"A Nap. . . That's What I Need!"

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I left Austin on this drive ahead of schedule because I hadn't slept well the night before. I figured there was an even chance I'd run out of steam before I got back home and, sure enough, that's what happened. By the time I got to Vanderpool I'd decided to modify my plans a bit. I skipped the short excursion to Lost Maples State Park, a few miles north, and headed east again, through Medina and Bandera. In Boerne I made a pit stop at the DQ and got a Blizzard to scarf down enroute. I made a mental note to return to Boerne - nice town, in spite of the Saturday afternoon traffic - and made a beeline for Guadalupe River State Park. I really, really needed a nap.

The first time I was here was in late December 2005. Gillian and I were on our way to San Antonio to celebrate New Years with family at Ellen's. There couldn't have been more than 10 people in the park. I took a few minutes to get a feel for the place, then started shooting up a storm. I'd been back twice in the last two years to take pictures, but each time I was foiled by the number of people trying to share such a small stretch of riverfront. Too hot and too many people.

On Saturday, there was a crowd but it was cool, with a nice breeze. First thing I did was roll down the windows, tilt the seat back and sleep, for what turned out to be an hour and a half. Just what I needed. From the parking area down to the section of river I was headed for, the hillside is almost terraced, with a few picnic tables scattered about. The last "terrace" is about 20 ft above the river bank. This first image was taken from there, and you can see the river down there if you look closely. Most of the people - those who weren't in the water - were set up at the river's edge. If I took things personally (or if it had been hotter), I might have thought they'd conspired - again - to keep me from taking pictures. But my nap served me well, and my reserve of patience was topped off. I settled in and took a few HDR sets, but mostly, just enjoyed the breeze, the splashing and the laughter as I waited patiently for a spot down by the line of Bald Cypress at the river's edge.

These are the most wonderful trees a photographer could hope to find. I originally posted some of my previous shots [here] and revisited some of them [here] when I started working with High Dynamic Range images. You can force an HDR image from a single original, which is what I did with the 2005 shots, but it works much better with three or more shots of a scene (from a tripod) so you can control the amount of over and under exposure you use to process the HDR image.

Since I started playing with HDR, I've been trying to get back to these trees to take proper image sets to see what this place could look like without the shortcuts. Having gotten what I'd come for - it took about 10 minutes - I packed and headed home, anticipating the processing until I developed these last night.

I don't know if it's the color and texture of the trees and ground or something else. But when I study these pictures I keep finding myself looking for a gnome or an elf hiding among the roots.