#TravelTuesday San Antonio

Last Autumn my wife and I returned to the city of my birth, San Antonio Texas. I would express how much I missed the city and how I have dreamed of returning often, but I was extracted when I was not yet a year old. My father was stationed at Fort Sam Houston for a few months during his service in the army.
San Antonio is home to the Alamo, which (to my astonishment) is smack in the middle of downtown. I had always pictured it in the desert, with tumbleweeds rolling by, the air so dry it would suck the moisture right out of your lungs. This is, unromantically, not the case.
The city has been compared to Venice because of the intricate waterway that winds around center city, one story below the streets. The temperature is usually ten to fifteen degrees cooler along the water and provides shady respite from the midday sun.
San Antonio is a delightful city to spend some time in, and if you happen to be there around brunch I highly recommend The Guenther House where they mill their own flour and the waffles are the best I’ve ever tasted.

​San Antonio at night

Nikon D5100​ Nikkor 18-55mm kit lens @ 28mm f/9 ISO 100 8 seconds

Calming Down

After an action packed weekend things are quieting down around here. I was hired to photograph the West Chester /Shippensburg football game over the weekend and it was a blast. I will go into more detail later in the week. Most days, early in the pre-dawn light at Marsh Creek State Park, fishermen venture out to test their angling skills. I have never been one to fish. The allure of this pastime is lost on me, but at least these guys got to see why I get up early and scavenge the world around, looking for sky splitting beauty. They cracked a joke or two as they motored by about what I was doing there,and I don’t know if they even noticed what was happening above them, but hey, to each their own. We were all doing what we enjoyed.

​Fishing at Sunrise

​Nikon D800 Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 @ 16mm f/13 ISO 100 5 image HDR

Final day at the zoo

The Zoological Society of Philadelphia was established in 1859 making it America’s first zoo. Interestingly enough it is also the year the Charles Darwin published his On the Origin of Species. Other notable facts are that the MGM lion “Leo” retired from show business at our zoo, and the first cheetahs born in a zoo were born at the Philadelphia Zoo. The changes that have been made at the Philadelphia Zoo have created a place that is far superior to what I experienced as a child. It is welcoming to people of all ages and satisfies a craving for knowledge in most preliminary zoological endeavors. Take an afternoon and visit, you won’t be disappointed. Next week back to pretty pictures.

​Tiger

Nikon D800 Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 w/ 1.4 tele @ 280mm f/9 ISO 100 1/13​ sec

Image not for sale​

Onward in the zoo

After ten minutes of loose organization at the zoo entrance, our first stop was the reptile house. From blinding sunlight outside to what I remember as almost pitch black, there were just glowing rectangles of glass along the walls until my eyes adjusted to the darkness. It was crowded, an elbow here, a foot stepped on there, all in earnest of spying a tiny frog or a coiled snake. On my recent visit, there was more room to move about (maybe because I’m taller now than I was in elementary school) but it was still dark. Out, into the blazing sun brought us young explorers to the elephants. Sadly there are no elephants at the Philadelphia Zoo anymore, so there are no elephant pictures in the gallery. On to the carnivores. There were no see-through plexiglass houses for the big cats years ago. There were cages inside and an arena outside with a moat wide enough to keep us safe. I remember the smell inside. The smell so foul that it stuck to your clothes, dripped from your hair,and choked your lungs if you breathed too deep. Today the “First Niagra Big Cat Falls” is much much better. This is “Merlin”, he arrived at the zoo in 1993 along with three females. They came from South Africa. he weighs over 400 lbs.

​"Merlin"

Nikon D800 Sigma 50-500mm @ 500mm f/6.3 ISO 400 1-250 sec​

Impala Fountain

The zoo was one of the first field trips I went on as a child. What young boy doesn’t give pause over the thought of lions, alligators, snakes, monkeys and wolves? Even in elementary school I could see pictures of these creatures any time I wanted (there was a lion on my spin-n-spell) and they dazzled my imagination, but to be granted the opportunity to visit them where they lived, that was “way cool”. I remember packing a lunch in a brown bag and boarding the school bus for the long ride to a place called Philadelphia. After single filing through the turnstiles, and picking groups of 5 friends to explore with, I began my first (and to this day only) safari. At least that’s what it felt like in second grade. More tomorrow...

The Impala Fountain at the Philadelphia Zoo was completed in 1962 by Henry Mitchell and is one of my earliest memories.

​Impala Fountain

Nikon D800 Tokina 16-28mm f/2.8 @ 21mm f/9 ISO 100 HDR​

Image not for sale​