Howdy from Houston, Texas

Michael Mc · Apr 27, 2017

I came across this forum while doing a google search, so I decided to stop by and take a look. Well, things look interesting enough, so I thought I'd pull up a virtual chair and stay a while.

A bit about me -- I bought my first 35mm camera in 1982 -- a Canon AE-1 -- and it's been downhill ever since. :cool-98:

These days I still shoot quite a bit of film -- probably close to half of my photography right now is on film. For digital, I have a Canon DSLR that's getting kinda long in the tooth now. It's an eight year old EOS XS with a whopping 10.1 megapixels. A couple years ago, I bought a Sony NEX 7, and I really enjoy the extra headroom. I also really like that I can shoot with all my old manual focus lenses on my NEX 7. I have a lot of Canon FD and Nikon F and Tamron lenses, so it's a real treat getting to use them with the NEX. I also shoot medium format. I have two SLR outfits and a few others. If you're interested in all the details, I recommend you take a look at my photo gear list in my sig.

I've always been more of an outdoor photographer. When I first began in photography, I lived in California -- the southern part -- and outdoor scenics abounded. There were so many places to go that were worthy of some serious photographic work. And I loved it. But I moved (back) to Texas in 1998, and I've been struggling to come up with significant scenic events ever since. But I'm still working on it.

Anyway, that's the long and the short of it. Glad to be here, and I hope to see you on the boards.

snowbear · Apr 28, 2017

Welcome aboard.

shadowlands · May 1, 2017

Michael Mc said:
I came across this forum while doing a google search, so I decided to stop by and take a look. Well, things look interesting enough, so I thought I'd pull up a virtual chair and stay a while.

A bit about me -- I bought my first 35mm camera in 1982 -- a Canon AE-1 -- and it's been downhill ever since. These days I still shoot quite a bit of film -- probably close to half of my photography right now is on film. For digital, I have a Canon DSLR that's getting kinda long in the tooth now. It's an eight year old EOS XS with a whopping 10.1 megapixels. A couple years ago, I bought a Sony NEX 7, and I really enjoy the extra headroom. I also really like that I can shoot with all my old manual focus lenses on my NEX 7. I have a lot of Canon FD and Nikon F and Tamron lenses, so it's a real treat getting to use them with the NEX. I also shoot medium format. I have two SLR outfits and a few others. If you're interested in all the details, I recommend you take a look at my photo gear list in my sig.

I've always been more of an outdoor photographer. When I first began in photography, I lived in California -- the southern part -- and outdoor scenics abounded. There were so many places to go that were worthy of some serious photographic work. And I loved it. But I moved (back) to Texas in 1998, and I've been struggling to come up with significant scenic events ever since. But I'm still working on it.

Anyway, that's the long and the short of it. Glad to be here, and I hope to see you on the boards.

I hear ya! Houston is awful for landscapes and or anything scenic.
I'm only here because of family, jobs, affordable housing, etc... the cost of housing in Boulder Colorado was awful, but like you with California, scenery was everywhere.
I have to drive to Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains for awesome hiking and scenery, but lord, as you know, that's 8-9 hours.
Hill Country is worshipped by people around here, but that's because they don't know any better. Sure, it's better than what we have in Houston, but when compared to Utah, it's lame.

terri · May 1, 2017

Welcome to TPF! Lots of film enthusiasts here, so you're in good company.

I look forward to seeing some of your work! Be sure to check out our Galleries section, where you can post images according to the category. Keep posting and have fun!

Michael Mc · May 1, 2017

Thanks for the welcome, snowbear and terri.

Darren, you and I are "stuck" in Houston for similar reasons. We should get together sometime and see if we can find something scenic in this town. Houston Botanical Gardens has some possibilities. But obviously no elevation changes. I was thinking about a spur of the moment trip down to Surfside today. It's more scenic than Galveston. I used to shoot a lot of sunset-into-the-ocean scenics when I lived in SoCal, but unfortunately because of the shape of the Texas coastline, sunset into the sea photos are not really possible. Although sunrise photos should be very doable. But that means I'd have to leave home somewhere around 5am or before. Kinda early for me, so I haven't made the trip yet.

I've found that you don't really have to make the trip all the way to the Texas Hill Country before you get into some more pleasing countryside. If you head west-northwest from Houston, up toward La Grange, Round Top, Smithville, Giddings, etc., you get into some interesting country with rolling hills, and it's only an hour to an hour and a half drive to get up into that area. A lot of the small towns in the South Central part of Texas are also rather picturesque too. These were towns settled by German and Czech immigrants during the late 1800s. The little towns aren't overdone the way Fredricksburg is. And there's lots of good, small BBQ joints scattered around through South Central Texas too. Good old German and Czech style bbq methods. So, there are lots of old architecture and rural scenic possibilities up toward that area.

These were taken up by Caldwell, northeast of La Grange, etc. Zeiss Super Ikonta BX, Fujichrome 100.