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Sunday, March 6, 2011

Can you fine folks tell me where the Alamo is?



This weekend the city of San Antonio has been celebrating the 175th anniversary of the battle (and subsequent fall) of the Alamo. Several events, including re-enactments, have been held downtown to commemorate this historic event that led to the recognition of the centerpiece of San Antonio. We traveled downtown on Friday to take some photos of the area and I did not expect to come across this scene. I am in no way making light of the battle of the Alamo or anything like that, this particular scene just struck me as hilarious and I wanted to capture it and share my thoughts on the photo!


So we have two re-enactors posing as Davy Crockett and (maybe) James Bowie (Crockett for sure, he is even wearing a name tag!) standing in front of the Alamo. Out of nowhere this tourist from Michigan(?) decides to ask the two re-enactors for directions to something in the "Fiesta" magazine. Now of course, there are hundreds of people gathered around the area that he could ask, but for whatever reason he chose these men because:

A) force himself into the center of everyone taking pictures of "Crockett and Bowie" in front of the Alamo, ruining what could be a great shot

or

B) is oblivious to the fact that these characters are not in front of the Alamo every day and is so confused he figures the actors are the only people in San Antonio that can give him directions

or

C) is part of the re-enactment and was actually a diversion sent by Santa Ana to distract the men for a period of time allowing the Mexican Army the time it needed to begin the assault on the Alamo with the leaders of the American forces at the Alamo distracted.


Now, I am not well-versed in Texas history and my pieces of Alamo history that I really remember is from a movie I watched in 5th grade, but I think I am going to go with option "C", as it is the most probable of the choices listed above.


Can you fine folks tell me where the Alamo is?


Other parts of this photo that I think are interesting:

- The recent Air Force basic trainee graduate doing what appears to be "nanu nanu" from the show "Mork and Mindy" on the right side of the photo. (He is actually putting on headphones or listening to something through them. Just another example of capturing the "right" moment!)

- Directly behind the hapless tourist is another trainee that is probably just ensuring her shirt is tucked in, but the photo was taken at just the right moment so that motion looks odd too.


I didn't notice either of these elements when I took the picture, I was laughing so hard thinking what a great shot two iconic Texas legends in front of the Alamo....along with "Robert the tourist from Michigan asking for directions"...was going to be.



If you are so inclined, please feel free to leave any comments or feedback. Also remember that clicking on the photo takes you to my online gallery hosted over at smugmug where you can view this (and my other photos) in various sizes. If you enjoyed this post, please take the time to pass my post(s) on to others whom you also feel would enjoy my work. Thanks for stopping by!





3 comments:

  1. Brian this is Saturday Night Live material. Had me laughing from the start. Great capture! People are always hard to make look good in HDR but you nailed this one!

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  2. Nice. You just never know what is in a picture. Or a picture is worth a thousand words or scenes.

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  3. I wish you would give us the tech data as to how you made these images. We as photographers who are looking at these magnificent images want to learn how to do this ourselves. What program did you use to make the Alamo actors images. The colors are mind blowing. HOW DID YOU DO IT? THANKS, TONY M.

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