Childhood Memories

Who remembers blowing on these flowers......errrrr....weeds when we were kids and watching them fall to the ground? I do.



Remember to keep clicking that shutter, because if you aren't clicking, you're just holding an expensive black box that makes lots of noises.Please don't pirate my images. I've worked hard to make them. Please enjoy them, but don't steal them.

Copyright 2007 Lawrence H. Wyatt

Tropical Rainforest

On a recent trip to Galveston, we visited Moody Gardens. A part of Moody Gardens is a Tropical Rainforest. It's a really neat place, with lots of flora and fauna. Here are a few captures I made while there. Enjoy.




Remember to keep clicking that shutter, because if you aren't clicking, you're just holding an expensive black box that makes lots of noises.Please don't pirate my images. I've worked hard to make them. Please enjoy them, but don't steal them.

Copyright 2007 Lawrence H. Wyatt

Portraits

Portrait photography is an art form about which I claim no visible expertise. I do, however, enjoy taking portraits. I am especially enamored by black and white portraits. Below are some of my attempts at such with my favorite two guinea pigs, my wife and son. Enjoy.

Remember to keep clicking that shutter, because if you aren't clicking, you're just holding an expensive black box that makes lots of noises.

Please don't pirate my images. I've worked hard to make them. Please enjoy them, but don't steal them.

Copyright 2007 Lawrence H. Wyatt

Mr. Roger's Neighborhood

It was a wonderful day in the neighborhood. The clouds diffused the light and I was able to walk into my front yard and into a neighbor's yard and make some photogaphs. Granted, it wasn't Mr. Roger's neighborhood, but it'll do. The flowers look so beautiful under such diffused light.

Here are some examples. Just click on any of the photos for an enlargement. As always, comments and suggestions are always appreciated.






























Remember to keep clicking that shutter, because if you aren't clicking, you're just holding an expensive black box that makes lots of noises.

Please don't pirate my images. I've worked hard to make them. Please enjoy them, but don't steal them.

Copyright 2007 Lawrence H. Wyatt

Colors

One of the most fascinating things about photography is that it can be as documentary and realistic as you like or it can be as simple as the presentation of colors, without regard for form or function.

In this installment of Ordinary to Extraordinary, I'd like to present some abstract photos that primarily highlight the colors present in scenes that I photographed. There is no attempt to present any of the items in the photographs as realistic. Instead, the photos are more impressionistic in nature.

The following images were captured in-camera with very little if any post-processing. I hope you enjoy them. Just click on any of the photos for an enlargement. As always, comments and suggestions are always appreciated.













Remember to keep clicking that shutter, because if you aren't clicking, you're just holding an expensive black box that makes lots of noises.

Please don't pirate my images. I've worked hard to make them. Please enjoy them, but don't steal them.

Copyright 2007 Lawrence H. Wyatt

Black and White

Some hard core photographers suggest that the only true form of photography is black and white photography. While I don't agree with this sentiment completely, I am fascinated by black and white or monochrome phtography. Now when I say black and white, I mean black and white. I like my black and white photos to be very contrasty. By this I mean, the photos show few shades of grey between pure black and white. It is certainly not everyone's cup of tea(decaf, of course) it is my preference.

The following photos were captured in color and converted to black and white in post-procesing. I hope you enjoy them. Just click on any of the photos for an enlargement. As always, comments and suggestions are always appreciated.
























Remember to keep clicking that shutter, because if you aren't clicking, you're just holding an expensive black box that makes lots of noises.

Please don't pirate my images. I've worked hard to make them. Please enjoy them, but don't steal them.

Copyright 2007 Lawrence H. Wyatt

A Night at the Museum

A few weeks back I took a photography trip to the Houston Museum of Natural History. It wasn't at night, but you gotta admit that it does make a catchy title for this installment of the blog. :-)

Anyway, the museum is a fascinating place and a photographers dream, provided you have a camera with a wide aperture and high ISO. Flash photography in most museums is a no-no and so are tripods. You lose depth of field using such large apertures and therein lies the trade-off.

At any rate, below are some images that I captured at the museum. All are made with a Sigma 50mm f2.8 macro lens. As always, your comments and suggestions are welcomed. Just click on the picture for a larger image.

This first picture is a diorama of a lion attacking a zebra.

























This capture is a miniature of a Mayan temple.



















This photo is a statuette that I thought looked very ominous.

















This is a pendulum clock. It's very cool!!


















Remember to keep clicking that shutter, because if you aren't clicking, you're just holding an expensive black box that makes lots of noises.

Please don't pirate my images. I've worked hard to make them. Please enjoy them, but don't steal them.

Copyright 2007 Lawrence H. Wyatt

Moody

Happy Easter or Passover to y'all.

I take many landscape shots and for most of the better ones I use a post-processing technique called The Orton Technique. I like it because it creates an ethereal mood to the photographs.

This process involves the use of duplicate layers and Gaussian blur, which can be done in almost any high quality post-processing program. I use Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI. A simple Google(TM) search for "Orton Technique" will yield plenty of results for those interested in more information. Here are some examples of some recent landscape photography.





























Remember to keep clicking that shutter, because if you aren't clicking, you're just holding an expensive black box that makes lots of noises.

Please don't pirate my images. I've worked hard to make them. Please enjoy them, but don't steal them.

Copyright 2007 Lawrence H. Wyatt

Abstract Flora

Abstract photography captures shape, patterns, textures and form without suggesting the actual full scope and nature of the object being photographed. It is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful and intriguing forms of photography. It is also one of the most challenging forms of photography because it requires the ability to see shapes and forms without concern for the subject. Just for fun, as you move around today, try to see shapes, textures and patterns instead of objects. You'll be very surprised by what you see.

Below are some of my attempts at abstract floral photography.

Just click on the photograph for a larger image.

This is a leaf in full Fall colors.

















This image of blades of grass, to me, is very soft and sensual.
















This is a close-up of a daffodil. It appears to me that you could lie down in this photo and go to sleep.























This capture demonstrates both soft and hard textures in the same photograph.
























Remember to keep clicking that shutter, because if you aren't clicking, you're just holding an expensive black box that makes lots of noises.

Please don't pirate my images. I've worked hard to make them. Please enjoy them, but don't steal them.

Copyright 2007 Lawrence H. Wyatt

BIG MONEY!!!

Holy schnikes!! I won the stinkin' Texas lotto, to the tune of $19 million. My heart hasn't slowed down since 9:55 last night when they had the drawing. I guess I'll be getting that new camera gear I've been wanting, and my 4x4 and a new home and a rippin' new fishin boat too!! I'm finally going to get the Canon 600mm f2.8L IS lens!! Let me think, today is April 1st and they said I could pick up the check on the 5th. How much do I rock!!?? Austin, Texas here I come!!


Anyway, on to photography. It's Spring and the flowers are in bloom here in Texas. Of particular interest are the wildflowers that bloom most anywhere there is a relatively large patch of un-mowed turf. Just around the corner from my house is a bayou(Houston is the bayou city). Many of these are not bayous in the strictest sense of the word. Those of you in other parts of the country will call them drainage ditches. I can hear my mother-in-law making some snide comments about 'Yankees' right now.

At any rate, Thursday afternoon past, I mosied over to the bayou and captured some wildflower pictures. I used a soft focus filter on the first two captures. Images were made with my birthday presents: a Canon 50mm f1.8 MK II lens and a set of Kenko extension tubes. All were shot handheld. This Canon lens is wonderful!! By the way, time's not too late to send belated birthday gifts. :-)

Enjoy!!

































Well, there you have it. April fools!! I did find 19 cents of the Kroger parking lot though.

Remember to keep clicking that shutter, because if you aren't clicking, you're just holding an expensive black box that makes lots of noises.

Please don't pirate my images. I've worked hard to make them. Please enjoy them, but don't steal them.

Copyright 2007 Lawrence H. Wyatt

NHRA Spring Nationals

I love sports! Almost all sports, save for sailing and the like, which to me is like watching paint dry. I enjoy being on the water in a boat, but it's just not much fun to watch on television. To each his own. Drag racing, along with ice hockey, baseball, football and soccer are my favorite sports. Heck, I even like a good tennis match!!

I have been attending drag racing since I was but a wee lad in southern Illinois. The Gateway Nationals were the big yearly event held very close to my home town and they are still held today. Yesterday, March 30th, I made my yearly pilgrimage to the National Hot Rod Association Spring Nationals. This drag racing event is held in the Spring in Houston every year and brings together the top drivers in the country in classes from street eliminator to top fuel dragsters and everything in between. It is a rockin' event!

This years races were a bit overshadowed by the recent death of Eric Medelen, a racer for the John Force racing team. There was a nice tribute to Eric, who was killed after a test run accident last Friday in Florida. He was only 34 years old.

If you've never been to a drag race, you must go. But don't bring along a nice Chianti and some fava beans. Pfffft-pfffft-pfffft. The funny cars(so-named because of their unique flip-top bodies) and top fuel dragsters hit the track with some 7,000 horsepower. Yes, that's seven thousand. Each cylinder puts out more horsepower than an entire NASCAR engine and these nitromethane-powered puppies make it down the track in less than five seconds at about 330 m.p.h.!!! The drivers in these two classes experience the same G-forces as the astronauts on the space shuttle at take off. Drag racing is a sport unique to any other in the wide world of sports(should there be a TM here?) Your entire body shakes and you may lose a filling or two too. Do yourself a favor and once, just once, watch two top fuel dragsters scream down the track at night without wearing ear plugs. It will be an experience that you never forget!!! I promise.

In any event, the weather was nice with relatively cool temperatures and cloudy skies, so the photo opportunities were many. I have been wanting to begin honing my skills with sports photography, so I gave it my best. Perhaps the honing only resulted in a moderately dull knife, but I sure had a good time doing it! Below are a sampling of some of the shots from the races. Just click on a picture to see a larger version. The photos were taken with either a Canon 70-300 mm 3.5-5.6 IS zoom or a Quantaray 18-125 mm 4.5-5.6 zoom on a Canon Rebel XT body. I used a neutral density filter on some for panning.

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Drag racing is a family event. This young man was hamming it up when he saw that I was taking pictures.
























Drag racing brings out every kind of fan imaginable and their dogs!! This wheelchair-bound gentleman is a regular at the races.

















This is a funny car. This is a false body overlying the chassis.
























Much work goes into preparing for each race. In the top classes, the engines are re-built after each race.




















This is the 'Christmas tree' and it tells the drivers when it's time to go!
























These are 'burnouts'. The drivers spin the wheels at a high rate of speed to heat up the tires and make them more tacky for better traction during the race.



















This is Brandon Pesz's wife(and crew member) making the sign of the cross before her husband makes his run down the 1/4 mile track at over 250 m.p.h. She had just finished directing him backwards into his starting position after his burnout.

















This is a close up of the engine of a dragster.

















This is a shot of the Kalitta top fuel funny car leaving the starting line. Notice that the light on the Christmas tree is green. The power of these cars is incredible. Take special note that everything in the photo is in focus except the funny car body. This demonstrates the 'shake' that these cars experience when leaving the line.
















Some cars pull wheelies when leaving the starting line.























These captures of a pro modified and a competition eliminator give you and idea of the speed of these cars.



















Time to go home.


















And there you have it. A bit of a story of this year's NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston, Texas. I hope you enjoyed it.

Remember to keep clicking that shutter, because if you aren't clicking, you're just holding an expensive black box that makes lots of noises.

Please don't pirate my images. I've worked hard to make them. Please enjoy them, but don't steal them.

Copyright 2007 Lawrence H. Wyatt