A Break from A Dickens' Christmas: Fences!

I was headed out yesterday to run some errands and go back to the Town Square for some more picture taking, and had to stop by the office for a few minutes. I saw the fence post (top) up a small hill directly behind the rear entrance to the office. After leaving the office I dropped by my mom's house, and was headed over to Towne Lake Park to see if there were any pictures waiting in the nature trail there before going to the square, when I saw an orange tree by a shopping center I wanted to shoot....but I became more facinated by the fences. Never made it to the Park....did make it back to the Town Square for a few pics, which I will post later.

I did shoot the tree too.

Again, I will post it later after I take a look at the shots.

A Dickens of a Christmas Pt. 3

Here are more pictures from Saturday night in period processes like daguerrotype, albumin, and platinum. The child in the top photo (I didn't catch her name...) asked me to take her picture while I was ordering a cheesesteak from at one of the food stalls around the square (my father's side of the family is from Philadelphia, so I inherited a taste for cheesesteak hoagies). She was an absolute darling, and so happy with her little marrionette, and the picture I think captures it perfectly...

More From A Dickens of a Christmas

More photos from the shoot this evening. It amazes me sometimes how many things I can find to photograph. I think one of the reasons I have this blog is to show people you don't have to travel far to find interesting photos....there are enough things in your own backyard to keep you busy for a lifetime.

Landon Winery (bottom) is a nice local winery that gets its grapes from California; LaMisha Bistro (middle) is a classy European-style restaurant with walls lined with the work of local artists and great food; and Cafe Malaga (near top) is a great and affordable Tapas Restaurant with wonderful atmosphere and an asparagus wrapped in prosciutto tapa that is to die for (or to kill for, because if you were to die you could hardly enjoy this present to your tastebuds!). The restaurant is also next to the location of James W. Throckmorton's (Governor of Texas during the early years of Reconstruction, and later Congressman from Texas) law office which is a Texas Historical Landmark.

A Dickens' Christmas in McKinney Town Square

November 28, 29, and 30th is A Dickens' Christmas in downtown McKinney. I went down there this evening to shoot some photos. In keeping with the occasion, I have used Albumin and Platinum effects for the shots...techniques around the time of Dickens (and Daguerrotype would have also been a possibility) . I would also like to thank Charm of Alternative Furnishings, and Jennifer and Sherri of Cookie Lee Jewelry for letting me take their pictures. Over the next few days I will be posting more photos from this shoot, in color, platinum, and albumin....

More of McKinney's Fall....

I usually use Paint Shop Pro Photo XI to crop, edit, and tweak photos....my philosophy towards this to change or enhance in the same manner as you would if you were in the darkroom developing prints yourself....the fact is, for anyone who thinks that this is "cheating", no amount of photoshoping can make bad photos good. The bottom photograph, by the way, is completely untouched, and unenhanced.......

Happy Thanksgiving from McKinney

A few Thanksgiving photos from this morning....

Industrial-Agricultural McKinney

Just to the east side of downtown McKinney (east of McDonald Street) is the older industrial/agricultural area of the city, much different than the expensive subdivisions of the west side. I went out just before dawn this cloudy morning to shoot some pictures. The middle picture is from the loading dock of a vacant building, and the bottom photo is from an old Flour Mill. All three were processed with infrared effect in Photoshop, which is a fairly expensive form of film if you were to try to shoot through a conventional SLR. Infrared gives a ghostliness to images. I think some subjects look best in B & W, or infrared. Some may not think the use of computerized effects are "authentic", but I think one should use whatever techniques helps them reach the desired goal of the photo...but I also use to have a film SLR and have both done my own film developing and enlarging of B & W prints......