Live News Feed Images Running

http://www.alamy.com/news/newsresults.aspx

Click on the link to see the images on the live news feed. The run for 48-hours and roll off. So every minute you wait, they slip down another row!!

There were for soccer fans that were celebrating FC Barcarolna's win today over Real Madrid.

This is the headline image running. Click it on the feed and it will open up to the total of 6 images.

Happy Earth Day

It's cold in Dallas today. Winds gust to 31MPH;North wind, High only 60's;Low tonight 40s! AARGH! And in three days it will be 90 degrees or more! Too, early!!!

Will try to get some good Earth Day Shots today but no guarantees with the weather conditions.

Enjoy the activities in your area.


UPDATE 
++++++++++++++

Well, I encircled Fair Park twice today. The funny thing is that Fair Park is a 177-acre complex. Of that, two-thirds is basically parking. There were only two gates open and they were a fair distance from the Hall of State Complex and the Halls used for booths etc. It was very clear that the three day event that is billed as free, was, indeed a one sided afair. Take the train and you get in free less your train fare. Bring your car and it the free event becomes a minimum  ticket price of $10.00. The thing about that is I have always boycotted events that charge for parking when they bill it as free. The reason is that one, there are a lot of low-income families that attend this type of event. They will pay bus, train or parking. But the big issue for me has always been ethics. No one minds  nominal parking fee, but $10.00 even today, is a bit much. Drive ins for years would charge $1.00 a car load. or  $2.00 tops.

So, doing as I did with Deep Ellum, also a three-day event, I checked it out on Saturday and then shot the event on the following day. The difference this time is that for Earth Day, I'm not going back. I have shot previous Earth Days throughout the city before--not just one location. It didn't take me long to decide that I would do the same this Earth Day. So, from Fair Park, it's straight up Grand Avenue to Garland Avenue to White Rock Lake. Here's a couple of Earth Day events from the Rock.

Some Event from Winfrey Point. People were not talking.

A beautiful way to spend a chilly day with a cold north wind. The horses love that.

Baby Owls Make Debute

A month ago when I first posted images of momma owl landing on the tree hole and looking in as if there were chicks there instead of eggs, I had a hunch that the eggs had already hatched. The question remained: how many? Well, it appears that there are three--were three- as only one remains in the nest. And, with momma bringing food, having the nest to yourself, there is no urgency now to get out. However, today, I did see signs that the little owl has the curiousness to come out sooner than later.

The other two nest mates were hanging out high in the canopy. Once out, they will not go back into the trees nest. Dad was up above the little patch of forest circulating in wide patterns as momma was bringing food for the one in the nest and the other two that are out in the canopy. That is the only way you are going to locate the little ones is to watch where momma takes the food. The leafing of the canopy makes it hard to see the little fellows.

The area is dark and the sky was mostly cloudy as moisture streams in from the Gulf once again. It was humid and into the 80s today. Had the sun been out full time, I would have been in under the AC. I had reset my ISO to make amends for the da.rkness but I did get grainy images doing that. Not the best by any means. In fact, it makes me rather disturbed because I know better about how to correct the problem. The problem was more that momma would take flight and then swoosh in to feed the babies. Adjusting was just not my  speed today. Sorry about that. The blog does suffer  at times with less that perfect images. Two things: it keeps the images from being stolen and also, I can use an image on the blog where I could not use it as stock. Sorry about that, too. But, as I said a few post back: I'm not perfect.I don't want to be perfect. I will never be perfect and most all, I have come to dislike those that think the world should be totally perfect. For them, it is a pure indication that they already have a defect! Ain't poetic justice great?


Here are the images good or bad. The little owl is just plain cute either way.

Mom feeding chick below her on left of stick by mom's head.

Mom on right. Chick on Left

Mom is mom but chick is looking out of the hole and looking at the ground below.

Chicks usually fly upward on leaving the nest area.

Serendipity! What A Find!

After having the annual birthday lunch with my youngest brother and his wife, I meandered my way back toward home when I see this amazing blaze of color surrounding a building that I pass regularly without fanfare. Yet, today, there was all this color and I had to find out what it was that was producing this canvas. It was blocks on four sides of beautiful color. These yards and yards of flowers reminded me of a gladiola farm that my family  would pass year after year as we visited relatives in another city.

With my car parked, I headed out on foot to explore this color fest. Almost instantly, I found people sitting their babies, kids and even older adults down in the middle of these beautiful flowers. Why some people think that they have the right to destroy a creation that had been made for the enjoyment of all  by plopping their butts down in the middle and crushing the flowers, let along the path that they made getting there, is beyond me.

As I made my way around the first bunch of flower crushers toward the next patch, there were not any other people squashing flowers. Moving on to patch three, there appeared to be another bunch of people doing the same thing. Joy soon came over me as I observed people doing what the other batch of self-centered flower crushers should have been doing but didn't. That made this batch of flowers with tons of people taking pictures pristine, There was a pre-cut path made especially for people to walk toward the middle but not smash or crush flowers. My heart rejoiced that there are still those that respect public property  but still reap the rewards as intended.

There was an Asian family of five that approached me and ask if I would take their picture, which I was more than glad to do as they respected the flowers so others could enjoy them too. Shortly after that, a Hispanic man walked up to me and ask if I would do the same for he and his family. "Gladly", I replied. They too, had respected the flowers and took pictures where they should be taken.

These images, that I took shows why one should never just plop down their butt in the middle of a bed of flowers--planted or wild-- just for the sake of a picture. There are many ways that one can achieve that same effect and even have the picture come out even better than destroying flowers for the enjoyment of everyone--not just those that happen to butt the ground first in their self centerediness.

El Salvador at White Rock Lake

Three great people at White Rock were taking pictures today. They didn't speak much English, but I have always enjoyed talking with people who are learning our language because in addition to having the proper speech of any language, there is also a universal hand language that is like making a discovery. To see their faces light up when they understand what you are saying as well as the fun and respect that goes with understanding them has always been a treasure for me. The barrier of language isn't as wide as we think if you only listen, try learning some basics of most languages and patch quilting the phrases together.

These kids were super, fun and excited to have someone that could show them something about how to get a better picture than just a selfie! Thanks, guys! You were super!And the hand signs that I also checked out are "peach and love \,laPaz amours!".

I am inquisitive. I wanted the story about the white and the black socks.

The wind was gusting 20MPH and the pier was shaking.

He closed his eyes!!

Now, we got them all bright eyed and nearly all smiles. Oh! yeah, he just woke up!

More from Deep Ellum Arts Festival

Tired and knowing you're loved.

Makin the Art! Makin the Pretty Art!!

Where did all these people come from?

A jam session to out do the other! It was so cool!

Deep Ellum Arts Festival History For Another Year

On Saturday, my car made its way down to check out the annual Deep Ellum Arts Festival with me in it. Although it was already decided that I would come back on Sunday and make the run down Main Street one foot in front of the other. It was a good thing that I did check it out a day earlier because the festival had rearranged itself due to Deep Ellum's first fully certified high rise deep in the heart of Deep Ellum at Main and Hall. That pushed the stage down a few more blocks to the border of Fair Park and Deep Ellum. Instead of the start at Good Latimer, that too, had been moved down to Malcolm X.

My favorite and basically unknown parking spot was stacked with cars and seeing piles of metal wrapped around the Sons of Hermann building was another sign that parking was not going to be normal this year for me. So, I spent my time down there on Saturday scoping out possible parking spots for Sunday. It was warm, the sun was hot and bearing down making it more uncomfortable to walk the length of the festival and come back toward the car if I had taken in the Festival. I like meter parking more than Event parking because I don't have to leave my keys. Plus, I can park cheaper at the meter than in a lot. Every extra dollar that it cost me to shoot an event means I've got to sell more pictures just to break even. It's more of an economic thing than anything else.

Sunday came, I made my way to shoot a couple of things on the list and ended up on the heavy end of Deep Ellum. That's the end where the skyscrapers are anchored to the bed rock on the other side of the line drawn in the soil by US 75 Central Expressway separates downtown from the beginning of Deep Ellum on Main Street. Finding a metered space in which to park was quick and painless on Elm Street. Yep, that is the same Elm, Main, and Commerce that became so worldwide known with the Kennedy Era. The Festival to me was expanded. It ran 6-blocks for one. In another way, there was
cross walks of vendors  off the main drag (pardon the Main pun). All-in-all, again, to me it was a great improvement over past years. It's matured over the years. This year, it showed! I enjoyed the festival  and had fun at the same time.  Here are a few of the best shots and I'll try to made another posting of more afterwards.

The best seat in the house! The best gig ever!

The first high rise on this end of main.

Shooting into the mirror, mirror on the wall and the shots were amazing. This turned out to be the most fun of all day.