Look Who Visited

(Mark M. Hancock / DFWmark.com)
Some long-eared owls sit in a live oak tree in our yard in Frisco on Tuesday, January 5, 2021.

Quick Tips to Improve Photos Video

 video, narration, beats by Mark M. Hancock / © DFWmark.com
photos by Mark M. Hancock / © DFWmark.com, The Beaumont Enterprise and/or The Dallas Morning News

Please watch and share “Quick Tips to Improve Photos.”
The companion "cheat sheet" on this blog is located here: quick-tips-to-improve-your-photos.

This version is visual hot sauce to some. There is a slower version to savor each frame. It's located at "Savory Tips to Improve Photos."

Please share and subscribe to the NewsEagles YouTube channel (it’s free and easy). Please follow this link, sign in to YouTube (or create an account) and hit SUBSCRIBE at www.youtube.com/newseagles

Although I will do some additional work in the future, this is my Magnum Opus.

Enough for now,

San Diego: Animals

photos and soundstripe by Mark M. Hancock / © DFWmark.com

Local and imported wildlife thrive in the mild climate around San Diego, California on April 9, 2018.

Included in this slideshow video are native animals such as sea lions, seagulls, grackles, brown pelicans, cormorants, and grebes. This slideshow also contains rare images of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins training at the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program. These dolphins are trained in mine detection and clearance as well as equipment recovery.
This is the first of the San Diego series. Please subscribe and be the first to see additional slideshows about San Diego’s Art, Architecture and Aquatica.


Please share and subscribe to the NewsEagles YouTube channel (it’s free and easy). Please follow this link, sign in to YouTube (or create an account) and hit SUBSCRIBE at www.youtube.com/newseagles


Enough for now,

DFW Paddle: Trinity River, Elm Fork with Steve

video by Mark M. Hancock / © DFWmark.com

We take a DFW Paddle about 5 miles down the Elm Fork of the Trinity River from the Trinity River Kayak Co in Coppell to Sam Houston Trail Park in Irving on Sunday, April 19, 2015. The water is unusually high and fast during one of the wettest springs in Texas history. Consequently, there aren’t many animals along the way, but we do briefly encounter a gator and some highly aggressive butterflies. I composed the soundtrack with various “Shetland” music loops in GarageBand. This is a video in the DFW Paddle series.
Please also see: DFW Paddle: White Rock Creek and White Rock Creek Critters

DFW Paddle: White Rock Lake

video by Mark M. Hancock / © DFWmark.com

We take a DFW Paddle 8.3 miles around the entire shoreline of White Rock Lake from White Rock Creek near East Lawther and Scout Hill in Dallas on Sunday August 3, 2014. This is the second video in the DFW Paddle series.
Please also see: DFW Paddle: White Rock Creek and White Rock Creek Critters

Frisco Starfest

Linda Fields of Frisco looks at the moon through a telescope while the Jindal family prepares for their turn during the Texas Astronomical Society's free Starfest star-gazing party at Frisco Commons Park in Frisco on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2014. Starfest events take place on the second Saturday of each month.

photos © Mark M. Hancock andThe Dallas Morning News

Visitors view the cosmos during the Texas Astronomical Society's free Starfest star-gazing party at Frisco Commons Park in Frisco on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2014. Starfest events take place on the second Saturday of each month.

Please see the YouTube slideshow with an original music composition.

DFW Paddle - White Rock Creek

video by Mark M. Hancock / © DFWmark.com

We take our first DFW Paddle 1.7 miles up White Rock Creek from the White Rock Lake near East Lawther and Scout Hill in Dallas on Sunday, July 6, 2014. Since the Speedpaddle didn't work for many, this is a regular-speed tour of the creek. I think it's a better compromise and will be easier to film in the future because I'll know to glide at times.
Please also see: DFW Paddle: White Rock Lake and White Rock Creek Critters

White Rock Creek Critters

video by Mark M. Hancock / © DFWmark.com

I mounted the GoPro on my kayak's bow and intended to make a "speed paddle" video at White Rock Creek in Dallas on Sunday, June 29, 2014. Unfortunately, at 8X speed, the paddle motion of the kayak would make some people ill. So, here are some of the critters I saw along the way. We'll try the speed paddle another weekend with a head mount. Watch for the snapping turtle. It was huge. Compare the size of it's head to the size of the shopping cart it's hiding near. I tested my GoPro Hero3 with iMovie. They've changed the program considerably since the last time I used it.
Please also see: DFW Paddle: White Rock Lake and DFW Paddle: White Rock Creek

Lunch with the Neighbors

video by Mark M. Hancock / © DFWmark.com

I gave some apples to our neighbors (a pair of donkeys) in Frisco on Saturday, June 29, 2014. I tested my GoPro Hero3 with iMovie. They've changed the program considerably since the last time I used it.

Dallas Zoo under new ownership

Boudreaux, a nine-foot-long albino American alligator, comes into the light in the Ghosts from the Bayou exhibit at the Dallas Zoo in Dallas on Sunday, May 30, 2010.


Photos and music © Mark M. Hancock / DFWmark.com


The Dallas Zoo was recently transferred from city ownership to private ownership in Dallas on Sunday, May 30, 2010.

Named in this slideshow are: Parrots, black-and-white ruffled lemur, ring-tailed lemur, collared lemur, blue and yellow macaw, great egrets, flamingos, golden lion tamarin, cotton-top tamarin, spectacled langur monkeys, Sumatran tiger, red kangaroo, Harpy eagle, bald eagle, Andean condor, red-crowned crane, tortoise, great anteater, rhino iguana, Oustalet's chameleon, veiled chameleon, Caiman lizard, Perentie monitor lizard, Fayrouz Hancock, albino American alligators, Mexican bearded lizard, Cape cobra, crocodile monitor lizard, Burmese python, collared lizards, timber rattlesnake, Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake, sailfin lizard, Asian yellow-spotted climbing toad, blue poison dart frogs, mandrill, African elephants, warthog, ostriches, giraffes, cheetahs and Boudreaux, a nine-foot-long albino American alligator.

Corpus Christi Shoreline Blvd.

Photos & music © Mark M. Hancock / DFWmark.com

A vendor awaits customer during the Buc Days carnival in Corpus Christi on Sunday, April 25, 2010.


Activities happen from sunrise past sunset along Shoreline Blvd. in Corpus Christi during the annual Texas International Boat Show and Buc Days Festival.

Texas State Aquarium

An Atlantic bottlenose dolphin swims at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi on Sunday, April 25, 2010.


Photos & video © Mark M. Hancock / DFWmark.com
"Vida De Parranda" © Tekumbe / tekumbe.com

 

Featured in this video slideshow are: Fayrouz Hancock, Hans the tiger shark, sea turtles, a flounder, seahorses, a slipper lobster, a toadfish, a striped burrfish, an alligator, roseate spoonbills, egrets, a hawk-headed parrot, a prehensile-tailed porcupine, an arawana fish, piranhas, a French angelfish, a stingray, a great barracuda, an Atlantic sea nettle, a comb jellyfish, a northern sea nettle, moon jellies, Pacific sea nettles, Atlantic bottlenose dolphins and North American river otters.

Butterfly House

Photos & music © Mark M. Hancock / DFWmark.com

A tiger butterfly rests at Smith Sammons Butterfly House and Insectarium at Fair Park in Dallas on Sept. 26, 2009.

Butterflies frollic at Smith Sammons Butterfly House and Insectarium at Fair Park in Dallas.

Epic Roadtrip Recap

For optimal viewing/sound, please pause play to allow the slideshow to buffer some information before resuming play.


photos Mark M. Hancock / © DFWmark.com 
music "Campesina" © Tekumbe / Tekumbe.com

See a larger version of this slideshow.

We toured Texas during the week of July 15 to 22, 2010.

We logged about 1,100 miles inside Texas during a five-day roadtrip. We drove a triangle from Dallas to San Antonio to Houston and back.

To see more of what she saw, please follow the links below.

In one week we hit these cities:
Addison - dinner at Magic Time Machine served by the Mad Hatter
Dallas – Dallas World Aquarium, Sixth Floor Museum (JFK), West End Marketplace
Mesquite – Mesquite Championship Rodeo along with an all-you-can-eat-and-drink BBQ
Waco – lunch at Collin Street Bakery
San Marcos – Wonder World caverns (a waste of time)
San Antonio – Sea World, The Alamo, walked and took a river barge tour on The Riverwalk, Mexican dinner on the river and late-night burgers at the Hard Rock Café, San Fernando Cathedral and plaza
Schulenburg – lunch and fresh cinnamon-glazed pecans for the road
Galveston – Moody Gardens Aquarium, dinner at the Rainforest Café, drove along the seawall, coffee on The Strand with a dear friend
Clear Lake – toured and dined at NASA's Space Center Houston
Kemah – dinner and shopping on the Kemah boardwalk
Plano – shopped at Willow Bend Mall, several meals

Autumn at the Dallas Arboretum

Fayrouz Hancock poses for a portrait at the Dallas Arboretum on White Rock Lake in Dallas on Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010.

photos © Mark M. Hancock / DFWmark.com
music "Suenos De Libertad" © Tekumbe / Tekumbe.com


See a larger version of this slideshow.

Flowers bloom at the Dallas Arboretum during a visit with Fayrouz on White Rock Lake in Dallas on Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010.

Please also see Fayrouz's photos.

Because I don't have time to tone or crop these images and Halloween is this weekend, I'm doing something I have never done before: I'm posting shots straight from my camera. I'll tone them when I come up for air later this year. So, for now, y'all get to see my actual framing and exposures.

Epic Roadtrip - Wonder World

photos © Mark M. Hancock / DFWmark.com

Deer rest in the shade of a hot summer afternoon at Wonder World Park in San Marcus on Saturday, July 17, 2010.


See a larger version of this slideshow.

Fayrouz Hancock visits Wonder World Park in San Marcus during the Epic Roadtrip Across Texas on Saturday, July 17, 2010.

The tour includes a walk through a natural cave, a view of the Balcones Fault Line from atop the Tejas Observation Tower, the Anti-Gravity House and a tram ride through a private exoctic animal wildlife park.

It was our first time to visit this place. I doubt I'll ever go there again. It wasn't a negative experience. However, it was not worth our time. I heard (afterward) that nearby Natural Bridge Caverns and/or Inner Space Caverns are both better.

Epic Roadtrip - Dallas World Aquarium

A dancer with Grupo Pakal Mayan performs a ritual dance with a Scarlet macaw and rainstick at the Dallas World Aquarium in Downtown Dallas' West End on Friday, July 16, 2010.


photos © Mark M. Hancock / DFWmark.com



See a larger version of this slideshow.

Fayrouz Hancock visits the Dallas World Aquarium in Downtown Dallas' West End on Friday, July 16, 2010.

The Dallas World Aquarium also features live Netcams for the Leafy Dragons and the manatees.

This slideshow features treks through the aquarium's various exhibits including: The Aquarium, Wilds of Borneo, Orinoco - Secrets of the River, South Africa exhibit with the seasonal Madagascar display and the Mundo Maya exhibit with a 40-foot tunnel through a Cenote.

Also featured in this slideshow are: Grupo Pakal Mayan (Mayan dancers), tamarins, crocodiles, turtles, manatees, catfish, anemones, sea dragons, regal tangs (Dory), moorish idols (Gill), sharks, hammerhead sharks, stingrays, sawfish, a jaguar, Scarlet macaws and flamingos among various other fish.

Dallas World Aquarium

A red howler monkey stretches against a tree at The Dallas World Aquarium in Downtown Dallas' West End on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2009.


photos © Mark M. Hancock / DFWmark.com

See a larger version of this slideshow.

Fayrouz and I went toured the world without leaving the city at The Dallas World Aquarium. I have a field guide for the animals and will identify most of the animals soon. Please also see Fayrouz's take.

Named in this slideshow are: TK.
.

Porch ducklings

© Mark M. Hancock / DFWmark.com

Muscovy ducklings eat hot dog buns on our porch in Plano on Friday, Aug. 29, 2008. The ducklings and their mother waddle onto the porch twice daily for snacks. If nobody is around when they arrive, they chirp at the glass door until they're fed.

I know ducks are too easy, but these little critters are cute and demanding. I also plan to post some visiting geese and return to the Swan Story soon.

I've shot a lot lately, but it's all on embargo.

Turducken?

A male Muscovy duck, Cairina moschata, watches a sunset near a private lake in Plano on Monday, June 30, 2008.

© Mark M. Hancock / DFWmark.com


I don't eat birds, but this one is supposedly leaner and more flavorful than other ducks.