Kim’s is another landmark that I could never get good pictures of because of cars. For a while, it was run down, and the pics would have been cool, but there were always cars blocking it. Then they closed it, and started to tear it down before I could get pics. Now it is restored and looking like new.
Another place I have had trouble photographing is George’s. It seems every time I go there, the parking lot is full. Also, many angles are impacted by power lines. So, Christmas Day was the time to try and finally get a usable picture.
Next to The Health Camp is The Elite Cafe – about as iconic as Waco gets. Again, here are two versions of one image and another one.
And the impressionist version.
There are some Waco Landmarks that I wanted to get pictures of, but I have always had problems because of cars parked in front and around them. Christmas Day was the perfect time to deal with that because there would be no cars to block my shots. The first of those places was The Health Camp. Here are to versions of it.
And an impressionist version.
I said one of my goals was to get a good picture of a New Orleans Trolley Car. Here it is.
I am really happy with the way it came out. While on the train coming home, I was watching a video and there was a small commercial for Topaz Impressions software plugin. It transforms images to make them look like impressionist paintings. It turns out there are two similar packages, and I downloaded both and played with them. Here is what I got.
It creates an interesting image, but it is almost insulting to real impressionist artists. To actually create impressionist art takes a great deal of skill and work. So, I am somewhat torn about this/
I had to attend the LMCA meeting in New Orleans. This time Debbie came with me and we took the train. That was a great experience. It is so much better than flying or driving, although it does take a little longer. Because the train only runs each way three times a week, we had to go a day early, but that was great because it gave me a whole day to take pictures. I had two goals – a good trolley picture, and a picture of Preservation Hall. I got those an a couple more.
I am going to discuss the Trolley pic in another post.
As always, we went to Dickens on The Strand. It has been interesting watching things change. Although there were no major changes this year, there were a few things that have changed some. There has been an increase in Steampunk related costumes (although how they relate to Victorian England I am not quite sure) and a decrease in Pirate related costumes. Here are a couple pics of the two
We joined the Galveston Historic Foundation. That allowed us access to view the parades from a balcony on The Strand. So, the pics of the parade were a little different this year.
Audrey is in the Denton Guyer HS Dance Squad – The Silverados. We went and watched them at halftime of a football game on Friday. These are some of the pictures I got.
I had a little spare time on Friday. So, I ran over to the zoo. I knew I did not have enough time to do the entire zoo, so I went to the Asia and Africa areas. The female orangutan gave birth not too long ago, and she and her baby were out.
In the Africa exhibit, the flamingoes were all next to the water, and that made a nice reflection shot.
Finally, right next tot he Flamingoes, there was a flock of Black Vultures in a tree.
I took Joe and Mathias to see a football game in the new stadium last Saturday night. I was able to get a couple good pictures from inside the stadium. This one is from the very top of the upper deck seats.
It is apparent it was an overcast night. In fact, it rained quite hard when we were getting to the stadium. As the night went on, though, the clouds opened, and I got this shot of the stadium with a quite prominent moon.
