The Joy of Photography in Arlington

I recently went on another photo walk with a bunch of other photographers. This time I hooked up with a group in Arlington, Texas. The goal is simple, it is just to go out as a group and photograph whatever and/or whoever we come across. There is a plan for where to meet, the route to walk and where to meet-up again at the end but, that's it.

It’s fun to hook up with people who you don’t have to explain why you like to capture images then spend hours culling the many frames and editing the keepers to appear the way we imagined it when we took the frame in the first place.

Another one of the things that separates just anyone with a camera snapping pictures from those of us that are a bit more serious is our willingness to twist and climb and crawl to the right spot to get the angle on a shot that we have in mind. I had fun on this walk observing other photographers taking their pictures. Some folks did contort themselves a bit. It’s funny to watch only because I know that I do the same exact thing sometimes. I’ve ruined shirts and pants doing this. This time I didn’t ruin any clothes but did risk my neck standing on a wall probably 20 feet off of the sidewalk taking some shots of a waterfall at the University of Texas – Arlington.

I took some images of a few of the students who were out and about on a Saturday morning during the summertime. They were surprisingly very pleasant and agreeable to having their pictures taken at that hour.

There was one guy in a pickup truck that saw us and was telling us to take a picture of him. The photo that I got looked like he was angry and yelling at me but, he really wasn’t.

One of the photogs with us had a thing for photographing trash. What was even funnier was that he would shoot a trash can then other people would just join in and give it a try for the heck of it. I photographed them shooting a boring trash can. I have to admit that I’m as guilty as them though. I took one shot of an outdoor cigarette ash tray that I wouldn’t have otherwise.

A shout-out goes to Michael at Arlington’s Main Street School of Music for being cool and letting us get cool inside his school and letting us shoot him there.

Check out the whole slide-show here.

Shooting People

Last year I went on a local photoshoot in Grapevine, Texas with a bunch of other photographers doing some street photography. It was part of a world-wide photoshoot. Photographers from around the world got together in local groups and we all went out and shot together. Sometimes we even shot each other. It was a lot of fun.

One thing that I noticed is that most of the photogs that I met were really shy about approaching any people. They'd rather take photos of shadows and streetlights. I'll include myself in this category as well about being timid. One area that I wanted to push myself on was in taking pictures of people; compete strangers literally off of the street.

It takes a bit of moxie to muster up the courage to ask someone if you can take their picture. One of my secret fears is that because I identify myself as a photographer, I never want to do anything that might cause someone to think of me as the creepy guy behind the lens. Some of this probably comes from the fact that as a father of two daughters, I take a lot of photos of them but also their friends. At least these kids and sometimes their parents know me. Asking to take a picture of a complete stranger is a whole different story.

I had some relief because an army of about thirty of us swarmed over the North Texas town all at once. We were pretty obvious. Everyone had an expensive camera, camera bags, tripods and all of the other stuff that you would expect. A few people asked me what we were up to. I got photos of four sets of folks that I was pretty proud of. Terry the biker dude rode up to a popular biker's watering hole, Willhoites. I asked if I could snap a few photos and he said sure and asked if it would be okay if he smoked a cigarette. Super nice, super cool dude.

There was a girl sweeping the sidewalk in front of a restaurant and I asked her the same thing. My creepiness fear kicked in but it was unnecessary. She was really nice and asked if I wanted her to do anything different. What she was doing already was perfect.

There was another biker dude with the full face helmet and full leathers on who himself was snapping a photo of the street with a tiny point and shoot. I asked him and he said "go for it."

There were a couple of guys on break from their manufacturing job just relaxing on a bench. I didn't speak Spanish and they didn't speak English but, with some pointing and waving we communicated and they let me shoot them. I think that they actually enjoyed the attention.

Jai Ho

Sir Ken Robinson describes “the element” as:
“the point at which natural talent meets personal passion. When people arrive at the element, they feel most themselves and most inspired and achieve at their highest levels.”  

The girls of the Northwest High School Sidekicks were in my opinion certainly in their element when I photographed them performing their Spring Show.


One dance routine in particular, "Jai Ho” really came together well.  The song was from the movie from India, "Slumdog Millionaire" where the cast at the end of the movie were all dancing.  The dance was likewise Ballywood inspired; very difficult choreography.  They all moved in very fast, fluid motion together.  The moves were complicated and physically demanding but, they made it look easy.

The fact that my daughter was one of the dancers brought me a special kind of pride.  I honestly had a hard time staying dry-eyed watching her and her tribe perform their magic.  All those years of her bouncing and twirling around the house seemed to really mean something now that she'd brought it to this level.


A tip of the hat also goes to whoever designed the stage lighting for this performance.  They really did a good job of using effective back lighting for silhouettes and for choosing the right colors for the right mood and to coordinate with the costumes.

I hope that you enjoy the video as much as I do.

See for yourself here. (For best results turn "HQ" on and "Stretch" off.

Check out the stills by clicking below.

MetLife Blimp

The MetLife Blimp was passing through town recently and I had the opportunity to photograph it over three days.  Each morning I went go out there before having to check in at the office while the morning light was still right.

The Blimp was moored on one of the large grass areas on the Alliance Airport property which was also in full view from my office window. So, I got to watch its daily activities as the blimp folks would take it out for rides during the day then a small army of deck hands would scamper after the lines hanging from its nose to bring the ship back in for the evening.

I chatted with a couple of the very knowledgeable ground crew guys. The technology is as old as aviation itself.  Basically, if you fill a large envelope with gas that is lighter than air then it will cause the ship to rise. Inside the large envelope was another smaller envelope that they pump regular air; the same air that we breathe into. The more regular air that you pump into that smaller envelope, the heavier the ship as a whole becomes and then it sinks.

It was interesting that the power to pump the air into the smaller envelopes when it is in flight comes from the twin Rotax 912 engines that also give it forward and reverse thrust. When the 912's aren't on then they have two leaf blowers pumping air into the scat tubes; an electric blower on one side and a gas powered one on the other.  Nothing fancy.  These were units that could have come from the Home Depot up the road and were held on with $0.75 hose clamps that probably also came from Home Depot.

The term "ship" really seems fitting. The early morning air seemed very still. But, like the way a ship in the water will gently tug at its mooring lines as the almost imperceptible water currents move that kind of ship, the airship would also pivot and bob gently around its bull-nose mooring point as the wind was waking up.

Cotton and Cannons

I was in Murfreesboro, Tennessee last fall. The fall leaves were turning and the weather was just starting to turn cool.

The Stones River Civil War battlefield was fairly close to my hotel. I decided to get up early and catch the morning light and see what was worth photographing.

You definitely get the sense that something important had happened here by the way the pristine chunk of meadow and woods was carved out of what is now Suburban America. Somehow the impact of the place is a little bit tempered by the sites of strip malls just beyond the 1860’s stone walls.

It’s sobering to think of all of the blood that was spilled here in stark contrast to the natural beauty of the morning light hitting the cotton and straw fields in 2009. I wonder if the people out for their morning jogs this morning ever even think about it. It would have been the same sun but a completely different scene in December of 1862 when the Union Army met the Confederate Army here.

There was a placard marking the Parsons Battery of the 4th US Artillery Companies “H” and “M” which explains why there were three cannons posing among the cotton plants.

This wasn’t my first time photographing cannons. Civil War cannons seem quaint and benign by today’s standards but, in their day they were the high-tech tools of war. I wonder what the people a hundred years from now will think of our now high tech lives.