Assignment: Houston

Spotlight: Silent Night

Silent Night by Jeff Balke
Assignment: Holidays in Houston

Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving.  Back to work!

Mini Break

I will be out of the country starting Monday so the Assignment: Houston website will be taking a mini-break.  Hope to have everything up and running again in December.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Weekly Reading - 11.17.09

Creative Photography: From Science to Art
Your Photo Tips

Protecting Your Images with a Watermark
PhotoWalk Pro

Microstock Photographer Lands Book Cover for $3.82
Photopreneur

Lightroom: What is it and When Should you consider it
Digital Photography School

Book Review: Polar Obsession (Win Your Own Copy!)
Epic Edits

Spotlight: Mermaid

Mermaid by Franco3
Assignment: Public Art

This weekend is Via Colori.

Weekend Planner 11/13 - 11/15/09

Another pretty weekend to be out and about with your camera.

Houston Peruvian Festival
Texas Renaissance Festival
Moody Garden's Festival of Lights
Westheimer Block Party
20th Annual Texas Championship Pow Wow
Houston Ballet Nutcracker Market
Jesse H. Jones Park Pioneer Day
 

Looking forward to seeing everyone this Sunday at the HMNS Meet-Up.
 
 

Weekly Reading 11.10.09

In Depth Workflow Mastery
X Equals Blog

10 Things I Would Tell New Lightroom Users
Scott Kelby

Wedding Photos You'll Love (even if you hate wedding photos)
Photojojo

Is Film Photography For You?
Photododo

Free photo editors for Linux, Mac and Windows
Photododo

Creative Ideas for Photography Books
Photopreneur

Create Wonderful Worlds Using Soap Bubbles
DIY Photography

Zoo Photography
Digital Photography School

Spotlight: Collegium

Collegium by Red Rooster
Assignment: Universities

No Weekend Planner this week due to work obligations.  Check out Artshound for cool ideas for things to do around town.

Weekly Reading 11.03.09

In Camera Light Meter
Your Photo Tips

Optical Storage:RIP
ZDNet

Top cameras and lenses used by the White House photography staff
Photodoto

7 Weird and Wonderful Photo Collections
Photocritic.org

The Incredible Macro Bug Portraiture of Thomas Shahan
Light Stalking

A Beginner's Guide to Flickr
Digital Photography School

Do You Have Too Much Camera Gear?
Digital Photography School

HIWI Winners

It is going to be absolutely beautiful this week in Houston.  The kind of week where you look around and think "boy I love living in here."  But as we discovered in September, Houston is worth it even despite all the problems and "afflictions" that it has to deal with.  

After looking at all our submissions, the folks at Houston It's Worth It have selected the following three photos as the winners from that month's assignment.  Each winner will receive a copy of the HIWI: Ike book.  According to HIWI the photos were selected for three different reasons.  One because it contained 5 afflictions, one for its aesthetic beauty (and it was affliction related) and one for its bizarre HIWI quality.  I'll let you figure out which photo fits which description.  

Congratulations to the photographers and thank you to HIWI for such a great assignment.  Make sure to stop by the new HIWI website where you can upload photographs of the afflictions AND of things that make Houston It's Worth It.  

 

Urban Sprawl by sulla55

 

Rush Hour and Water Don't Mix by Collen_Shepherd

 

The Image by mlsnp

#42 Orange

We are doing something a little different this month and focusing on a concept instead of a location. This month I want to see where the color orange is in the city of Houston and the surrounding suburbs. This assignment is pretty open, but there are a few rules. 

1.)  No Black & White photos.  Seems obvious I know, but all photographs this month must be in color.

2.)  The color orange must be in your photograph and be easily observable.  The idea is to photograph the color orange.  Please make it the focus of the photo.  The whole photo doesn't have to be orange, but if orange isn't a major player in your photo then you are missing the point of the assignment.

3.) No sunsets.  People can take beautiful orange sunsets anywhere around the world.  I want to know what orange objects, signs, murals, buildings, things are in Houston.

4.) Be creative.  If you submit a photo of an orange from a grocery store or farmer's market I will probably have no reason to keep it out, but see if you can push yourself further than that.  

5.)  As always remember photos must be in a public space.  Your house, backyard or cubicle do not count.

This would be a great time to visit the Orange Show, ground zero for the Houston folk art scene. It is open on weekends from noon to 5 p.m. and costs just $1.

http://orangeshow.org/index2.html