Final Images from White Rock

The close of 2015 is coming up quickly. With the turn in the weather and the cold setting in finally, this will most likely be my last images from the lake for 2015. For sure. It's been a good year for the goal has been to reduce the amount of medication ordered up because of the old ticker. The reports from the cardio-boss man have been good. The progress has been good because of the long cardio walks with the camera in hand, the celery sticks laced with peanut butter in the ditch, a few crackers (unsalted) for the remaining peanut butter from the two tablespoon limit and a banana. Sitting at the picnic tables at Dreyfuss Club, or up at the stone patio on the high road of Sunset Bay or one of the shelter houses overlooking the lake on the hot days of summer  has paid off health wise. 

This summer saw an early  morning sunrise in August, a couple of unreal sunsets in December and  three trips a week around the lake in between. There has been some really nice people who think a lot like me. There are a few more that would rather have me think like them. But as my old family physician, who grew up in New Orleans and is buried there today, would tell my mom and me," you listen to what people say and when they go home, you do as you damn well please."  Stress has never been a problem for me probably as a result of, and thereafter  listening to,  those lectures. Mom sat in the chair in the examining room and I sat on the paper-roll table as my doctor delivered those words, not once, but many times while growing up.

It is hoped that everyone have a safe and happy New Year 2016. Hopefully, ticker and pacemaker willing, I'll see you again in the spring. Meanwhile, enjoy the images here while I clean up the construction mess on the website in the bleakness of winter.

A river.

Two coccinella magnifica

A corporate jet on ILS Approach

Eagles at White Rock in February 2013

February 2013 Pair of Bald Eagles Fishing

February 2013 was my first sighting of the pair of bald eagles at White Rock Lake. With love for nature, I did not hold back my sightings and have talked about the eagles steadily since 2013.Contrary to what is being spread around about me misrepresenting or giving out bad information,the only reason I dug into the archive to find there images was the fact that I have seen plenty of smoke screens in my 70 years and it seems that those who hope to discredit my sighting have had  a nerve struck and they (men and women alike) feel their little grip on, and having to share their wildlife with, an ever increasing population of Metroplex nature lovers slipping out of their grasp.

Nesting Pair of Bald Eagles over White Rock Lake on February,2013

February,2013 at the Dam

Now, having said that, I can go back to enjoying the nature and wildlife of White Rock Lake.

26Dec2015: edit for punctuation clarity.

Museum of Tomorrow

While Dallas does have some noted buildings built by world famous architects, our latest architect with his second structure still under construction at present Santiago Calatrava has a masterpiece in Rio de Janiero. The Dallas City Hall and The Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center were designed by I.M. Pei. Santiago Calatrava designed the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and did redesign his original design work on the Margaret McDermott Bridge currently  under construction. But this week, was the opening of Calatrava's  Magnum Opus in my opinion. It is the new Museu do Amanha (Museum of Tomorrow) in Rio de Janeiro on December 19th. The site is in the old port section of Rio and is part of a major redevelopment program in the area. I have seen the area personally on my first trip to Brazil many years ago. It is an amazing work of design and while I am proud to talk about the Arts District in Dallas and what it has to offer, I did a bit of work figuring out just how big this new Museu is. By loose calculations, the entire arts district could be placed in one third of this structure. The transformation from the old site to this new structure raises the bar for other cities in this old world if they want to compete for tomorrow because tomorrow has arrived on yet another continent of the Americas.

For those of you that want to see an image of the structure, you can search for the Museu do Amanha in Rio. Or, you can go to Alamy and enter in the search box FA1AG5 to bring up the image. I just tried it and it worked. Alamy.com  and enter FA1AG5 (That is FAone AGfive) to be clear.

For those of you who do not want to see Calatrava's non-bridge work, I have some pelicans,geese and ducks for you.

The angle is a duck having just had a drink tilting his head upward.

The pelicans can be so funny to watch.

Two migratory geese fighting. It lasted a pretty long time.

Last Minute Shopping!

Holiday Greetings Vertical Greeting Card by sam6372
Look at other Greeting Cards at zazzle.com

Our wish to you this holiday season would be this card that we made especially for you!

Some of You Have Ask

Some of you have ask about how you can view our live news feed images. First and foremost: Thank You!!  But, it's not really that difficult. So, here is an easy way to learn how to do this remembering two things.
1. There are two options. the first option will allow you to view and search the live news feed.
2. The second option allows you to view our stock images where our news feed images and stock are archived. The news feed images rotate off after 48-hours. Where do they go? They go into the submitters archive stock image portfolio, which can be searched afterwards as well.

Going to the live news feed only.

Click on anywhere within the black box with a lower case 'a' or the word 'alamy'. That opens into a new window. When it does. click on the black 'a' or inside the black box again. It opens to the alamy home page. You will see a search bar with a magnifier at the right hand side. You will also see in the search bar the words by that magnifier that says 'see images'. click that and when it opens scroll down to the bottom where it says 'see live images'. You are there!! when it opens again, start at the top of page one and scroll down. The images begin to rotate off immediately as other images are added and force the current images down to page 2 or 3 or 4 or sometimes 5 then off the rotation.


If you want to see our stock images or news feeds that are archived 

To the right of the black 'a' box is also a search bar. Above that search bar are the words: 'dallaspaparazzo.com. If you click that link on, you will by-pass the live news feed and go directly to our archived images where are nearing 1300 images at present.

	Images by dallaspaparazzo. com Enter a keyword, name or reference number:
Search all the images by dallaspaparazzo. com on Alamy

White Rock Talents

Many, many times, the winds echo my words that there is always something different happening at White Rock. Today, was no exception. When is the last time you saw a tightrope walker practice? With the weather being almost perfect for a very late fall day, here is one of those surprises.

At the same time, I have been photographing since August, the leaves of the White Rock Sycamore  trees and even finding some of the largest leaves that I have ever seen. Yesterday, another record leaf was found that topped the "then recorder holder" at 9 1/2 inches by 11 and one quarter. Yesterdays was over 14-inches by 13-inches. When it finally relaxes and the folded over tips can be measured, it will be larger, no doubt.

Here is today's finds.

Practice makes perfect

The sycamore leaves are hanging on and producing excellent displays for very late fall.

Shortest Day Approaches

It is a true statement:" Time waits for no man." Where it goes is an enigma for sure. Winter begins in less than a week. Christmas Day comes in ten days. New Years arrives in just over two weeks. It makes no matter whether I'm ready or not, so the past few days found me at the lake and sitting at a picnic table with my health snack. I got my cardio walk in and just enjoyed the nearly perfect weather. That part changes tomorrow as the first of several cold fronts arrives and kicks the temps back down to a more normal winter level right on time.

Two weeks ago, I watched the cormorants begin flocking and flying their 'V' formations over the lake. They have been happy campers but know with their keen circadian rhythm that the coldest weather this season is about to arrive. Currently, when the cormorants or pelicans or sea gulls or egrets can't been seen, I can usually find them in their second or even third place were they hang out because of the change in fish whereabouts. In a way, they are just like us. They are creatures of habit. But the call of the wild beckons to fly south. They will be back in the spring after they disappear and can not be found in any of their favorite trees or log branches in the water.

A feather floats with the leaves on the water's surface.

A man walks his dog near Winfrey Point

White Rock Rowing Club sorts gear on one of the club's docks.

Click on any picture to enlarge. It's okay. You won't break anything.

Christmas at the National Cemetery

Thursday, my car headed in the direction of the National Cemetery, between I-20 and I-30. Actually, I visit the cemetery every December. It is a somber and sobering experience. Somehow, the annual laying of the wreaths on each grave is planned for this Saturday, December 12th. I missed it by two days. Some families go ahead and put the wreaths down themselves. There were a few graves that had the wreaths already. I was struck at how brown the grass was all over. It's just gone dormant and has not actually died. The green wreaths stand out against the gray stones and the brown grass.

After leaving the cemetery, it was on to Founder's Plaza at DFW International Airport. Shooting the Fresnel Lens on the official FAA beacon  that every airport is required to have operating  between civil dusk and civil dawn. Of course, it can only be shot during those times when it is operational.  There were some technical issues with the camera again. It's always low light shutter speeds that give the most problem, even though the settings are made according to the manual. Something else to work on during the upcoming winter waiting for the first snow storm or ice storm!

The National Cemetery for Dallas Ft. Worth

It's an annual trip for me. I only lost one friend in Viet Nam. My Dad is buried in a National Cemetery in Little Rock.

The Fresnel Lens on the official FAA Beacon at DFW International. This is it!

Here's Some Interesting Designs and Images

Samsung Case Covers Samsung Galaxy S6 Cases by sam6372
Investigate another Samsung Galaxy S6 Case from Zazzle

 Today was yet another amazing day. Yesterday, an image shot was a test. Not knowing how it would come out in editing, many times, images are shot this way, then go back and shoot the subject from all kinds of angles and light conditions. So while out today after eating at In N Out, it was off to re shoot this amazing pattern that is only available at a certain latitudes. Light hitting it at another latitude will not produce this pattern. There was a test run on the other locations run yesterday and then re-tested today. As anticipated, only one latitude would allow the sunlight to create this pattern. It's like a rainbow. Light must hit crystals of ice or raindrops at exactly 12 degrees from where you are standing in order that you see the rainbow. If the light does not hit the ice crystals or rain drops at exactly 12 degrees to you, you will not see a rainbow. This pattern is much the same as a rainbow for light with one exception, wind can cause the panel to move up and down slightly and it will change the pattern some but the basic pattern is still there.

As stated before, light is an amazing thing when shooting. The low level angles of light this time of year is like no other and the enjoyment of shooting in fall light is my most favorite time of the year.

Speaking of rainbows, ice crystals were aloft today at about 22,000 feet. And, there was a rainbow prism over Sunset Bay's dock. It also produced an amazing sunset.

The cloud deck is high level ice crystals from upper level moisture streaming into North Texas says the dean of Dallas weather forecast.

The dark clouds is visible moisture aloft

This was about 10 minutes after the sun set. The light is coming under the clouds and producing the colorful hour of civil dusk.

Ever Get A Song In Your Head And Can't Get It Out?

After spending four days in the house during the flooding rains of Thanksgiving, when the weather broke, cabin fever was in the race for the front door. Now, with twice as many days of almost perfect fall weather for the next ten days, my cardio walks have increased past the midway mark of the pivot point scale of zero to 10. Today, was one of those days when it was just a delight to be out walking.

 On the return trip to the parking area, I got a chance to sit down on a bench and look at the skyline of downtown Dallas some eight miles in the distance. The air was clear and bright and the outline of the buildings was sharp and crisp for a change.  As I sat on the bench listening to the sounds of the lake and watching planes take off over downtown from Love Field, ATC had the airports back on their normal flight approach from the north.

 Then eureka points began to  spring forth in those moments of content and white noise. My brain was once again thinking and it felt good. Like a computer printer, item after item was popping across my nerve endings like pages in the printers collection hopper. The top item was a bit of a revelation and I had to stop and think about that for a minute before thinking to my self that the EP was very much correct. It has been 10-years since I have decorated for Christmas. Ten Years! The second EP that popped up was that although I had not decorated like I once did, the memories of when I did were still deep in my heart and will always be there, whether I resume decorating for the holidays or not.

That thought genesis lies in the fact that there has been so many pictures taken at the dam and spillways, the past week,  the association of water over the dam had triggered that EP. As the afternoon passed and the joy of being out in the midst of nature, suggested to me that there were red grapes and a banana in my tote bag in the car, and that the return trip home would be paused long enough for a short list of staples needed from the grocery store.

On the way to the grocery, first it was a whistling, then it was singing the lyrics to the old
Tom Leher's Lyrics to Polution 
I could not get that song out of my head. You can probably figure out hold many years it's been since I bought that old 33 1/3 LP. My Lord! where has the time gone?

Clear Skies of Downtown 8-miles in the distance.

The seagull was grabbing the minnows just below the water's surface.

The Sun Returned

With the rain out of here, the sun was out for the first time since Thanksgiving Day. Even though the light north wind was a bit cutting at times, it still was a delightful day to get the cardio walk in and

The tidal pool looks placid again.

Birds were every where in the trees.

The beaver several days ago. See the tail----it's for sure, a beaver.

take a few pictures.

The storm with over eight-inches of rain was hard on the beaver population. Four beavers were killed. The city parks service picked up the last one this afternoon. I really did appreciate the help that I got from  Parks and Recreation to take care of the one that was in a very populated spot for visitors. Thanks to the guys at the City of Dallas Parks and Recreation Department for their help. Two were killed crossing 78 at San Rafael;one on the Dixon Creek crossing of Buckner and the fourth washed up into the parking area at Sunset Bay. I had just taken a picture of one going up the channel into the old fish hatchery just before the storms hit. I've been looking for him but haven't seen him again. I fear the worse outcome with the recent outcome from confirmed deaths.

The water flow has really slowed down. The grass caught on top of the new USGS automated water gauge is still funny. I'll call the field office and find out how they report that much water flow.