By Birth It's A Native Texas!

Something changed this season. Usually, I see brood after brood of baby ducks. This year, I saw a total of three broods. One, granted, was the largest that I have ever seen with 20 little ones swimming with mom. The second was at that same location with a new mom and only two ducklings. Then, I saw the never before seen wood duck ( you know, the duck with the colorful plumage and Napoleon hat head dress that nest  in a hole up in the trees and the baby ducks have to jump out of the nest to never return until they breed). They were swimming with mom and dad. But that is all the ducks that I have seen this spring. I had even called a bunch of baby ducks in one post "goslings" then went back and corrected it because goslings are geese and I probably would never see any in Texas as the baby name of geese implied.

Well, strike that! I just saw a drake with two hens and each hen had three goslings. I had noticed a pair of Canadian Geese in one of the wet land lakes earlier in the spring and then noticed this pair (I thought was a pair) in a very unusual place which was kind of out of place for geese. But, it is in an area near a local creek, although the exact location is in an extremely high traffic area. Usually, I check those places out on Sunday mornings when traffic is a bit less race coursey.

This Sunday, it seemed to be almost without traffic and I had a chance to pull over on the shoulder of the road and to get a couple of shots of the pair? Wait. There were thee Canadian geese and the old Drake wasn't having it that I had stopped. He came right up to the edge of the road on the other side and raised his long neck upward to let me know that he wasn't to happy, but as long as I stayed in the car and didn't get out, he would tolerate me being there for a bit. Then I saw fuzzy movement in the grasses behind him. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. There were  six Canadian geese goslings! I had never seen gosling Canadians in Texas before. And...since they hatched  in that very place, they were, officially, Texans!! Now, that was really a first for me; finding native Canadian geese that were Texan rather than Canadian.

The goslings are beginning to shed their down and are quite plump. They have done well finding food in that location and I will have to watch them more closely now as they are beginning to grow their feathers. It won't be long before they are fledged.  So, next late winter and early spring, I'll have to watch to see if they come back since they were so successful this year, but, I still am wondering about the baby ducks that never showed up in large numbers like they have in the past. I'm glad to see the wood ducks and the beautiful Canadians but I miss the little mallards in the wildlife and nature observations.

Pappa had chosen a rather perfect spot and had two hens that nested with him. They each hatched 3 goslings.

Since I could not get any closer, This new Native Texan was the closest to the road. The down is beginning to be replaced with feathers. It won't be long now before they take to the air. And, Air Canada has a big metal bird that crosses not to far up the road at the big airport, but I'm more concerned about Southwest and Virgin American, as they are on finals  to Love Field and dropping landing gears right over head at about 1000 feet on the glide slope.

First Full Day Back

Yesterday, was my first full day back to doing what I truly love---photography. It started out just like the old ones did but quickly was filled with black smoke in the air that from my overview of the skyline was at first, a bit deceptive. It looked as though the smoke was over Fair Park. That would have been a short trip getting there. But as I got closer to Fair Park, it was clear that the smoke was coming from much farther away. Half the battle of getting to a situation like that is knowing how to get there. And, the good Lord blessed me with a great GPS that I carry on my shoulders. It's always pointed like a bird dog.

So, from Fair Park, it was an easy cut across town in a westerly direction.From visible landmarks it looked like it was close to Oak Cliff, but gee---that is some distance to seeing black smoke rise on the horizon. On a clear day with dry air, I can see the training smoke at DFW International from the lake. That is  about 16 miles normally, so this was even farther. Then, my mind is racing that by seeing smoke at that distance and for it to still be jet black, it had to be a very large fire and I'm thinking of all the recycling places south of downtown that could be a source of the smoke,yet, as I traveled in that direction, the plume of smoke was shifting. Knowing how Dallas streets can be going east to west but end up north or south quickly solved the problem. I made a turn and headed south rather than west. At one point I was going farther away from the smoke but it's like a pilot flying on instruments. You can't see where you are going but you must trust your instruments to get you there. If you don't have that trust---you are going to crash. I had to trust my gut that while driving away from that amazing column of smoke, I was still going in the direction that would lead me there.

Up pops a street that I knew would take me in that direction. Illinois Street is a major Oak Cliff traffic route. When I had cleared the ridge that was blocking my line of sight (there are escarpments that run through Dallas...people are surprised to find Dallas is actually pretty hilly and not flat as most think).
Then, there it was. It loomed straight ahead and a bit south. That's another God- given quality...being able to make my way to a place to park. The police had the streets blocked off and I knew at that moment, the next job was to get as close in as I could and park. I did that shuffle here--shuffle there and found a place to park right behind all the fire trucks. And--with some  negotiation skills applied, I could leave my car in a safe place. The officer was nice. I would get lunch there if I could park. He agreed. (The best old-fashioned BBQ plate I have had in years was served up there when I returned. Was that also instinct? Remember the song from Annie? Food--glorious food! I knew you would get that! No pun intended.

Another thing that I learned from the old AP photographers that I hung with growing up was to just stop and look around . Resist that urge to get into action. As Dodd would always say," don't get greedy." I was---for all practical purposes---right in the thick of the action. Keeping my distance and staying out of the way was job one, but job two was to get shots that painted a picture of the emotions going on there. After looking back, this morning, I have not one but several shots that when viewed at 100% show the true emotions in several fireman's faces as they battle a 6-alarm in 100 degree temperatures plus the fire plus the heavy protective clothing---plus even the dense, thick, almost blinding and chocking smoke. It was a double-edge sword at that point. My own health and safety had to come first, then I could get the shots that my heart was telling me to get. It was almost like I had been directed there for that single purpose, I had followed a column of thick black smoke rising high into the sky from 25 miles away, got there and I hadn't missed a thing as far as getting those emotion shots. I truly felt lucky and blessed to be standing there with camera in hand.

As a result---my gut instinct grew stronger and stronger pulling me closer rather than pushing me away. The shots were less than 20 yards away and they revealed so much emotion on the faces of weary firemen. The instinct to follow the smoke was a rare event for me. Chasing fires is not my thing, but chasing a good photo op heads the list and this one was, for me, the top of the list. There are 30 more images running on the live news feed at the moment. It is about 12-hours into the 48-hour cycle. If you want to see the full thirty on the feed check it out. And--if you can increase the zoom to 100% you can see the emotions on the faces of the three and of the four firemen in thick smoke walking to their required R&R weary from there earlier on-the-job duties.

Emotion of  the moment

Back From A Period Of Remembrance

While gone from the daily task of blogging, there are some things to catch up on during that time away. Here is a brief coverage of  the happenings.

Recalling the storm that took out a couple of dozen very large and old oaks at the lake, Another bout of straight line wind took out a large tree along the shoreline on the west side of the lake a week ago. It also took out three small trees between the road and the shelter house at T & P hill.. So with that, the lake has suffered a very large loss this spring and early summer.

There was another loss of life in a sail boat accident. The lost life was a long time sailor and was in the water helping his novice to right-side up the vessel when he went under.  His body was recovered the following day.There was also a rowing accident that put two young rowers into the water and holding on until the safety officer could bring his skiff in to help them get out of the water and bring their vessel upright.

In fact, on the weekends, it has become so traffic crazed that the fun and enjoyment  of the lake has taken a back seat of late. With that, let me say, it's probably better that way. And actually, my production has not only increased but my sales of the new images that have been generated from the change in my shooting have already been reflected in sold images of the new material. And, in the summer months when sales tend to slump naturally anyway, new sales are a welcomed  event on the sales tree.

 There has been some very interesting live news feeds. I do not want to abuse the rights that were granted me to access of the live news feeds but I will not shy away from those that are worthy and interesting to now only my readers but readers the world over that will see those feeds.

The weather has not been that bad thus far. We have had a lot of rain events more so than hail events. The Insurance Commission just released the dollar amount for the first 6 months tops $5.5 B mark. Last night, we had one of most fierce lightening and thunder events that I have seen here in more than 15 years. It scared me off the porch.  Power was not lost, however. Thank goodness.

 Here are some interesting images over my annual remembrance period.

Bad start to a 4th July Day.

In-N-Out in downtown Garland. Most did not know In-N-Out was in the same league as Budweiser and Carlsberg  for serving up their products at events if ask. There is a thing going between In-N-Out and Whataburger. In-N-Out being a California landmark and Whataburger being a Texas Landmark. In-N-Out rolled out the big guns here! Nice rig too!

At the Freedman's Memorial Cemetery, this lovely lady could dance in a stunning way. When Central Expressway was undergoing widening and taking it below grade level, a cemetery was discovered with over 2000 freed men and women of color. The cemetery today is an amazing memorial to those that were discovered. I go down there a couple of times during the year for events like this. A convention had just ended and there were members from as far away a London, in the UK. There, African history is displayed.

In Loving Memory

In Loving Memory

of

A son, KP

1970~1998

Sunset of Crated

One of our outlets that has done an excellent job of presenting our images in framed format notified me today that they will sunset their operation effective 31st July 2017.

While it is always a loss to loose a good presenter, sometimes, the business climate changes on a dime and this type of thing happens. They worked very well with me to transfer all my original files back to me today and as they work to close their operation, I though best to close and delete the account.

While I look for another presenter, a lot of the older images that have been being presented by Imagekind will continue to be a presenter of our images.

Here is the link :Framed prints available through Imagekind

Part II to the Shower Curtain!

Hanging over the side sitting on a little swing seat! Thanks, but no thanks.

Here is the banner covering a city block of parking lot. When it was rolled out, the wind would blow it into a mess, but not as bad as it was when here being  unfolded.

Here is that side piece again. It was caught by the wind and blown upwards over the roof line and is hanging on the street side of the building to the left. I have an image of that too! It was an interesting show and I got to watch it all unfold from my parking spot on the street feeding the meter!!! A quarter got me 10 - minutes. I was there a few more quarters and then a few more quarters!

And You Thought You Had A Hard Time With The Shower Curtain

An interesting situation to watch unfold. While I am in my annual three week break and annual period of mourning, the next ten days will be the hardest. While I have this little break of a couple of days until the 28th thru the 7th of July, I have time for this one, brief post. Then after the 7th, I'll catch you up on everything during the past three week of the this years reflections. So, enjoy the post, and I'll be back on the 7th.

Just imagine 10-stories of these to clip on! That would be enough for a life time of shower curtains!

That's three dudes and a wench (no pun intended)They are putting the advertising banner in place at the top. It drops a full 10-stories and is many yards wide, much wider, when stretched out.

This guy is putting the clips onto the anchor cable. The first image is of the one hanging to the left in this image (the narrow black and white border). It anchors into the wall and then clips to the main banner. The material is vinyl and has thousands of little holes to keep the wind from transforming this thing into a massive kite. This guy is the lucky one of the workers---he is only about 40 feet off the ground. His ladder is on top of a two story annex that juts out below.