Stories from the city, stories from the Sea in Texas
It was my first time to see the Sea, or some part of it, in over 2 years, the longest such stretch of my life, and 2 years too long. Corpus Christi, Texas offers city and sea experiences, both of which you can drive right too. I had never driven on a beach before, as it is not the custom in Florida (I don’t count Daytona). It was both convenient to go a few miles down the shoreline to your own spot and have all your gear right there, but also disconcerting because a car could drive by you while relaxing on the beach! I brought my new DJI Mavic 3 Cine drone with me, and my new Sony 24mm f/1.4 G Master lens to capture these images. I really enjoyed the results of holding my camera low, with a slow shutter speed, and letting the small waves come in and create seascape dreamscapes.
Night photography from the front door in San Antonio
The first stop on a recent trip to Texas that was purely for leisure (no photo work!) was to San Antonio. The Airbbnb was actually walking distance to the Alamodome, which is also where I first really tested out the new Sony 24mm f/1.4 G Master lens I had just received a few days before. This is the kind of photography I used to do quite often when I lived in Tokyo, because architecture to photograph at night was like here, just a short walk outside my own front door. The Alamodome was totally deserted this evening, but fortunately, someone left the lights on. I was super impressed with the performance of the new 24mm lens, which was good, because it was the only lens I brought on the Texas trip!
Going and strolling around Christmas lights displays is not really fun or entertaining for me, unless I bring my camera and a large aperture lens, in this case my new Sony 50mm f/1.2 G Master, the largest aperture lens I have ever owned. I personally think Christmas lights look better in photos out of focus, so that the frame is nearly entirely bokeh. I purposefully tried to make the photos out of focus to get the most bokeh in every shot and highlight the color and shape of the lights. Which one is your favorite?
Early in my photography career when I was living in St. Petersburg, Florida, back around 2010, I used to teach a lot of photography lessons because DSLR cameras were just starting to be bought and used by non-pro-photographers, i.e. enthusiasts and hobbyists, and who the heck could figure out how to use something with a dozen buttons on it? So a couple times a week I’d spent 2 hours with someone walking the streets of St. Pete teaching them my 5-stop process for shooting in manual mode while finding interesting things to make photos of.
Not quite as large as I imagined the Very Large Array to be
The Very Large Array was one site I had not been able to get to before in my 4.5 years traveling all over New Mexico for my photography work and on drives with the BMW Club. Well, the latter finally brought me to the Very Large Array Rest Site where I was able to actually see the array in action. While standing there, the huge dishes all started rotating in unison. However, they were not as big as I imagined them to be, nor was there any one central giant mothership type dish. Still, it was very cool to finally see the array and for once, the clouds were amazing when I visit one of these New Mexico True sites.
Some four hours away from Albuquerque, hidden in the small town of Glenwood, there are catwalks that elevate you over a creak along the side of sheer rock. Free and dog friendly (though holes make it tough on some paws), this is a real hidden gem for the dedicated New Mexico True fan who wants to visit a unique place well off the beaten path.
My photography work in the past four years has taken me all over New Mexico, and now it is expanding into Arizona where I get the chance to check out more small towns, like Seligman, Arizona. This town is credited with being the birthplace of Route 66. It might be funny to think how a tiny town without a single stoplight would start the first great traveling road in the U.S. Of course, like all Route 66 towns, the hey day of Seligman is long past, but I still enjoy trying to listen and hear an echo of what once was
