Tag: temple

2010-11-19
The boy, just being himself.

At first glance, the title about antique portraits does not seem to fit at all with the photo above of my boy…but it does…at least to me. Not that anybody is actually going to think this photo is antique, but there is some characteristic here that clicked on in my head as soon as I saw this photo on the back of my camera.

2010-07-26

We had a great time on the photo walk here in Temple. Well, I guess I should not speak for everybody, but I had fun, anyway. Shooting buildings and other non-living objects is not really my thing (and downtown Temple on a weekend, is not exactly a bustling capital), but I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to bring a few fellow photography lovers together. Here are a few of the photos from our walk in Temple.

Worldwide Photo Walkers 2010, Temple Texas
2010-07-20

We are almost there: 24 July is the day of Scott Kelby’s third annual Worldwide Photowalk, and little Temple, Texas is joining thousands of cities worldwide in this massive, yet personal, event. If you are in the Temple area and are open, you simply must give it some thought; the more the merrier.

I have missed the first two Worldwide Photowalks because I was bouncing around the wrong place in the wrong country to be able to meet up with one of the several photowalks around my parts of China and Thailand. Now, I am stationary here in Temple as the walk comes around a third time and I am elated to be able to join in the fun.

2010-06-10
A beautifully fresh perspective on life.

Yesterday, I took the scenic route back to my parking spot. I was just running a normal errand and had my one-year-old in my arms. Sure, we accidentally parked a little too far away initially, but that had nothing to do with the scenic route. The mood, history, and culture of downtown Temple, Texas inspired us to take a slightly less direct path back to the car…just for the beauty of the moment. I was less concerned with taking photos than I was with enjoying a few extra minutes of the day. What I received was more enjoyable and eye opening than I expected.

The “Learning to See” in the title is a reference to Chris Marquardt’s Learning to See Workshops. Not that I have been to a workshop, but I have listened to his Tips from the Top Floor podcast quite a bit, and really appreciate his approach to photography. I could not agree more with his website byline: “learn to see”. How we experience life, what we notice, and the learned ability to switch perspective are key ingredients to the quality of photography we produce. I learned a lesson in learning to see on that scenic walk back to the car.

2010-05-26
doctor medical professional work portrait
A doctor you can trust

Meet Dr. Ophthalmos. You would trust this guy with your eyes, right? I would. Of course, I know him personally, so that is much less of a problem for me. What I was trying to capture was familiarity, compassion, and professionalism all wrapped into one.

Here was the assignment. The clinic where he will be moving to work after residency asked him for a photo they could put in the paper. It is one of those here-is-the-new-eye-doctor-in-town paper articles, but really it is just free advertising for the clinic and for him in particular. They wanted him with his equipment, something that said ophthalmologist, and they wanted a photo that was inviting.

I would like to say I am some hot-shot photographer that made all this happen in some kind of beautifully historic way, like Yousef Karsh’s iconic photo of Winston Churchill. Alas, my doctor friend made it easy on me.

2010-04-01

So, here it is, the new, but totally unimproved, website. I have stuck with the ChinaCoop moniker for many years now, and I hate to leave it behind. “ChinaCoop.net” is not exactly a great way to market my services in the United States, though. Nothing against China, of course (I did live there for ten years, afterall), but clients back in Central Texas would pass right by the site thinking Google had gotten something wrong. So, as much as I hesitate to use my name, because is just feels conceited to do so, the name is the only choice I can see. And thus: CooperStrange.com is born.