I love Photoshop!

Photoshop is truly amazing. I hear many people proudly say that their photos aren't "enhanced," inferring that anyone who alters their photos isn't as legitimate or real or whatever. That's bullshit (excuse my French). Do these people think that photographers who used darkrooms with all the chemicals and equipment years ago didn't alter photographs?? I think not. Now it's just a lot easier and more eco-friendly.

Take this photo of the Malecon by the Roca Mar.

Doesn't it look better without the power thing on top?

And here's one I took on Playa Norte which turned out kind of dull. Plus, it was so humid, I must have had a drop of water on my lens (next to the tree on the far left), and I don't like the stack of beach chairs on the right.

So, I cropped the picture, took out the beach chairs and popped the color a little. Muy better in my opinion. Mind you, I don't do this to all my photos...in fact, I do very little to most of them. I'm all for reality, but some of the ones that have potential definitely deserve a little "photoshopping"...especially if I want to print them or want to use them for something specific.

On another note, Photoshop can be a lot of fun. I just know a tip of the iceberg when it comes to what it can do, but I learn more every day. Paul sent me the picture below because he has a Border Collie who looks just like this, but he wanted to know if I could transpose the dog...

...into this photograph of the Black Hills...

When he asked me, I didn't know how to do it, but after some experimenting, I came up with this...

He had also been out to Big Sur the summer before, so I sent him this one, as well...

How fun! It's kind of amazing what you can do.

I've posted this picture before of this catalog...

I really like the "aged" look they gave this little building in Texas. This place is about 30 minutes from where I live and have taken several pictures of it myself. This is an untouched photo of what it actually looks like. (Obviously, Harley-Davidson decided to do a little Photoshopping for their catalog.)

Since I really like the effect that Harley-Davidson achieved, I thought I'd see if I could get it myself. After some experimentation, I came up with this...

Their sky is much better and I don't have any motorcycles in front on mine, but it's close. I happened to drive by this place a couple of weekends ago, and it's all closed up. You used to be able to go inside, but not any more. Driftwood is one of those "blink and you're through it" kind of towns in the middle of Texas.

On a final note, I have an orchid that's been blooming for the past month that is just so beautiful I had to give it a mention. Is it Photoshopped? Nah...it's the "real" thing.

ROT Rally...and some other things...

This past weekend was the ROT (Republic of Texas) Rally. It's actually held at the Travis County Exposition Center. I don't even know where that is, so I went on-line and found out it cost $65 to get in. Well, that wasn't going to happen, so I just went downtown to see if there was any activity on 6th Street. Sixth Street is an area near the capital where there are a bunch of bars and restaurants and it is THE place to go in Austin. Congress Avenue is another hot spot where all the yuppies go.

I suppose there was probably a lot more activity at the Exposition Center, but I wasn't too impressed by what I saw downtown. It's supposed to be the biggest rally in Texas with a draw of about 50,000 participants. It's held from Thursday through Sunday, but I think most of the activity happens on Thursday and Friday because Saturday downtown wasn't nearly as crowded as I thought it would be.

When you've experienced the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota, every other rally pretty much pales in comparison. Sturgis is expecting about 700,000 people in August, so 50,000 doesn't seem like much to me. So they say everything is bigger in Texas, but that doesn't apply to their motorcycle rallies.

The thing about the Sturgis Rally is that it's held in a very small city in the Black Hills, so when a half a million people come there, it's a very big deal. Besides not charging any kind of entrance fees, one of the best things about it is that bikers are able to ride through the beautiful Black Hills as opposed to riding around in Austin where the traffic is horrendous even when there's NOT a rally going on. But I took some pictures anyway since I was there. This is the old part of downtown so the buildings are very historical and eclectic...with lots of tattoo parlors. People can get really crazy on 6th Street at night...you see all sorts of things. But it was pretty tame today, even with all the bikers.




That's the Coyote Ugly bar on the left...




Like the combination of old architecture against the new here...

I like all the details in this building.

I didn't see any unusual characters which made it kind of boring...especially for a rally...

And then there are the bikes. Again, I didn't see anything that really stuck out...




Dallas Cowboys bike...

This was a strange looking thing. I'm not a fan of crotch rockets.

I happened to be walking by this little scene so they posed for me. The sign on the creepy black guy says, "Keep Austin Weird." That's their slogan here and you see a lot of bumper stickers that say that. Pretty dress, huh?

So much for the ROT Rally. I'm sure I could have gotten some much better photos if I had spent the $65.

So, anyway, my motorcycle safety course is two weeks from this weekend, and I am really excited about that! Jared's taking it with me. The teacher came into my office last week and asked me whether I wanted to ride a motorcycle where I'd have to shift gears, or a scooter. Duh...silly question. I was reading the requirements for the course and one of them was that you had to have a pair of leather gloves. I don't have any leather gloves (because you don't need them in south Texas), so Paul sent me these. Yay! Thank you, Pablo!

He also sent me this vest thingy. Cute, huh??

On another note, I bought a jalapeno pepper plant about a month ago when I was getting all the flowers for my garden and I checked it the other day. Look at these bad boys!

Perfect! And these turned into...

Some homemade pico de gallo on top of a chicken breast. I use the frozen herb/garlic chicken breasts I found at Target one day...they are great! Lots of flavor.

And I thought the new bloom on my rose bush was worth a shot. I haven't even planted this thing yet...it's still in the bucket I bought it in. Maybe I'll get to that today.

That's it...the end.

Mexico in the Early 1900s...

I originally did this post on the Casasola photography exhibit a year ago. Just a few days ago (June 23, 2011), I happened to receive a random e-mail from someone named Jorge Orozco who commented on Casasola's photos. Obviously, Senor Orozco knows quite a bit about the history of Mexico and helped me to understand the story behind some of the photos. So, I've edited this post and added his comments which appear in orange. Jorge, thank you for educating me (and my readers) on the revolutionary history of Mexico. Your comments are very much appreciated and make my meager post that much more interesting.

The art department at the university where I work was having a little exhibit on...

I decided to check it out and it was pretty interesting. The exhibit featured photographer Agustin Victor Casasola, and here's what they said about him:

"Founder of one of the world's first news photography agencies, Agustin Victor Casasola has been rightly terms one of the giants of 20th century photography. Agustin and his brother, Miguel, worked in Mexico as photojournalists during the early decades of the 20th century. In 1912 they established the Archivo Casasola, one of the world's first photo agencies.

By the 1920s, the Casasolas realized that their work extended beyond creating images for the next day's newspapers, and began to create an ongoing photographic record of all aspects of Mexican society. In the years that followed, they collected the work of more than 480 photographers. As a result, authorship of individual photographs is difficult to ascertain. One thing, however, is certain: the archive represents the most important visual resource on the Mexican people during the first half of the dynamic 20th century."

Tha Casasola Family was one of the best photographers in Mexico during that times. There is a lot of history behind the shots, here are my 25 cents to give you more information, please free to use my comments and edit my wording since I am only lloking to help you understand what you recapture with your camera.

This is quite an eclectic mix of photographs, but some of them are sobering and disturbing. I can just imagine how chaotic the Mexican government was during this time, and it is clear to see that in many of these pictures. I think they are rather haunting and thought they deserved a post. You will be able to see my reflection in the glass in most of them which I would have preferred not to see, but it adds kind of an ethereal effect to them. I took pictures of some of the descriptions next to the photos so that I could explain what they are about, but some really had no explanations other than what they were of. Like these next ones of circus performers...

Very strange...

This is a photo of the construction of the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City in 1925.

It was finally completed in 1934 and looks like this today.

This was a funeral procession...that's Diego Rivera in the front.

Leading the Partido Comunista banner walk was painter "Diego Rivera" , perhaps already married to Frida Kahlo by the time the picture was taken. The picture is in Mexico City downtown.

I'm not going to comment on all of them. I just liked the composition of a LOT of them and thought they were very interesting.

The car is an advertisement from a company. The models wear masks not to be recognized by any, they were probably showing too much. The kid dressed in a uniform is know as a "merolico or griton", this uniform still wear by young kids that are in charge of announcing the winners of the Loteria Nacional "Mexican Lotto". The uniform is red with golden color buttons. The sign behind the girls is not clear as many parts are covered by the models, but I can translate: "Lo..... Obsequia a su clientela este coche...." "Lo....give away to our clientele this car....".

Guy running for his life among the cars. Mexico City, notice the trolley car rails in the floor and the lack of pedestrian and driver education, still in effect in Mexico City. Until the car was brought in for those that could afford it, public transportation was called "tren de mulitas" which translates to "Mule Train". Mules were used to pulled the trolley carts. Notice in another picture taken inside a trolley car that this one is an electric trolley already. Only Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey had trolley cars servicing mainly downtown areas.

"In the year 1914, the usurper Victoriano Huerta fell from power and the rebel groups met in Mexico City. In this photograph are the American Consul, Mr. Carothers, and Emiliano Zapata in Xochimilco."


This photo apparently stemmed from the experimentation they were doing on epidemics.

Soldiers...

This was Maria Zavala, nicknamed La Destroyer, a welder who consoled dying soldiers and became famous for helping those who had fallen in battle to die a more rapid and less painful death.

"Soldadera", from Soldier, Soldati (not welder) traveled along the military forces and during the 1900's fought among them. Since medieval times women accompanied troops, for other "services", but it was in the 1900's when they started fighting among the men and gained the name Soldadera "Female Soldier" and Coronela (Female Coronel) of those even leading whole regiments.

This photograph is of a 25-year-old woman who committed suicide.

Suicidio picture. A very, very unusual photo for the era. Is an American or British Citizen. Hazel Walker. (?) The picture was taken in the patios of private funeral home. Government morges did not carry black coffins with shining handles. This photo is worth researching. Not usual for the Casasola's at all. Who was her?

This is an Army officer target practicing.

Army officer. All people executed at firing squad were given a "tiro de gracia", by an officer. That picture reflects what many innocent people saw before dying.

This is the execution of the Banda del Automovil Gris or "Gray Automobile Gang" in Mexico City in 1919. They were counterfeiters, a crime punishable by death before a firing squad, as shown in the photograph, in which six counterfeiters were executed outside the school where recruits were taught to shoot.

Bodies of federal soldiers...


This was taken of a prisoner smoking a last cigarette before he was executed...

The prisioner ready to die infront of the firing squad was a Revolutionary Coronel. I can't find his name at this time. During this era Catholics and Catholic priest were also persecuted and killed by firing squad. More than 600 priest were murdered in that years. Victoriano Huerta was a dictator and murderer, he planned and ordered the killing of President Madero. In reality many of this men, women and children were not even granted a trial. Death by firing squad was abolished by President Lazaro Cardenas until the 1940's. For many historians and researches the revolution did not finished until then. Victoriano Huerta died while in prision at Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas.

Female welders and soldiers with the railway administrator...

President Victoriano Huerto accompanied by members of his cabinet and the army...

"The dictatorship of General Porfirio Diaz began in the year 1877 and lasted until 1911, when he went into exile in Europe. This ended the period in Mexican history known as the Porfirian Peace. Diaz appears here surrounded by his collaborators. On his left is Mexico's ambassador to the United States, Enrique Creel, at a ceremony honoring the republican President Benito Juarez.


General Porfirio Diaz next to the Aztec Calendar Stone reads: "Aztec Calendar or Stone of the Sun. In the month of December of the year 1880, while performing the leveling of the new street for the main square of this capital city. This single carved stone was discovered and then placed at the occidental tower of the Cathedral, from the side that faces West and from which then was sent to this national museum in August 1885."

A proud land-owner...


Some of the photos were damaged, like this one. This is a group of engineers...

Engineers, damaged picture was taken on a roof top at the Alameda Central in Mexico City. The Mexico City Cathedral on the background and Valle del Tepeyac hills also in the background. Notice that the size of the laurel trees at the Alameda Central.

A mathematics class for little girls...

There was a section devoted to jail scenes and people who had committed crimes. This is a prostitute...

"Delinquents were studied according to common techniques in use at the time. In 1920, the Criminology and Identification Laboratory was inaugurated, as shown in the photograph."

An autopsy...

A criminal caught with his weapon...

An incarcerated woman...

Female welders ("soldaderas") were a brave faction of the revolutionary war effort, in addition to being the subject of popular songs.

This was Nicaraguan revolutionary, Cesar Augusto Sandino, who took temporary refuge in Mexico in 1929, the year of this photograph.

So that's my blog lesson in Mexican history...a past heavy with violence and unrest. While some of these photographs are unsettling to say the least, they are, nonetheless, art.