SHE WOULDN’T GET OUT OF BED, SO I SHOT HER 
A magazine for Houston real estate agents has this version of the backstory behind the body-in-the-bed photo featured in a Heights-area bungalow listing posted last week: “The current tenants are being evicted, and therefore, were uncooperative in making the home look attractive to any other buyers. They refused to clean it for showings and, clearly, even refused to move when [real estate agent Traye] Wise and his assistant stopped by to take interior photos for the listing website; Wise said he asked the husband if he could rouse his wife from bed so they could take just one photo of the bedroom’s interior sans tenants, and while the husband allegedly told his wife to get out of bed, she refused. ‘This was in no way done on purpose,’ Wise said about the bedroom photo. ‘It was supposed to be edited to take (the woman sleeping in bed) out. It was supposed to be Photoshopped, and my assistant put it up by mistake.’†[Houston Agent Magazine; previously on Swamplot]
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Tag: Photography
The scene captured last Saturday by that drone videocamera flight, showing excavation on the site of the East Downtown stadium at Texas and Dowling, plus a high-end view of Downtown’s back side . . . and a very round earth. Like a more steady ride? Here’s a still:
What’s to look at once it’s up there? Just this panoramic view of construction so far.
- Dynamo Stadium coverage [Swamplot]
Video: Accent Aerial Photography
Got a question about something going on in your neighborhood you’d like Swamplot to answer? Sorry, we can’t help you. But if you ask real nice and include a photo or 2 with your request, maybe the Swamplot Street Sleuths can! Who are they? Other readers, just like you, ready to demonstrate their mad skillz in hunting down stuff like this:
Answers — of a sort — to your questions:
- Montrose: Alas, none of our readers were able to identify concrete plans for the uh, seminal Montrose nightclub at the corner of Westheimer and Yoakum, which closed last year. But some of you were happy to pass on rumors about Mary’s: “Last I heard it was being purchased/leased again and will become a new Montrose hangout paying homage to the original, but that was about two months after it closed,” reports kjb434. LandGuy points out that the next-door parking lot between Mary’s and Burger King is owned by someone else; however HCAD records indicate the owners of Mary’s still also own the lot directly behind the former club, facing California St.
- Riverside Terrace and beyond: Can anyone snap photos of your home? “If you are in a public space, you can photograph anything you like. There may be restrictions around military installations or FBI buildings, though,” declares roving pic-snapper RWB. But watch out for overzealous security guards and cops, he warns. RWB has some experience in that department; but not so much as Downtown electric shuttle entrepreneur Erik Ibarra — who, sadly, did not weigh in to this discussion. (Ibarra founded REV Eco-Shuttle in 2008, shortly after he and his brother received a $1.7 million lawsuit settlement from the city. Six years earlier, sheriff’s deputies had entered their home near Park Place, seized their film, and arrested them after Ibarra’s brother took photos — from his own and public property — of a drug search being conducted at their next-door neighbor’s home.)
Lauren
offered a link to this handy guide to photographers’ rights. But a couple readers were certain the would-be design stalker was casing, not admiring: Says montrose: “They were just seeing if anyone was home before they robbed the joint. Nobody wants to take a picture of your house.”
We’ll post the next set of reader questions next Tuesday. Send us what you’ve got before then!
Photo of 1022 Westheimer Rd.: Swamplot inbox
Got an answer to either of these reader questions? Or just want to be a sleuth for Swamplot? Here’s your chance! Add your report in a comment, or send a note to our tipline.
- Montrose: A reader wants to know if anyone has heard of any plans for the site of Mary’s Lounge at the corner of Westheimer and Yoakum — as well as the parking lot between it and Burger King. The famous Montrose club shut down last year.
- Riverside Terrace and beyond: When strangers just love your style!
My partner and I are renovating our house in Riverside Terrace, and the other day a well-mannered gentleman rang our doorbell requesting our permission to photograph our house. While we’d like to presume that his request was a compliment that our hard work is paying off, we didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of a stranger snapping photos of our house. Not knowing his true intentions, we politely declined.
Otherwise who knows where your stuff would show up?! So . . . what’s the question?
However, I know that applications such as Google Street View capture images from the public domain and make them readily available via the internet. Are there any restrictions to what we can or cannot photograph in Houston?
Photo of 1022 Westheimer Rd.: Swamplot inbox
COMMENT OF THE DAY: IS IT REAL OR IS IT HDR? “I don’t photoshop my pics. My skills are worse [than] this one. I wonder: What about HDR photography? I have never used it in my marketing, but some of the images sure border on fantasy as well.” [Thomas A. B. Johnson, commenting on A First Glimpse of the New Dynamo Stadium“]
Many thanks to our talented and dedicated contributing photographers this round: russell.hancock, can-da-chee garcia, elnina909, and lulubird24. They ventured boldly into the Bellaire Triangle, and came out — with this feature!
Here’s their group portrait, and Swamplot’s 6th photo feature. All photos taken within 500 ft. of the intersection of Bellaire Blvd. and Bissonnet St.
How’s it looking?
If you want to participate in our latest group photo feature, tonight’s the deadline! Submit your photos to the Swamplot Flickr pool by midnight. This time we’re looking for pix taken within 500 ft. of the intersection of Bellaire Blvd. and Bissonnet St. in Bellaire.
Make sure your photos are tagged “Bellaire & Bissonnet,” and that you haven’t disabled Flickr’s galleries feature on your account. Some great photos have already been submitted. Got any more to share?
More great photos have come in for our next group photo feature. Earlier this week we extended the deadline until next Thursday at midnight. There’s still room for your contributions!
Whatcha doing this weekend? If your plans include a camera or a cameraphone, we hope you’ll stop by the corner of Bellaire Blvd. and Bissonnet St. Take photos of anything you want — as long as it’s within 500 ft. of the intersection. Then upload your photos to the Swamplot Flickr pool, and tag each of them “Bellaire and Bissonnet” (with the quotation marks). (Also, please make sure the galleries feature isn’t disabled on your account.)
We’ll select the photos that together best represent that little neck of the woods for next Friday’s feature, and we’ll include all the submitted photos in a slideshow. It’s a fun way to look around Houston, corner by corner. Wanna give it a try?
Bellaire, what up? Swamplot’s next group photo feature is set to document the intersection of Bellaire Blvd. and Bissonnet St. And yes, it looks like Thanksgiving and uh, Blackout Friday might have got in the way. We’ve already got a few great photos in, but some of you could likely use an extra week to get your photos in.
So take it! Here’s a new extended deadline to submit photos — of anything you want, as long as it’s within 500 ft. of the intersection shown above: midnight on December 10th, a week from tomorrow.
As always, the Swamplot Flickr pool is eager for your submissions — just make sure they’re tagged “Bellaire & Bissonnet” (you’ll need to include those quotation marks), and that you haven’t disabled the galleries feature on your account.
Show us what you find!
Thanksgiving means you get an extra week to take photos for Swamplot’s next group photo feature. It’ll run on Friday, December 4th. Which means the deadline for getting your photos in will be 2 Thursdays from now: December 3rd at midnight.
What are we looking for? Your photos — of anything you like — snapped within 500 ft. of the intersection of Bellaire Blvd. and Bissonnet St. It doesn’t matter what kind of camera (or cameraphone) you use — just get out behind your lens and have some fun with it!
Upload your pix to the Swamplot Flickr pool when you’re done. Tag each photo with the phrase “Bellaire & Bissonnet” (you’ll need to use those quotation marks), and make sure you’ve got the galleries feature enabled on your Flickr account. We’ll feature the photos that together paint the strongest picture of the area, and we’ll include a slideshow of every image that’s submitted. What’s that little corner of Houston er, Bellaire really like?
A big thank you to our photographers this week: russell.hancock, biggsbean, can-da-chee garcia, Lizard666, eg66tex, and xnomad. What’d they do? Capture an East End neighborhood on pixels for us.
And here is their work, all from within 500 ft. of the intersection of Harrisburg Blvd. & Wayside Dr.: Swamplot’s 5th group photo feature.
How does it look?
WHERE WE’RE HEADED FOR NEXT WEEK’S GROUP PHOTO FEATURE Got plans with your camera or cameraphone for the weekend? How about taking it out to the corner of Bellaire Blvd. and Bissonnet St. and using it to take some pix for next week’s group photo feature? That little corner of Bellaire is our next assignment. (The deadline for the current assignment is midnight tonight!) We’ll have a map of the area for you to look at and more details tomorrow, after this week’s photo feature runs.
Hey, all you East Enders: What kind of photos would you like to see in this Friday’s upcoming group feature? Our location this week is the intersection of Harrisburg Blvd. and Wayside Dr. And there’s still plenty of room for your contributions.
Even if you’re not from that part of town, it’s easy to participate: Just snap some pix of anything within 500 ft. of that intersection — with your cameraphone, even — and upload them to the Swamplot Flickr pool. (You can use the map above as a guide.) Tag your photos with “Harrisburg & Wayside,” and make sure your account doesn’t block other users from creating galleries. What you see is what we’ll get!
The deadline is Thursday at midnight. We’ll run with what’s come in on Friday.
Ready for a little east-side action? Find your way to the intersection of Harrisburg Blvd. and Wayside Dr. with a camera (or just a cameraphone!) and you can be a part of Swamplot’s next group photo feature! All you need to do is snap pix — of anything you want — within 500 ft. of that corner.
Upload your photos to the Swamplot Flickr pool, tag them with the magic phrase “Harrisburg & Wayside” (you’ll need to use those quotation marks to keep the tag in one piece), and make sure you haven’t disabled the galleries feature on your Flickr account. We’ll feature the group of photos that we figure best represents that little corner of Houston (and include a slide show of all the submitted pix) in a post next Friday — which means you have until next Thursday at midnight to get your photos in.
