Description Taken with the TL-120 handheld
About the Image This year Texas had the best display of wildflowers I have ever seen. This image was taken near Poteet which is south of San Antonio on some little country road. The tall flowers are prickly poppy with many other varieties.
Description Taken with the TL-120 on a tripod.
About the Image This image was taken through the window of the old school. In the distance is the Catholic Church that still has services once a month. It is called a ghost town but there are people living there and every year they host a famous chili cookoff. Historic Terlingua, in Texas’ Big Bend region is located between Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park. Once an abandoned mining village, the ghost town is now the center of a charming desert community. The discovery of cinnabar, from which the metal mercury is extracted, in the mid-1880s brought miners to the area, creating a city of 2,000 people. The only remnants of the mining days are a ghost town of the Howard Perry-owned Chisos Mining Company and several nearby capped and abandoned mines, most notably the California Hill, the Rainbow, the 248 and the Study Butte mines. The mineral terlinguaite was first found in the vicinity of California Hill. Hence the name of the city.
Description Taken on a tripod with the TL 120.
About the Image This image was taken in Big Bend National Park in Texas close to the Mexico border. It was the first time I had ever seen purple cactus! The Purple Prickly Pear Cactus is a member of the Opuntia genus. It can grow to 5 feet in height and has round to oblong purple tinged pads which give the cactus its name. Unlike many other types of prickly pear, the purple variety has few if any spines. The cactus grows in sandy or gravelly soil at elevations below 4000 feet.
Description Taken on a tripod with the TL 120. These painted churches are in small towns about 1-1 1/2 hour drive from my house. They are quaint and pretty. For this image I had to stick my tripod through a gated partition as you are not allowed inside this particular church. My TL 120 just barely fit through the gate and composing was not easy as I could not see through the viewfinder. The churches still hold services weekly.
About the Image Inside, each is decorated in a profusion of color, with nearly every surface covered in bright paint. German and Czechs immigrants fleeing the Austrian Empire celebrated religious freedom found here in Texas by decorating humble Texas churches with gaudy and glorious interiors. Most of today’s remaining painted churches are second or third church buildings, some destroyed by fire, others, by hurricanes. Of the some 20 painted churches in Texas, 15 are listed on the National Register of historic sites. Saints Cyril and Methodius Church in Dubina, Texas: This sweet little painted church is pretty in pink, with delicate stencils throughout. The banister and newel details are painted faux-finished marble.