Email: brqyvn@gmail.com

Hi Photographer friends,

"Howdy Pardner"

This week's City, Bandera, Texas, was an enjoyable one.

(From Bandera's Web Page)

In a rugged county filled with hills, rivers, and a sprawling lake, the small town of Bandera holds a really big place in the hearts of Texans. Located in the beloved Texas Hill Country less than an hour from San Antonio, Bandera reminds us of a different, more authentic, era, when a handshake was all the contract you needed, self-reliance was the norm, and chivalry was a given. There is a spirit of independence and individualism here that speaks of the cowboy tradition of hard work and hard play.

Bandera embodies the cowboy in its strong rodeo tradition. Even today you'll often see horses tied to downtown hitching posts. Bandera County dude ranches offer a taste of the cowboy lifestyle with horseback riding, trail rides, and chuckwagon meals. Secluded cabins tucked away in the hills throughout the county are perfect for watching wildlife, listening to the birds, and gazing at the stars. At local honky-tonks, the music is lively, the dance floor is full, and the beverages are cold.

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The images below were all taken with my Pentax K-3 and a combination of two lenses...my favorite lenses.

smc PENTAX DA Star 60-250mm F4 ED (IF) SDM

Zoom
Wildlife, sports, long range shots

smc PENTAX DA Star 16-50mm F2.8 ED AL (IF) SDM

Zoom
Portraits, landscapes, family, general use

With these two great lenses, I am covering from 16mm to 250mm (Roughly 24mm to 375mm cropped image). Both lenses render high quality images and the bokeh (Telephoto) is particularly great. This week, all the images were manipulated in Adobe Lightroom 5. I wanted the images to be special because Bandera is a special Town.

I turned the contrast up, then adjusted the sharpening and luminance to where the images almost look like paintings.Then, I added vignetting. I love the rendition and I hope you do too.

New Mexico is next.

Here are the Bandera images:

Main Street in Bandera is pretty much like it was a hundred years ago.

This is the Cowboy Capital of the world...you don't wear a baseball cap here.

"Ruby" our tow truck was not alone in this town. They could name Bandera the Pick-up truck Capital of the World as well. In the background, the OST (Old Spanish Trail) restaurant served the best breakfast in Texas.

Hope it stops at the crossing!

This nice gentleman goes all around the Country showing how life was back in the cowboy days, along the Old Spanish Trail. The building in the background is Bandera's Court House.

He actually cooked a full chuck wagon meal on the Food Network. He told me that they had rented his wagon and were going to have some famous chef cook an authentic cowboy meal. When the chef arrived, he was covered with tattoos, had earrings and did not fit the Cowboy style. The producer asked him if he could really cook and he ended up cooking for the show.