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.