Peter King of the Light Rock Express rolled up to the Continental Club in his latest acquisition, a 1978 Chevy Van RV. It was a surprise for the members of the band who took some time enjoying some cold Löwenbräu with their manager William S. Graham before their performance on Friday evening.
The first song the band played that evening came as no surprise whatsoever.
We woke up around 4:30 to the sound of pouring rain and loud rumbling thunder. It had been raining since we went to sleep and I knew the water was likely going to be high in the streets. Looking out the door confirmed my suspicions. I shot this in the dark on a tripod just to document how high the water was.
Halfway up the sidewalk to the front door was as high as it got, thank goodness. I waited till the sun came up and the rain died down to explore further. This is the highest water I’ve seen in 15 years of living in this neighborhood.
This has to be only one of the few times in it’s life this truck is actually “practical” …
The Flying Fish Sailors performed at the Houston International Festival this past weekend. The weather held and we were not washed away in a deluge like the performers on the previous Saturday. Thanks to Elaine Mesker-Garcia (aka @cybertoad) of Fresh Photography for these wonderful shots:
We have the rest of Elaine’s shots in the Flying Fish Sailors Photo Gallery.
And thanks to Sandy Grimm for this exceptionally linear photograph of the entire band!
It’s easy to dismiss tilt-shift miniature faking as nothing more than a Photoshop gimmick. But in my opinion, when done right the results are still quite compelling. There’s a method to the madness of the post-processing and even if you put aside the digital chicanery, there’s still the matter of getting the right subject matter shot from the proper angle which is instrumental in achieving the desired effect.
And besides, if the photographer is having fun and people smile and enjoy the end product isn’t that all that matters?
As Neil Young once sang – “There’s more to the picture, than meets the eye…”
Click the images below to see the full sized versions
The Flying Fish Sailors played at the 2009 Earth Day Festival @ Discovery Green. I’ve seen and photographed a number of bands on that stage, but this was the first time I’ve had the opportunity to perform on it. It was a great deal of fun. Thanks to the lovely and talented Cynthia we have photographic evidence of the event.
Additional photos from the event in the Flying Fish Sailors Gallery
This past weekend I was treated to a light plane flight over Houston with my friend Daniel Baker. We took to the skies in a Grumman Tiger and flew over downtown and out to the ship channel before cruising out to Galveston and then back to the Sugar Land Airport.
It was harder than I anticipated. The skies were clear, but it was a windy day and at 2000 ft it was a bit bumpy. Keeping the camera steady was a challenge.
I’ll have to do this again, but on a less windy day and maybe at or near sunset to see what I can come up with.
John Nova Lomax invited me to go on one of his Sole Of Houston walks. This time he was hitting the east side. The plan was to just sort of meander out to 75th Street and then head north to Canal and then head back to town. It was VERY interesting. We started about 9:30 am and finished about 4:30 pm. We covered a LOT of ground. You can read the story here: Sole Of Houston: East Side Story — Trains, Tequila, Dogs & Grief. There’s several more of my photos in the posting.