A Giraffe Will Show Up Eventually

The giraffe

Many years ago, I would tell an old friend, complaining about setting in traffic, that if they just watched the trucks that would pass, eventually they would see a giraffe. We laughed and went on about the day.

Sure enough, one day, not so many years afterwards, a truck passed with two giraffe's being transported to, or from, a zoo's vet facilities. It had to happen! It just had to happen.  And so, from that point on, when there was doubt, I would remind myself to just keep looking for that giraffe to show up.

Yesterday, my younger brother, his wife and I, meet at lunch time before resuming our activities for Memorial Day. My brother would mention places were he had eaten and ask if I knew where that place was. "Sure, I've been there," I would reply. Long story short, it grew into a game. Both of us are practical jokers and pranksters anyway. Because we were bookend siblings, we never got much of a chance to pick on each other growing up. My middle brother got that from both sides. So it's just natural that my youngest brother and I should resume that part of our lives that we missed out on growing up.

My sister-in-law ask me if I had seen the baby giraffe at the zoo. Lord, that was an invitation to walk back down memory lane and recall names of cousins and tales of snake spottings and such all the while thinking in the back of my mind of the old giraffe story. After saying good bye and pulling into traffic, they were soon lost in sight as I made a turn onto a street that would eventually lead to White Rock for some Live News Feed shots of Memorial Day in Dallas. I had not traveled more than a mile from the restaurant when out of the corner of my eye, I spot---a giraffe--I kid you not!  I made a turn around at the next left lane turn and came back to where the giraffe was standing. Parking, then getting my camera bag out of the trunk, I got a couple of shots of the infamous---giraffe. As it turned out, it was not real, were in the real story, they were. Still, a giraffe is a giraffe is a giraffe, regardless if it is alive or a man-made material one.

Above, is the giraffe that I saw from the road. A couple more shots below are those that didn't make the live feed. It was a beautiful day of low humidity after a cold front passed and the winds were light and variable from the north at about 5MPH. A perfect, gentle and cooling breeze to be outside,

A young couple fishing

Times up on the rentals!

Kirat Society Texas for Religion & Culture USA

Greetings, Genghis!

I was able to get a couple of images from this afternoon's events after seeing you there.
This is the second event that I was able to get images from Flag Pole Hill. It's just one of those out of the way places but is still considered White Rock Lake as the lake came up to Flag Pole Hill at one time. In fact, there are places at the lake where you can see the flag on flag pole hill.

I love tasting different foods from different cultures, too. Since this was a respected event, I didn't want to press my luck to much, but the smell a couple of times was like a magnet, drawing me in that direction.

Lotus Flowers?

I had a little picture of your name sake.

Genghis Khan

1162-1227

Baby Ducks Are Showing Up Bigger This Year.

Just a few weeks ago a couple of photographers and I were talking about how we had not seen any baby ducks this year. Normally by this time, we have seen baby ducks all over the lake. As we began to talk and compare stories, it seemed that the ducks were nesting under deeper cover this year. The reason being that there are more bob cats and coyotes at the lake than in the past. The big problem has been the bob cats. They are on the move in relocating from their normal north digs because of all the construction going on in Frisco and McKinney, Plano, and across the northern sector of north Texas.

Well, about a week after that discussion, I saw a Mallard hen in a Richardson park that had a clutch of 20 chicks. 20! Then, last week I saw a hen  with a normal amount of chicks on the lake, out away from the shoreline. That was strange too. To be that far out in the lake with chicks (goslings, excuse me) was not a normal situation.

Today, I saw a Mallard hen teaching her brood how to face into swells from high winds. It was funny watching the little ducks bury their heads in the water until the wave washed over them, then they came out with water all over their feathers. And, if that wasn't enough, my second stop I saw the mother duck that I had seen about 10-days ago in the current flow, but then, I got to looking and it was a wood duck with her chicks. So, what I had thought was a Mallard on this part of the lake was really a little wood duck. They were not nesting where they normally nest, either. There is something the ducks are really afraid of that is causing them to change their behavior to a very noticeable level. When I can catch the environmental biologist making his rounds, I will try to find out what's the word on this situation.

In the mean while, here are the pictures of two of the mom's with their goslings. The, Mallard teaching swimming lessons and the Wood Duck keeping her brood on the move.

The Mallard teaching how to take a lake swell head on.

Here, mom Wood Duck has told her brood to take cover in the reed bed. There were a lot of fishermen and people with their dogs walking along the shore line as I took this shot. She has 8 goslings. The head dress on the female is not near as nice and colorful as on the male. He was not in sight today,anywhere. And, these were a couple of miles from where they were first sighted and nesting boxes are provided. She is nesting in this area. She knows the lay of the land pretty well, too.

There are two goslings here with mom and the rest are  in a little alcove below her and still in the water. NB--- The Mallards are permanent residents. The Wood Ducks are migratory.

Late Spring Is Stil Kite Weather!

These two kites were flying high and proud at White Rock yesterday afternoon. It was a perfect day with gusty winds and very low humidity and dew points. In short, it was a delight to be outside for anything.  There were a couple of times that the wind dropped to near calm before the wind started back up and the gust returned.

These kites need 25-35 mph gust to keep them in the air with their 30 foot tails. People were seeing them on the higher elevation roads and driving by to take a closer look. Some, ever parked and got out to watch for a while.

One of my photographer friends that operates a drone, had a new drone helipad that has LED lighting for night time landings, but it keeps the dust and grass from getting into the drone, too. He was one of those that was driving home and wheeled in to not only watch but to get some shots. From his angle, he was above the kites and behind them. Ever seen a huge kite at 150 feet or more in the air from the back side looking down? I would like to see those shots eventually.

Twins with 30 ft Tails

Wind dropping first time.

This will show the size in relationship to the shelter house size as the wind gives out a second time. Five minutes later it was back up in the air.

To All Our Friends In The UK

dallaspaparazzo would like to express our sincere and heartfelt sympathy in the loss of life and the pain suffered by so many, both physical and emotionally in Manchester

 

 For our many friends in Great Britain who are our customers and agents as well as those previously mentioned above, our prayers and love go out to each and every one of you in this most difficult time.

Jordan Missed The Cut and So Did I.

Alright, lets just get a couple of old drift wood out of the way from the beginning. Yes, I did go to the Four Seasons Resort. Yes, I did go to Lake Carolyn. In fact, I even clocked the distance between the two locations in traffic to see if I would have enough time. The thing is---even after crossing over the Carpenter and going up a couple of hills to the very top, it because very obvious to me (from past years workings) that the organization was way off this year. The check point for Uber drivers was more like 30 cows trying to pass through a gate for one at the same time. The big black SUVs that bore the Byron Nelson on the side for the players were even seen out of place from where they normally would be located. The crowd of people waiting to get in and the gallery crowds that I could see lining the fairways and the greens were out of control, I thought. At one point when I passed on the holes that were coming up, tournament judges waited impatiently for the leaders to make their way to their tee, fairway and green. It was there, right then, that I knew that I would not come back for the action on Sunday (today). I have learned a long time ago to cut your losses, not sit on something costing you money when it isn't going to pay off at all.

The dragon boat races are pretty much the same. The only thing that changes there are the people in the boat, the people on the stage and the vendors. While I would have liked to go, by the time I got out of the house today it would not be another advantageous event.

The other piece of drift wood is the fact, yes, I did photograph an airplane. Yes, I did photograph a train. You can go back and read "about me/us" on page two of the website. It's going to tell you right up front that airplanes and trains hold a very special place in my photography. The biggest of all can be seen on the header of my twitter page. And, Air Force One landing at Love field were all documented under Obama' trips to Dallas, but one in particular was the Magnum Opus. It appears on page 5 of my website in frame. And the Union Pacific Big Boy when it was moved from Fair Park to that train place named after a Railroad called, Frisco got a lot of coverage. With that said, it does get better from here on out.  And, I made a serendipitous find that I didn't even know existed until today that blew me away. The acres and acres of parking lots with a Valet station the size of a Butler Building and security towers that look like something from Yellowstone Fire Ranger stations. There is a night club that will blow you away. There is a rodeo that you could most likely sit Mesquite Rodeo inside.

Then, I still have enough energy to shoot the beginning of a project that will form the story board make up  before a I actually start shooting it for publishing. I'm estimating fall before I get to that point but, hey, I'm having tons of fun. I know one thing. I am back to sleeping 8-9-10 hours a day again and that feels good. A clap of thunder around 8 this morning shook me awake and when I looked at the clock again---it was 9:40! I had wanted to be on the road by 8:30. But, you see, my body knew that a thunderstorm was going to rumble through about that time and it let me sleep!
That's why I listen to my body. It's got things all figured out already. All I have to do is step back and let it do its thing. In short---I don't fight the system. That's going to be an upcoming blog story later on this year.

Here is a sampling of some of the images, excluding the trains and planes.

Uptown growth sells out before it's done.

If we get a Super Bowl, we are going to kill the suburban room business in hotels!!

A very impressive and creative design for an impressive and creative design group. WOW! even the ramp to the overhead door adds that Noah Ark effect!

Even I React To One Of my Mission Statements Points.

Well, several years ago when I was working on my mission statement, I wanted something that was short, simple but also that down hill drop of a roller coaster to wake people up. So, I settled on the mission statement that I continue to use and see no need to change it in any way. It simply says: To enhance the mind, stir the emotions and quench a thirsty soul.

Enhance the mind can be done through education, exposure to new experiences. To stir the emotions needs to get a bit deeper under the skin and cause a bit of a squirm or uncomfortableness in general, and to quench a thirsty soul needs to send a bit of goosebumps racing up and down your spine. These things do not always have to work as a triptych panel although sometimes for various people they do indeed. When that happens and they write to me, I enjoy a very good day.

Never-the-less, there are times that I outsmart myself and forget about how powerful an image can be. Then, like today, when I take an hour or two and start at the beginning of last year and go though my entire file of images, pausing now and then when I remember something really special about an image and can recall almost every detail about that shoot. Then, there pops up an image and I stop and just sit back in my desk chair and shiver from the goose bumps that it has caused---a through quenching of a thirsty soul. What does that mean, you say. It is a deep satisfaction that there is more to life than  people walking around with their heads buried in an iPhone and that I am so thankful that I can shock myself back into the reality of caring once again, hoping that it has that same shock value to others that let them know  they are alright, or at least better than they thought there were.

Yesterday, I drove past the Bomb Factory, a music venue for concerts in Deep Ellum. I though about all the places in Detroit that once held such concerts like the groups that tour nationwide and have changed today like Deep Ellum venues. This morning, the first thing I see in the headlines is about Chris Cornell, the frontman of Soundgarden and Audioslave as well as the organizer of the  grunge movement in music. Chris was due to be at the Bomb Factory, one spot that I try to cover from the outside as people of all ages line up to get tickets or to get inside. There are forces working in the universe.

 It was not by accident that I happened to come down Commerce from Trinity Groves yesterday. Usually, I take the middle tunnel, which is Main Street. Those are the tunnels at Dealey Plaza that come out of the rail road bridge and fan out over Elm, Main and Commerce Streets in downtown Dallas. It's just a force of nature that causes one to react and not know why until the answer falls into place. I had been wondering how I could be in three places at once on Sunday, which I could not have been anyway, but  it's the last Byron Nelson at Cottonwood Four Seasons. The Dragonboat and Kite Festival is that same weekend in May annually and the Bomb Factory was something that I was thinking I could maybe hit late but now, it's not in the storyboards at all.

My blog continues to grow but I do work at it. If it ever got profitable, I'd have to make a decision that might change the mission statement. There isn't much chance of that because  I've seen things grow and grow and change the whole character of what once was a great ideal in the beginning. I always want that great ideal in the beginning---even at the end.

The Musuem Tower financed by the pension funds of Dallas Police and Fire Fighters

The restored Texas Theater in Oak Cliff

A Riderless Horse in a Procession

See if you can pick out the three mission points that goes with the three images. Remember it's the goose bump factor that determines the winner.

There's A Race Going On!!

My pictures are indexed. There is a book for each agency. When a license is made, that  is recorded with the agency that licensed it and the revenue generated from the license (some call that a royalty; the IRS sure does!). Never-the-less, sometimes, images are listed with more than one agency, When that happens, that license is recorded in the book with the agency, even though, there may be one listed in another agency book. I suppose that is why they call it indexing. I call it landmark recording! ☺♫ ♫.

Up until today, I had one image that has just set the universe (my universe) on fire. This morning when I checked my e-mail,  Instead of opening the e-mail, I just went directly to the agency listing. When I recorded the license, it hit me that this image was pretty much being licensed as much as my best one to date with another agency. When I investigated more closely, sure enough---that image had surpassed the number one licensed image by seven more than the other. Then, when I looked at the financials----the number one licensed image was still a winner because it's revenue was more than double the one that just surpassed it by seven licenses. So-- yep! it's a winner in numbers and the other is winner in dollars! I had to call it a tie!! At least it wasn't heading toward a black hole yet.

Overall, my images are being used more now each year. That is why my workload has been rather heavy of late. It's the old adage: you create the beast, you have to feed it. That is what I have been doing. Overall, it has been fun and as long as it continues to be fun, the schedule can be adjusted around daily activities of shopping and banking and grocery trips and medicine trips and doctors! To be grateful and thankful that I have pretty good health (although there are some problems to deal with) would be an understatement. There are a couple of setbacks coming up and as I work through those I'll be back behind the eight ball again, no doubt. Speaking of the eight ball,,,I just picked that thing up form the 8-ball repair store, too.

We've had three days of 90s. June is looking like it's going to be right on target. The humidity has been better of late,  and the wind...it's been gusting more than normal.I'm hoping that this summer just does not see much of that triple digit stuff.  You know that when you add the outside air temp and the dewpoint together and it is under 130 it's a pretty good day. If when you add the two together and it's over 130, that means you can stand still and have sweat form. That's the days when I turn around and come on back inside. In Texas, that 130 number usually pops around 10  or 10:30 in the morning. So with that in mind, I start out much earlier and by 10:30 when those numbers come together to wring out the sweat , I'm in the car with the AC on, heading back to the barn.

Something else that I noticed today with all the new transplants moving in. That 10:30 thing is when those people start to turn mean! Today, I saw plates from the following states: Montana, Nevada, Virginia, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Idaho, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin,  The usual that are the result of Toyota workers starting Monday at the new Corporate Headquarters here  are ton's of California plates. And it's only gonna get worse as the numbers increase as they fill up the campus.

Tempers!

Tempers again!

Now he thinks that he's gonna peck a hole in that cement! Crazy woodpecker---but he was so funny.

It's True. You Talk to the Animals and they Talk to You!

Last week in one of my post it was mentioned that the work load had been heavier of late, but that the enjoyment of being busy has always motivated me to do even more. To top that off, this is the time of the year that for me personally is a somber one that begins on June first and last until July 10th. In that period, my work load will drop to near nothing and it will be a time for me to just be a wanderlust. But, it's not June one yet!

Two big events are coming up this weekend. The DFW Dragon Boat Races and Kite Festival kicks off in Las Colinas

The song bird is on a #3 Rebar arch. The bug in his beak is as big as the rebar he sits on.

This is my buddy. He walked with me on the sidewalk. I"d stop and turn around and he would catch up, then we would go another lap.  It was so funny. He listened as I talked to him, tilting his head to the side and looking up at me.

This great blue heron was a high stepper. He had a gate  that never changed as he walked the edge of the canal. This is the second bird of the crane family that I have seen do this in the past few days. The other one was a great egret that walked the edge of a fountain like this guy and actually was fishing. This guy was just out for a walk. He tired me out !

on Lake Carolyn and the last year for the Byron Nelson Golf Classic plays at the Four Seasons Resort at Cottonwood in Las Colinas before moving to the new Trinity Forest Golf Course in South Dallas. The past two years I have watched this course take shape and the #5 pin was in the cup this time last year as a show of progress. But, this year, the Byron will still be at Four Seasons and will be a time for all the old familiar faces that have worked at the Four Seasons the past 35  years to say good-bye with the class that tournament generated year after year after year. With luck, getting shots from the Byron and the Dragon Boat Races should not be to much of a problem with the proximity of both venues almost overlapping each other. Next year, will be a bit more challenging to say the least.

This afternoon, brought me to Farmers Branch for a quick check on a little project that has been wilting on the vine for the past year. But, before it's leaves turn brown and fall completely off the vine, it was an honest attempt to check on it one last time. In fact, the Gardner was working on it when I got there and the darn thing looked pretty well. It just might survive.The roses were not as nice as  they have been in years past and the calla lilies, while pretty, were a bit down this year as well.

But, it was an interesting bit to sit on the bench swing and watch the birds. There was one big beautiful great blue heron,  busy little song bird who actually caught a big bug in flight and a blue jay that wanted to walk with me on the sidewalk.  I do talk to the animals and over the years, I have learned that they will talk to you if you listen and pay attention to there jesters.

This Is Why I Keep My Camera On The Front Seat.

Sometimes, you just never know where a picture will come from. As noted in previous post, my friend and long time Associated Press photographer was great for driving that point home. As time went forward from those days, I began to see the reasoning behind his harping. JD was so brilliant  in dishing out things like that, it  made you like him more than you hated him for it in the overall.

Today the wrap around low that was moving into Arkansas after a tornado close by here yesterday, again, was spewing beautiful but way to many clouds over the metroplex while the rest of Texas bathed in glorious sunshine. But, sometimes you just get in the car and cast your fate to the wind in hopes that you will get a break here and there.

I did. And this is what I got.

This just came out of nowhere.

Although I had heard about this earlier, I wasn't expecting to see it pop up where it actually did in Deep Ellum. Stunning!

It's A Long Way From Here To There

Yesterday was a precursor to today. I noticed work starting on a water tower and went to check it out. The guy told me that if I was back tomorrow (today) between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. I could photograph the envelope being filled with hot air and watch it rise like a balloon to the top of the water tower.

Without an alarm clock set, I was awake at 5:00a.m. I made a quick breakfast. I even was willing to for go making a pot of coffee for instant. It was 6;50 when I came out of the house. From my driveway, I could see the water tower in the distance and the envelope was already raised!

As it turned out, I still drove over to the water tower which is two miles by surface roads. It's a long way from here to there it seems. There was no rush, but I sat in the car and drank my coffee watching the workers come and go from the tool trailer and then saw the ripple in the envelope as the blower was turned off.

The next thing that I knew, I was looking at a guy on top of the tower leaning over the side pulling up some of the envelope toward the top of the tank. He had safety gear but there is no way that I would get up there on the top of that take, a hundred and twenty feet off the ground and then look over the side, much less reaching for the material and pulling it up toward him like he had a blanket or something.

The day progressed from the water tank to McDonald's for a senior coffee and a sausage biscuit. The birds were happy this morning and even photogenic. By 2:00p.m. I was heading toward home for lunch and inside as the sky had gone from a beautiful blue hue to overcast.

If you have not looked at the portfolios of late, you will see some interesting images of architecture, flowers, birds, the water tower in greater detail and my favorite little bird---the scissor tail flycatcher. I've got his favorite post down to morning, noon and afternoon. I also almost got a perfect shot of a red winged blackbird in full wing and tail expanses. It was a bit blurry. I was not expecting him to do what he did when he did it at the time. I'll keep trying until I get it down pat. If I can shoot an A-380 Heavy jet coming in at 140MPH, this blackbird is not going to get my goat!

The cables were in place yesterday as is top rails that the envelope will be anchored.

This guy has nervers of steel! No way I would do that.

See the guy on top in the center? That shows how big this operation is overall.

The perfect pose for the blackbird, but it came out a bit blurred.

Cuteness That Is Just Cute to the Max

It's been pretty busy but I have gotten 250 images published.There has been a lot of Live New work as well as a few that I even just passed on because there were so many irons in the fire. There are festivals about with more coming up at the end of the month. The weather has been great. 78-81 during the day and 54 at night. That is good sleeping weather and I need that sleep.

It's also the end of the first week without my TV. That was a choice thing. U-verse just got so greedy I pulled the plug on it and my LAN line telephone. For the first time since I was 21, there is not an AT&T in my life. The funny thing is that I have not missed it. I stream my news programs local and national and that's all that I need really. I still want to know what's going on in the world. Besides, I do enjoy listening to Classical. I regained by surround sound and tuner as a unit again with the TV gone. I had forgotten how nice it is to work on the computer and listen to classical in surround sound.

But now that the chicks have branched and even flown to parts unknown. It doesn't seem like that much time has gone by already with the owl nesting season, but I was watching the owls and the red-shoulder hawks since mid January. Here it is clicking away into May already. So, I have a set of images of the owls that readers might like. The published ones are (naturally) better, but for those of you that use stock for your blogs, this will give you some indication of how to use the images in another way if a person steps in while you are shooting and the image comes out with an elbow or a hand. Don't toss those. They can be edited down to remove those things without that aweful  thing they call Photoshop.

Ronnie Houses (and I don't mean Ronald McDonald near hospitals)

At first the concept seemed to me like a great idea. That is to say, putting a modern nice 5-bedroom home in an old established neighborhood. You have fully mature trees, it just seems like it should be there. It would be, or though it seems, the perfect ideal situation as so many of the suburban neighborhood developments are bare of old growth trees---just sticks with wires holding them upright. It is going to take 25 years to have those trees higher than the house tops in those new developments.

We have all seen that situation. So, I was pretty much in favor of the zoning changes that permitted custom home developers to come into a mature and seasoned neighbor, buy up a house here and there and quietly, tear them down and clear the lot. Then one day the workers show up and start digging the foundation. Then, the framers begin the hammering and sawing. Then the roofers are climbing on the steep pitch and lofty roofs that are in the canopies of the trees. You get the picture. Then, Voila!  There is this McMansion that is sitting on your neighbors lot so out of place in your neighborhood. Then, one of your neighbors is talking to you about the one that is farther down your street that has an open house sign out in front. Then you begin to feel squeezed as more and more houses are torn down and McMansions appear one by one. Then one day, you are the only house left and instead of these McMansions increasing your neighborhoods value that includes your property, it is now driving your property value into the ground as their values increase and the guy from the street corner sign or major artery street billboard says they will buy your ugly looking home. What pressure!

It's happened all over Dallas. My mom's old neighborhood that was long and sprawling 3-bedroom ranch-style homes are now pretty much gone. So much, I hardly recognize the neighborhood any longer and if I didn't see the old street signs, I'd swear that I wasn't in the old neighborhood.  One street that I travel on my route is now constructing  the Last  of the Mohicans. I use the James Fenimore Cooper narrative of the second book of the Leather Stocking Tales as a historical reference only. I counted the number of houses since the first one appeared  on the street and the total is 34 homes. Now, an adjoining street has its first anchor on the corner ready to bulldoze more of the homes from when that neighborhood  was new construction.

Calling these houses McMansions just do not even pay justice to the underscore of what is happening. In several cases---what has happened. Therefore, I have begun calling them Ronnie Houses. "There's another Ronnie House!"

A Ronnie House

A Ronnie House next to what the neighborhood once was. To me, it's forced upon those that worked hard to have a nice home only to sacrifice it for those who want your trees that are fully grown and have their Ronnie House too! Every one is impatient---the developers to make more money and the homeowner who just can't wait 30-years for the neighborhood to mature. What pressure.