Assignment: Houston

Spotlight: photomajik

laanba — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 10:30:00 -0500

A great photo taken by member photomajik from this month's Downtown Houston assignment. Thanks to photomajik for participating in this month's assignment. You still have this weekend and part of next week to get your downtown photos. You never know what you will run across.

Links:
Flickr Member: Photomajik
Market Square Park

Houston's Birthday Bash

laanba — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 05:33:00 -0500

Mark your calendars now for Houston's official Birthday Bash at Market Square Park. The event will take place this Sunday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. There will be a performance by Interactive Theater recounting the history of Houston, as well as music, a photo booth and cupcakes. Mmm... cupcakes.

Link:
Houston's 175th Birthday Bash at Market Square Park

Photowalks

laanba — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 20:28:11 -0500

Assignment: Houston now has a photowalks group! The members of our Flickr group are social people and this will be a chance for us to get out and photograph unique things around the Houston area.

Walks will take approximately once every two months and will not necessarily be related to the assignment. If assignments aren't your thing then come join us for this!

On our calendar so far is Hermann Park on September 3rd and The Orange Show on November 12th. Hope to see you there.

Links:
Assignment Houston Photowalks

Weekend Planner

laanba — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:59:27 -0500

Two things are on tap for my weekend.

1.) Astros - I'm a big Texans fan but Astros games are fun to go to if for no other reason than to just be out and experience the atmosphere of the ballpark. Friday night is Fireworks night so that sold it to me right there (love me some fireworks). The Brewers are in town Friday, Saturday and Sunday and the Astros have a You Score, We Score discount going on for some of their tickets.

2.) White Linen Night - Haven't been to a White Linen Night since the first one so I'm looking forward to going back and seeing how the festival has grown. White Linen Night is a neighborhood event in the Heights celebrating the arts and community and features entertainment, shopping, art, music and food. I am going to do some map studying before I head out there and I'm definitely taking my camera.

Other cool stuff on tap this weekend around Houston

3.) 21st Annual Houston International Jazz Festival at Discovery Green. Tickets costs $30/$40 at the gate.

4.) Houston Shakespeare Festival at Miller Outdoor. I saw Taming of the Shrew last night and it was fantastic. I know we all had to read Shakespeare in High School, but it is so much better live. Read the reviews from Art Attack if you aren't sure, but this is definitely recommended. Othello plays tonight and Saturday. Taming of the Shrew plays Friday and Sunday. Miller Outdoor is always free. Pack a picnic (there was a nice breeze last night so don't worry about heat) and enjoy.

5.) Don't forget about the boat tour this weekend of Buffalo Bayou.

Lots to do this weekend. Get out there and get to it.

Links:
Astros: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/schedule/index.jsp?c_id=hou
White Linen Night: http://whitelinennightheights.com/
Houston International Jazz Festival: http://www.discoverygreen.com/ebevents/event/309900/
Houston Shakespeare Festival: http://www.houstonfestivalscompany.com/hsf/
Othello Review: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2011/08/the_set_up_the_houston.php
Taming of the Shrew Review: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2011/08/houston_shakespeare_festival_s.php
Buffalo Bayou Boat Tours: http://www.assignmenthouston.com/2011/08/buffalo-bayou-tours.html

Buffalo Bayou Tours

laanba — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 11:39:07 -0500

One way to get a unique view of downtown (this month's photo assignment) is to take a boat tour offered by Buffalo Bayou Partnership.

I took the tour in December and because of water levels we left from Allen's Landing for an evening bayou tour (tours normally leave from Sabine Promenade). I tried to imagine what it looked like when Augustus and John Kirby arrived at this location and hatched their scheme to create the city of Houston. I think the very fact that Houston was advertised as a thriving city before it even actually existed has set it up to be a wild, unusual place where you never know what is going to happen next.

Allen's Landing from Buffalo Bayou

According to the Buffalo Bayou website there will be boat tours on August 6th, 13th and 20th. The tours are approximately 30 minutes and reservations are not required. The tours will be open from 6-8 p.m. those days (last tour departs at 7:30 p.m.) and are $7 for adults and $5 for children (cash only). You can find out more at the Buffalo Bayou website.

Links:
http://www.buffalobayou.org/boattours.html

August Assignment

laanba — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 09:04:33 -0500

This text was part of an advertisement placed by John Kirby and Augustus Allen on August 30th, 1836 calling people to their new town of Houston. It gave a glowing description of a thriving port city. The only problem was the town hadn't actually formed yet. But people came anyway and 175 years later here we are in the city of Houston.

This month's assignment at the Assignment Houston Flickr group is downtown Houston where it all began. Visit the discussion thread to get more details.

There will be lots of interesting ways to celebrate the 175th birthday and I will be posting them here as I run across them so add the site to your bookmarks or RSS reader. You can also get links to new posts if you follow our Facebook page or Twitter account.

And on August 30th lift a glass to our crazy little town that was advertised before it existed and has been a unique experience ever since.

Links:
Assignment #63 - Downtown Houston

Old Houston Tonight

laanba — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 09:52:11 -0500

What are you doing tonight? I didn't know until about 5 minutes ago when JR Gonzales made my plans for me. Tonight JR will be giving a lecture and sharing photos from his blog, Bayou City History. This all happens at the Museum of Printing History with a reception at 6:30 p.m. and the lecture at 7:00 p.m.

I am also going to take this opportunity to see the Marvin Zindler photo exhibit which is currently showing at the museum. I have been shamefully lazy this summer and had many days I could have gone over there to see it, but haven't. I will finally fix that tonight. The exhibit shares photos from the days when legendary journalist Marvin Zindler was just getting started as a photographer on the crime beat. It will be a different side of Houston than I am used to. The photo exhibit runs until August 13th.

Links:
Bayou City History Blog
Museum of Printing History

Weekend Planner

laanba — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 09:47:23 -0500

I need to get out this weekend and get my Water photos for Assignment: Houston. I also have a new 35mm camera that my uncle gave me so I may combine those two activities. If you haven't taken your water photos below are some examples that may inspire you. Houston has a lot of neat fountains and I will probably be hitting up one of these locations this weekend.

And if you want to stay in the air conditioning check out the Reliant Park World Series of Dog Shows happening this weekend.

Stand Your Ground

laanba — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 08:11:17 -0500

This video was made for the London Street Photography Festival which is going on now. Six photographers set up around London and were told to hold their ground if and when approached by security. Sure enough all six of them were approached and the video follows the ensuing discussion.

This video is well worth watching for many reasons including good examples of how to talk calmly to security and for the scene where security tells the large format guy with a straight face that terrorists use photographs to scout for potential targets. Really? With a large format camera? It is amazing how the spiel from the security folks was all the same (you can't take pictures of our building because we said so).

In this video the problem is obviously private security versus the city police. I am not sure we would be so lucky in Houston. I have not been approached yet (knock on wood), but I am hyper aware of this issue. I know that people are super paranoid, but it frustrates me because photography is not a crime. How about you? Have you had run ins with private security or with HPD?

Frame Sale

laanba — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:13:20 -0500

Aaron Brothers is having a frame sale for the entire month. Buy one get one of equal or lesser value for one penny. One penny! So basically buy one get one free. This applies to their frames, including custom frames, canvases and even some art supplies. The sale lasts the entire month.

Photographers, digital photographers especially, are bad about never seeing their work on the wall. Get to the store buy some frames and decorate with your own artwork. Frames also make great gifts. Stock up!

There are seven Aaron Brothers locations in the Houston area. Visit their website for more information.

Aaron Brothers