Deckman's World

Lots of regulation involved in immigration policy. Better start by defunding and disbanding ICE.

A woman in a white dress walks across a field at twilight.

A woman in a white dress walks across a field at twilight.

A woman in a white dress walks across a field at twilight.

"But there's someplace that she'd rather be..."

We got artistic in the fading light at the end of a graduation session. She had covered her mortarboard cap with a Billy Joel quote, so I was humming his songs while editing.

#portraitphotography #billyjoelsongs #motionblur #femininity #eastcoastkin

A guitarist takes a solo under a dramatic evening sky.

Someone said, "Just climb up on stage with the band." I was afraid that I might mess up, trip on a cable, unplug an amp, and ruin the show.

I didn't ruin the show.

#concertphotos #concertshots #livemusic #editedwithsnapseed #barrowbrewing #saladotx #wideangle #deckmansworld #eastcoastkin

Standing here with these legends @joancbaezofficial.bsky.social and Paul Simon contemplating our industry and our craft. They want to replace us with AI because AI won’t sing Deportees, or write ‘American Tune’. AI will do what the human on the input end tells it to do- Artists won’t.

A young woman in a white dress walks through a field of tall grass.

Away she goes.

#portraits #portraitphotography #blackandwhitephoto #pasturesandprairies #texasviews #goingplaces #eastcoastkin

A guitarist makes a face while wearing a stetson and playing a Telecaster.

Joel Allan getting it bent during a show at the Bend General Store.

#bendgeneralstore #bendingstrings #sansabatx #honkytonk #concertshot #concertphotos #telecaster #guitarsolo #deckmansworld

A portrait of a smiling dark-haired bartender

An impromptu portrait session at the Bend General Store. Last time I was here, I got a shot of the chef. This time, it was the bartender's turn. I made good use of a wad of string lights on the shelf next to the bar.

#portraitphoto #chiaroscuro #usewhatyougot #peopleandplaces #eastcoastkin

A black and white photo of a musician staring straight at the camera.

The same photo with some silly sunglasses photoshopped on his face.

Dawson inadvertently gave me the hairy eyeball during a show. Someone said he needs to start rocking shades when he's onstage, so I took to making that happen.

#concertshots #photoshopped #justforfun #sunglassesatnight #musicians #livemusic

The idea of a "100 year flood" was always a misnomer, but Americans are exceptionally bad at statistics. It means a 1% chance of a flood happening in a given year, and never had anything to do with big floods coming once a century. A 1% chance ends up being a near-certainty at around 30 years.

I'm fairly happy with the results! They're not "perfect" shots, but the beautiful thing is: they don't have to be. Do they communicate the speed and action of the rodeo? I think so.

Moral of the story: Don't be afraid to experiment with new techniques. Grab your camera and play with it!

Recently, I listened to a podcast with a couple professional photographers who specialize in autosports - Formula 1, Le Mans, and other car racing. They talked about longer exposures and panning with the racecar to create a blur from the motion. I caught a wild hair and gave it a spin last Friday.

A cowgirl competing in the barrel racing at the rodeo. A slightly slow shutter speed creates a blurred effect.

A cowgirl competing in the calf roping at the rodeo. A slightly slow shutter speed creates a blurred effect.

A cowgirl competing in the barrel racing at the rodeo. A slightly slow shutter speed creates a blurred effect.

A cowgirl competing in the calf roping at the rodeo. A slightly slow shutter speed creates a blurred effect.

I tried something different at the rodeo. I've always tried to freeze the motion and catch the sharpest shot possible, given the limitations of equipment and lighting. I've done blurry photos, and cowgirl portraits, but it never occurred to me to combine them.

#photography #motionblur #actionphoto

A farmer wearing a patriotic T-shirt and a camouflage hat stands in front of a table of fresh tomatoes for sale.

Sidney sells his veggies at the farmer's market held on Saturdays at Barrow Brewing in Salado, TX.

#barrowbrewing #saladotx #farmersmarket #portrait #americana #eatlocal #deckmansworld

A singer squints and smiles during an outdoor concert.

A Texas-sized bucket of sunshine poured onto the stage during the first set.

#concertshots #smile #sunshine #outdoorconcert #happiness #deckmansworld

That last wide-angle shot is jaw-dropping. Love it!

These are brilliant!

Both Dawson and Joel, the lead guitarist, gave me shout-outs between songs. Dawson said, "Deckman delivers!" Maybe two songs later, I got this shot, edited it on my phone, and showed it to him when they took a break. He broke into a big grin and hollered out, "I told you, you deliver!"

A young man playing guitar and singing in a honky tonk with an array of lights in the background.

This is my friend Dawson Holland during a performance at the Bend General Store. I love his style of #TexasMusic, he loves my #ConcertPhotos. Mutual respect is a beautiful thing. Bonus epilogue in the comments.

#musicianportraits #bokehlights #primelens #centraltexasmusicscene

"Wrong."

A three person rock band in a hallway decorated with a panoply of posters.

Liquid Hips is a band from Georgetown, TX. We got this group shot in the back hallway at Fire Street Pizza in Belton.

#concertphotos #rockband #musicians #rockandroll #rockstar #portraits #deckmansworld

What happens when the White House starts fudging the numbers coming from the Dept. Of Labor to portray a false narrative of growth of prosperity?

Synthetic Human Genome Project gets go ahead Scientists start a controversial project to create the building blocks of human life, in what is thought to be a world first.

You're in a desert, walking along in the sand, when all of the sudden you look down and you see a tortoise.

Trying to be inspired by being inspiring. And some days it's just worth it to get through the day.

Self-portrait; staring into the camera with a fake $100 with the words "they don't care about you" written in Sharpie, in the mouth.

"They Don't Care About YOU" 💸👎
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#photography #photograph #portrait #selfportrait #self-portrait #artofselfportraiture #selfportraiture #portraitphotography #classicportrait #money #eattherich #fakecash
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Camera: #NikonZ5

A hazy edit of my friend singing his songs.

A silhouette edit of my friend singing his songs.

A saturated edit of my friend singing his songs.

Three versions of the same photo edited with #Snapseed. My friend Garrett's music has inspired me for years, and continues to do so.

#postprocessing #inspiration #livemusic #spiritofmusic #photography #concertshots #deckmansworld

A bearded man singing and playing guitar with trees and lights in the background.

My friend Garrett Askins (Martian Folk) doing his solo show on Sunday at Fire Street Pizza.

#centraltexasmusicscene #musicianportraits #bokehlights #concertshots #livemusic #performer #songwriter #deckmansworld

Thank you!

You certainly can. But there's a weekly challenge and posts with both tags show up in the feed. There's a bit more backstory in the two pinned posts here:

bsky.app/profile/did:...

It's a great picture but I'm not seeing the connection to this week's theme: Narrow

That sure looks like some WNY geology!