The San Gabriel River View

We're starting out today - and finishing up with the River (at least for now) - on the North bank of the San Gabriel where Texas 29 crosses the River between Georgetown and Jonah. It's December 1st, about 3 pm, though it seems later. I don't remember the switch from daylight savings time to standard time taking so much time. Another sign I'm getting old?

The crowd on the low-water crossing has cleared out - except for the ducks. But I'll have to walk over there to get closer to them. This was shot looking due South from the clearing next to the Hwy 29 bridge.

On the low bridge on the North bank looking South. From the road I'd thought that green was Duck Weed, but up close, looking down on it, I don't know what it is. It doesn't smell, like a tidal marsh, so it's just a green detail thus far.

Out on the low bridge a bit farther, looking downstream. The left bank (on the left) and the right bank (on the right).

This is about mid-way across, looking North up the San Gabriel at about half the ducks that had been here feeding and the Texas 29 bridge. The left bank (now on the right) and the right bank (now on the left.

A perfect Fall day.

Not Quite Ready to Leave the Park

I'm afraid I got a little ahead of myself yesterday, ready to move on down river. Instead, let me continue with a few more images from the San Gabriel River Park in Georgetown. . . then move on downstream.

As I started to leave the Park, I noticed a low, concrete foot bridge across the river just below the dam. I parked, and took a stroll across with camera in hand. With no really "grand views", I started shooting details. . . whatever might make a good photograph. Like cool, clear water over a limestone river bed.

I did look up occasionally though. I wondered what these plants were called that reminded me of cattails, but clearly were not. A cursory review of Google images provided two possibilities: Pampas Grass and, the one I decided on as my interest in the problem waned, the Common Reed (Phragmites Australis). You learn something new every day. . . but remember, what you learn isn't necessarily correct.

When I turned away from the reeds to shoot back towards the Park, I focused immediately on that item center-frame that appeared to be escaping in the stream. The first thing that flashed in my mind was a big snapping turtle (I had just seen Cool Hand Luke last week), then, a gator? Those thoughts moved through pretty quick, then I realized whatever it was hadn't moved. . . Rock.

I got back in my car to follow the river East, looking around from where I sat. Do you notice anything peculiar about the College Street bridge in the picture above? When was the last time you saw a city bridge supported by Gothic arches? I told you, Georgetown is at least a step above the others.

Okay, now we've followed the river east into the rural farmlands off Texas 29 between Georgetown and  Jonah. If you've got your fishing pole and some bait you may want to turn off onto County Road 100 and make your way beneath the bridge on the North bank of the San Gabriel. Plenty of shade and a pleasant place to spend an hour or two.

The low bridge I crossed (we call 'em "low-water crossings") to get over here beneath the Texas 29 bridge, was temporarily occupied by a fisherman (parked right there on the crossing) and a father with two young boys who were feeding bread to the several ducks that were loath to pass up such an opportunity. After shooting here for a few minutes, the knot of people on the low-water crossing had cleared out and I could take a short hike over there and see what I could find. But you'll have to wait for tomorrow's post.

Exploring Greater Austin - Georgetown's San Gabriel River Park

As in yesterday's post, I spent most of December 1st on an inspection tour of watercourses to the North of my usual haunts. After Brushy Creek, I headed to Georgetown to see what I could see along the San Gabriel River.

I didn't need to go any farther than the San Gabriel River Park on the north side of town. I shouldn't be surprised that Georgetown would have such a lovely park; everything I've ever heard about this place has been positive. 

Towns all through central Texas tout their history, but by my lights Georgetown has foot up on the others by emphasizing its assets better than most - the architecture in their downtown Historic District, and their geography.

It took this to be a large park on the River's north bank with concentrations of baseball/softball fields on the edge away from the River but, when I zoomed out on Google Maps, I saw the South side, just opposite, had even more ball fields, and soccer fields as well. I don't know whether both banks actually share the Park's name or not.

But I'm here to make photographs, so the baseball and soccer fields aren't my draw. And this isn't one of the wilderness areas you know I appreciate. I just think whoever designed this park was at the top of his game and well supported by the people of Georgetown. And, of course, you can't beat perfect weather.

 I was jazzed the day I shot here. In and out of the car at smaller parks along Brushy Creek and wandering farther from the car than has been typical for me; now here on the San Gabriel, I was just starting to run out of steam. It was still fine, but getting warmer and I took some time to just stake out some space on a park bench appreciate my surroundings.

I didn't put down my camera though. Each of these last three pictures was taken from said bench. And after my surcease, I checked out a few more likely places I'd identified along the river so there are a few more pictures for a post tomorrow.

Exploring Greater Austin - Brushy Creek

I'm always looking for new places in and around Austin to shoot and typically I find them somewhere around the Hill Country's Colorado River or Lake Travis. It's not hard to figure out - I look for places that include water. This time though, I looked north - away from the River and east - away from L Travis. Who woulda thunk it?

Just over 4 mi north (of my cave), Brushy Creek flows West to East and eventually joins with the San Gabriel River almost 50 mi from here, more than half-way to Hearne. As it turns out, there are several small parks along the Creek as it moves slowly through various Round Rock neighborhoods. Each has its strong point, but Champion Park wins in my book for "Accessible Wilderness".

Each of these pictures was shot in one small corner of Champion Park where a spur of the Brushy Creek Regional Trail crosses a bridge to the south side of the Creek.

This bridge is one of those places I'll return to, checking out how the light at different times of the day changes the nature of this handsome greenbelt.

It's definitely a natural area, and has more water flowing by - however slowly - than most of the creeks I've found around here. That's enough to give it the prize.

Though these images don't show it, I managed to find Round Rock's titular icon - THE Round Rock - on this expedition. The state historical marker says the table shaped "Round Rock" marked the ford across Brushy Creek for Indians and early pioneers on what would become the Chisholm Trail.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

I spent several hours the other day watching video tutorials on photography. I need to do that regularly if I'm to remember the lessons when I get out in the field to shoot. Who'd have thought getting old was so hard? This study day coincided with a cold front blowing through Austin - not yet a "blue norther", but give it a few weeks or a month. The cool-down took immediate effect and I started thinking about Autumn. In large portions of the Lone Star State, the difference between Summer and Autumn tends to be that you don't sweat quite as much in Autumn. The problem is, they look pretty much the same, at least through Thanksgiving. So when I think of Autumn, I tend to think about Autumn in the North Carolina mountains. I'm not ready to go anywhere just now, but I was in Asheville last Sept/Oct. Well, that was for my Class of '66 50 Year Reunion so I really didn't get out to take many pictures of Autumn.

But, you're in luck! I spent much of the 2nd half of October, 2014, taking pictures in the Smokies, on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and I even made it up to Chimney Rock after all these years. So I checked old posts on Whiskey Papa, and images I put up on Flickr, and it seems that my 2014 Carolinas tour was covered, albeit with a broad brush. But when I went back to my archive, I found I had apparently posted my typical road trip report, then moved on to something else and hadn't actually reviewed all the images I'd taken. So now, I present  some brand new 3 year old pictures. I hope you enjoy them.

These shots were all taken in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on October 15, 2014. If I'd included these pics, they would have fit in the November 11 and November 12 posts. But I opted to describe my trip, rather than all the details of the shots; so, different images. You can re-read those two posts for background on the trip if you wish (the two bottom posts in the November 2014 archive).

Some of the pics (the larger streams) are the Oconoluftee R, the Little Pigeon R, or the Little R. The up close details (the smaller streams) in many cases don't even have names - they just popped up during the heavy rains that drenched the Smokies between October 12-15, 2014.

The Park's Facebook page at the time posted several videos of the many new cataracts and waterfalls that had come to life throughout the Park and with commentary from Rangers and other old hands that had never seen anything like it before. What a wonderful time to be in the Smokies.

This group of three (below) are obviously just different compositions of the same (very photogenic) freshet. As I recall, I had pulled off the road (US441) on the drive down the mountain on the NC side of New Found Gap and shot them by shooting across the cab of my Sierra through the open passenger window. The window necessarily limits the available camera angles and I wasn't up to actually getting out of the truck and approaching the subject white water.

I slipped on some wet leaves about half an hour earlier (with a camera in each hand) and slid/rolled about 20ft down the slope I had been attempting to navigate. After resting a moment  at the bottom of the hill I got up covered with mud, but importantly, not a bit of it sullied either camera. I drove on, taking pictures here and there for about 20 minutes till my blood sugar cratered. When that happened, I suddenly didn't give a damn about taking any more pictures.

When I spotted this water feature close enough to the road with room enough to pull off safely, I decided I could actually muster the enthusiasm to take a few more shots on the way down the mountain. The question, "Who knows when you'll be back this way again?" came to mind and I succumbed to Nature's enticement. Then, on down the mountain.

Whoa! One more. On the way up the mountain, earlier in the morning, I took a sequence of shots to create a panorama when I got home, then I started shooting some video and I'm not much of a videographer. As soon as I finished that (chore), it was back to the truck and up the mountain. Coming down the mountain, I remembered working on the video but didn't remember whether I'd taken any stills. The shot above is similar to one in the panorama sequence but, being a lucky photographer, the lighting was better when I stopped on the way down.

Finally, it was straight through Oconaluftee without stopping and on into Cherokee to find something sweet and tasty to arrest the hypoglycemia. I think it was a cheese danish and chocolate milk.

Sunrise in the Garden of Mayfield Park

I'm still practicing with my Canon EOS-70D, two and a half years after I bought it. It has more bells and whistles than I'll ever need, but it's so much fun playing with it. Of course, I never expected the learning curve to be as steep as it turned out to be. I guess I need to practice more - if I'm going to master it - but there are so many video tutorials. And what about post-processing, you know, Photoshop. There are even more tutorials for that than for taking pictures. And, to compound that problem, I find playing with Photoshop every bit as much fun as taking the pictures in the first place.

If you've been following this blog for very long, you've seen this spot - the dove cote at Mayfield Park. I used to bring Mom here on a fairly regular basis, first of all because she absolutely loved it. Of course, my lack of imagination played a part too - I had only a limited number of places on my list that made her as happy as this one, and I could shoot pictures and watch the peacocks while she evaluated the garden itself.

This visit was my first at this time of day, and it was a conscious decision to evaluate how the quality of the morning light compared to that at mid-day or later in the afternoon. Any of the photography books and many of the tutorials would address the "Golden Hour" after sunrise and another before sunset, but the magic is in the combination of the warm light and the location itself. You can imagine what it might look like, but you won't really know till you've seen it.

In this instance, because of all the trees, it was already light enough when I arrived to wander around and decide where I wanted to be when the sun burst into the garden. At Cape Hatteras I wandered around in the dark for nearly an hour trying to get my gear set up. This is a much more civilized arrangement. I didn't anticipate the picture above, but I love it. The light's awesome. Next time I find myself in a similar locale, you can be sure I'll remember to look up.

It's like having two different sunrises out here, something else I hadn't anticipated. I sat for probably a quarter of an hour waiting for the sun to break through the trees. Then I had to wait again for it to break through the reflection of the leaves. But what the hell - it was worth it!

Now, this one was a treat. Most of these shots focus on the dove cote, for instance, or the limestone gateway to the nature trail or the perimeter stone walls. This one focuses on the morning light on the trees adjacent to the garden, which is still pretty much in shadow.

The sun did its job here - a great flare makes getting up early seem so much more worthwhile. I didn't even notice that red flower to the left of the gateway until I saw the pictures on my computer. Then, when I zoomed in to inspect the image, the flower had turned into a red plastic cup. If I'd seen it - and seen it for what it actually was - I would have been impelled to remove it to a trash receptacle. . .

Do carp/turtle habitats like these ponds make you think of Renoir? They do me. I guess it's the lily pads. They (the ponds) also make me look for frogs. Above the lily pads on the right, notice the dust. I usually find it on scanned photographs that I haven't taken very good care of - and I remove it in Photoshop. However, in this case I'm blameless - the dust is on the surface of the water. Ergo, it gets to stay.

I framed this bed of Philodendrons several times, starting when the sun first started back lighting it but, until sun flare at top left improved the balance, the composition simply failed. Now, the flare isn't as good as the previous one - two shot up - but perhaps I can take some liberties with Photoshop later when I have a bit more time. This is where Mom would have camped out had she been here.

Back where we started, at the dove cote. Good lighting, but the warm glow of the Golden Hour has flown. Perhaps I just missed it. This was an easy and very pleasant expedition, so maybe we'll catch it on the flip side.

San Antonio Missions NHP - Redux

I've been meaning to get back to finish what I started in October 2015 at the San Antonio Missions and I finally got around to it a couple of weeks ago. Cathie was going down to house/dog/cat-sit at Ellen's & Stan's and when she mentioned it, I thought I could go down too and finish taking my pictures. I'm still learning the intricacies of my Canon after two years, so when results showed I needed to go back to factory default settings and set it up again, it took a while to figure out just how to salvage  a reasonable number of images from the shoot. So I'm set up again and I spent a couple of days Photoshopping some of the better images into submission. I hope you like them.

Unfamiliar with specifics of the San Antonio rush hour traffic, I left Ellen's shortly after sunrise and headed south on surface streets to get through the center of town to what I think of as the Mission District. I made it eventually to Mission Conception (above and below). The GPS helped, but the number of city streets under repair, maintenance on other city infrastructure, and detours associated to all of them kept me aware of where I was but helped me only marginally to figure out how to get to my destinations. That said, I got a few satisfactory shots of Mission Conception in the early morning.

The 200+ year old mission architecture is the primary draw for me at all these sites. However, they're not all created equal and Conception uses some very effective landscaping to accentuate its particular highlights. I'd like to see some park benches set out in shaded areas of the church grounds here - some like to wander around, and some like to take advantage of quiet time, contemplating the years when these places were daily bustling with life.

Compare this shot (above) with this one (image 1) taken at Mission Espada in 2015. I started at Espada that morning and this morning I arrived after shooting at Conception. I assumed when I first glanced at this image that the orange morning light had dissolved as the sun climbed, but looking at the recent group of shots I took at Espada, now I think I may simply have botched my camera settings.

Compare the sun positions in image 1 and 4; not too different and taken just over 30 min apart. After looking at this batch (overexposed originally), it's hard to imagine the impression the orange light and clear blue skies made on me in that first shot taken nearly two years ago. Orange or no orange, I like both shots above, but I have no doubt I'd like them better if I'd been able to reset the camera on the spot. Having to do it at my desk with the User's Manual (.pdf) open on my desktop and no time constraints just provides a reminder that I need to get out and shoot more often - and regularly wouldn't be amiss.

Ah, on to my favorite, Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo.I followed the same basic route around the mission as I had on my first trip in '15. But it was a lot hotter in August than it had been that October, and I was two years older. I admit I was flagging a bit and taking advantage of the park benches provided here. So, with less walking and more time on the benches I was able to pay closer attention to details than I had before and kept shooting pictures while resting.

Being always mindful of the possibility I could collapse on one of these treks and the temperature difference between the shade and the open courtyard, I bring along a small, folding garden bench. Shooting from the benches also adds some variety to the point of view - everything isn't necessarily shot from 6 ft above ground - and I like the perspective in this shot along the passageway of the convento.

This one and the previous image are both pointing at the same spot, this one just taken from the courtyard toward the end of the passageway. I was resting on one of the park benches, shooting shapes, shadows, and shrubbery - some potted, some otherwise. This probably my favorite shot of the day.

I was standing for this one - and in the sun. The courtyard, which encompasses the church and convento is more than a stone wall. The structure reminds me of 1940's and '50s motels you'd see across the southwest as you raced by on Route 66. The 4th picture (above) gives you an idea of the typical structural dimensions of what the monks would undoubtedly have referred to as "cells". The picture above shows a cell door and window near the end of the long enclosure and this image (picture 6) from 2015 shows a series of cell doors and windows on the right hand side, as well as a large gate through which horses and wagons would have accessed the courtyard. The arch (above) marks a smaller gateway between the courtyard and utility area outside, the mission's mill and acequia (picture 6).

Gillespie County Search

I was hoping for a smooth transition from yesterday's post, but I think smooth transitions can be overrated, don't you?

I think this image is a holdover from yesterday's Mason County batch. I never recognized the ranches along  US-87 that I was looking for that proved so scenic on drives past. I'm guessing I ought to make a concerted effort to find them one last time - and copy down the GPS coordinates!

This shot is of Polander Creek taken from Gypsum Mine Road. That's the secret road I use to bypass Fredericksburg and join County Rd 965 south of Enchanted Rock. I take it past The Rock and turn south on TX-16 about 4 mi to the north end of the Willow City Loop.

The Willow City Loop has some nice visual surprises but the road itself tends to narrow whenever you encounter one - and the "gawkers" are out (as opposed to us serious photographers) so there are few places to pull off and safely take a picture or two. My best guess for this one is the South Branch of Coal Creek.

Sometimes, crossing a creek in Texas - especially one with water in it - makes it difficult to remember you're on a Bluebonnet reconnaissance. In this case, I remembered on my way back to the car. I didn't see vast fields of blue through the rest of the loop or on FM1323 as I cut over to US-281, just occasional patches. But I was about spent and ready to head home. It's been a pleasant drive.

I'm hoping to get another in to see how long these wildflowers tend to stick around. It's been 18 days since I took this drive, but I think they should still be brightening up the highways and by-ways for awhile. If not, dogwoods and azaleas from The Masters will help me get on with life.