Showing posts with label Seguin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seguin. Show all posts

Friday, October 9, 2009

Seguin Log Cabin

On the way back from San Antonio a while back, I stopped and took a few photos in Seguin. Going back through those photos this past weekend I found this shot of the Campbell-Hoermann Log Cabin (1850) that I hadn't posted yet. If you're interested in the history of the cabin please see the blurb about it from the Seguin Conservation Society website below the photo.

Title: "Seguin Log Cabin"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: Photomatix Pro to combine three hand-held images into one HDR (High Dynamic Range) image > Photoshop CS3 > Topaz Adjust plugin > Virtual Photographer plugin for Sepia conversion

From the Sequin Conservation Society website:

Campbell-Hoermann Log Cabin (1850)
211 E. Live Oak St.
Conservator: Dr. Tom Raetzch 379-0074


Post-Civil War Texas was a land of opportunity due to a vast amount of farming and grazing land, coupled with the newly built railroads. Many immigrants came here to start a new and hopefully prosperous life. John Campbell, an immigrant from Ireland, built a one-room cabin that he later enlarged for his twenty-three family members when they came to Texas around 1850. Descendants of the Campbell family lived in the cabin until 1952. In the late 1970s, the Hoermann family donated it to the Conservation Society. In 1979 it was moved to its present location at 211 E. Live Oak Street. It houses numerous interesting artifacts, including a 145 year-old quilt and a 1908 icebox.

Kay Martin, the current SCS president, says her favorite thing about the cabin is the feeling she gets when she steps on the front porch. "It feels like you just stepped back in time; like you are at a home, not a museum." She also says that people should remember that the porch at the Log Cabin is a great place to take photos. "The trees and porch are quaint and rustic, and best of all, it's free!" she says.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Seguin's Big Nut

Taken on my stop over in Seguin Tuesday before last. Paris has the Eiffel Tower, London has the London Eye, and Seguin has the Worlds Largest Pecan! :-)

Title: "Seguin's Big Nut"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: HDR from three handheld exposures (-2, 0, +2) using Photomatix Pro > Photoshop CS3 > Topaz Adjust plugin

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

The Doll House

Another shot from my trip to Seguin last Tuesday. A Sheriff that I talked to for a while (she approached me because she was interested in photography) pointed me in the direction of the Dietz Doll House. She told me that someone used to actually live in it. That makes a better story but information I found on the Internet pretty much indicated that the doll house was no more than a playhouse for one of Seguin's resident's children.

The information I found on the Internet is, in part, as follows: "The Dietz Doll House is one of the Seguin Conservation Society's most charming properties and like the others, comes with an intriguing history. It was built in 1910 by Louis Dietz for little Alice O'Brien, 5 years old, who had come to Seguin as an orphan train child."

Title: "The Doll House"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: HDR from three handheld exposures (-2, 0, +2) using Photomatix Pro > Photoshop CS3 > Topaz Adjust plugin > Nik Viveza plugin > RPM Beautifier plugin

Monday, August 24, 2009

Seguin Square

Taken last Tuesday. One of the buildings on the Seguin town square, opposite the County Courthouse, features a small coffee shop in a building with an interesting historical mural painted on the side.

Title: "Seguin Square"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: HDR Image from three handheld exposures (-2, 0, +2) using Photomatix Pro > Photoshop CS3 > Topaz Adjust plugin

Saturday, August 22, 2009

The Calaboose

Continuing my posts of shots taken during my visit to Seguin, Texas on last Tuesday this image is of "The Calaboose". Now located near the Sequin town square, the calaboose was originally located on the Guadalupe County poor farm. It was originally mounted on wheels and used to transport county prisoners. I gave the photo the aged look by utilizing a free Photoshop action called "Old Toy Camera by Smaragd" that I downloaded from the Internet. Hope you like it!

Title: "The Calaboose"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: Photomatix Pro to create one HDR (High Dynamic Range) photo from three handheld exposures (-2, 0, +2) > Photoshop CS3 > Topaz Adjust plugin

Friday, August 21, 2009

Seguin's Palace

I love the predictability of the county seats in Texas! You pretty much can count on a town square layout with the county courthouse in the middle and surrounding businesses that include some "Mom and Pop" restaurants and usually an old movie theater from back when movie theaters were a little more special. Seguin is a county seat and I was glad to find the Palace theater only a block away from the courthouse!

Title: "Seguin's Palace"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: HDR from three hand held exposures using Photomatix Pro > Photoshop CS3 > Topaz Adjust plugin

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Sebastopal House V2

Same house as yesterday from my stop in Seguin, Texas on Tuesday afternoon. Same house but... this photo has an amazingly different feel to it because of the different composition and post-processing. Hope you like it!

Title: "Sebastopal House V2"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing: Photomatix Pro to combine three handheld exposures (-2,0,+2) into one HDR photo > Photoshop CS3 > Topaz Adjust plugin > Virtual Photographer (best free Photoshop plugin available on the net) for sepia conversion

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Sebastopal House

On my way back from San Antonio on Tuesday I stopped for about an hour in Seguin, Texas to see what images I could make in this small town I had never visited before. A local Sheriff pointed me in the direction of this historic building called Sebastopal House. Information from the historical marker says this Greek revival house was built in 1854-1856 of unreinforced load-bearing walls of cast-in-place limecrete (an early form of concrete). I really like this shot from the sidewalk approaching the from of the building, framed by the benches and trees in the foreground.

Tomorrow I hope to the finish work I started on a completely different take of this interesting historic structure.

Title: "Sebastopal House"


Camera / Lens: Canon 40D / Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 zoom
Post-processing tools: Photomatix Pro to combine three handheld images into one HDR image > Photoshop CS3 > Topaz Adjust Plugin