Tag Archives: Street Photography

My Corner – Photowalking Lafortune Park

The other day I was feeling a little owly at the end of the day so I grabbed a camera and headed to Tulsa’s Lafortune Park to walk around it. They have a nice walking track of about three miles which is just right. It winds around a library, a high school, gardens, two golf courses, baseball fields, ponds, and several playgrounds. It’s a popular spot for walking or running in Tulsa and there is always something to see.

The high school has this geodesic dome. I don’t know what they use it for but it is a cool sight.

They also have this sailboat parked next to their band trailer. The boat never moves. I don’t know what the story is.

I captured this golfer out playing a few holes. Back in the day I used to pack up my clubs and go play some. Lots of fun but it takes too much time for me. I already have too many hobbies. Plus I never was any good. I love watching the game on television.

I ran into this trio of friends. They asked if I would take their photo so I did and sent it to them. They said they were going to get enlarged copies for their rooms. It was one of those nice interactions on the trail.

And the back side of a public library. I love the big glass windows and swooping roofline.

So I would have to say that I had a good walk. I captured more images of animals and I’ll be sharing those on Saturday’s Critters later.

My Corner of the World.

Skywatch Friday – On the Trails

I went on a bike ride recently on Tulsa’s RiverParks Trails alongside the Arkansas River. I love the trails because one can ride for miles and miles without crossing a street. I took along my cheap GoPro clone camera that I have had for years. It takes a bad photo ever ten seconds. I end up deleting almost all the bad photos but I keep a few and run them through Adobe Lightroom to make highly edited bad photos. I kind of like them actually.

I like how the camera and then Lightroom distorts the colors. I also like it when people are involved so they are kind of like street photos but on a trail.

To me these photos capture of sense of not just solitude but aloneness like everybody else in the world has disappeared.

Familiar scenes seem vacant.

On the other hand this looks like a guy out for a run.

I also brought a “good camera” a lightweight superzoom and took a couple shots across the river. This building is the River Spirit Casino.

And this one is a collection of office buildings that used to be the Oral Robert University medical school and hospital.

So if you are on the Tulsa River Parks and see an overweight old guy on a bicycle with a go pro clone mounted on his handlebars smile real big!

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday.

Wedding Party at Woodward Park

I was tagging old photos today and came across this one of a photo shoot in progress at Tulsa’s Woodward Park of a bride and and all the maids of honor. I think it was early October 2016. I thought it was kind of funny. Some of them didn’t appreciate my photographic endeavors.

Trail Pics

A trio I encountered at a park in Sand Springs taking a walk.

I have a Go Pro Clone action camera that I can mount on the handlebars of my bicycle. It has various modes. It has a video loop mode where it takes three minutes of video, stores it does three more minutes until it runs out of battery. Or I can still pics at any interval you set. I have been experimenting with both modes. Video is a pain in the butt because of the huge files you end up with long upload and download times and a definite problem of separating the wheat from the chaff. Stills are a lot easier. You end up with a huge amount of them but you can just delete the ones you don’t like which for me is literally about 95% of them on the first pass and then about 80% of the remainder get deleted on a second pass review. I now use about a 20 second delay between pics now. In an hour ride that is about 180 photos. Typically I keep about five to ten. The rest get deleted. Thank goodness for digital photos!!

I love the sense of distance in this. I love feeling a long ways from where I need to be. Except when things go wrong. Two years ago on this trail one of my tires blew out and I had to go pick up the kid in an hour. I hid the bike. Called a cab (cuz there was no Uber out in the boonies), took the cab to where my car was, drove the car back to the trail and retrieved the bike and then went to pick up the kid. Thank goodness for cell phones is what I say!!

I like the photos of people out on the trail, like this couple. You can tell by their body language that they like each other.

This poor lady was all over the trail and I don’t think she heard my “on your left” so I went very slowly around her way to the right. My heart really went out to her. She looks like she might be housing insecure. I think she has a long ways to go but I don’t think she is enjoying it. I am no so called “bleeding heart liberal” but our decreasing compassion for people who are down on their luck is a real problem. I hope she found a safe place to stay that night.

Geometry on a Rainy Day

Last week I was coming out the Subway on Denver Avenue when this bicyclist came riding by and I snapped the pic. Later on I realized how much I liked the geometry of the pic the stripes in the road, the curbs the cars lined up, the lines of the parking garage across the way with the rectangular openings. The trees even have geometry. The bottoms of the canopies are lined up and the tops of the canopies form a big wedge and the white Oxy Building with its lattice design. Against this we have the bicyclist with his green helmet, the bright red car, and if you look carefully, the gas lights across the road.

Have you ever liked a photograph but then had to figure out why?

Wordless Wednesday (Almost) – Air Travel

Amusing myself with the Harris Effect App on my Ipod Touch at the Idaho Falls Airport

More amusement – sometimes I wonder who I amuse.

You can tell the people from Idaho.

Waiting in the jet way for the gate checked luggage. People always seem a little tired and worn waiting for their gate checked luggage. I am always happy that I didn’t have to manhandle it into an overhead bin nor pay $40 bucks to have it checked through. You play your cards right they will check it through from the podium for free.

The pause that refreshes. The New Belgium Cafe at the Denver airport has a most excellent Cocoa Mole Porter on tap.

Wordless Wednesday – Out in the Heat

Tulsa International Mayfest 2015

It is Mayfest time again in Tulsa. The downtown festival featuring food, music, crafts, and people watching happens every year and kind of ebbs and flows with the economy.

Apple Ipod Touch and Waterlogue

This year found me kind of busy so I wasn’t able to spend as much time as usual but i still made the rounds with my trusty ipod touch and its Waterlogue and Snapseed Apps.

Apple Ipod Touch and Snapseed

The food stands are my favorite, for taking pictures. Goodness knows I’m not going to eat at one of them. Basically you have to buy coupons to pay for the food and drink. I just want to pay to pay for my food and drink in cash. Not do the deal where I have to see how many coupons I want and then go stand in the coupon line and then go get the food. Lets do something different next year folks. I always thought cash was king.

#Mayfest #Tulsa #Streetlife #EMT's #EMSA #Waterlogue

Apple Ipod Touch and Waterlogue

Plus, I didn’t see the Indian Tacos nor the Gyros. Sorry, if I am going to eat festival food it has to be something different. Also, many of the craft vendors had “No photography” signs up. What is up with that. I don’t think they can make it stick but I don’t really like to mess with people when it comes to a conflict between my hobby of blogging and their livelihood.

So anyway, check out Tulsa International Mayfest

A Piss Poor Job of It

This is my employer’s fancy new plaza. I think they did a good job. The old landscaping had all sorts of nooks and and shadowy crannies that were okay during the day but kind of creepy when I walked across the plaza to the parking garage across the way. The new plaza is lots more open and very well lighted.

The building across the way is the old headquarters building for Cities Service Company. At one time it was one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world. The industry downturn in the early 1980’s and then Boone Pickens drove them into arms of Armand Hammer’s Occidental Oil and Gas company. The refineries and gasoline retail arm ended up as Citgo, now owned by the government of Venezuela. The employees ended up scattered to the four corners of the world. As far as I know they all did okay. I call them the Cities Service mafia. They sure bond together.

Their story is echoed in lots of other companies and people, including my career. Such is capitalism and creative destruction and all the other buzz words. And all sorts of other industries have been through similar things. I am not sure whether it is good or bad but fully understand the short term pain and misery it can cause. It does seem that the managed economies of the world have the effect of spreading misery.

Check the widgets on my sidebar for the prices. It is good news to many and not so good news to others.I am starting to hear again the old saw about how the energy companies control the price of oil and natural gas and products such as gasoline. All I have to say is that if that is true then:

We are doing a piss poor job of it.

In fact it has been kind of like a roller coaster. Sometimes I feel like the blonde girl in the video below:

I don’t like roller coasters, do you?

YogisDen.us

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