[Fort Worthology]

The Fort Worth Recreation Building on Vickery in the Near Southside. Still abandoned, waiting somebody to redevelop it. Click to view on Flickr.


Fort Worth Recreation Building by Kevin Buchanan, on Flickr

[Brian Luenser]

Is it any wonder why there is law and order in the Stockyards?

[Art Cooler]

^ ^ ...a face that could sink a thousand ships...or put the fear of the law into a delinquent. Nice capture, Brian!

[Fort Worthology]

Another photo of the Recreation Building. Click to view on Flickr.


Shattered by Kevin Buchanan, on Flickr

[Art Cooler]

Thursday afternoon on the Trinity levee north of LaGrave Field. Took this shot of downtown, squinted at the LED on the camera to see what I got (hard to see in the blazing hot, late afternoon sunlight), looked back up and toward the city, and thought "Man, sky sure is a lot more polluted today than it has been in some time."

I then ran this shot through post processing, and it looks better than what I saw from the levee and on the camera screen. Not the most photogenic angle of our skyline, but I do like the slight angle imposed on Burnett Plaza, and how the Omni appears uniquely wedged between neighboring skyscrapers. Oh yes, The Tower, standing tall and seemingly aloof from its lofty neighbors. One of my favorite tall buildings in Fort Worth, regardless.

[Brian Luenser]

Thursday afternoon on the Trinity levee north of LaGrave Field. Took this shot of downtown, squinted at the LED on the camera to see what I got (hard to see in the blazing hot, late afternoon sunlight), looked back up and toward the city, and thought "Man, sky sure is a lot more polluted today than it has been in some time."

I then ran this shot through post processing, and it looks better than what I saw from the levee and on the camera screen. Not the most photogenic angle of our skyline, but I do like the slight angle imposed on Burnett Plaza, and how the Omni appears uniquely wedged between neighboring skyscrapers. Oh yes, The Tower, standing tall and seemingly aloof from its lofty neighbors. One of my favorite tall buildings in Fort Worth, regardless.

Art, I do like this view. More unusual for sure. Probably because there is not as much in that direction to be taking a picture from. (Not many destinations from that direction.) That would be a grand location if you have a 30' step ladder in your trunk. Did you mean South of LaGrave Field? Or am I confused with my GPS off) The foreground is pretty un-photogenic. Not un-like my in-laws. In most of the city, wires and wire poles ruin the views. If Fort Worth wasn't 70mm in the hole I think I would be lobbying for more underground utilities. That close to our downtown, being above ground is pretty pathetic. If I had a nickel for every grand shot I walked away from because of trashy wires I would have a big bag full.

And I got you and the LCD display on our cams looking washed out in the blazing Sun. Funny, I think it is more a problem with human eyeballs. Like walking into a normally lit room after being out in the Sun. It looks dark for a few minutes. Many times I come back from a shoot thinking, "I don't think I have any good ones" only to see I have a bunch of good-uns. I have thought about having a hood to throw over my head and camera to look at my last 5 shots. Pretty sure in the heat yesterday somebody would have tripped over my body where I tried that last.

That view from the North sure does make the Omni appear pretty insignificant. I am guessing, not just because of the distance to it from there but how low you are there.

[Art Cooler]

I was on my way to my trade group meeting when I stopped for this shot. At first I found a cemetery at Northside and Main that offered a similar view of downtown, with perhaps less clutter in the foreground, but the gate hours were posted as closing at 6 PM...my truck clock said 5:58 when I rolled up to the sign (which was just inside the gate, actually), so I didn't go in thinking I didn't want to burden the groundskeeper with running me off in 100 degree heat. I may try grabbing a photo of downtown from that angle some other day.

The west levee of the Trinity bends northwest of LaGrave as it runs north of the stands. It then straightens out and runs almost due north. Right at the bend terminus is where I grabbed the shot above. It may appear a bit differently from your lofty vantage point in The Tower since you are considerably west of LaGrave.

When I'm out shooting in bright light I've gone to either using the "blinkies" on my camera LED to see if I'm blowing highlights, or using the four part histogram that gives me not only exposure info but also if any of the RGB channels are too far left or right, or are clipping. That way I can concentrate on composition, and later buff up the color and details in post processing. If I happen across a shady spot I'll also do a quick review of the last several shots taken, like you want to do with a hood over your head.

I think, geographically, downtown straddles the crest of a hill that falls toward the Trinity to the west, and also slightly to the south toward I-30. On top of where I stood also being downhill from downtown. This could explain why the Omni seems diminished from where I took the photo. If I were so inclined I'm sure there are topographic maps of downtown Fort Worth and surroundings on the internet that would render a more accurate analysis.

[Art Cooler]

Oh yeah, about power lines, I know what you mean. I took several other shots of downtown from this location while on the levee, but this was the only one that had minimal interference from both parking lot light fixtures and power lines. As it was I had to crop the above photo to cut out even more distracting junk than actually appears in the shot.

But, sometimes you just gotta cave in to those wires and transformers and insulators, and grab a quick shot of them, like this:





Now, maybe that I've celebrated them a little, they might move out of my way more often when taking other shots.

.

[360texas]

Hi Art, would you consider letting me borrow your DTFW photo with all the power lines . I would place the updated image here in the forum for comparision.

I would like to use PS's (CS5) spot healing brush with advanced content aware options. This new brush uses multi location samplings to fill in the power/telephone line erased areas. The process is... use this brush to mouse click drag over the offending area... the software autofills from 7 or 8 adjacent areas. The end results are.. the pole is removed.

Dave still at 360texas

[Art Cooler]

Hi Art, would you consider letting me borrow your DTFW photo with all the power lines . I would place the updated image here in the forum for comparision.

I would like to use PS's (CS5) spot healing brush with advanced content aware options. This new brush uses multi location samplings to fill in the power/telephone line erased areas. The process is... use this brush to mouse click drag over the offending area... the software autofills from 7 or 8 adjacent areas. The end results are.. the pole is removed.

Dave still at 360texas

Dave, by all means feel free to run the photo through your software. I'd love to see the results.

Someday maybe I can afford that level of Photoshop so I can shop out wires in future shots...and with that I suppose there'd be more locations available to get good shots of DTFW in what otherwise would not be optimal with wires intruding.

[360texas]

Thanks - here it is without the poles and lines. Removal time was about 3 minutes. The sky is starting to look a bit pixelated because of repeated jpg compression saving [more than 3 saves]. If this was an uncompressed .TIF the sky compression issues would not occur.

[John S.]

That view from the North sure does make the Omni appear pretty insignificant. I am guessing, not just because of the distance to it from there but how low you are there.

Brian,

Saw last night that WFAA Channel 8 featured a photo you took of the pop-up thunderstorm East of FW yesterday-very nice photo! Of course, now that it was used by a local media resource, it probably cannot be posted here but I thought it was one of the better weather phenomenon photos I've seen in some time. Great work!

[Volare]

A similar view of downtown unencumbered by the power lines can be found in the parking lot of Coopers BBQ just north of the Stockyards. It's a bit further away, but nothing your lenses can't handle. The upside is the topography is rising up from the river valley, so you get a nice view without the wires. The downside is the Omni is not visible due to being blocked by other buildings. One of you guys with a nice camera should head up there and check it out. Get soom BBQ while you are at it!

[Art Cooler]

Interesting...I was wondering why the image quality suffered until I read your explanation....I admit I looked at the photo first.

Can that version of PS you have do that wire removal feat with a RAW file?

Thanks - here it is without the poles and lines. Removal time was about 3 minutes. The sky is starting to look a bit pixelated because of repeated jpg compression saving [more than 3 saves]. If this was an uncompressed .TIF the sky compression issues would not occur.

[360texas]

Raw images like Canon .cr2, .crw or Nikon .NEF file format are considered a digital negative. Need to convert the raw image to a uncompressed TIF or compressed JPEG for editing.

Thanks for letting me show the scene as if it had underground power distribution.

[Art Cooler]

Somebody should REALLY do something with this building. To let it sit derelict like this is a shame for our fine city:






Morning down by the T & P Station:






Nice water feature at the downtown Sheraton (formerly Fort Worth Plaza Hotel):






What's down there?

[Art Cooler]

Found myself mesmerized by Trapezoid Canyon this afternoon:

[Art Cooler]

Raw images like Canon .cr2, .crw or Nikon .NEF file format are considered a digital negative. Need to convert the raw image to a uncompressed TIF or compressed JPEG for editing.

Thanks for letting me show the scene as if it had underground power distribution.

You're welcome, sir.

So...the workflow for one who shoots in RAW might be: take picture, download to computer, do color and light management either in RAW before saving as an uncompressed TIF, or save as uncompressed TIF and not only do light and color, but also remove wires and poles with PS. THEN save as jpeg for uploading to sites and etc. with minimal compression to preserve image quality.

[360texas]

Convert Raw to uncompressed Tif 16bit. The conversion process creates a new XMP side car file containing all the white balance and chromatic abberation, color saturation, sharpening values. The orignal raw file is not changed. When you "look" at the raw file.. it calls the xmp and applies your changes. So you see the original raw with the changes applied.

Saving this file combination to a non compressed file format like a TIF lets you make further edit changes.

If you use these images.... consider resizing and sharpening them as a last step in the work flow.

[Fort Worthology]

I swear by Adobe's Lightroom (and Apple's Aperture is great as well, depending on one's preference - try them both). No need to save RAW files to any other format to do adjustments (no need to save at all, really, plus virtual copies to have multiple finished products without duplicating files, etc.), plus great organizational tools (no need to keep track of files on the HD all the time) and exporting/sharing options.

Both were designed from the ground up for RAW photography workflows, and both are fantastic pieces of software - really a personal preference as to which is better. Since I never like to do things like removing wires, etc. from shots, I've not fired up Photoshop for photography purposes for years (Lightroom has great dust/spot removal stuff built-in, in addition to distortion/perspective correction, etc.). Really streamlines and reduces headaches in RAW shooting (which is 99% of what I do).

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/
http://www.apple.com/aperture/

[JKC]

The Fort Worth Recreation Building on Vickery in the Near Southside. Still abandoned, waiting somebody to redevelop it. Click to view on Flickr.


Fort Worth Recreation Building by Kevin Buchanan, on Flickr

Weird what catches your attention, but that building has intrigued me more than any other since I moved here ten years ago. I'm going to see if I can take a look inside...

[Art Cooler]

Here's looking at you, Brian....





Now if you happened to see some tall guy down on the street with a backward ball cap pointing a camera up at your building, and you got a long range shot of him about the time I made this shot, that would be wild.

Sure seems your building has a precarious lean these days...that hillbilly seismograph of yours picking it up?



Headed north and grabbed a quick shot of the Leddy's sign (a neon wonder!):

[Brian Luenser]

Here's looking at you, Brian....

Now if you happened to see some tall guy down on the street with a backward ball cap pointing a camera up at your building, and you got a long range shot of him about the time I made this shot, that would be wild.

Sure seems your building has a precarious lean these days...that hillbilly seismograph of yours picking it up?

Headed north and grabbed a quick shot of the Leddy's sign (a neon wonder!):

Two great shots Art. Yes, that is my unit up there alright. 3rd from the top. Whole center section to include 2 windows on each side of both balcony's. It the shot was on a Saturday or Sunday you could zoom in to see my tripod on my balcony. I think I see my cat in the window. " NO GRACIE, DON'T CLAW THAT COUCH!" . She might as well, she has ruined it already. (I don't de-claw my kitties) It is just the right excuse for buying cheap furniture... My other condo (That it turns out I love too much to rent or sell) is on the south side on 21. You need to come visit me. (My cat won't attack, but is not friendly to strangers)

Neon sign. That shot is crazy good art, Art. Your best ever, in my opinion.

[Art Cooler]

Here's looking at you, Brian....

Now if you happened to see some tall guy down on the street with a backward ball cap pointing a camera up at your building, and you got a long range shot of him about the time I made this shot, that would be wild.

Sure seems your building has a precarious lean these days...that hillbilly seismograph of yours picking it up?

Headed north and grabbed a quick shot of the Leddy's sign (a neon wonder!):

Two great shots Art. Yes, that is my unit up there alright. 3rd from the top. Whole center section to include 2 windows on each side of both balcony's. It the shot was on a Saturday or Sunday you could zoom in to see my tripod on my balcony. I think I see my cat in the window. " NO GRACIE, DON'T CLAW THAT COUCH!" . She might as well, she has ruined it already. (I don't de-claw my kitties) It is just the right excuse for buying cheap furniture... My other condo (That it turns out I love too much to rent or sell) is on the south side on 21. You need to come visit me. (My cat won't attack, but is not friendly to strangers)

Neon sign. That shot is crazy good art, Art. Your best ever, in my opinion.

Brian, thank you!

I sent you a PM from ths site.

[longhornz32]

Hi All,

Gallery night and Arts Goggle is coming up and I thought I would share a series I'm working on. These photos are of Fort Worth Icons. My goal is to abstractly show the iconic roof forms of these great structures. They are created using around 3 second long exposures while panning the camera on a tripod. I have these four and am working on the Will Rogers tower and Marty Leonard Chapel and the Courthouse. Are there any other famous roofs in FW I'm leaving out?

ando


johnson


kahn


legorreta

[UncaMikey]

Excellent work, longhornz32! I bet these look even better as large prints -- great stuff, I love this style of photograph.

[Art Cooler]

Longhornz, I think you've hit the most iconic roofs in town, at least what comes to my mind at the moment. Pier One is locally well known but I'm not sure how famous more broadly.

A couple more shots from yesterday's downtown roaming:


A grab shot through my windshield of the old Tandy tower (not sure what it's called now, even with the sign in the photo partly visible). I still had polarizing filter on camera, so with it and windshield it altered the lighting:






Another sign shot:






There a few ways I like ending a photography outing than with a refreshing stop at Spiral Diner:





Three years later it's still a great place to eat and all the rest...

[Brian Luenser]

A "through the window" shot of Downtown as seen from Meacham BLVD and Mark IV Prkwy. Around 1pm today. (8-21-10)

Reminds me of just how much rail activity there is in Fort Worth. Like many cities, the main reason Fort Worth exists.

[Cowtown Mike]

Good shot Brian. Your right we still have a lot of rail that runs through Fort Worth. Thanks to all for saving me the heat while I was in Boston this week.
I arrived back at DFW today at noon and stepped outside and still a steamer. Had a great time making a visit to Fenway Park on Tuesday to see the Boston Red Sox play. I took a few photos of the park, but most of my week was spent indoors at a convention presenting. You know ,that is just not right to be indoors

[Brian Luenser]

Walking to Barnes and Noble to get my Office 2010 book. (Trying to impress my new New York bosses with my MS skill set.)


Tonight. Planet Jupiter over the Carter Burgess Building. I can see 5 moons of Jupiter with my telescope tonight.

[Art Cooler]

Great shots Art. I think it's neat having two great photographers on the forum shooting with the two top cameras -Brian's Canon 5D Mark II vs your Nikon D3000. Always enjoy seeing interesting photos from around the metropolis.

I let this one get by without responding with thanks. So, thank you, Pawpaw!

[Cowtown Mike]

Brian,
Great shots as usual. Also like the impress the boss. I still like to say to mine on occasion, " I may be able to use some of my Six Sigma Black Belt training on that task" then he leaves me alone.

[Brian Luenser]

Cowtown Mike, on 22 August 2010 - 10:43 AM, said:

Brian,
Great shots as usual. Also like the impress the boss. I still like to say to mine on occasion, " I may be able to use some of my Six Sigma Black Belt training on that task" then he leaves me alone.

Thanks Mike. Our new CEO and President are both 12-14 year Dell guys and have really big computer heads. I am not trying to impress them as much as lesson my Microsoft embarrassments. Starting to feel pretty old, pretty quick. I bet these guys do their wives "Powerpoint anniversary cards" that play on their microwaves. (And they they even make them on their Blackberries while they are driving.)

Here is a shot outside my window right now. I know it is going to be another hot day, but something is changing with the sky. It is like, pretty.

[Art Cooler]

Digging those crepuscular rays, Brian! Nice shot.

You're right about the change...it's raining out right now! After 108 yesterday, what a gift!

[Cowtown Mike]

Brian,

Another great morning sunrise in Cowtown! Cool is on the way. I always want to lessen my workload. Use to have a boss a few years ago that was a Excel nut. Always wanting to show us how pivot tables etc. worked. We he first came on board he did have a power point of him and his family.

Heading to D.C. on Thursday-Sunday for a visit with some of my people. Not a real photo guy like you guys, but I did buy a new Nikon to take with me.


later,

Mike

[Brian Luenser]

Cowtown Mike, on 24 August 2010 - 03:31 PM, said:

Brian,

Another great morning sunrise in Cowtown! Cool is on the way. I always want to lessen my workload. Use to have a boss a few years ago that was a Excel nut. Always wanting to show us how pivot tables etc. worked. We he first came on board he did have a power point of him and his family.

Heading to D.C. on Thursday-Sunday for a visit with some of my people. Not a real photo guy like you guys, but I did buy a new Nikon to take with me.


later,

Mike

Well you should have gone ahead and bought a good camera while you were at it! (kidding)

It is funny. My first digital SLR was a Canon Rebel.(2008) I made the mistake (360 warned me about it but I didn't listen) of buying lenses that would only work with the Rebel. (EF-S) A year later, when I realized I was going way deep into photography I bought my Full-Frame Canon 5D Mk II. The EF-S lenses that I bought with my first camera were then worthless to me. I had to sell them on craigslist. (I did get like 80¢ on the dollar) At that point I re-evaluated my decision to stick with Canon, rather than go to Nikon. I remembered that I did have one expensive L series lens that would work with a new big Canon and that sealed my choice. I then bought several more professional lenses (L Series) and that sealed the deal for life, really. Not willing to lose thousands of dollars selling all my stuff. Plenty of Forum guys are Nikon users. Nikon is great. Probably a little better than Canon. Maybe not quite as good of value. But it is a wash. I have no regrets going with Canon. It is really all I know besides Kodak. Actually the Kodak Digital I gave away when I bought my first Canon had features that my expensive camera does not have. (Like the ability to take a photo every 45 minutes for 96 hours that I had to by a $100 gadget for on my Canon)

We are anxious to see your pictures Mike. Now get busy...

[Brian Luenser]

Carnegie, Tower and others. Sunday. (8-22)

[Art Cooler]

A couple from my files of this summer's photography forays:

[Brian Luenser]

TRE Rolling into Downtown Fort Worth last night. It's not like I ride the train every day, but the 3 days the tracks were out last week made me claustrophobic. I gotta have my choo choo train.

[jefffwd]

What is that funny looking metallic object on the shiny pole near the satellite dishes?

[Dismuke]

Look at the amount of really nice detailing on the pinnacles on top of the Blackstone Hotel in posting #639. It is absolutely amazing when one considers how few eyes would have ever gotten close enough to actually see and appreciate all of those details. Nobody today would bother to have so much detail on a ground floor inches away from where people stand. But back in the 1920s, they actually went through the trouble of designing and building it for the rooftop.

One of the things I really love about skyscrapers from the era is their complexity and nuance. An old art deco skyscraper looks great from a distance. But as you get closer and closer, more and more detailing is revealed. By the time you are standing right next to it on the street, even the window panes and the door knobs were usually stylized and featured a wealth of detail. For a good example of what I am talking about, stand on the sidewalk in front of the Sinclair Building and just look at all of what you see on the ground floor and around the entrance area.

There are a lot of buildings today that I call "freeway architecture." By that I mean they sometimes look quite nice as you are driving by in the distance. But when you get close - well, it becomes flat and bland and disappointing.

And the contrast in that photo between the rich detail of the Blackstone verses the flat, bland and sterile white walls of the structure to the right strikes me as a good representation of each era's respective spirit. To be fair, most buildings that are put up today are vastly better than that parking building seen in the photo - and the Blackstone has never been near the top of my list as far a 1920s era skyscrapers are concerned. But the bland sterility and flatness of the parking building is a good exaggerated example of what I consider to be a vice that is pervasive in post World War II architecture and can usually be found to some degree in even the better buildings.

[Brian Luenser]

From the Burnett Plaza Building. "Through the windows" I do always wish the building had balconies or I could get on the roof. (Like, legally)

[Brian Luenser]

Took this shot yesterday morning before I went to work. Pleased that it was raining. (Turns out 6" was inbound)
This morning the river looks very different. (if it ever stops raining I will take another shot.)

[Art Cooler]

Dismuke, on 05 September 2010 - 01:06 PM, said:

Look at the amount of really nice detailing on the pinnacles on top of the Blackstone Hotel in posting #639. It is absolutely amazing when one considers how few eyes would have ever gotten close enough to actually see and appreciate all of those details. Nobody today would bother to have so much detail on a ground floor inches away from where people stand. But back in the 1920s, they actually went through the trouble of designing and building it for the rooftop.

One of the things I really love about skyscrapers from the era is their complexity and nuance. An old art deco skyscraper looks great from a distance. But as you get closer and closer, more and more detailing is revealed. By the time you are standing right next to it on the street, even the window panes and the door knobs were usually stylized and featured a wealth of detail. For a good example of what I am talking about, stand on the sidewalk in front of the Sinclair Building and just look at all of what you see on the ground floor and around the entrance area.

There are a lot of buildings today that I call "freeway architecture." By that I mean they sometimes look quite nice as you are driving by in the distance. But when you get close - well, it becomes flat and bland and disappointing.

And the contrast in that photo between the rich detail of the Blackstone verses the flat, bland and sterile white walls of the structure to the right strikes me as a good representation of each era's respective spirit. To be fair, most buildings that are put up today are vastly better than that parking building seen in the photo - and the Blackstone has never been near the top of my list as far a 1920s era skyscrapers are concerned. But the bland sterility and flatness of the parking building is a good exaggerated example of what I consider to be a vice that is pervasive in post World War II architecture and can usually be found to some degree in even the better buildings.

Re: bland, flat buildings...blame Bauhaus. Post modernism didn't really appear to purge it all that thoroughly.

Culture change as well...buildings used to be styled to make a statement for the owner; a form of advertizing if a business, a form of personal expression if a residence (could also apply to a business). Now commercial buildings are largely boxes to house the merchandise and media is used to get folks to drive in.