This week’s Random Picture is of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge in Charleston, South Carolina. This image was taken a few years ago on harbor tour. One of our stops was under the bridge.

Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge

I won’t go into much detail about the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge since I will be posting all of my images of the bridge with a history of the bridge on my personal blog.

The Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge that crosses the Cooper River and connects down Charleston, South Carolina to Mount Pleasant. This eight lane bridge is on U.S. Route 17 and was opened in 2005 was designed to replace the old cantilever truss bridges. – Source: Wiki.

About the Image

The image was shot by hand with my Sony Nex-3N and a Sony SEL16F28 16mm f/2.8. Although it was bright, it was after 4pm and the sun was casting crazy shadows and on my subject.

I then edited it in Adobe Lightroom. Then I post processed the image with Topaz Labs Clarity to add more texture, remove shadows, boost brightness and contrast.

This week’s random image is of a nice ratted out early 50s Chevrolet car that belongs to Lucky’s Rod & Kustom Chevrolet 210 Kustom Shop Car that I spotted Invasion Car Show 2014. You can check 12 more images from the Invasion Car Show 2014 on my most recent post on my personal blog.

Invasion Car Shot 2014

The Invasion Car Show is an event that happens every Labor Day Weekend in Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas hosted by the THEM! TX Car Club. For the last few years, the show has been held on Elm Street from 10:00 AM and ends around 6:00 PM. If its to hot, the cars and crowds start thinning out around 4:00 PM. Later in the evening, Trees and several other clubs will through after parties with live Rockabilly bands through out the night.

About the Image

The images were shot by hand with my Sony Nex-3N and a Sony SEL16F28 16mm f/2.8. Although it was bright, it was after 4pm and the sun was casting crazy shadows on my subjects. Next year, maybe I will take a slave flash with me to bounce some extra light on the subject to remove some of those shadows.

I then edited them in Adobe Lightroom. Then I post processed the image swith Topaz Labs Clarity to add more texture, remove shadows, boost brightness and contrast.

This week’s random image is a picture of a nice restored Vintage Big Red Cooler on a Big Red Theme VW Bug. I spotted this cooler at the Helping Out Our Neighbors Car Show in Rowlett, Texas. The rest of the images will be posted on the personal blog.

Helping Out Our Neighbors Car Show

On December 26th, 2015 tornadoes hit North, Texas and devastated parts of Dallas, Rowlett, Copeville, Nevada, Farmersville, Princeton, Blue Ridge several and towns west of Dallas. A few weeks after the storms, several people got together and organized an area car show. They took donations, vehicle entry fees and vendor registration fees that all went to help those in Rowlett needing help. The show was a great success. Over two hundreds vehicles showed up and a handful of vendors were on site as well.

About the Image

The image was taken at the car show. All images were shot with an old Nikon D5000 and Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR during a sunny and cold early afternoon day and edited the images in Adobe Lightroom. Next, I post processed with Topaz Clarity to add texture, brighten, and bring out the details in the images.

This week’s random image is a picture of a nicely maintained and modified Toyota Supra TRD. I spotted beast at the Helping Out Our Neighbors Car Show in Rowlett, Texas. The rest of the images will be posted on the personal blog.

Helping Out Our Neighbors Car Show

On December 26th, 2015 tornadoes hit North, Texas and devastated parts of Dallas, Rowlett, Copeville, Nevada, Farmersville, Princeton, Blue Ridge several and towns west of Dallas. A few weeks after the storms, several people got together and organized an area car show. They took donations, vehicle entry fees and vendor registration fees that all went to help those in Rowlett needing help. The show was a great success. Over two hundreds vehicles showed up and a handful of vendors were on site as well.

About the Image

The image was taken at the car show. All images were shot with an old Nikon D5000 and Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR during a sunny and cold early afternoon day and edited the images in Adobe Lightroom. Next, I post processed with Topaz Clarity to add texture, brighten, and bring out the details in the images.

This week’s random image is a picture of a nicely maintained daily driver De Lorean I spotted at the Helping Out Our Neighbors Car Show in Rowlett, Texas. The rest of the images will be posted on the personal blog.

Helping Out Our Neighbors Car Show

On December 26th, 2015 tornadoes hit North, Texas and devastated parts of Dallas, Rowlett, Copeville, Nevada, Farmersville, Princeton, Blue Ridge several and towns west of Dallas.

A few weeks after the storms, several people got together and organized an area car show. They took donations, vehicle entry fees and vendor registration fees that all went to help those in Rowlett needing help.

The show was a great success. Over two hundreds vehicles showed up and a handful of vendors were on site as well.

About the Image

The image was taken at the car show. All images were shot with an old Nikon D5000 and Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR during a sunny and cold early afternoon day and edited the images in Adobe Lightroom. Next, I post processed with Topaz Clarity to add texture, brighten, and bring out the details in the images

This week’s random image is of an old abandoned a-frame house I found while exploring in the Jack County, Texas area last year.

Abandoned A-Frame House in Jack County, Texas

This old abandoned a-frame house is on a beautiful piece of land with a creek flowing past the edge of the property. Land is overgrown and all the houses in the development are gone and the land is returning to the wild. The house itself, is in rough shape, but with some investment the house could be saved. Its been gutted down to the studs and the roof and siding will need to be replaced. Otherwise this could be a neat little house on a nice piece of property.

About the Image

The image was shot with an old Nikon D5000 and Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR and I then processed the image with Adobe Lightroom and Topaz DeNoise. To create this vintage look I used Topaz Texture Effects. If you are wanting to create effects such as the above image, you need to check out Topaz Texture Effects now. Until the January 31st, 2016 Topaz Labs is offering a 20% discount at time of purchase. The discounted cost will be $49.99. Just use the discount code EASYTEXTURE at time of check out. If you need more information make sure to check out the sales page for Texture Effects. It will not only go into more detail about this powerful tool but give you examples of what Texture Effects can do. For more examples that I have created, check out the my example page on my personal blog. .

This week’s random image of the week is of the Christmas Lights at Vitruvian Park in Addison, Texas, Texas.

Christmas Lights at Vitruvian Park in Addison, Texas, Texas

From late November Until January 1st, 2016 the Christmas Lights at Vitruvian Park in Addison, Texas are lit up and open to the public. Every small and large tree through out the park and surrounding streets are wrapped with a solid color LED Christmas lights.

I know this a bit late posting but I wanted to get this article posted. I haven’t been posted much since we moved, having out state/country guests for almost a month and this working on the minor damage after the tornado and severe weather hit the Blue Ridge, Texas area on December 26th, 2015.

Now that things are settling down I plan on working to make changes to my posting schedule and on the pages that post to.

The original article with more pictures was posted on January 2nd, 2016 on my personal blog. So to learn more about the park and see the rest of the images, make sure to check that article out.

About the Image

The image was a long exposure shot with an old Nikon D5000 and Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR on a windy and rainy night. My photographer friend and I were lucky enough to catch a break in the rain and a short period of time when the wind wasn’t gusting. So most of our shots were shot between gusts.

The Old Plaza Theatre in Garland, Texas

The Plaza Theatre in Garland, Texas opened its doors the first and showed its first movie, Western Union, in 1941 . Over the years its has been remodeled and used for different things. But in recent years the Plaza was restored in an art deco style you might have seen during the 1950s. Everything from its exterior to its domed lobby featuring a beautiful chandelier were restored. The theatre has seating for 350 quests that now has state-of-the-art lighting and sound. The redesigned called for velvet covered seating and a motorized waterfall curtain.

The City of Garland uses this locations as their arts building that can be used to host stage productions, concerts, business meetings, receptions and special events.

I love it when a city chooses to save important landmarks such as the plaza. When I was a child, this building sat vacant and ignored until a few years, when locals to decided it was time to save the old building.

I had always wanted to see this building saved and happy to see it was restored and not repurposed. So many of these old theatres are destroyed or renovated so much that its no longer a theatre.

About the Image

This  image was shot at night with a Nikon D5000 and Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR Nikkor Lens. This was a long exposure shot using a tripod. It took some time to catch all the neon lights and not blow out the white sign. I plan on returning to the theatre to reshoot it reshoot.

I used Adobe Lightroom CC to clean up the image and bring out the color of the lights in the marquee.

This week’s random image is of the West End Market Place in Downtown at sunset that I took back in June.

The West End Market Place in Downtown Dallas, Texas

The West End Market Place in Downtown Dallas, Texas is an old warehouse building that sat vacant, forgotten, and abandoned for decades. Then in the 1980s the owners renovated and turned the old building into a mall and a 10 screen cinema that lasted until 2006 for it for it closed it doors.

Currently the outside looks good but I do not know what the inside looks like and would love to know. For more information and a more but far from complete history of the old building, check out my article on my personal site.

About the  Image

I shot the above image with a Canon EOS Rebel T1i and Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II SLR Lens at about sunset. I then processed the image with Adobe Lightroom and Topaz Clarity to bring out the detail of the buildings at sunset.

After a two plus months of vacation from writing, urban/rural exploring, and photography that also included a move to the country, starting a new job, and dealing with personal/health issues, I am finally bringing back the random image of the week. At some point I will merge this site with my personal site. But for now, I will be keeping the site up and running for a few months longer.

This week’s random image is of the Renaissance Towers and surrounding buildings at sunset that I took back in June.

Renaissance Tower and Surrounding Buildings at Sunset

Back in June a photographer friend and I went downtown to shoot several locations before shooting more Dallas Skyline shots and of the bridges along the Trinity River. We started heading down there about 45 minutes before sunset so we could setup on the top floor parking garage in hopes to catch the sunset reflections off the Dallas skyscrapers. Unfortunately we arrived just after the deep sunset passed over the glass windows. But there was still had enough light to catch the buildings in the last remaining sunlight.

About the Image

I shot the above image with a Canon EOS Rebel T1i and Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II SLR Lens before midnight. I then processed the image with Adobe Lightroom and Topaz Clarity to bring out the detail of the buildings at sunset.