Slender-Snouted Crocodile

Last night, instead of packing for my trip like I should have been, I was out playing with my camera and new accessory I got in the mail yesterday (more on that later).  I got some photos I really like and was busy processing them all evening.

This photograph, I did not take last night.  No, this photograph I took on my recent excursion to Africa.  No, that's a lie; I took this a few years ago while in Africa.  No, that's also a lie.  In reality I took this in the Africa section of the Kansas City Zoo.  I went there a few weeks ago with some friends.  I had never been to the Kansas City Zoo before that day, and although it was a pretty muggy day, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I've been to many a zoo in my day, but this one was definitely the most recent.  Seriously though, this zoo is pretty big; everything is very spread out, which means the animals have a lot of room to roam freely.  I didn't even see all of the zoo; we walked around Africa mostly, which has an abundance of interesting animals.  I definitely plan to go back though.  I have a number of other pictures from that day that I'll share later, but this one is of a Slender-Snouted Crocodile.

Upon researching what this thing is (I couldn't remember, aside from assuming it was some sort of crocodile), I found out that this guy's name is either Frank or Jesse.  Upon further research I learned that the Slender-Snouted Crocodile may not be a crocodile at all.  Recent DNA tests have indicated that the Crocodylus cataphractus (that is its scientific name) has less in common with the crocidile than was previously though, and it has been suggested its name be changed to Mecistops cataphractus!  I mean come on!  Although the jury is still out on science, one thing is for sure: like the alligator, these Slender-Snouted Crocodiles are so aggressive 'cause they got all them teeth but no toothbrush.

WSU Baseball

Last time I was in Wichita I had a little time to kill one afternoon, so I grabbed my camera and wandered down the block to Eck Stadium at Wichita State University.  I grew up just a block from this stadium and have watched countless games there.  In high school I even went to a few WSU baseball camps and played some games there.  They have a good baseball program historically, but I think their longtime coach has sort of lost it the last few years and the team is suffering as a consequence.

I wanted to try something a little different with this photograph.  Sometimes new perspectives don't work very well, but I like what I got with this one.  I figure the only way I can grow and improve my photography is by trying new things.

Vidalia Onions

I recently had the chance to travel to Georgia on business, and for part of the trip stayed in Vidalia, Georgia, birthplace of the Vidalia Onion. My hotel happened to be right next door to the Vidalia Onion Factory and Gift Shop, your one stop shop for all things onion. Before I go too far, let me explain that this "factory" is what I would call a southern factory, which in terms of the rest of the US, is more of a warehouse. Splitting hairs, I know, but I feel it necessary to be precise.

This was a very enjoyable trip, and having recently acquired an excellent travel bag for my camera, I brought it along. This photograph is (obviously) of the Vidalia Onion Factory. I learned a few things on this trip, the most notable being that people in southeast Georgia are some of the nicest, most sincere people I have ever encountered. I have examples to back these claims, so if you want to hear them, just ask.

While this photograph may not be one of my best technically, I wanted to share it on here. My hope is that my collection of photographs can be considered travel photography, so I wanted to share something from my travels. That's not to say I don't have more from this trip, so check back soon to see more from my Georgia trip; I found some pretty interesting places.

Black and White Flowers

I took this photograph quite a while ago in Wichita while I was home from college one summer.  As I was playing around with the post-processing I wondered how it would look in black and white.  As I converted it, the background magically disappeared and I loved the resulting image.  A few more adjustments and tweaks and I was done.  I took this photo outside in the bright mid-day sun, but you'd be hard pressed to know that from this photograph.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Georgetown Lake

I've been pretty busy lately, and traveling, so that's why there hasn't been an update for a little while.  I'm in Georgia right now, and finally have some downtime in the hotel to get a post or two ready to publish.  I've had a good time in southeast Georgia.  I learned that there are some great people down here.  I brought my camera along for the trip and got some good photos, so expect them sometime soon, along with more stories from my trip.

This photograph is another I took last spring in Georgetown, Colorado.  It is another view of the lake we could see when we looked off our balcony of the condo in which we stayed.  The stream seen with the fog also feeds into this lake.  As you can see, the lake is partially frozen, and it looks like a storm is rolling in, but it didn't storm, or even snow in Georgetown while we were there.

Calm Waters

Here is another photograph I took in Florida last summer.  I took this one in the evening near sundown, so the colors are a bit different than the last one I posted from Florida.  The water was extremely calm for pretty much the whole week we were out there.  Absolutely beautiful the whole time!

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Downtown Kansas City

Two weekends ago my dad and two of my cousins came to Kansas City for a visit.  On Saturday we went to the Liberty Memorial, which is home to The National World War I Museum.  I like going to Liberty Memorial, and have been there many times, but I had never gone through the museum until that day.  It was a very interesting place and I suggest you go there if you ever have the opportunity.  In addition to the museum, you can also go up in the Liberty Memorial tower.  This photo was taken from the top of the tower, looking north into downtown Kansas City, Missouri (where I live; you can see my building if you know which to look for).

This photo is composed of 5 exposures, and was hand held.  I normally like to use a tripod if I'm going to make an HDR photograph, but hand held was the only way I could do it that day.