Sony 24-70mm Zeiss – Page 9 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Copenhagen Day 1 Part 1

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My catch phrase for this trip is “Every photo I take is a blessing” as an ongoing reference to the Copenhagen Christmas Miracle.

Once we got checked in to the hotel we decided to head out and do a little sightseeing. At this point we’re pretty jet lagged, but the adrenaline rush of the near disaster is still coursing through our veins and it is important to push on through to get the internal clock synched up with the local time.

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The room is very spacious and modern inside and we’re quite comfortable. The plumbing, specifically the shower, took some sorting out but we got it eventually.

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Our hotel is right across the street from City Hall Square and, as such, is VERY centrally located.

We noticed that things seemed rather tame. Shops were closed and there wasn’t all that much foot traffic, even on the Strøget which is the main shopping boulevard here in Copenhagen. It wasn’t until the next day that I snapped and realized that Saturday was Boxing Day.

We got the obligatory shot with the Hans Christian Andersen statue

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Everything here is VERY expensive. Cynthia made the comment while we were getting some snacks at the 7-11 that being here was “Like living in the airport.” 20 Kroner for a half a liter bottle of Coke. That’s over 4 dollars for a 16 ounce bottle.

I told Cynthia during the planning for this trip that I would be eating at least one Pølser during the trip.

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Also referred to as a “Dead Man’s Finger” they’re sold from carts all over town. They’re very tasty and I may have to have one more before we leave.

The sun comes up late and goes down early. Also mostly overcast with the occasional drizzle of rain. Not ideal photographically, but a challenge and…every photo I take at this point is a blessing.

Balloon Over Houston – At Night

I had so much fun with the day time balloon ride at Discovery Green Park I decided to try it again at night. A whole different view!

Balloon At Discovery Green

Balloon Over Houston

There’s a tethered balloon at Discovery Green Park. It goes up 350 ft and back down again. The ride lasts about 10 minutes. A unique photo opportunity, not to be missed. Unless you’re petrified of heights.

George R. Brown through a fisheye lens

Balloon At Discovery Green

The George R. Brown via the Sigma 12-24mm.

Balloon At Discovery Green

Discovery Green Park viewed through the center of the gondola. Notice the ice skating rink. Also a fisheye shot

Balloon At Discovery Green

Minute Maid Park and two more via the 24-70 Zeiss

Balloon At Discovery Green

Nearby construction via the 70-300mm G.

Balloon At Discovery Green

KISS Alive 35

There is no band I know of more iconic in terms of sound AND appearance than KISS. Love ’em or hate ’em, you know ’em when you see ’em and you won’t confuse KISS with any other band in existence. In the mid 70’s I went to every single show they toured, starting in 1975 and ending in the 1983 when they showed up with Wendy O Williams and the Plasmatics as an opener.

When I heard they were coming to Houston for their 35th anniversary show I really, REALLY wanted to photograph the event. It took some wrangling, but I eventually scored press credentials to provide photos for Craig Hlavaty’s review in The Houston Press.

I’ve shot a lot of small and mid-sized concerts, but this was my first big rock show. I was really appreciative of Technology Bytes co-host Groovehouse’s presence at the show. He had an extra photo release form which I needed to fill out plus an extra set of ear plugs which really made the difference.

The opening act was a band called Buckcherry and we got to shoot their first three songs. I wasn’t all that interested in their performance, but it was an opportunity to get a feel for the layout and I treated it as a warm up. We were only allowed to shoot the first three songs by KISS and I was sweating it a little. The typical scenario is three songs and even it’s not a lot of time to settle in and get your shots.

For this show I carried both my new Sony A850 and my Sony A700. The former mounted with my Zeiss 24-70 and the latter with my Tamron 70-200. Both lenses served their purpose and I was glad to have them. Overall, though, the A850 with the Zeiss wide angle was the most useful rig for this show.

I gotta hand it to KISS, they really put on a show. For the first two songs they played it up for the photographers and gave us plenty of opportunities to get some fantastic photos. I’ve never had a band do that before and it was a real treat. Be sure and read Craig’s review of the whole show at The Houston Press for the set-list and other observations.

Here are a few of my favorites from the evening. Click any image to see a larger version.

KISS

Additional photos in my Flickr gallery.

Snow Day 2009

Weather forecasts all week predicted snow for Friday, Dec 4th and sure enough, we had several inches of snow. I was fortunate enough to have the day off and Cynthia got to come home early. We took advantage of this rare weather phenomenon. We simply don’t see this much snow in Houston EVER. It snowed last year, but not much and it snowed on Christmas Eve in 2004 but it didn’t stick. The last time I saw snow like this in Houston was in the 60’s.

Snow In Houston

Of course the sun was out the next day and the temperatures are expected to be back up in the 70’s before mid-week.

Our neighbors demonstrate their sense of humor about the fickle weather here in H-Town:

Snow In Houston

Additional photos are here

Jackson Browne @ Verizon Wireless Theater

On assignment for the Houston Press. Read their concert review online.
Aftermath: Jackson Browne Doesn’t Do “Rehab Versions,” Does Do “Free Bird” at Verizon

Click any image to see larger version:

Jackson Browne

Zappa Plays Zappa – 2009

Zappa Plays Zappa, a concert where Dweezil Zappa plays the songs of his father. This show gets better and better each year.

Dweezil Zappa

Additional photos are here in my gallery

Memorial Hermann Hospital

Looks like the new Memorial Hermann building I wrote about previously is nearing completion. I can only speculate as to why there are beams of light shooting skyward. Perhaps these are transporters that deliver the souls of those who don’t make it to their great reward. I was unable to verify if there were equivalent beams of light headed in the other direction emanating from the ground floor or basement.

Memorial Herman