Amarillo by Morning

It's been a while, but I'm back. I posted last week that I was heading to Amarillo for my cousin's wedding. Well, it was a great trip! I'm still trying to recover from the golf, beer, late nights, the beer and the bourbon, oh yeah, and the excellent food (yes, you have to recover from too much excellent food). I'll be loading a bunch of pictures from the trip, some that I think absolutely rock and others that are just family pics. If you're family and you'd like to see a whole lot more than I have here on the blog check out my Ryan's Wedding flickr set by clicking on the link. Check back over the week following this post because it'll take me some time to get everything uploaded.

Here we go: I've never taken pictures in an airport or on-board a plane before, so I really hoped they'd let me. Turns out it's no big deal at all.

Now why would they need to put a sign on the walkway telling people not to push it with the plane? I'd think it's just common sense to not push anything with a plane.

Southwest changed their seating procedure. You've been warned.

Ha-ha! The common man can take flying pictures too. Whooo-Hoooo!

So I get to Amarillo, pick up the rental and head to my brother's office where he's been working on a rubber band ball for quite some time. He's mighty proud of his work. What do you think?

Over all Garrett was a pretty good sport about the pictures. I drove him all over town in my quest to get everything, and he was a big help with ideas.

Momma Ruthie

Ruthie Portrait 2, originally uploaded by Mike Seymour.

Happy Mother's Day. Yeah, I know it's not Mother's day anymore, but I started all of this on Mother's day, so it counts. I seriously have to get faster at processing pictures.

Like any good son who lives relatively close I visited mom on Mother's day. Please understand, mom's not doing so hot compared to most others her age because of a funcky, ultra-rare, pain in the ass disease which basically killed her lungs. She's only with us now because of a double lung transplant she underwent a little over a year ago. Understandably, I thought I should get a few pictures while I was over and mom went along with it. She doesn't have the strength to put up much of a fight, so I was getting the pictures whether she wanted to or not :)

I hope you like the after effects on the photos, mom. I still have the originals, so no worries there. Also, I did a little touch up and air brushing - you're a regular model now. Lova ya mom; hope you had a good day. And, thanks for the steak and potatos dad!

Ruthie on the swing

Ruthie on the swing, originally uploaded by Mike Seymour.

Ruthie Portrait

Ruthie Portrait, originally uploaded by Mike Seymour.

Vintage Ruthie

Vintage Ruthie, originally uploaded by Mike Seymour.

Happy Mother's day, Mom!

Ruthie and Trampus

Ruthie and Trampus, originally uploaded by Mike Seymour.

Been busy

Hi again. I'm sorry; I don't have anything to show today. It's been pretty busy around here lately, and I haven't had much chance to take pictures. I did take a few, but they were pretty bad and I'll spare you. Just so you didn't waste all your time, here are a few links to some excellent photoshop tutorials:

Unsharpen Mask
Actions and Batch Processing
Black and White Toning in Photoshop CS3
Pop the Image in Photoshop CS3

Weekend Wrap-up

Last weekend was a lot of fun, and I'll upload a few pictures in a minute to prove it. Saturday included a trip to the parents to set up a new wireless network and new laptop followed by an Astros game. The Brewers were pounded, and we all had a good time. Did I mention we had box seats and the tickets were nice and free? Even included parking! You just can't beat that. Well, that's not exactly true. We had to pay for the beer and burgers, and the skybox tickets we lucked into at the Houston Open INCLUDED the beer and burgers. I sure do appreciate all the free tickets coming my way. Please, don't let the tap dry up!

I did the normal PhotoShop touch up to most of these images, but I did a little extra to one of them. See if you can tell which one. Enjoy.

"Blue Ride" - Coming home from the game.


"The Tools" - Parent's backyard.


"Rusty Clippers" - Parent's backyard.


"Spring Bloom" - Parent's Backyard


"The Pitch" - Brewers Vs Astros May 3, 08

Awesome colors!

Beautiful Entry, originally uploaded by Michael Seymour.

Have I mentioned that I love colors? I saw this wall and just about fell over drooling, and of course, took pictures. The composition isn't the best, but have I mentioned the colors? Wow!

Trip to the book store

What to do on a Thursday evening with the kids while mom's at the gym? Why, head to half-priced books of course. Here are a couple shots I took of the kids in the store. By the way, if you want to feel like you're drawing attention to yourself, start taking pictures of your kids in a book store. I felt like everyone in there was ready to call the police and have the pervert with the camera arrested.

I almost never use a flash anymore, but the camera still takes great pictures. Check out the colors in the picture of Maddie - just amazing! However, I seriously need to work on focus. I've been very disappointed lately with the lack of focus my photos have had, these included.

The unexpected

I discovered a heli-pad on the Kemah parking garage, but I figured surely it's rarely used. I took a picture of the windsock and landing light as I thought the only people to ever use the thing are the rich coming over for a day on the yatch. I was happily surprised to be proven wrong when a Houston PD helicopter landed just minutes later. I think they only landed to make an adjustment because nothing really happened - land, sit there five minutes, leave. It was all just a little weird.

Golden Columns

Golden Columns, originally uploaded by Michael Seymour.

While walking around the UTMB campus the other day this angle of an otherwise boring building combined with the setting sun's golden rays really caught my eye. I know you are supposed compose an image in such a way that the viewer's eyes are drawn into the photo and don't want to leave, but this picture goes the other way. I like this shot because the lines create the exact opposite effect, sending your eyes straight off the top right corner. It's disturbing because the light draws you back in. It's a constant struggle, a discord. I hope you like this photo, but if you hate it I completely understand.

Relay for Life Weekend

The Galveston Relay for Life was this last weekend, and a friend asked me to take pictures of the event. I've never done anything like that before, so of course I said sure I'd do it. I lost my grandfather and recently my uncle to cancer, so spending some time doing what I love for a good cause, not to mention gaining some experience while I'm at it just seemed like a good thing to do. It was lots of fun, and I took tons of pics. Now I've discovered what this "workflow" business is all about. 1200+ pics. Sorting, tweaking, retweaking. Deleting, Burning, saving. Make it stop! I'm still not done.

By the way, if you haven't heard about the American Cancer Society Relay for Life, here's some info. It's a carnival atmosphere, kids have games to play, there's usually food for sale, and is an all around good time in support of a great cause. Event are held all over, so find one near you and check it out. You don't even have to walk laps (but you can if you'd like), so just show up.

Old Red at UTMB

Old Red at UTMB, originally uploaded by Michael Seymour.

Somehow I removed this picture from the blog, so here it is again. This building is quite old, and even survived the 1900 hurricane. For more info, check it out here

Old Red is a challenge to photograph because of all the trees in the way. This is the best shot I was able to get.

More night time Kemah pics

River Styx

I'm not totally happy with this picture, but it was my first try using a slow shutter on in-coming waves. I am kinda digging the orange tint.

My step-daughter Meaghan

Here's an airy pic of Meaghan from Easter. Guys, she's not old enough, so don't even think about it.

Chess, anyone?

A while back my brother, Garrett, told me about these extra large chess pieces put out at The Strand in Galveston. The weird thing is, they aren't left out on Saturday when the real crowds are around. The only time I've seen them are just before or after work. This seems very strange to me, and if someone knows why it's done, please let me know.

I like The Strand. It reminds me of the few vacations we were able to take when I was a kid, and the memory of roaming through the stores, playing with the cheap toys, taking in the shot glasses, T-shirts and visors on a warm summer evening. Finding a chocolate shop made it even better. I also highly recommend Gruene, Tx for its nostologic, warm feel. A summer photo trip may be in order.

What a cool bench! I played with it a little in Photoshop to make the colors pop, but look at it - I love it!

First attempt at liquid, crystal clear eyes

I've seen portraits where the eyes are crystal clear with a sharp focus, and you feel like you could fall into them. I really want to be able to create the same effect, so I made Maddie pose for me against a tree in the last light of the day. After autofocus did its job, I manually worked on the eyes. Afterward, I used a curves layer to reduce the red and increase light, then an unsharp mask to increase the focus. It's a start, but I've a ways to go.

Here is my picture:

After a quick web search I couldn't find an example of what I'm trying to do in here. I'm sure I'll see something soon, and I'll try to remember to put a link on this post.

Found one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/2043065013/sizes/l/in/set-72157594203939203/

NASA and the Beach.

Plenty to do in Houston.

I really like this one. My favorite time of day.