Faces, Places and Things - David Bowden Photography

My first shot of 2012

David — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 08:52:30 +0000

So, I kinda have this unwritten rule. When I say I am going to do something, I actually do EVERYTHING in my power to do it.

I set some goals for 2012. I want to be more creative, shoot more than I normally do and get some landscape shots both here in the Austin area and about Texas and the Southwest.

So, I decided…. today is day 1 of 2012. Why sit on my butt and let a beautiful day go by. I need to get out and go shoot…. and I did.

Every city in the world has their icons. Things that people go see, gravitate to or give a city a presence unique to itself. The Pennybacker Bridge (or 360 Bridge) bridges Lake Austin to connect north and south Loop 360 highway, also known as the “Capital of Texas Highway” this is one of those icons.

While I was up there today (its a little hike to get to this cliff) there were two other well equipped photographers and several people with iPhones and point and shoots. This is a real scenic place here in Austin. A real popular place.

The Austin, Texas 360 Bridge

So… this is the shot. My first of 2012. I wish we would have had some clouds, but we didnt. Perhaps when we get some more weather I will try again. Until then I thought this was a decent way to start my 2012 year of being creative.

From Lemons to… Finally a Landscape Shot Worth Sharing

David — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 02:54:00 +0000

It’s been a rough year for me photographically. Normally, I enjoy being a landscape photographer who on occasion dabbles in Architectural photography. Since leaving Seattle it’s been the other way around. Stuck in Austin, Texas I find the landscape uninspiring and rather dull. On occasion, there is a nice sunset, but rarely does that occur with something that makes for a nice composition.

Many that know me well, know that I am a planner by nature and not very spontaneous. This has its disadvantages when photography is concerned. So, this December, I decided I would go on a New Mexico Photowalk with several friends from Google+.

I had the trip all planned and was ready to go and then work changed my plans by extending the PCI Audit I was working on. As a result, I made other plans. I decided my son and I would drive to Big Bend National Park, hang out, hike and take pictures for two days, visit my parents and then head home.

So…. we were off…

First stop was a Google+ Photowalk in San Antonio hosted by my friends Jackie Burroughs Anderson and Lotus Carroll. We had a blast shooting the San Antonio River Walk and architecture. We spent the night in San Antonio and left early the next morning for Big Bend.

That’t when the trouble started…

You see, Mother Nature wasn’t cooperating and there was heavy cloud cover, winds, rain and some really ugly light. We drove for hours, getting closer and closer only to see the weather get worse. When we arrived at the park we had decided that if the weather didn’t look promising, we would head for Alpine, Texas grab a hotel and stay the night and shoot the next day.

The weather stunk… off to Alpine we went. The back-up plan (because I ALWAYS have a back-up plan) was to get to the hotel, eat and then go to Ft. Davis and see the McDonald Observatory. Afer all it was still early and we had plenty of time. We got to Alpine, checked in and called the observatory (39 miles away) only to discover it closed in 45 min. With ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do in Alpine, I decided to call Mom and Dad and see if we could come on through. So…. we left.

As we were leaving Marfa, Texas I pulled over and took what is the ONLY landscape shot I have taken in 2011. The weather still stunk, the wind was terrible and the skys were real ugly. The sun was well into sunset when I took this shot. It had just dropped below the cloud line and was throwing some really amazing color. I had to hurry to find anything to use to compose a shot. This little mountain/hill thing was it.

I set up my tripod, composed with the highway as leading lines and shot directly west into the sunset.

Leaving Marfa

Ode to Boredom, Finally a new image to share

David — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 07:29:04 +0000

I haven’t posted a picture here in what feels like a lifetime. Honestly, I haven’t shot anything…. ZERO… NADA since November 12th. (how pathetic is that). So… I sit… I wait for the little notification thingie to go off, check email, pay bills.. contemplate pocket fuzz and my navel… then I decide.. HEY !!! I have a backlog of photos I need to process

So I go hunting…..

It’s a long hunt… searching for something worthy… I need a landscape shot, something like… yeah a tree. I like shooting trees… heck in Seattle you could throw a rock and hit a tree (or a Microsoft employee) so I found this one.

Taken in 2010 on my drive from Seattle back home to Austin, Texas. This lone tree, on the side of the highway.

Leaving California - 2010

It was one of those things where it really wasn’t a “Special Tree” but the fence and the clouds made for a nice composition. Its one UGLY color photo, but I shot it for B&W and was really happy with the conversion.

Now… feeling relieved from having done something quasi productive I am going to call it a night.

A case of the BLAH’s – Missing the North West

David — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 06:48:38 +0000

So.. i’m bored. Sitting here listening to music trying to entertain myself. My Google+ stream is moving kind of slow, and there isn’t much going on. I don’t feel like coding on my web site (God forbid I ever finish it) and really just want to work on my images. The problem is, I am… bored.

You know… that BLAH feeling you get when you aren’t real inspired by what you have taken, or you don’t have that OOOOOH YEAH ! shot you want to share.

It’s really kind depressing. Nothing like having the creative blues….

So…. in my moment of discontent, I decided to do something I havent’ done in awhile. I went through old images to see what I could salvage. It was there that I stumbled across my shots from Yosemite.

I went to Yosemite while moving from Seattle to Austin. Since I was driving right by, I thought it would be sacrilege not stop and pay homage to Ansel. After all I am a landscape photographer (though you would not know it from the last two years of my work). It was here in these images that I found inspiration and salvation from a night of the Blahdoms…

So… for no real reason other than I am bored out of my mind and wanted to do something with my photography I share this image.

Yosemite National Park - 2010

There was snow in the park, it was windy and honestly, the weather was TERRIBLE when I took this shot. Snow was blowing everywhere and honestly I have no idea how I made it down there in my Audi…. but I did. Here is the shot.

Thanks Ansel. It is your work that inspired me the most. The traditional master of B&W. I hope my friends of B&W find this one worthy. I was happy I looked again at these images.

Architecture in Dallas – The Dallas Convention Center

David — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 03:16:32 +0000

This last may, I visited Dallas. While there I drove around looking for shots. It had been a good 10 years since I had been in downtown Dallas and I had forgotten how big it is. During my search, I found the new Dallas Convention Center. The shot below is of the outside entry to the convention center. This building, originally constructed in 1957 has expanded five times since then to now be over 2,067,542 square feet of total space and almost 727,000 of contiguous exhibit space. One of the interesting highlights of this building back in 2002 during its last expansion is that it was one of the largest column free spaces at that time with over 203,000 sq ft of column free exhibit space.

The Dallas Convention Center - 2011

My shot is of the most recent addition to the center. It features concrete, steel and glass as the primary exterior elements. This makes the building well suited for a B&W image. I am only showing a portion of the new entrance. I really liked the sweeping brushed aluminium overhang to the buildings entry along with its geometry as it intersected with the building. Rather than tilt the camera for a level shot, I leveled my tripod on the hill I was shooting from. This accentuates the curved entryway and accentuates the front facade more. Dallas is a great city for Architecture. The Dallas Fort Worth Metropolitan are is home to the Kimbell Museum, designed by my favorite Architect, Louis I. Khan and I.M Pei’s Fountain Place, Energy Plaza and the Dallas City Hall. Definitely worth a visit if you are in Texas and enjoy good Architecture.

PhotoExtract.com Selection for October 24, 2011

David — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:01:59 +0000

Many of the social networking sites have a way to highlight the best photos of a day. PhotoExtract.com is a site for Serious Photography Enthusiasts. Along with their amazing site and magazine, the founder, Jarek Klimek created a service that will screen the images on Google+ and identify the most shared, commented and +’d images of the day. There are some amazing photographs that make it into this daily page.

The other day, I uploaded my picture of the “W” Hotel in downtown Austin, Texas (here on Google+) and here (on the FPT Blog) This shot received the most attention of anything I have uploaded to date. It was a real good day for me and I really appreciated all the comments and shares on Google+. I was honestly caught off guard and at something of a loss for words to see so many excellent photographers comment and share this image. Google+ is honestly the most supportive community I have ever been on.

To make a long story short, I made the list for October 24, 2011. To be included in this list is a big deal for me. The exposure alone is worth a ton. My image can be seen on PhotoExtract.com HERE

I really want to say a special thanks to everyone on Google+. I have learned a ton from the Google+ community. Everyone is willing to share, comment and support. Its a great atmosphere and environment and there is some AMAZING work that is shared daily.

Photo-Walking Downtown Austin, Texas The W Hotel

David — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 05:34:23 +0000

This shot was taken on a Photo-Walk for a project I am working on. The buildings are the “W” Hotel (on the left) and some Condo building on the right in downtown Austin, Texas. The W is one of my favorite pieces of Architecture in downtown Austin.

The "W" Hotel - Downtown Austin, Texas

Similar Theme here as a previous shot. I like B&W for the W hotel. It’s a relatively monochrome building to begin with and this format highlights its structure and materials better than color. Slight silver tint added in post to the shot.

Have a Coke and a Smile. A random shot on the way to Lubbock, Texas

David — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:53:05 +0000

I like road trips…. when I have my camera. Especially on a drive that I haven’t been on before. Every trip I go on, I managed to find something new to shoot. Sometimes I find sweeping vistas, beautiful scenery or stunning sunsets. This time, it was a coke machine from 1934.

The landscape in and around Austin, Texas really isnt all that great. Especially when you have spent years in the Pacific Northwest. So, you have to keep your eyes open for interesting things to shoot. The one thing you do get when you travel between cities in Texas is a bunch of small towns. Some still thrive, some are all but ghost towns. When you pull into these places you can find some real interesting stuff. On this particular trip, I pulled into some dust bowl of a city and was pulling through one of the many flashing red lights and saw this old run down gas station. These things are everywhere and usually they are vacant, covered in street art and basically destroyed. This one on the other hand was in oddly decent shape. In front was a Coke machine from 1934. It still had bottles in the side that were filled with dust and bugs from the years they had been sitting there.

Have a Coke and A Smile

The color of the machine had faded from years of sitting on this porch in the Texas sun. The machine had gone from the nice Coke red to a color of dust, dirt and rust. It had the pitted texture of where the rust was finally eating through the metal as opposed to the surface. While I was checking this thing out, a guy came out and said hi. Turns out that the back of this old place is a landscape service. I asked the owner if I could shoot the Coke machine. He looked at me as if I was half crazy and said “have at her son,” so…. I had at it.

This is my favorite image from the set.

In my earlier posts, I have griped about not being able to shoot mountains and the like. I have finally settled down and gotten back into a grove. There is plenty to shoot here. Sometimes I have to look a little harder, but once I LOOK things do show up.

The “W” A Modern Architecural Icon In Downtown Austin, Texas

David — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 04:49:03 +0000

Austin isn’t known for its amazing architecture, shy of perhaps the capital. This is a music town, a college town. People are nice, easy going and like to have a good time. Its hard to find what I could call iconic images from an architectural perspective here. There are some real gems though in Austin. One of them is the W hotel. This building looks to have been plucked straight from downtown Vancouver. It’s clean, sleek and modern. Designed by Arthur Andersson of Andersson-Wise Architects.

The "W"

This is a shot of the convention center portion of the hotel. What you are seeing is a view straight up of an exposed external stair. The building is clad in what appears to be a corten steel with small windows offering focused minimalistic views of Lady Bird Lake.

These photo-walks in downtown have been real productive. It’s been nice getting out and having images to work on again.

Austin Music, A Photo-Walk in Downtown Austin, Texas

David — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 05:37:59 +0000

It sure feels good to have gotten out and taken some pictures lately. The joy I get from taking them, meeting people and then processing them is really good for me. I mentioned in my last two posts that I had been on a couple of photo-walks. The following two shots are from my first walk where I went out by myself.

I started down by Austin City Limits and then headed up the street. While walking I heard a band playing at one of the local venues. I decided to cross the street and check it out. When I got there, a video crew was shooting for the venue and had a highlighted artist playing. Jordan Tanner was on stage. I shot from the distance so I didn’t bother the video crew. When they were done, I moved in and then shot from above and got some great shots. The following two images where taken from his show.

The Limelight - Jordan Tanner

Center Stage - Jordan Tanner

When Jordan took a break, I grabbed his card and gave him mine. He put on a hell of a show. I have to admit he’s good and I would encourage everyone to go check out his kickstarter link. I had a great night. Met the video crew, a model and MUHA and camera guys. It was really productive. On top of it all, I got to see a great show. I always tell people there is no such thing as bad music in Austin, and this random encounter was more validation to my claim.

This brief session reminded me of a time when I shot for Iron Maiden’s “Somewhere In Time” Album and concerts. Photographers back then got to go back stage, meet the band shoot everything and had all access. It was nice shooting this venue and Jordan. Now I need to do some more. (hint… hint to the local bands and venues… i’m available).