Happy New Year from San Antonio

Here is wishing you a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2009

Santa Spotted in Switzerland

Why is Santa peeping through a window in Wilderswil, Switzerland on Christmas Eve? I can only guess that he was making a last check on who was naughty and who was nice because he wouldn't respond when I yelled at him.

Switzerland was very nice and we enjoyed it a lot. As usual, I took a lot of pictures and now I am having to sort through them.

Some of you remember when we used to take slides during vacation and then make everyone sit through a slide show. Friends and relatives dreaded the family vacation because they knew they were going to have to sit through 6 rolls of poorly exposed film why others yammered on about how wonderful it was. I wouldn't do that to you though.

I have pulled out some of the best and posted them in the slide show window though. Now you can look through them and call me over if you want for the commentary that goes with it....

Swans

Swans, seagulls, and mallards in Switzerland.

The Seagull Says It All

Noisy Miner Bird on a Canna

Noisy Miner Birds are almost always willing to pose for a picture. There has been a lot of rain in Brisbane recently and everything is green.

V=12,800

Street Performers of Brisbane: Rope Man

Today I am in Brisbane and was down to Queen Street of course, it being the weekend and all. There were the usual street performers including Balloon Man and the Little Tramp. This guy was climbing ropes and doing some pretty amazing stuff. At one point he was horizontal on the rope and at another he rolled himself up then down it. There was a new magician over on South Bank but he was really pretty bad and didn't even warrant a picture...

Street Performers of Brisbane: Balancing Woman

Balancing Woman is part of the same group as Rope Man. See the chalk board with "How Many Sleeps?" written on it? Sleeps is Aussie for nights. So altogether now, how many nights until Christmas? 18!

BTW, I saw a good looking Santa in the Decatur mall in Illinois and I was going to take a picture of him but being a nice guy I asked permission and they said NO! Of course it is a public place and I could have taken a photo anyway but I didn't. These street performers don't mind you taking pictures at all, although most would like a donation.

Street Performers of Brisbane: Copper Girl

Copper Girl was doing her act down by a band that was playing Stevie Ray Vaughan tunes. Why did Copper Girl paint her body copper and then wrap a torn sheet around herself? I don't know, but she was getting a lot of looks. Her act consisted of slumping and holding still like a statue until someone put money in front of her. Then she chased them around and acted kind of like a scantily clad demented mime - scared the #@!* out of most of her potential audience.... There used to be an Asian guy that painted himself gold with a similar act but he didn't try to frighten people afterwards :-)

Little Girl Feeding Koi

This little girl was feeding the koi at Atagoyama Shrine with her father. I have visited it many times and it is one of my favorites in the Tokyo area. You buy the fish food as a donation and the koi go crazy. Usually, there are only a few people there, but on this day there were a fair number. It was warm and sunny - everyone was out just enjoying the weather I think....

Shinagawa

Today I am in Tokyo, having spent yesterday in meetings, and am preparing to catch a plane to Brisbane. This is a shot from the Strings Hotel in Shinagawa towards downtown Tokyo. I have noticed that my camera has dust on the sensor that I'm going to have to clean off. It does that at times when you change the lens. New cameras vibrate to shake it off.

Three pairs of hawks are circling outside the hotel window on the 31st floor. I don't know what their prey is but will get a picture and try to identify them later....

Don't Drink and Drive

This is my interpretation of what it looks like when you drive and drink. Too many alcohol related accidents happen this time of year - get a designated driver or call Dad to come get you if you have to.

Transfer House Square

Thanksgiving in the heartland, the square in Decatur, Illinois.

St. Louis Arch

It really wasn't that hard to be cool in the '60s, it just came natural. Take these two guys for example. They could have just have easily been on a fashion shoot for Abercrombie & Fitch instead of on vacation with their parents. Of course when we were young, Abercrombie & Fitch sold shotguns and outfitted explorers for expeditions instead of selling clothing to rich kids in the mall.

New Bass Player in San Antonio Symphony

This is somewhat old news but David got a job in the San Antonio Symphony and started on November 3rd. He says he is really enjoying it. You can find a link to the symphony here: San Antonio Symphony



Fortunately, the Milburn men look good in a tuxedo, even when their clip-on is crooked. I don't have a recent picture of Dave, so this is me around 1969.

Three Brothers

I got back from PNG two weeks ago or so and maybe I'll post some more pictures from there but in the meantime I've just been a bit lazy or something. So, to make up for it, here I am with my brothers, circa early 1960s. Look at the shine on those shoes. We were way cool even back then. Except, maybe, Stuart's pants aren't zipped all the way up.

Kundu

This man is carving a type of traditional drum called a "kundu" in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Various woods are used, and the head is made of lizard skin. The seed pods hanging from it rattle when shaken.

Bilum

These woman are selling handmade string bags called "bilum" in an open market in Port Moresby. Bilum are traditionally used by men and women to carry things.

Port Douglas Lighthouse

This week I am in tropical Queensland, Australia. Port Douglas is a beautiful tourist town with the Great Barrier Reef just a short boat trip away. Summer is just beginning and the stingers haven't made their way to the beaches yet.

The bad news: My luggage did not come out with the rest of the luggage. Apparently it stayed on the airplane and eventually made it's way to Narita. The next day it was back, but not in time for me to get my mask, snorkel, and cheapo underwater camera for the trip to the reef. I had to buy a swimming suit, shirt, and Crocs so I had something to wear.

The good news is that they had prescription masks on the boat, including one that fit me pretty good. I went ahead and rented a tank for the first time in a long time but to be honest it just reminded me that I enjoy snorkeling and free diving just as much anyway, especially when the reef is all at 10 meters or less. I am pretty sure I spotted Nemo. No underwater pictures, but it was a nice day out.

Real Halloween Costumes, Part 1

I am starting to get nostalgic. When we were young, kids didn't wear the cute little outfits that kids wear today. They didn't dress up like superheros or geeky space heros. No, kids were out to scare adults by dressing up like clowns gone insane, or real skeletons, or a one-eyed pirate. And they had clapper things that made a lot of noise.

Real Halloween Costumes, Part 2

Back in the day, big kids dressed up too.

Cooler Weather

The temperature is cool, the humidity is low, and the weather is close to perfect right now. It was wet during the week as the front blew in. Fall has arrived in coastal Texas.

Nutria on the Loose

It is time to do some urban wildlife and flower photography again. This nutria was enjoying himself at Hermann Park. You can't see it in this photo, but he had one big ugly orange buck tooth, and one white one. I would run the cowboy effect on him, but he is grizzly enough already.

Koi

A koi in the Japanese Garden at Hermann Park near the Medical Center in Houston.

Autumn Seed Head 2

This grass has gone to seed and is set against the blurred background of a Japanese Tea House out of focus.

Autumn Seed Head 1

This seed head is set against a background of grass.

Cowboy Lou

I was sent this picture of Lou "Shorty" the Cat with a statement that he was more cowboy than Ozzy. While very professional looking, something just didn't seem right about this photograph. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something reminded me of the "GBPD Blue" crime scene shot that had everyone scratching their heads a while back.

I have recently developed powerful software to search the internet for similar pixels in pictures to stop people from stealing my valuable copyrighted shots and using them in an illegal manner. After turning on the software and feeding in Shorty I discovered the shot below of a "Cowboy Duckling" who was photographed in a Houston park.

Cowboy Duckling

Sure enough, if you look at the hat on Duckling's head you will see that it looks like someone has rotated it, colored it white, and repositioned it for a very professional retouch of Shorty - or should I say fabrication?

But that is not what I really want to convey to you. My point is this: none of these cute animals are really cowboys. Come on people, a duck or a cat can't herd cattle. Maybe a dog, but not a duck or a cat. What is next, Cowboy Humming Bird or Cowboy Potted Plant?

And another thing - the "cowboy look" is not something out of Zoolander that a model can turn on and off. I invented and trademarked the cowboy look. The model is but putty in my hands and that gritty and direct look that everyone wants is my secret. It takes a sense of fashion and style combined with technical mastery of camera and light that only I possess. I am the one and only true artiste.

Cowboy Ozzy

Stu asked if I could give the cowboy look to Ozzy after seeing the posting below. Here he is. Does he look better or worse?

p.s. I thought there was too much red color in the original Cowboy Ozzy shot I posted and desaturated it a bit more.

Reading Oprah

I don't know why my children don't like me taking candid shots of them...

Reset the Map

They reset my map and took all my red dots away. They do that every year whether you want them to or not. Anyway, the map at left is a copy from just before the reset. Click on it to blow it up and see the location of people who looked at my blog over the last year.

V = 12288