The Red River at Greenwood

Red River at Greenwoood, Texas

Since Photo 111, in my first year of photography at TAMU-Commerce, with Vaughn Wascovich I have wanted to photograph and document the banks of the Red River.  Vaughn asked us to list the 10 most interesting things to photograph near where we lived and shooting the Red River was at the top of my list.





It is a very difficult river to access because the property on both the Texas and Oklahoma sides  is owned by private citizens and I have not found a public access site.  The only place I've had a chance to see the Red River was while going over bridges in a car and looking over the railing at 70 mph.  But I want to get in a pontoon boat, a canoe or a kayak and traverse the river with camera in hand.  It is interesting that even though I live less than 15 miles from the Red River, I've never really seen it up close and personal.





I decided today that after I get out of grad school, the documentation of the Red River is going to be my next photo project.  Today, Bobby, at Greenwood, in Red River County allowed me to go onto their land and take some shots of the river bordering their property.  I arrived a little late in the morning even though I left my house again about 5 am.  Because I am directionally challenged, I had trouble finding the correct road to turn down to get to their house.

It was a wonderful adventure from start to finish.  I had my very own Texas Master Naturalist and professor emeritus plant physiologist from Texas AM College Station giving me the tour of the land and telling me all kinds of interesting tidbits about the flora, fauna and animal life.

If I get the opportunity to photograph the Red River at Greenwood again, I am going to come armed with my pinhole cameras, my holga and more lenses.  Next time I hope to be able to get on the sand banks a little before sunrise if Bobby is game!






 

Supermoon Setting over the Sunflower Field

The equinox.  The summer solstice.  I guess I've never really thought about it before. This morning once again I made the journey from my house in Faught to the sunflower field near Honey Grove.  It was a little weird experiencing the rising of the sun and the setting of the moon at the same time.  The sun was slowing getting brighter and rising higher behind me as I was trying to photograph the setting of the super moon above the sunflower field in front of me.  I tried to take pictures of both events while juggling cameras.  I had my old Canon 20D with a wide angle lens, the Canon 5D Mark II and my iPhone on the side of the road.  Thank goodness there were no passerbys!

One would think I would have this photographing of the moon down by now but I don't.  Most of the images are at f11 at 100 dpi.  I still struggle with focusing and the movement of the moon.  It just seems to go so fast as it approaches the horizon line.

Here are my best shots from this morning.  I'm going back for more pictures as the moon rises tonight but it probably will be somewhere other than Honey Grove.  The price of gas is too high!

Supermoon setting 23 June 13 from my iPhone

Supermoon setting 23 June 13 from Canon 20D

Supermoon setting 23 June 13 Canon 5D II

 

Sunrise pictures as I turned and took pictures of the sun rising on 23 June 2013 across the road from the sunflowers.

 

20D image

 

 

iphone image

 

 

 

Sunflowers near Honey Grove Texas

Got up again at 5 am to drive to Honey Grove to take pictures of sunflowers.  My aim is to get a couple of good shots so that I can make some prints to give as gifts.  This is harder than I thought it was going to be when I first started this little summertime project. 

Above is the sun coming up over Hwy 82 as I turned toward Honey Grove about 6 am.

I took these a few days ago....

On the fence near Smiley Meadow on Hwy 82 near Paris, Texas

 

Foggy Sunrise

Sunrise in Petty, Texas

Got up at 5 am this morning and headed toward Honey Grove to take pictures of sunflowers.  My ladder was loaded in the back of the car in order for me to be taller than the flowers!  Rain boots were tucked in so I could wade through the deep dark east Texas mud to allow me to get close enough to the flowers in the fields to take the pictures.  The sky was clear and the morning star was bright in the sky when I pulled out of my drive way.  Little did I know there would be fog so thick I could barely see the road ahead of me by the time I got to Petty.  It didn't take long for me to scrap the idea of sunflowers and just take shots of what ever as I drove to Commerce.  I am not a landscape photographer.  I wish I were good at taking awesome landscape images.  It thrills my soul to drive the roads and stop whenever something catches my eye and my interest.  Here are my best shots from this morning.

Sunrise near Smiley Meadow

Hay Meadow near Dial, Texas

Hay Meadow near Dial, Texas

Sunflowers in June

I got up at 5 am this morning and drove past Cooper to the sunflower fields.  Just as the sun came up I pulled up to the fields of flowers.  The angle of the sun changed by the minute making it a challenge to adapt to the changing light conditions!  Today I shot with my big girl camera and not the iphone. I think I got a few decent shots but I am going to go to Honey Grove in the morning and try again.  Let me know which images you like and why.  Or tell me which ones you don't like and how I could improve the image.  I'll take your comments in mind when I re-shoot in the morning.  Who knows...those who comment may get a suprise in the mail!

After I finished photographing the sunflowers I went to an estate sale in Pecan Gap on Pilgrims Rest road.  It was great!  Scored a Father's Day gift for David.  Then I went on down the road to Roxton and had breakfast at the Roxton Cafe.  Sat with the former mayor I worked with when I wrote grants for the City of Roxton in the 90's.  It was a very good morning.