind the poles.

This old post had some blue paint that really stood out. The sand dunes behind and to the right of the pole is a new man made barrier that was installed after hurricane Ike.

Many wildflowers were growing a long an old fence line on the left side. In the background you can see the red poles and umbrellas on the beach.

This old discarded and weathered truck tire was laying out in the sandy meadow with wildflowers growing all around it. I wonder if this was left on the beach by someone or was it washed up onto the beach by hurricane Ike.

More wildflowers growing around another fence post with fading blue and yellow paint .

There was a junior volleyball tournament going on at Stewart beach with about 18 to 24 courts setup on the beach. This group was sitting on the steps of the Stewart Beach pavilion chatting and watching a game.

All the lifeguard stands were unoccupied which I thought was very strange with the large number of people on the beach.

This young lady was pushing that snocone cart all over the beach, and it appeared that business was very good.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

A Good Friday It Was

Since I was off work for Good Friday we decided to head down to Galveston and let the kids play on the beach. This was our first trip back to the island since hurricane Ike made devistated the Southeeast Texas cost on September 13, 2008. While driving from Iinterstae 45 down Broadway to the east side of the island we found many buildings (homes and businesses) that had been destroyed or damaged by the sea as it rose and inundated the island during the hurricane.

On the positive side we also found that many of the businesses along the seawall were open and the island was crowded with people. It looks like Galveston is on the road to recovered.

The forecast for the day was for temperatues in the upper 70's to lower 80s with overcast skies. There was a lot of windblown sand, low clouds and sea mist blowing in from the Gulf of Mexico which limited visibility to less that a mile.

Hazey DayGalveston's east end condominiums obscured by a haze of windblown sand and mist from the Gulf of Mexico

Beach PlayAustin and Zachary playing at the beach

Race to the WaterRacing to see who can hit the water first and catch the biggest wave

Inquisitive seagullThis little guy was stalking us and most likely hoping we would toss him something to eat

Wait for meCan you hear him telling his two older brothers to 'wait for me'?

Building a Sand Castle

Just PaintThat's her motto

One Yellow Post

Yellow Flowers in the Dunes

Sand Dunes

Gliding on the Sea Breeze

Taking a BathSeagulls were taking a dip in a pool of fresh rain water

Perched and ReadyThis guy was perched on the edge of the seawall and was very uneasy with us walking so close to him

No Swimming

Sand Piper on the Rocks

Shrimp on a Stick
We ate fried shrimp, grilled shrimp, shrimp gumbo ...

Love Pink and Respect Blue
I took this candid image on the Galveston seawall just before sunset. I really liked the grouping of the scene with the young couple, the police officers, the girl on bike in the middle and the contrasting colors of the pink blouse, flip-flops, bike rim and sweat shirt on the left and the three blue police officer uniforms on the right

End of the DayGalveston Island snset. Hopefully I'll be capturing more of these this summer.

All images copyright Daniel Ray Photography.

Galveston

We had planned to take a day trip down to Galveston, TX this weekend to attend the Mardi Gras festivities and infuse some cash into this wonderful island town that is still trying to recover from the devistating impact of hurricane Ike. Things didn't work out as we expected, our youngest son has a cold an is not feeling well and the weather has been cold and rainy so we decided not to make the trip. So instead of catching Mardi Gras beads tossed from passing parade floats I went back and looked through my photographs of past trips to Galveston and decided to post a few pre hurricane Ike photos that I feel capture the character of this community.

The 1900 Storm Commemorative SculptureDedicated on September 9, 2000 represents the suffering of those who perished and the tenacity of those who survived this nation's deadliest natural disaster. On September 8, 1900 a powerful hurricane struck Galveston Island, killing more than 6,000 people and leaving the island in ruins. The next day the survivors began the cleanup, and the city began making plans to rebuild the island with a seawall to protect it against future storms. Over the next decade, the wall was completed and the land behind it raised. These measures served Galveston well. In 1915, when another intense hurricane struck the island, less than a dozen people living behind the seawall lost their lives.

Galveston Island State ParkGalveston Island is believed to be approximately 5000 years old and has had an interesting history during the past 500 years. It is generally believed Cabeza de Vaca and his crew were shipwrecked here in 1520 and eventually made their way from the island to colonies in Mexico. The LaFitte brothers, fleeing the prosecution of pirates in the United States, established a government here in 1817, with visions of creating a "Manhattan on the Gulf." Commerce did thrive here, but major storms in 1867, 1871, 1875, and 1886 greatly slowed progress. The great storm of 1900 devastated the island, killing 5000 to 10,000 people, and prompted the construction of the seawall which protects the northern half of the island.

Bishop's Palace
Galveston’s grandest and best-known building, the Bishop’s Palace is an ornate delight of colored stone, intricately carved ornaments, rare woods, stained-glass windows, bronze dragons and other sculptures, luxury materials and furnishings, and impressive fireplaces from around the world (including one lined with pure silver!). Built by lawyer Colonel Walter Gresham and designed by Nicholas Clayton, Galveston’s premier architect, this Victorian castle was cited by the American Institute of Architects as one of the 100 most important buildings in America. The home was built from 1886 to1892.

Beach Chair and Umbrella Rental
There were not many customers on this cool, foggy early spring day to rent their beach chairs and umbrellas.

Wild Flowers Growing Along the Seawall
Vivid wild flowers growing at the bottom of the seawall on the sand dunes with the painted seawall in the background. I found this composition interesting becuase it looked like the shrimp boat was cutting through a sea of flowers.

Two Couples Strolling on the Beach
These four looked somewhat out of place walking along the beach. I though they possibly bad a very late night out on the town and found themselves waking up on the beach the next morning. Brings back memories of a spring break trip I took to Florida in the mid 1980's.