As I mentioned previously, I had the good fortune to witness this year's 4th of July show in downtown Austin from the 20th floor of a residential highrise. This was the view. Allow me to state the obvious: this view is awesome. I took a whole bunch of shots of the fireworks show, but I also got some cool cityscapes from angles that I had never before seen. I really enjoy city shots and when you can get 20 stories above it all, it makes all the difference in the world. This was the scene while folks waited on the fireworks show to begin. There must be thousands of folks over there in front of the Long Center, not to mention all the folks on boats. It was cool to see it all from up high. More shots from this spot to come...
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Tags: 4th 4th of July 1776 America anticipation Austin blue hour boats celebration city clouds Colorado River downtown evening explosion firecracker fireworks Fourth of July freedom independence Independence Day July Lady Bird Lake Long Center long exposure night Nikon Nomadic Pursuits party boats reflection Texas Town Lake twilight TX United States of America USA waiting water
Another shot from Abel's on the Lake, on Saturday night (July 3rd). Doesn't it look like a big X with the reflections? Though it was not a large fireworks show, it was pretty impressive. I have quite a few to share from the downtown Austin show too, which I witnessed from the 20th floor of a building downtown...so stay tuned!
More info on my blog: www.nomadicpursuits.com/blog/
Follow me: twitter.com/jimnixaustin
Tags: 4th 4th of July 1776 Abel's on the Lake America Austin blue hour boats celebration clouds Colorado River evening explosion firecracker fireworks Fourth of July freedom independence Independence Day July Lake Austin long exposure night Nikon Nomadic Pursuits party boats reflection Texas twilight TX United States of America USA water
I had read online that on Saturday night (July 3rd) there would be fireworks at Abel's on the Lake, so I went over there to check it out. My hope was that I could find a spot to get a clear shot of the fireworks and hopefully a reflection in the lake too. Score!! I got there early enough and found a great spot, set up, and endured the endless questions from party-goers while I waited for the show to start. Fortunately, the nice guy that owns Abel's came by and introduced himself too, and since he didn't have anyone photographing the event for him, I'll be supplying him with some cool shots. It was a wonderful show and a wonderful night to be out shooting. Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!
More info on my blog: www.nomadicpursuits.com/blog/
Follow me: twitter.com/jimnixaustin
Tags: 4th 4th of July 1776 Abel's on the Lake America Austin blue hour boats celebration clouds Colorado River evening explosion firecracker fireworks Fourth of July freedom independence Independence Day July Lake Austin long exposure night Nikon Nomadic Pursuits party boats reflection Texas twilight TX United States of America USA water
I spent a little time in Dallas this week, and got out with the camera for a bit too. It rained on me a lot on the way up there, and I thought for sure I would get stuck in my room, watching the rain fall, but the storm broke for a while and I hit the streets. I did get rained on some, but it was on and off and my trusty Nikon stayed mostly dry. This shot is a closeup of some fountains that I found downtown around the JFK Memorial area - sort of near the West End part of town. I was just playing around and took 4 exposures at f/5.6, thinking I might try an HDR. The challenge was that the lights were changing more quickly than I was shooting, and the water was moving up and down very rapidly, so my 4 shots were all different colors - purple, blue, pink and orange - and the water was different heights in each too. I went ahead and merged them into an HDR for the heck of it, and this is what it looks like. Kinda fun, and definitely colorful! I like the abstract look to it. Look for some cool HDRs coming next week from this little trip.
More info on my blog: www.nomadicpursuits.com/blog/
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Tags: bright colors Dallas detail fountain HDR high dynamic range lights neon lights pebbles Photomatix plaza TX rocks saturated spray Texas texture tonemap tonemapped Topaz Adjust travel water wet
Here is another one of my "pure blur" or pure bokeh shots, this one from San Francisco. Though San Fran is obviously a great location for typical photography, I found it to be interesting for these bokeh shots as well since there are so many twinkly lights around. This is the Bay Bridge, and unlike some of my other pure bokeh shots, you can pretty much tell, if you know the bridge. I was on a pier one evening, taking shots of just about everything, and turned and saw this. Of course I got a bunch of "normal" shots of this bridge too, but I just had to spin the dial and blur it up a little!
More info on my blog: www.nomadicpursuits.com/blog/
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Tags: architecture bay Bay Bridge beautiful blue blur blurry bokeh bridge CA California City by the Bay evening lights long exposure night night image nighttime Nikon Nomadic Pursuits ocean Pacific Ocean photo blog San Fran San Francisco sea SF sky sparkle stars travel twinkle water gpse_test