Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost

Just a little trim off the sides….

rcmckee — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 02:27:36 +0000

Something I grabbed a few months back at a church bazaar/festival. They set up a few booths in the gym so members of the congregation with skills could help members who were a little down and out… and the light here just wanted to be shot.

More pix waiting tomorrow.

Grrrrrr. *

rcmckee — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 20:38:01 +0000

As days go, this is one OF them.

Hell with it, I’mma go shoot something.

* Yes, I know birds don’t growl. Deal.

Flutterbyes

rcmckee — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 01:32:30 +0000

I try to get to events like Audrey’s just a little early – when there are hoops to be jumped through it helps to have time for a running start.

When there aren’t loops, sometimes there are other attractions to snap instead.

Like this Rice Paper Butterfly (kin, I’m told, to the Monarch) who dropped by with a few hundred lookalike friends.

Or these two, who put on a few aerobatic displays to amuse and delight the wandering itinerant photographers…

(thanks, guys, you were great!)

Okay, load up, time to get back to work….

Of Plants and Names and other odd things…

rcmckee — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 05:09:35 +0000

If you were in Houston about this time last year, you’ll have run across mention of the Amazing HMNS Corpse Flower, Lois. She bloomed, which is apparently quite rare, and the moment (several months of the moment, actually) was covered well past a fare-thee-well by the local corpse press. (sorry.)

And a bit later, thanks to the gent who became the Twitter Voice of Lois, (@CorpzFlowrLois) she got a sibling.

And this morning, the sibling got a name. And a little exposure.

Say hello to Audrey.
She’s a little over five feet tall at the moment, with still some growing to do.

With Audrey, of course, is proud “papa” Zac Stayton, HMNS’s resident Horticulturist To The Stars, and “mama” Julianne Maddox, who submitted the winning name to the Museum’s Name That Plant contest. (Maddox said it seemed like a plant that smelled like dead people should be named for a plant that chowed down on them. Makes sense to me.)

Now if you’re one of those folks who just can’t get enough of giant strange flowers that smell REALLY bad, HMNS is now offering patrons and supporters the chance to “adopt” Audrey (she’s a growing girl, y’know, and those critters COST) beginning at $20 a parent, which seems a reasonable way to get credit and a few goodies. Details on HMNS website here.

Colombian Independence Day

rcmckee — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 05:15:26 +0000

Celebration at PlazAmericas down the street… music, dancing, food, more music…

I was tied down most of the day so the food was gone when I got there, but there was, of course, still music. There is ALWAYS music.

And where there is music there are photographs.

Click Pic

And tomorrow is Monday. There will be pix somewhere, because, hey, day ends in “y.”

World Refugee Day

rcmckee — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 19:56:20 +0000

June 20 is World Refugee Day, which invites us to reflect on how fortunate most of us are… we have homes, clothes, food… water.

We take SO much for granted here… Maybe we shouldn’t.

Gallery Behind Pic. Clickit.

Very Hot and Harsh today. Go find cool pix.

Cars, Cars, Cars…

rcmckee — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:54:47 +0000

More or less out of nowhere, fellow gearhead Joe Linbeck dropped tickets for the 2011 Classy Chassis Concours d’Elegance on me, which of course meant I had to go see the pretty machines, with cameras.

It was a truly rough afternoon, but because I knew people would want to see pictures I forced myself to it…

More behind this one. Clickit.

Quetzalcoatlus and fans

rcmckee — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 04:43:07 +0000

Back at HMNS for this round… a few shots with the Panaleica from the Quetzalcoatlus preview.

more pix behind, click pic.

This was a members’ preview of the new Paleontology hall, which is slated to open sometime next year. This will be one of several REALLY cool things on exhibit. Tonight, though, it* gets top billing as a solo act, and when you’re a star, not only do they throw parties for you, but people also line up to get their pictures taken with your wings around them. It’s a great life — as long as you don’t have to be alive for it….

It’s excessively hot again. Get a tripod and go shoot long exposures during the night.

* I didn’t ask if this was a male or a female. It really didn’t seem terrifically important any more.

Munchies

rcmckee — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 03:24:23 +0000

Wandering the Heights this evening….

Comparative Insanity

rcmckee — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 09:48:47 +0000

In 2008 the Obama campaign in Houston was based out of a small building just at the south edge of downtown. When the election was over and the campaign moved out, the murals on the side of the building, a “Yes we Can” sign and a copy of the famous/infamous Shepherd Fairey poster, were left as public art.

Last February, person(s) unknown threw paint on the mural.

Tonight, a local artist, Reginald Adams of MOCAH, spent a few hours repairing the mural. It’s crazy enough that he went to START working on the thing at something like 9 or 10 pm; it’s crazier still that I went down there at 1 AM to shoot pictures of it.

And yet, there we were.