The Digital Capture of Light

If you've ever driven through the roads of Texas, you'll know that the countryside has predominantly two colors - green during te spring and summer and brown during fall and winter. However for a couple of weeks before spring starts giving way to summer, the roads are lined with a colorful display of the wildflowers. The Bluebonnet, the state flower of Texas dominates the early wildflower season and then gives way to a multitude of colorful wildflower species.

This year, we decided to combine the hunt for wildflowers with a little bit of history as we spent a day around the town of Independence, TX. Along with wildflowers that we saw in abundance we also found some typical Texas landscape - small oil rigs, major agricultural fields and ghost towns. We also managed to get some time in an awesome Rose garden and immerse ourselves in some Texas History. You can read all about it in our travelogue here.

Bluebonnets the state flower of Texas, 80-200@200mm, f/2.8, 1/2500s

An oil rig stands functioning amidst a sea of green and a sprinkling of yellow, 17-35 @35mm, f/11, 1/320s

How do you irrigate the huge farms of Texas? 17-35 @35mm, f/11, 1/800s

Ghost Town Gas Station, 17-35 @17mm, f/11, 1/320s

While the fuel prices have skyrocketed, thank god the telephone rates have come down, 17-35 @17mm, f/11, 1/320s

Have you ever wondered what the inside of a gas pump looks like?, 17-35 @24mm, f/11, 1/320s

True to Texas: pipeline, farm and flowers, 17-35 @17mm, f/11, 1/320s

Blue and Green, 80-200@185mm, f/2.8, 1/2500s

The first Black Church in Texas, 17-35 @19mm, f/11, 1/640s

Independence Baptist Church, 17-35 @17mm, f/11, 1/640s

Welcome to the Antique Rose Emporium, 17-35 @35mm, f/11, 1/125s

Lovely in Pink, 17-35@35mm, f/11, 1/320s

The pavilion and fountain, 17-35 @35mm, f/18, 1/50s

Indian Paintbrush blowing in the wind, 80-200@200mm, f/3.2, 1/2000s

Red, Blue and Green, 80-200@80mm, f/3.2, 1/2000s

A funky looking flower, 80-200@145mm, f/3.2, 1/5000s

White Rose, , 80-200@200mm, f/3.2, 1/8000s

A nice setting for a statue, 80-200@155mm, f/3.2, 1/320s

An interesting doorway, 17-35 @19mm, f/11, 1/320s

The Luckemeyer general store in Independence, 17-35 @17mm, f/11, 1/100s

The Old Baylor University in Sepia tone, 17-35 @20mm, f/11, 1/320s

These four columns once held up the Womens College of Baylor University, 17-35 @17mm, f/11, 1/320s

The colorful field behind the old Baylor University, 80-200@86mm, f/3.2, 1/2000s

80-200@200mm, f/3.2, 1/2000s

80-200@200mm, f/3.2, 1/2000s

The antique gas station by the old Baylor University - Notice the price of gas!!, 17-35 @17mm, f/8, 1/400s

Here are a few more photographs from our October trip to New England. It seemed the best way to see fall colors in Vermont was to just get on the road! Anywhere we drove we saw trees with leaves of green, orange, yellow and red!

House on the Lake: This shot was taken near Quechee on Rt.4 in Vermont.
Hand-held with my 17-35mm lens at 28mm, f/11, 1/200s



A roadside pond in New Hampshire:
hand-held, 17-35mm @17mm f/22, 1/13s


Most of the time in New Hampshire, there was a roadside stream that offered good views and photo ops. Here the meandering stream provides a perfect setting for a fall scenic

hand-held, 17-35mm@17mm, f/8, 1/80s

This one is from the famed Kancamagus Hwy in New Hampshire. The colors were strong in the lower elevations, but as we climbed higher, we realized it was past peak.

Hand-held, 17-35mm@35mm, f/8, 1/80s

This photo taken in March a few years ago, I think brings the season of spring to mind immediately. Flowers in bloom and bees flitting from one to the other!

Taken with my D70 and 80-200 F2.8 lens on a tripod at Independance, TX

More pics from Niagara:

From New York, we drove 7hrs to our final destination, Niagara Falls, Ontario. As always you can read pooh's account of our trip here. Niagara falls is a beautiful place showcasing the force of nature and also the resourcefulness of man marketing and hyping it! Anyways, here are a set of pics from Niagara Falls, ON.