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An update.  I am slowly working my way through my Panama photos from November.  Each trip I approached processing photos in a different way.  The first one I slogged through a ridiculous amount of photos.  The second one I processed the trip photos in record time.  For this one I am taking a leisurely route that is quite enjoyable, but I need to kick up at least one notch or I'll still be processing in May.  

This photo was taken at an observation tower at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort.  You can see the Chagres River to my left and the Panama Canal curving up and off behind me into the distance.  

I have finally sat down and written up my year in review for the photoblog for 2011.  Hop on over and read the stories behind this year's selections. 

Blog Post: Favorites of 2011

This is from the Hipstamatic Disposable App for iPhone.  It is an interesting concept.  You have a "roll" of film and you can't see any of the photos on the roll until you finish taking all of the photos.  I started this set in December and didn't finish until last night (just like when I first started using real film... I'm slow!).  I don't even remember where I took this, but it was fun to see a little history of my photo taking show back up.  The Hipstamatic Disposable App also lets you share a roll with friends.  Everyone takes photos on the same roll and when the roll is finished everyone sees all the photos.  Hipstamatic is one of my favorite iPhone photo taking apps.  

Link: Hipstamatic Disposable

The last of my Glenwood photos for now.  This is one of my favorite stories from the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance's walking tour of the cemetery. It involves gun battles on trains, avenging sisters and just like any good story, a wonderful ironic twist at the end. 

Glenwood Cemetery, Houston TX
Pentax MX
Ilford XP 2 

Educate yourself! Watch the video, read the article (yes the whole thing) and then get involved.  Call your Congressperson, let your friends and neighbors know and do not let one of the greatest inventions of our age be destroyed by greedy coroporations that are only out to protect their own interests. 

Video: Protect IP/SOPA Breaks the Internet
Article: Dear Congress, It's No Longer OK to Not Know How the Internet Works
Contact Congress: Stop the Internet Blacklist Legislation

Glenwood Cemetery, Houston TX

Pentax MX
Ilford XP2 

Glenwood Cemetery, Houston TX
Pentax MX
Ilford XP2 

Glenwood Cemetery, Houston TX

Pentax MX
Ilford XP2 

The Canadian Forces Snowbirds at Wings Over Houston 2011

That's a wrap for airshow photos.  If you haven't had enough you can head over to my Flick set to see even more.  Yes, I have a plane obsession.

Flickr: Wings Over Houston 2011

Canadian Snowbirds

Wings over Houston 2011

Time to finish up with Airshow pictures.  The final act this year was the Canadian Snowbirds.  They have a beautiful show and their red and white planes are fun to photograph against a blue sky.

P.S.  The Texans won!!!!

I love football and my hometown team, the Houston Texans, are in the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.  Go Texans!

Glenwood Cemetery

Wishing you a 2012 that soars beyond your expectations. 

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas.  Back to some airshow photos.  I have a few more to share with you. 

One last one from my tree. 

Merry Christmas!

I guess it should come as no surprise that someone who loves reflections has a reflective tree.  My tree has white lights with silver, glass, metal or white ornamnets.  I love it.  

The Candlelight Tour takes place every year in Sam Houston Park in Downtown Houston.  The park has a collection of historic structures that were built from 1832 to 1905.  The buildings were moved to Sam Houston Park where they have been restored.  Every year the Heritage Society, who oversees the buildings, has a candlelight tour where the pathways are lined by candlelight and the homes are decorated in period Christmas style.  This year they added reneactors to add to the houses and told a story at each location.  It was a great addition.  Thanks to our drought and the ban on open flame in any city park, the candles were electric but the night was still lovely. 

The Heritage Society

Fifi is my favorite plane on earth.  I was first introduced to her when I was a child and went to airshows in my hometown.  My hometown was the headquarters of the Confederate (now Commemorative) Air Force.  We would go every year on both Saturday and Sunday and watch the show.  I'm not sure if my love of planes started because of that or if we went because I loved planes.  Either way there was nothing more majestic than watching this big plane take to the sky.

Fifi is the only flying B-29 in the world.  I have only seen her once since my childhood and that was about 10 or 11 years ago when I went to my first Houston airshow.  I was so surprised and elated to see her.  Every year after that I eagerly looked for that big A when arriving at the show and was disappointed not to see her.  She was taken off the circuit and underwent extensive renovation.  Eventually I didn't even look or expect to see her in Houston and then the news came out she would be here and there she was and just as beautiful.  She only flew one of the two days but I was there to see her with camera in hand.

Wings over Houston 2011

There are so many great details on airplanes that are fun to photograph when you have the chance to walk up to and around them.

Wings over Houston 2011

Air Force Heritage Flight 
P-47 Thunderbolt
P-51 Mustang
F-4 Phantom II
F-16 Falcon 

Wings over Houston 2011

Wings over Houston 2011

December 7th, 1941. A date which will live in infamy

Wings over Houston 2011

Hello out there in photoblogland.  Dropping in to say hi and that I had a nice trip to Panama.  I got back on Saturday the 26th and have pretty much been treading water until the weekend.  I plan to sleep, sleep and sleep some more and edit photos.  I'm starting on airshow photos first because they have been waiting patiently for almost two months.  Expect them to roll out starting Monday.  Then hopefully on to Panama photos although they will probably be peridically interrupted with holiday fare.  Hope everyone out there is doing well.

This was taken in one of the bubble windows on the B-29 Bomber Fifi. 

A few more photos from the folk art monument The Orange Show.

Heading home from Panama today. Those photos will come soon, but up next, Air Show!

The Orange Show was built by Jeff McKissack, a local postman.  He worked on the piece for more than 20 years, adding items he found along the way and creating this monument to the orange.  The Orange Show is now on the National Register of Historic Places and is the epicenter of folk art activities and events in Houston including the world famous Art Car Parade. 

http://orangeshow.org/orange-show-monument/

Happy Thanksgiving to all my US friends.  Have some turkey for me today!

This amused me, especially on a photowalk. 

Westheimer Photowalk as part of the Worldwide Photowalk in October 2011.

I'm heading back to Panama today for Thanksgiving week.  You can follow along on Twitter/Flickr.  And yes, that means more Panama photos soon!

Westheimer Photowalk as part of the Worldwide Photowalk Day on October 1st.  

Westheimer Photowalk as part of the Worldwide Photowalk Day on October 1st.  

Westheimer Photowalk as part of the Worldwide Photowalk Day on October 1st.  

Westheimer Photowalk as part of the Worldwide Photowalk Day on October 1st.  

Montrose Beer and Gun Club started as a joke t-shirt and has turned into an 11 year and running charity cook-off.  Montrose is a trendy, artistic corner of Houston so the idea of it having a beer and gun club is the joke that turned into this event. 

In September I took a photowalk with the Assignment Houston photowalks group.  We visited Herman Park for our walk.  It was a morning walk, a time I normally don't get out, but the weather for once was quite pleasant and I can see the attraction of the a.m.  

Monument au Fantôme by Jean DuBuffet

I'm back!  I had a big contest on Saturday at work and the last few weeks have been very busy.  I haven't had time or the energy to process the pile of photos I have waiting, but that will slowly change this week.  

I stopped by Discovery Green last night to get some photos before the Assignment Houston theme changed.  I came straight from work and the only camera I had on me was my iPhone 4S.  It was so freeing to walk around with that as my only camera. I can see how people use that as their only camera, especially with the improved optics of the 4S. 

Going to the Greek Festival has become a tradition.  I go to the festival, eat some souvlaki, watch the festival dancers, buy some kourambiedes, wander the shops if there is time and head home.  It wouldn't be October without Greek Festival.

Flickr: Greek Festival 2011

I made a point this trip of taking photos of myself in different locations in Panama.  I usually avoid being in pictures but I loved looking at the photo from my first trip of me standing in the Pacific Ocean and I wanted something the same this trip.  So here I am in Panama at the Caribbean, Portobelo, Panama La Vieja, and crossing the Continental Divide on the Panama Canal Tour.  

Thus ends my Panama 2011 photos.  Or I should say my Panama summer 2011 photos because I am going back in 30 days.  A surprise trip has been scheduled for Thanksgiving, this time to the rainforest.  In the meantime the Flickr set has more photos from than you could possibly ever want to see and I have a huge backlog of photos from other things that I put on hold while I finished publishing the Panama photos. 

Flickr: Panama 2011

A view of the Panama City skyline from the Pacific Ocean.  The structure on the left is the nearly completed Bridge of Life museum designed by Frank Gehry. I have always wanted to see a Frank Gehry piece and I hope to visit it when it is completely finished.  This is Gehry's first building in Latin America and I found out that Gehry's wife is Panamanian.  The museum is going to highlight the isthmus and its role as a biological corridor. 

There are always ships waiting to go through the canal.  

The Panama Canal is currently undergoing a $20 billion expansion project to double the capacity of the canal. These expansion project would create new access channels, deepen current channels and add a new set of locks on the Atlantic and the Pacific side.  This would allow more ships to make the transit and would allow larger ships that can not fit in the current lock system.  The project is slated to be finished in 2014, 100 years after the original Panama Canal opened.

We were coming from the middle of the Panama Canal near Gamboa and working our way to the Pacific side so we were working our way from a higher elevation to a lower elevation.  At each lock we went down, down, down.

On the Panama Canal cruise we went through three sets of locks.  One at Pedro Miguel and two at Miraflores.  You can watch this short video to see how locks work. I loved going through the locks, marveling at this 100 year old structure that is still as busy today as it ever was.

These are photos from both sets of locks in basically lock order. You sail in, the gates close behind you, the water level is lowered, the front gate is opened and you continue on your way.  

The Panama Canal Authority has web cams where you can watch ships going through the locks. 

Repost from October 2008.

Blog Post: Steve

As I mentioned in the last post, I love boats; big boats, little boats, being on a boat and looking at boats.  And there were plenty of boats to look at on the Panama Canal. Most of the times the boats were very big transports making their way across the world.  You can get an idea of scale from the 3rd and 4th photo.  

There were lots of great moments on this trip to Panama, but my single favorite was taking a cruise down the Panama Canal.  

First it just double, triple and quadruple reinforced my love of boats.  I love being on a boat in the water.  Second I can't think of a more grand place to be on a boat than the Panama Canal, that manmade wonder carved out of the earth almost 100 years ago.  

The tour took us by bus to Gamboa, about 35 minutes out of the city, where we boarded The Pacific Queen.  We then took the ship back through the Panama Canal, the Pedro Miguel Locks and the Miraflores Locks back to the city.  It was sunny, it rained, it poured, it was sunny again.  The trip lasted about two to three hours.  There are not enough superlatives to tell you how much I loved this trip. You can probably guess by the fact that I took almost as many photos in this three hour window than I did the whole rest of the trip combined.  

This is some of the scenery we passed starting with the greenery of the canal and moving into the more industrialized portion by the city.  The two big hills in the second and third photo is the only gap in the Continental Divide.  It was made by blowing the mountain up to make way for the canal.  More (many more) canal photos to come.

The Star Wars photos were from an exhibit at the Health Museum titled Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination.  It had a collection of props and models from the movies.  You can see more in the Flickr Set.

Flickr: Star Wars Exhibit

In all the books, movies and TV shows in all the world, the Millennium Falcon is my favorite spaceship.

I fully intended to post photos everyday this week, but I have been blind sided with a bad cold.  I'm home from work today to give it the full court press of rest and medication.  Regular photo posting to resume shortly.

Photoblogging Anniversary: 7 years

Last weekend was the annual Museum District Day in Houston.  18 museums that are located in one area of Houston throw open their doors to the public for free.  There are events, discounts, performances and presentations at all the museums and shuttle buses to take visitors around although many of the areas are very walkable.

I didn't decide until the last minute to go but once I got on the museum trail I ended up spending the whole day.  For a complete ultra, over planner like me it was nice to just let the day unfold organically.  Nice and rare.

This shows my stops for the day in the order I visited them.  They are: (1) The Health and Science Museum, (2) the Czech Cultural Center, (3, 4) the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (I love this place more each time I vist), (5, 6) Lawndale Art Center, (7) Richmond Hall, (8) Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

I love museums and I'm glad I live in a town so rich with museum culture.

 

During this trip to Panama I visited the home of one of my aunts in the historic neighborhood of Casco Viejo.  This structure is across the street from her residence and this is the view from the street and from her balcony.  It is the ruins of the Igelesia de la Compania de Jesus.  It was built in 1741 but was destroyed in 1781.  It fell into furthur disrepar thanks to an earthquake in 1882.  It is currently undergoing renovations.  I love the idea of looking out over the balcony and seeing something with such history.

This is one piece of a large mural that is on the side of Lawndale Art Center.  The mural is titled Famous Monsters and is by artist David Anguilu.  Well worth a visit if you live in Houston.

These beautiful trees were around the grounds of Panama La Vieja.  So majestic.  

Panama La Vieja is the site of the oldest European settlement in the Americas on the Pacific coast.  The city was founded in 1519 and ruins still stand in Panama City.  The city was abandoned in 1671 when Henry Morgan came through and burned and pillaged the city. 

Part of the ruins are fenced in and a paid historical site.  I've tried two times to visit that portion, but each time have been stymied, first by a downpour and the second time because it was closed.  Another portion of the ruins is always open because there was a time when Panama didn't pay attention to their heritage and put a road in between the two sections which now can't be closed.  There is talk of eventually closing the road and protecting the whole area.  I hope that they do this.  There is already improvements to the visitors center and historical excavation continues.  This was the original site of the Golden Altar.

Walking around here was another highlight of my trip.  It was an overcast afternoon and incredibly peaceful.  Walking among the ruins and being able to walk up to and touch the large stones that were placed by someone over 500 years ago was moving.  I could almost feel the ghosts of the past as I walked in their footsteps.