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| Local IA706 in Burbank represents the Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylist Guild. |
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Which One Is Hanna Storm?
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Today Was A Productive Day.
The weatherman said that the best day of the next week was going to be today and "you should go out today and enjoy it before the cold really sets in." I checked the National Weather Service website and after reading the discussion section, I was out the door with camera case in under 10-minutes. After checking the gas prices and finding a $1.79 station in the area, I drove to the station and filled up. It's been a long time since I filled my car for $20.69. Then, I pointed Hildegaard (that's my car's name) toward White Rock and beyond--Great Trinity Forest Way-- beyond. Why? I have pictures!!
If you haven't been out Buckner Boulevard (Loop 12 South) for a while, you will discover that around the Audubon Society's amazing hide-a-way, Buckner, (aka Loop 12) is now renamed Great Trinity Forest Way. Fitting, because it is the northern top of the heart of the Great Trinity Forest , a 6,000 acre urban forest.
There are a couple of areas down the driveway to park before you must pay for the Audubon and I wanted to see if anything had changed. It had changed a lot! On the way back out the long drive, I found two cars of Dallas Police Officers, parked in the free area. Two doing their routine checks and two that were on bicycle duty already out riding. The first two officers were able to answer my questions that I had and my main reason to come out there today. Alongside the roadway inbound, there were piles and piles of dirt being moved around and pipe and tubes and stake flags and bulldozers. I ask the first set of officers if the construction that was visible was the new golf course? I got a big smile from both of them and a strong, YES! So, half my search had ended before it had officially begun. My hunches had paid off. But there was a serendipity to be had as well. AT & T had paid out $2.5 million dollars to add to and expand the hiking and biking trails from the Audubon Society to Elam Road. In fact, between the roadway going into the Audubon and the new golf course construction, the new concrete trail was off through the Great Trinity already.
I shot what is reported to be the 5th green and fairway, of the 400 plus acre complex known as Trinity Forest Golf Course. The other two offices that was on their bikes were returning to the parking lot and yelled out, "hey, how ya doing ?" as they arrived at their patrol car to load up their bikes. I walked over to the car and explained that I had been given direction from the two earlier officers but I was uncertain about what was meant my a turn location they had given me. The officers on their bikes cleared that up for me.
The second location? The new and nearly complete Texas Horse Park. I had taken some pictures of riders at the Columbus Day Parade on the Continental Bridge Pedestrian Park and one of the guy said that I should go check it out, that it was going to be amazing. So, I put it on my list of projects to photograph. Later adding the Trinity Forest Golf Course, it fit right in with the Texas Horse Park as the two locations are within a mile of each other.
On leaving, I drove up 175 to I-45 to Central Expressway (US 75). Somewhere about Walnut Hill Lane there was a plumb of black smoke rising straight up miles ahead. As I am driving north, I'm thinking, that should be about Coit and Beltline. As it turned out, I was two blocks off! I shot the house fire with the help of the Richardson Fire Department and the Richardson Police. Long story short, no one was hurt. The fire came under control and the live feed picked up 20 images on the 48-hour rotation cycle. Since those images are running on the live feed, I didn't include any of those here.
Edited to change Avenue to Boulevard 07/01/2015
If you haven't been out Buckner Boulevard (Loop 12 South) for a while, you will discover that around the Audubon Society's amazing hide-a-way, Buckner, (aka Loop 12) is now renamed Great Trinity Forest Way. Fitting, because it is the northern top of the heart of the Great Trinity Forest , a 6,000 acre urban forest.
There are a couple of areas down the driveway to park before you must pay for the Audubon and I wanted to see if anything had changed. It had changed a lot! On the way back out the long drive, I found two cars of Dallas Police Officers, parked in the free area. Two doing their routine checks and two that were on bicycle duty already out riding. The first two officers were able to answer my questions that I had and my main reason to come out there today. Alongside the roadway inbound, there were piles and piles of dirt being moved around and pipe and tubes and stake flags and bulldozers. I ask the first set of officers if the construction that was visible was the new golf course? I got a big smile from both of them and a strong, YES! So, half my search had ended before it had officially begun. My hunches had paid off. But there was a serendipity to be had as well. AT & T had paid out $2.5 million dollars to add to and expand the hiking and biking trails from the Audubon Society to Elam Road. In fact, between the roadway going into the Audubon and the new golf course construction, the new concrete trail was off through the Great Trinity already.
I shot what is reported to be the 5th green and fairway, of the 400 plus acre complex known as Trinity Forest Golf Course. The other two offices that was on their bikes were returning to the parking lot and yelled out, "hey, how ya doing ?" as they arrived at their patrol car to load up their bikes. I walked over to the car and explained that I had been given direction from the two earlier officers but I was uncertain about what was meant my a turn location they had given me. The officers on their bikes cleared that up for me.
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| Reported to be the 5th Green and Fairway at the Trinity Forest Golf Course. |
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| Ribbon Cutting in March,2015 |
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| Designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw with Jonas Woods, the birds will already be learning to worm the course by the time it opens in 2016. |
The second location? The new and nearly complete Texas Horse Park. I had taken some pictures of riders at the Columbus Day Parade on the Continental Bridge Pedestrian Park and one of the guy said that I should go check it out, that it was going to be amazing. So, I put it on my list of projects to photograph. Later adding the Trinity Forest Golf Course, it fit right in with the Texas Horse Park as the two locations are within a mile of each other.
On leaving, I drove up 175 to I-45 to Central Expressway (US 75). Somewhere about Walnut Hill Lane there was a plumb of black smoke rising straight up miles ahead. As I am driving north, I'm thinking, that should be about Coit and Beltline. As it turned out, I was two blocks off! I shot the house fire with the help of the Richardson Fire Department and the Richardson Police. Long story short, no one was hurt. The fire came under control and the live feed picked up 20 images on the 48-hour rotation cycle. Since those images are running on the live feed, I didn't include any of those here.
Edited to change Avenue to Boulevard 07/01/2015
Sunday, January 4, 2015
2015 Is Underway--Roll it!
In the course of traveling a little circuit looking for editorial-type images, I come across a lots. Some are downloaded to my Lexar where they stay for 90-days. If I have not re-uploaded for use in this blog by then, they become deleted files. Some good shots have gone away like that because there just wasn't any good use for them. That includes not even selling them as basic stock images. Well, such is life in the big city. Otherwise, I would be paying mega bucks for terabyte storage.
A little sidetrack (pardon this pun as you will see later) here. When I was in college the thing called "new math" was just being taught in schools at most levels through college. No one really got it except people like my brothers and my sister-in-law. She is a cum lade math major. but terabytes--well, the whole Mega, Giga,Tera thing-- is all based on that early "new math". Had some one said to me then, take a 1000 bucks and grow it by another 1000 and you have a million, math would have been so much easier for me instead of talking in terms of powers (i.e. terabyte 4 10 a large allocation of data storage capacity or 2 40 is really 1,099,511,627,776 bytes) gees, a professional star gazer uses those things daily. Any who, ever six months I check to see how many of those things I can get rid of on my computer.
Back to the travel circuit. In the course of those travels, I have noticed on the BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) tracks over the Carpenter Freeway just south of Las Colinas, there are always tons of rail road tank cars sitting on the rail road across the Carpenter (we call it the 114). I also know that those tracks go into Carrollton to the rail yard just north of Beltline and Main. That is also the home of the local short line railroad that is the workhorse of the rail traffic in, through and around Dallas. That would be the DGNO, or Dallas Garland and Northeastern Rail Road, a property of Genesee & Wyoming, the G&W.Those tracks spur off and come back south along Denton Road to Lombardi where a 5 or 6 siding track is always filled with tank cars bearing the ADM logo (Archer Daniels Midland). In the photo, the DGNO is switching out rail cars north of the Denton Road Siding several blocks. In trying to get a better light shot on a gloomy day, I made a turn to the right so that I could make the block and come back around to where I had seen the DGNO engine. In doing so, I came across the ADM building on the corner of the second right turn. There was a truck tanker backed up into the building. Beyond that was a double row of tracks with rows of tank cars and a hopper car. All along side the back walls of two neighboring buildings but most were bulk tankers. Know, that solved the mystery of where all those tank cars were going. The rail cars were bulk storage and the truck tankers were either loading a blended mixture or taking their cargo direct from the rail cars. Either way, the operation was all connected to the string of tankers both on the BNSF tracks over the Carpenter and the siding tracks along Denton drive.
The truck tanker was later spotted at a Raceway gas station. Ethanol? Was that a corn cob incorporated into their logo on some of those rail cars?
Here's the thing: ADM is looking to move its headquarters out of Chicago. The company is listed on the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange). They operate on 6 of the 7 continents. They progressively grow in the right direction and work for a good environment, not a bad one.
In a past reported 10-K filing, they list as either owned or leased:
A little sidetrack (pardon this pun as you will see later) here. When I was in college the thing called "new math" was just being taught in schools at most levels through college. No one really got it except people like my brothers and my sister-in-law. She is a cum lade math major. but terabytes--well, the whole Mega, Giga,Tera thing-- is all based on that early "new math". Had some one said to me then, take a 1000 bucks and grow it by another 1000 and you have a million, math would have been so much easier for me instead of talking in terms of powers (i.e. terabyte 4 10 a large allocation of data storage capacity or 2 40 is really 1,099,511,627,776 bytes) gees, a professional star gazer uses those things daily. Any who, ever six months I check to see how many of those things I can get rid of on my computer.
Back to the travel circuit. In the course of those travels, I have noticed on the BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) tracks over the Carpenter Freeway just south of Las Colinas, there are always tons of rail road tank cars sitting on the rail road across the Carpenter (we call it the 114). I also know that those tracks go into Carrollton to the rail yard just north of Beltline and Main. That is also the home of the local short line railroad that is the workhorse of the rail traffic in, through and around Dallas. That would be the DGNO, or Dallas Garland and Northeastern Rail Road, a property of Genesee & Wyoming, the G&W.Those tracks spur off and come back south along Denton Road to Lombardi where a 5 or 6 siding track is always filled with tank cars bearing the ADM logo (Archer Daniels Midland). In the photo, the DGNO is switching out rail cars north of the Denton Road Siding several blocks. In trying to get a better light shot on a gloomy day, I made a turn to the right so that I could make the block and come back around to where I had seen the DGNO engine. In doing so, I came across the ADM building on the corner of the second right turn. There was a truck tanker backed up into the building. Beyond that was a double row of tracks with rows of tank cars and a hopper car. All along side the back walls of two neighboring buildings but most were bulk tankers. Know, that solved the mystery of where all those tank cars were going. The rail cars were bulk storage and the truck tankers were either loading a blended mixture or taking their cargo direct from the rail cars. Either way, the operation was all connected to the string of tankers both on the BNSF tracks over the Carpenter and the siding tracks along Denton drive.
The truck tanker was later spotted at a Raceway gas station. Ethanol? Was that a corn cob incorporated into their logo on some of those rail cars?
Here's the thing: ADM is looking to move its headquarters out of Chicago. The company is listed on the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange). They operate on 6 of the 7 continents. They progressively grow in the right direction and work for a good environment, not a bad one.
In a past reported 10-K filing, they list as either owned or leased:
2,500 Barges
27,400 Rail cars
600 Trucks
52 Oceangoing vessels
So, when George A. Archer, John W. Daniels acquired the Midland Linseed Products Company and founded the company in 1902, later incorporating in 1923, moving to Texas was not in their immediate plans. I hope the board members are beginning to have dreams of moving to Texas!
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| Tank cars with the ADM logo are a beautiful sight. |
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Crossing the Trinity on the Skyline Trail
Every one that I have come across when discussing the new Trinity Skyline Trail noted as everyone else did that there were trails on both sides of the Trinity but no one could state with any certainty where the bike trail would cross to the other side. Today, I found out. The city parks and recreation guys are pretty knowledgeable about what's going on and with the aid of a supervisor from all-places, Burkburnett, Texas, could even provide more information since his company was the project contractor. Burkburnett,Texas
is west of Wichita Falls just 2 miles off the I-44 bridge crossing into Oklahoma. That is right at 100 miles to go home or to come to work. Later, I was thinking that my uncle who was an electrician and driving that distance every day was just part of the job. He worked on Cobo Hall when it was being built with the Joe Arena. Now, the Joe is being torn down.Then, he worked for years upgrading Detroit Wayne County Airport. That's Metro. So distance like that isn't really a problem if you want to work.
I had gone down to the Anatole to see if the Michigan Spartans were meeting the public but I had missed the events for the day. On the return, driving out Harry Hines to see if the new Parkland Hospital was clearing out the fences so a shot of the magnificent architecture could finally be taken. Usually, it takes five or six trips to check on the best times for sunlight--morning--afternoon--evening. During the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge build, it turned out that the best sun is afternoons between 3PM and 5PM in the winter months. This time of year when the angle of the sun is still low, even the morning shots can be more silhouette than morning sun normal. As I crossed the new Sylvan bridge, I saw a car at the new ramp that goes down to the boat docks and the parking lots of Trammel Crow Park. I turned around and came back and went down the new ramp. Later, the contractor super told me that he and the crew opened the ramp to traffic last night. Today, the crew was setting the post that blocks off all the areas of the new trail except the two parking lots and the boat ramp. He showed me where the crossing from the east bank over to the west bank would be made on the old Sylvan bridge which is at trail grade below the levees.
Now, it was clear where you could cross on the north end. For now, there must be a new crossing on the south end and I'm thinking that it will be the I-30 Maggie 2 bridge since it will have a pedestrian and bike way on the bridge. But, for now, if the weather ever comes back to normal for north Texas, I can park in the Continental Bridge parking lot or the lots at Trammel Crow and ride both sides of the river. It's marked as 6.2 miles from the old Sylvan bridge on the new trail.
There will be new wet lands north of Sylvan and the banks of the Trinity have really been cleaned up. The crews are still working and the estimated completion date is mid February, or about 6-weeks more work. The Trammel Crow lake is now drained but is being cleaned up and then will be re-flooded.
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| The new ramp down to Trammel Crow Park off the new Sylvan Avenue Bridge |
I had gone down to the Anatole to see if the Michigan Spartans were meeting the public but I had missed the events for the day. On the return, driving out Harry Hines to see if the new Parkland Hospital was clearing out the fences so a shot of the magnificent architecture could finally be taken. Usually, it takes five or six trips to check on the best times for sunlight--morning--afternoon--evening. During the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge build, it turned out that the best sun is afternoons between 3PM and 5PM in the winter months. This time of year when the angle of the sun is still low, even the morning shots can be more silhouette than morning sun normal. As I crossed the new Sylvan bridge, I saw a car at the new ramp that goes down to the boat docks and the parking lots of Trammel Crow Park. I turned around and came back and went down the new ramp. Later, the contractor super told me that he and the crew opened the ramp to traffic last night. Today, the crew was setting the post that blocks off all the areas of the new trail except the two parking lots and the boat ramp. He showed me where the crossing from the east bank over to the west bank would be made on the old Sylvan bridge which is at trail grade below the levees.
Now, it was clear where you could cross on the north end. For now, there must be a new crossing on the south end and I'm thinking that it will be the I-30 Maggie 2 bridge since it will have a pedestrian and bike way on the bridge. But, for now, if the weather ever comes back to normal for north Texas, I can park in the Continental Bridge parking lot or the lots at Trammel Crow and ride both sides of the river. It's marked as 6.2 miles from the old Sylvan bridge on the new trail.
There will be new wet lands north of Sylvan and the banks of the Trinity have really been cleaned up. The crews are still working and the estimated completion date is mid February, or about 6-weeks more work. The Trammel Crow lake is now drained but is being cleaned up and then will be re-flooded.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Special Post for Texans
Texas Residents Special Notice. Big Bertha in London Live New Feed Images Are Showing Up In Post.
The University of Texas Alum Band and Big Bertha, James Bowie High School Marching Band and Dallas' Lake Highland High School Wranglers dance troupe are in Trafalgar Square, London, UK today pre-performing for London New Year's Day Parade.
Currently, and on a 48-hour rotating cycle, is showing 32 images on Alamy Live News Feed. On the cycle, they are already on page one, row 4 and middle image. As time passes and feed images are added, they will move right and drop down another row.
You can go to the link: http://www.dallaspaparazzo.com or click on the "a" in a black square on the right hand column of this blog. Scroll down until you see the "a". Click the box and a window will open up. Click the same black box with "ALAMY" and then the "live new feed". Look for the image and headline and it will open up to all 32 images. You can click on those images and purchase an image. The London photographer gets full credit for the image.
I could not pass up letting people know that they can see the news feed. And, I would watch the feeds daily as other photographers may post live feeds from today or tomorrow or at the parade itself on New Year's Day. Also remember that England is +6 hours ahead of our time as they are on GMT.
The University of Texas Alum Band and Big Bertha, James Bowie High School Marching Band and Dallas' Lake Highland High School Wranglers dance troupe are in Trafalgar Square, London, UK today pre-performing for London New Year's Day Parade.
Currently, and on a 48-hour rotating cycle, is showing 32 images on Alamy Live News Feed. On the cycle, they are already on page one, row 4 and middle image. As time passes and feed images are added, they will move right and drop down another row.
You can go to the link: http://www.dallaspaparazzo.com or click on the "a" in a black square on the right hand column of this blog. Scroll down until you see the "a". Click the box and a window will open up. Click the same black box with "ALAMY" and then the "live new feed". Look for the image and headline and it will open up to all 32 images. You can click on those images and purchase an image. The London photographer gets full credit for the image.
I could not pass up letting people know that they can see the news feed. And, I would watch the feeds daily as other photographers may post live feeds from today or tomorrow or at the parade itself on New Year's Day. Also remember that England is +6 hours ahead of our time as they are on GMT.
Book Covers
Sometimes, I get blown away by the simple question. Then, it occurs to me that comfort zones for people limit their ability to expand their horizons. A recent experience was noted when someone who watched me photography various things around a fairly popular spot at White Rock Lake. She came up to me as I was getting ready to leave. "Can I ask you a question, sir", she called out. I stopped as she walked over to where I was standing. She ask her question. I tried to give her the best of answers and not be silly. Her reply was, "I would never have guessed that in a million years."
We talked for nearly a half hour about photography and landscapes but mostly about graphic arts in so many businesses. Book covers, CD covers, albums, e-books were just a few uses that she had never thought about. Then, as if another drive kicked in, under a head of auburn hair tied back in a pony tail with grey roots along her temple. At that moment everything began to fit together, she could see the full picture as it was intended. When I showed her the in-camera image, she said that she had done some writing but never did much with it afterwards because she didn't understand the full process of the publishing process. Selecting an image and putting it together with her manuscript, she could complete the process of e-book publishing as a start with minor software additions to her computer.
We talked for nearly a half hour about photography and landscapes but mostly about graphic arts in so many businesses. Book covers, CD covers, albums, e-books were just a few uses that she had never thought about. Then, as if another drive kicked in, under a head of auburn hair tied back in a pony tail with grey roots along her temple. At that moment everything began to fit together, she could see the full picture as it was intended. When I showed her the in-camera image, she said that she had done some writing but never did much with it afterwards because she didn't understand the full process of the publishing process. Selecting an image and putting it together with her manuscript, she could complete the process of e-book publishing as a start with minor software additions to her computer.
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| An old Sycamore tree that is one of my favorites from year to year. |
It was a reality check for me in that you think most people looking at a picture could relate it to how images are used, but they don't.
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It All Started in the wee hours of May 28th when 80 MPH winds was tossing everything against the side of my house.
Those winds were substained for well over 40 minutes. The results were trees everywhere down or large branches broken off. One of my bus ro...
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