Name That Lizard

I am not sure what kind of lizard this is. It was scaling my tree when I found him. He didn’t move for an hour. He probably thought he was invisible.

Train Art

I like to take some of my better pictures and do creative things with them using Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro.  Nothing magical.  Just different.  Here are a few of the train photos I took yesterday after putting them through the motions.

Trains

Round Rock, Texas is known for it’s trains.  I got some pics today in 104 degree heat.

Prepping to Build a Train Set

In the coming weeks and  months, I am going to build my HO-scale train set.  The theme will be inner-city or downtown.  No inner-city would be complete without the police.  One of the first things I have purchased for this project is a fleet (4) Dodge Charger police cars.  I am going to put strobe lights on one of them.   The cars are 1:87 scale.

Houston Museum of Natural Science

I paid a visit to the Houston Museum of Natural Science today.  The Museum’s exhibit halls are host to a rich and diverse array of natural treasures and technological marvels. The world’s finest collection of display-quality gems and minerals and an awesome array of dinosaur skeletons are only a few of the many first-class exhibitions at HMNS.

Below are some of the pictures you will see in the main gallery.  Some of them are from The Americas exhibit.  Others include photos from the da Vinci exhibit.

Bird in the Tree

This bird was located in NW Houston in a nice tree-lined neighborhood.

LBJ State Park

I drove by LBJ State Park last weekend on the way to Fredericksburg. Nothing at the park caught my eye, but I got a couple of shots none the less.

Breaking Bread With Birds

It’s feeding time. A wide variety of birds show up when you put food out. In some cases, battles will ensue between species.

My First Attempt At Miniatures

This is my first attempt at photographing miniatures. This is a 1/72 scale of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier at the National Museum of the Pacific War.  It’s obvious I have some work to do in order to sharpen my skills in this interesting craft.  The entire gallery is here.

National Museum of the Pacific War

I am beginning to dislike museums because it’s so difficult to get good shots in the dim lighting.  Another futile effort was made yesterday at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredricksburg, Texas.  [Wikipedia Article].  The shots I did get are pretty good.  There were many that are not worthy of posting.  The entire gallery can be found here.  Posted below are some of the better ones.

Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum

We went to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum today. The museum is in downtown Austin, Texas and tells the “Story of Texas” with three floors of interactive exhibits, the special effects show, The Star of Destiny, in the Texas Spirit Theater, and Austin’s only IMAX Theatre, featuring the signature large-format film, Texas: The Big Picture.

A 35-foot-tall bronze Lone Star sculpture greets visitors in front of the Museum, and a colorful terrazzo floor in the Museum’s rotunda features a campfire scene with enduring themes from Texas’ past.

The museum was great, but we were highly disappointed that no photography is allowed in the museum.  The only shots I could get were from the outside and from the rotunda inside.  Here are some of the better ones.

Approaching Storm

For the second time this week, brief, violent storms rolled through Houston.  Clouds were awesome.  Pictures of the scene are below.

Cloud Appreciation Society

One of my photos has turned up on the Cloud Appreciation Society.  The Cloud Appreciation Society is a society founded by Gavin Pretor-Pinney from the United Kingdom in January 2005. The society aims to foster understanding and appreciation of clouds. Since its inception, the society has over 10,000 members worldwide.

Photos After The Storm

A nice little storm blew through Houston tonight.  I was fortunate enough to snap some really good shots after the fact. The whole gallery of tonight’s efforts can be found here.

Photos Around Houston

Just some random shots I took. Nothing that would put a professional out of work. Reliant Stadium is a multiple-use stadium in Houston, Texas. The stadium is the home of the National Football League’s Houston Texans, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the Texas Bowl, host to many international soccer matches for the USA National Soccer Team and other events. The stadium served as the host facility for Super Bowl XXXVIII on February 1, 2004. [1]

Texas Children’s Hospital is an internationally recognized pediatric hospital located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas. With 639 licensed beds and 465 beds in operation, Texas Children’s is the largest children’s hospital in the United States and is affiliated with the Baylor College of Medicine as that institution’s primary pediatric training site. [2]

Blinds

Added to the Random Objectivity set, here are some pictures I took of some mini-blinds.  I threw in some photos of clouds as a bonus.  Shooting photos of the blue sky is one of the best ways to tell if you have a dirty CCD in your camera.  A dirty CCD will show up in photos as a smudge or spot.  A quick puff of compressed air usually fixes the problem.

Flowers and Clouds

More flowers and random objects. As you can see on some, there is a haze that adds a soft light to the picture. This is untouched by me. It is the result of the Houston humidity, which is notorious! Instead of just deleting the pics that have this “effect”, I added them. This was the best day for shooting pics in the heat.

One Colorful Bird

Sun Conures are loving, easy to train little birds, about twelve inches in length, including the tail, and live an average of 25 to 30 years. As juveniles their coloring is a muted olive green, which serves as a defense mechanism in the wild. When they mature, at approximately one year old, their coloring is a brilliant rainbow of yellow, red, orange, blue and green and are often considered the most beautiful of the Conures.

Sun Conures were originally imported from South America to the United States in the late 1800s. Virtually all Conures offered for sale as pets now are the result of captive breeding programs which have produced healthier birds that are hand raised from birth and better suited as pets.

Sun Conures love attention and can develop some destructive behavior if they do not get the socialization they need. They have a piercing shriek which they will use to draw attention to themselves. They like to be held and cuddled and talked to and they do enjoy the company of other birds.�

Sun Conures can learn to talk, although they are limited and their voices are birdlike and squeaky. They amuse themselves by imitating unusual sounds, like the sounds of a doorbell, a telephone ring or an alarm clock ring. [Source: http://www.pet-parrots.com/Conures/sun-conures.html]

It Ain’t Easy Being Green

I haven’t seen a tree frog in ages.  I grabbed this shot at night.  The flash came in handy.

Houston Zoo Redux

The Houston Zoo is always a great place to get some pics. Today was no exception.

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