July 4 - Americana Part 2

Well July in Texas, is well, hot.   So after a post parade break and a dip in the pool, it was back to downtown Mckinney for their annual car show.

Wow, what a great show!  Lots of partipants, lots of great cars, and lots of spectators.   Many of the cars were immaculate and several added additional touches to gain People's Choice votes.   I walked the lot and took several pictures.  Folks were very friendly, and fortunately there was some shade available throughout.

July 4 - Americana part 1

July 4, Independence Day.  The true start to summer for a lot of folks.  School is out and its a holiday and a time for celebration.   As a Canadian, I get to celebrate both Canada Day (July 1) and Independence Day, although my Canada Day celebrations are more limited to wishing friends and family a great holiday and perhaps toasting to Canada with a Labatt's product.

But more than any other holiday, the 4th of July is truly a small (and large) town celebration.  This year I decided to skip the fireworks, mostly due to riduculous traffic associated with them, and focus on the daytime celebrations.

Mckinney has its Red, White and Boom celebration.  Its starts of with the Hometown Parade through downtown Mckinney.  I tried to find a good spot to position myself but even by 10 am the sun was very bright and harsh.  I guess one big difference with a parade in the summer is that school is out and there are not school bands, etc.

Sunflowers Abound

Around the area there are fields of sunflowers.  I'm not sure how these crops will be used, whether is for seeds, oil, or what but they are in bloom.  There's probably a couple more weeks before the are past.  I found out about some south of Dallas but in doing research I found out about some close to Prosper which is a lot shorter drive for me so I figured I'd check it out.  It was actaully quite challenging to get good shots but since it was the first time I tried this, I think it was successful and learned a few things.

I was hoping to take advantage of the sunset but some low clouds moved in and didn't cooperate as well as I had hoped.

Trinity River Aubudon Center

This weekend our meetup photo shoot was at the Trinity River Aubudon Center, south of Dallas.  The facility only opens at 10 am on Sundays, and the weather was predicted to get into the mid-90's.   After an hour and a half, I was pretty much done, I hadn't even covered half of the trails, but I have never seen so much poison ivy in my life and although I had been very careful up to that point, I didn't want to risk it any further.  So far so good though....

As it was getting to mid day, and hot, it was difficult to find any wildlife except for insects.  The birds were pretty wary so I was unable to get close enough to any.  I shot  a couple of shots with my telephoto zoom, but most of these were shot with my Tamron 90mm macro lens.  I used a translucent screen to diffuse the light for most of these but not all.

Mckinney Heritage Farmer's Market

Mckinney has a great farmers market in historic Chestnut Square.  It features local farmers and artisans with great product.  This past weekend the place was jam packed and vendors were quickly selling out.  There was even a flash mob that took place there.  I picked up some olive oils and vinegars as well as some jerky.  This next weekend is the annual Ice Cream Crank-off where folks compete for the best homemade ice cream, and its a pretty serious competition.

A few shots from the market.  Next time I'll try to get more of personalities that are in attendance.

Dallas International Festival

As I said the other day, I joined a photography meetup group.  This past Saturday, the trip was to the Dallas International Festival, in the Arts District in downtown Dallas.  There were many different nationalities represented with ethnic food, booths and entertainment on 4 stages.   It was a great venue, lots of colors, flavors.   Here are some shots I took from there.

Bike The Bricks

On Friday May 25, the third annual Bike The Bricks Criterium was held in downtown Mckinney.  I attended last years but did not have my camera with me so I definately wanted to get back for the next race.  I arrived later than I wanted to, around 7:30 pm so there wasn't a lot of light left.  I ended up using my flash at one of the corners to some success while panning.  I tried to set my camera to second curtain flash but I didn't have my manuals and did not have any luck figuring it out.  Still generally happy with the results.  Had to use high ISO as well I believe by the end of the evening I was shooting ISO 3200 and 1/20 second shutter speed.

Inspiration

I have in the past belonged to the Plano Photography Club and let my membership lapse.  I recently attended a session and am planning on going back but not sure if I'l fully renew or not.  The meetings are once a month on a Monday and that will likely be a travel day.  However, I have also discovered meetup.com and have joined and attended a couple of photography meetup groups.  I've only attended a couple to this point but so far have enjoyed and looking forward to many more.  To date they have been smaller groups of folks and a bit more intimate than the PPC meetings and outings.   Some of the meetups are run by professionals and therefore may have a cost associated but conversely they are quite educational.

One I belong to is a local group, focused more on the social aspect of a group of folks with a common interest.  It's the North Texas Photo Explorers.   I attended a meetup in Frisco on 4/27 and got a couple of nice shots and we ate at Babe's Chicken.  There were only three of us but I am planning on  attending at least one meetup this weekend.

I've also started shooting more in RAW format and it seems to be paying off a bit.  Still need to improve my PS skills though.....

Train Locomotive rivets and reflection

Frisco Heritage Village at dusk