Geckos are Cool

Know what I mean? This one was on the window screen in Houston.

Portland, Oregon

OK, here is a parting shot of Portland. I've also posted a small slide show from the trip. Note the sakura (cherry trees) in bloom along the river and also in the slide show. There are nice Chinese and Japanese gardens, it was green, and it is very obvious that things grow well here in the summer.

Old Town

It is raining in Portland. There are lots of things things Portland has going for it and some not so great. I know some people don't like the clouds, rain, and such but that doesn't really bother me. There seems to be a surprisingly large homeless population. I wonder why? There were two beggars rotating and using the same sign outside the coffee shop yesterday. Just a shift change I suppose.

There was something that struck me when we flew in and that was how developed the land is - all under plow or with streets and buildings it seemed.

Lewis and Clark made their expedition between 1803 to 1806. By 1850, Portland was a pretty good sized town. By the late 1800' s, the railroads had tamed the West and the American Indians were all on reservations. Within a few more years a lot of the rivers had been dammed and a substantial amount of the forest logged. The entire area had been wilderness and now only remnants remain.

Two hundred years later it is all drastically different. I have always thought that change has accelerated in my lifetime but I am not so sure. At least you didn't see that much of a change to the landscape when the semiconductor was invented or the internet was invented (not by Al Gore as sometimes thought). To take a place from wilderness to tamed in 100 years is pretty dramatic. One hundred years doesn't seem as long anymore since I have lived more than 50 myself. I wish they had left a little more of it pristine.

I think I wrote once that the rain forest seems to go on forever in PNG. It must have seemed the same to the pioneers.

Portland, Oregon

Here we are in Portland, Oregon. I am not entirely sure what to make of it. I like it, but it is not all that it could be I think. There is a river running through it, but it hasn't been developed very well. The city has interesting architecture, a mix of old and new. There are restaurants, bars, hotels, and some apartments downtown. There seems to be a good art scene and the public transportation is good. The fashion seems to be predominately grunge and lumberjack. There is a huge bookstore, and inside was an engineer giving a lecture with old fashioned slides on bridges. The photograph shows an old draw bridge with modern sculpture beside it that I could not quite decipher.

Commemorative 5th Anniversary Blog

About five years ago I started blogging for the first time. I know that you are jumping up and down to hear the story so I interviewed myself. Here is the transcript:

Q: So, how did you get started with this blogging anyway?
A: Well, it started when I went to Japan five years ago to start work on a new project and my Mother asked me to make sure and write at least once a week so she would know I was OK. I did, and just to let others know I was OK, I copied them on the emails I wrote. Tried to make them interesting too… One day, my niece Erica suggested my stories were interesting enough that maybe I could put them into one of those new fangled blogs. That was the first I ever heard of a blog but I tried it. Since then I have made over 500 entries had over 13,000 visits.

Q: That is interesting. What made you name it Lost in Japan?
A: The hardest part about starting the blog was giving it a name. But there was a movie out back then called Lost in Translation (starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson) and it was filmed in and around where I was living. At the end of the movie you can see the apartment building I lived in. Anyway, I kind of ripped off the title and it seemed to fit because sometimes I felt a bit lost over there.

Q: What a great story. But you don’t live in Japan any more, why don’t you change the title?
A: Like I said, coming up with a blog title is hard. Anyway, sometimes I get lost in Kingwood, Texas but not so much anymore because I bought a GPS that speaks and gives directions.

Q: Fascinating. What about the pictures you post in your blog?
A: At first I didn’t put pictures in. In fact, I just copied my emails into the blog. But at some point I found you could put pictures in and I bought a little 3 M pixel Canon point and shoot and started sticking them in when I had an interesting one. Japan is interesting visually so usually I could find something during the week and I always carried the camera with me.

Q: This really is delightful. So, do you consider yourself a photographer or a journalist?
A: Actually, neither. I am an engineer. But I like both writing and photography. Lately I’ve tended a bit more towards photography. I like techie gadgets. Maybe I am a photojournalist who does both. I really like a good picture but it has to tell a story. But a lot of the time you don’t get the story from my pictures without a few words.

Q: You are just as interesting in person as you are on the printed page. And your pictures really are of a professional quality. I just love your pictures of Australia.
A: Thank you.

Q: Let’s talk about your favorite postings in the blog. What would those be?
A: I like it best when I’m able to elicit a response from my readers. So anytime I get a comment or an email response I am encouraged to keep blogging.

Q: Who generally responds? I would have thought anyone reading your poetry and seeing the artistic visions you capture would be compelled to write back to you.
A: I’ve had comments from all over the world but most of the comments seem to come from a guy named Stu Monkey and Megan. I heard that Stu Monkey had a facebook page but he hasn’t invited me to be his friend even though he invited Megan.

Q: I wouldn't worry about Stu Monkey if I were you but I have noticed that you have fans from all over the world. In what countries are you most popular?
A: Outside of the United States, I get the most hits from Indonesia followed by a tie between Thailand and Australia. I don’t know why Thailand or Indonesia. Interestingly, I’ve had two visits from the Islamic Republic of Iran but only one from Latvia.

Q: Where do you get your topics?
A: I try to see something everyday that interests me visually or something that I would like to learn more about. There is enough reporting of bad news in the world and the blogophere is full of whiners, so to distinguish myself I write about good things.

Q: I see. Why don't you write about your work. That must be really interesting too.
A: You have to have a life outside work. If you are going to bring work up, I'll have to end this interview right now...

Q: OK, OK, don't get your knickers in a twist. Thanks for taking the time to share your insights on blogging with us.
A: No worries mate. Hasta la vista. Mata ato de.

btw, the picture at the top is an iris blooming in the pond in the little park across the street. It has nothing to do with the story, but I had to stick a picture in...

Children Dancing, Papa Village

These children are dancing a welcoming dance in Papa village up the coast from Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. Dances are done to commemorate events, celebrate, prepare for war, prepare for marriage (more or less the same dance for the last two), and such. Some dances are very elaborate, masks are frequently used, and story telling aids might be carried. You really know you aren't back in Kansas when the dancing starts....

Dance to Commemorate Hail Storm in Kingwood, Texas

To commemorate the hail storm in Kingwood I have made up a dance which I do in my garage from time to time whenever I feel the story is worth retelling. The snowman reminds me of the cold hail and the dour mask with me falling to my knees shows the pain of being hit in the shins by ricochet'd ice.

Hail Storm in Kingwood, Texas

Friday, the 27th of March, we had a good hail storm and I went out on our tiny little porch to watch it. The porch is so small there was hail bouncing in and hitting me. There was some good sized hail - up to the size of a quarter. I picked some up, put it in my pocket, and after a while went back inside and photographed it on the kitchen counter. Of course it had melted but you can see it was good sized...

Tattoo

I have been in Australia and PNG the last two weeks, and flew into Houston on Friday afternoon. I don't know why but there really wasn't anything that caught my eye or told me a story worth retelling on this trip. I did get a fair picture of an ibis, a picture of some dancers, a nice picture of Brisbane CBD from the river, and this shot of a tattoo parlor on Queen Street.

Tattoos are pretty popular in Australia, perhaps even more popular than what they are in the United States. Girls get them, guys get them, and sometimes it isn't clear what it was that got them. There is a a kind of Moiri pattern that seems popular. Of course in PNG they still do traditional tattoos in some spots. I don't know whether these fine fellows are tattoo artists, customers, or hanger-ons....

Brenham, Texas

We went to Brenham today to see the blue bonnets. It is early, but there were a few out. What made the trip interesting for me however was learning a bit more about Brenham and thinking about small town America and what is becoming of it. Brenham has become ice cream parlors and antique shops. But it wasn't always so....

By the time of the American Civil War, Washington County was the most populated area of Texas and Brenham was the county seat. There was a railroad up from Houston and it was for Texas a wealthy and civilized place.

Today it is a good sized country town that was obviously quite wealthy at one time, but a bit faded. I've placed some photographs in the slide show and while I hope they stand up on their own, I feel like I should explain them a bit.

I shot them with an extreme wide angle lens and to keep the perspective from being too distorted I kept the horizon around mid frame and shot a lot of the buildings head on. This tended to put a large expanse of the street in the foreground. The thing that struck me about Brenham today, a beautiful Sunday afternoon, was that there were very few cars and very few people. The pictures look like poorly composed postcards, but to me the empty streets that dominate the foreground are symbolic of the movement to cities that took place in the last century.

I was actually thinking about postcards when I took the photographs. I read an article in the paper this morning about an exhibition of postcards and about how individually they are usually pretty vapid - blue sky, green grass, local landmarks. Just like my photographs. What made the collection being exhibited interesting were the comments people had written on them and the overwhelming sameness and at the same time difference in all of them being posted together.

Click on the slide show to see it more closely. All of the pictures have empty streets, buildings in varying degrees of care, and what was at one time a new and very vibrant town. I wonder what makes one town grow, others shrink, and some to just hold their own?

Oh yes, the picture at the top is an old tyme ice cream parlor. After all, more than anything else these days, Brenham is famous for Blue Bell Ice Cream.

The Scroll

The scroll, according to David, is where the luthier imparts his aesthetic mark on an instrument. The scroll, along with some other distinctive features like the "f" holes and purfling distinguish a maker and are clues to his skill and care in instrument making. They are part of his signature.

I wrote yesterday that individuals don't make things anymore. That is isn't really true. I read somewhere that more photographs have been made since the dawn of the digital age than all time before. That may be true... Think about the gazillion mobile cell phones out there, not to mention the little point and shoots. I think I have made over 40,000 snaps between my D3 and D200. That is significantly more than I ever shot on film.

The thing is, most of them are just that - snapshots. Sometimes I shoot the same thing a dozen times the same way just to make sure I got it. Of course this just results in a dozen mediocre shots of the same thing.

I tell myself that what I need to do something different. Different angles, depth of field, light, etc. I need to think before I snap. Anyway, I am working on that.

The other thing I need to do is develop a style, just like the luthier. Something unique, that causes people to think of me when they see it. But for now, I'll just keep trying to make better pictures. If I take 100,000 snaps, somewhere in there is bound to be a good picture.

V=13,495

Caution: Bassist at Work

David's bass is repaired and he has it back. It was damaged during the concert we saw on New Year's Eve. The neck was completely replaced and I personally think it is a better piece of wood. The old scroll was grafted on to the new neck.

This got me to thinking. Most people don't know how to repair things anymore, and a lot of things made today aren't really repairable. A hundred years ago, almost everyone was a repairman or woman. You repaired your house, farm machinery, your clothes, everything. People made things for themselves too.

By the time I came along, people still repaired and maintained a lot of stuff. We worked on the car, did plumbing, sharpened tools, and generally fixed things that needed fixing. Of course not everyone did that. I knew kids that didn't work on their car - rich kids mostly.

Today, hardly anyone does repair. They call the repairman. Don't ask my kids to replace the muffler on a car. Anyway, it was a good repair on David's bass I think (even though I didn't do it)...

Red-eared Sliders

You may know your turtles better than me, but I believe these to be Red-eared Sliders. It was a nice day for sunning at Mercer Arboretum.

Sam Houston

This statue of Sam Houston is located at the entrance to Hermann Park.

The city of Houston was named after Sam Houston (of course). Old Sam was born in 1793 near Lexington, Virginia. To say the least, his early life was interesting and he lived with the Cherokees, became a war hero in the War of 1812, was a lawyer, a congressman and governor of Tennessee, a heavy drinker and a discredited politician who beat a adversary with a cane on Pennsylvannia Avenue.

Obviously, this was a man destined to move to Texas and he did so in 1832 as the Texas revolution was coming to a boil. As every school child in Texas knows, he eventually led a small Texas army to defeat Santa Anna at San Jacinto. Eventually Houston was elected President of the new republic (twice), and served as a governor and senator after it became a state.

The city of Houston was founded in August 1836 by two brothers, J.K. Allen and A.C. Allen in Houston's honor. Houston died in 1863 with wife Margaret by his side. His last recorded words were "Texas. Texas. Margaret".

State Bird of Texas

The mocking bird is the State Bird of Texas and probably my favorite song bird in the area. They are relatively fearless and sometimes curious like this one in Hermann Park on a bench. The mocker is a loud and vocal singer that mimics other birds. Mocking birds will aggressively defend their nests against cats, dogs, and if necessary paper boys as I can attest.

Little Train in Hermann Park

Hermann Park is located near the medical center in Houston and was named for it's donor, George Hermann, who donated the property in 1914. Hermann traded a team of horses and a buggy for a tract of land in northern Harris County. By chance, it was located in the center of the Humble oil field that was discovered in 1904 and he became a wealthy man.

The miniature train has been there a long time, although I think the track has changed since when I was a kid. I believe there is more than one train because I remember one that looked like a diesel, although this is the one that was running today.

Happy Valentine's Day

These are Teresa's tulips. Why tulips? Because tulips aren't roses and everyone gets roses. Why purplish? Because purple is the color of royalty (and everyone else gets red or pink). I'm doing my part to be different. Teresa already is ;-)

I like the light in this photograph (believe me, I went to some effort to get it that way). I could have gone into Photoshop and cleaned up the leaves, taken out the ragged spots, and removed the imperfections from the petals. But that is how the stalks and blossoms look. So I left them like they are. You shouldn't look for perfection in a valentine - that is impossible to find (very, very good is OK, just not perfection :-)

Gator!

OK, back in Texas again... We went looking for gators at Brazos Bend State Park and found them. Male American Aligators can grow to 15 feet or more and over 1000 pounds while full grown females are smaller at around 10 feet.

This one, trying to gather a little sun on a large tree log, was 4 to 5 feet long and we saw some I estimated to be well over 10 feet. They have five toes but if you click on the picture to enlarge it you will see this fellow has lost one and has four on the front right.

For comparison, an Australian saltwater crocodile can get to 22 feet or so and 2500 pounds.

V=13,330

White Ibis

The North American White Ibis is quite a bit better looking than the Australian one I think. This one is looking for a meal in the Brazos Bend State Park. They are abundant there year round, and this one was part of a pair.

Real Cowboy

The chief is a real cowboy, and what character in his face... I don't think he was all that impressed with my fancy camera.

Huli Warriors

This is me with a couple of warriors and the chief. They weren't a real talkative bunch but they gave me a drum to hold for the picture.

People of PNG

At one of the villages, they gave us coconuts as a gift. This lady was using her knife to open them up. When I asked to take her picture, she put it behind her back but I asked her to show it.

I've posted more pictures of people I met on this trip in the slide show. Click on it or follow this link to see a larger version.

Houston Marathon

This is the start to the Houston Marathon. Teresa ran the half but I sat it out, I mean photographed it. The big guy in fair focus near the middle and closest to the camera with a white singlet came in third. The guy just behind him was first, and the 4th guy behind just visible in the green singlet was second place.

Later on, when the sun came up, I got some better shots at least technically but not as interesting in my opinion. I had the wrong lens here - should have had the fast 50mm instead of the wide angle.

Teresa did well. Check out the results here: Marathon

Williams Tower

The Williams Tower used to be known as Transco Tower and is located just outside the loop on the west side of Houston. I took the picture at an ultra-wide 14mm focal length on my D3. I really like the way the reflections turned out. Very futuristic...

Muscovy Ducks

I didn't know it, but Muscovy Ducks are native to South America, Central America, and Mexico. There is a small native population in far South Texas. Of course you also spot them in parks and what not. These live in a small pond not too far from Williams Tower.

Pencil Sketch #1

I have been fooling around with Photoshop lately imitating pencil sketches. Some of the photos look better to me after the treatment. Some can't take it at all. I have been playing around with different borders lately too just for something different. Anyway, it is interesting...

Pencil Sketch #2

I like the way this one came out. It really does look like a pencil sketch. I do these by turning them into a contrasty B&W photo and then using the "find edges" filter. There is usually some more manipulation needed but it still pretty easy.

Pencil Sketch #3

I seem to have less luck converting pictures of people to B&W sketches. Most look better to me in color. I do these slightly different using the cleverly titled "colored pencil" filter.

Buying a Car

I have been thinking about buying another car lately. Because I don't have family in the business any more, this means a lot of research on my part and getting ready to go do "business" with a car salesman. These days though, you have to almost feel sorry for them. In fact, given that they really haven't made money for quite some time as an industry, maybe I should have felt sorry in the past.

Actually, the same applies to a lot of business. When the oil and gas industry shed all those jobs in the 1980s and early 90s and companies went under there wasn't anybody outside the industry feeling sorry about it. A lot of other jobs were "outsourced" over the last 20 years or so too. Most of the work I do for an American company is with companies in other countries.

What to buy? I am torn between a Corvette and a hybrid Escape. You can get a heck of a deal on a full sized pickup truck. I guess I am not ready to buy yet.

Buggy Ride

We went to see David and the San Antonio Symphony last night. You weren't supposed to take pictures inside the concert, but outside no problem.