First up is Montgomery, Alabama.  I was a little scared at first when entering into Montgomery as I went down to the historical district at 7pm at night.  There wasn’t a single person in the area.  I was the only person walking around and was unsure if I would get mugged or not.  It seemed like a beautiful and peaceful area, but was just unsure since everything seemed closed.

I was able to take some HDR photographs of the MLK memorial they had there.  I also had the chance to do some of a beautiful local hotel with a water fountain in front of it.

To your left is The Alley.  It seems to be the big entertainment area in Montgomery.  I sat and ate at a local Mexican restaurant that seemed to be a huge college hang out.  I really wish I remembered what it was called since it had one of the better fish taco’s I have ever had.  Of course it was a expensive fish taco.

Afterwards, I decided to head back to my hotel.  Next morning I decided to start my journey out bright and early.  I took a long drive from Montgomery, AL to Baton Rouge, LA.  I was unsure what to expect to Baton Rouge.  I soon realized it was the home to LSU, one of the biggest party colleges in the USA.  I did not partake in any of those parties, but I was there during lunch on a Sunday and I saw people already drunk.

When I am out I enjoy trying local places.  I heard about this place called Chimes and had to go there.  I ordered a couple of local brews in the area.  I will

say I tried some kind of Gator brew and it tasted like swamp water.  I also saw gator on the menu, but chose not to order this as I did not want to spend the money on something I was unsure I would like.  I instead got their best burger.  I will say it was a good burger too.  I had the chance to talk to two locals while I was there and always enjoy the company and hearing stories.

After finishing up at Chimes I decided to go for a walk.  I parked onto campus and took a walk around areas that I thought looked interesting.  I soon realized that this could take me an entire day.  LSU’s campus is very large.  I got back into my car and drove around to look at some of the nice architecture of LSU.  I came up to the LSU Stadium and just thought it was absolutely interesting.  They had on display their mascot, Mike the Tiger.  He of course was tired and was taking his nap.  Just to have a college that has something like this is awesome.

I could not turn down the chance to get some good stadium HDR photos.  I plopped my tripod up and started shooting right away.  I will say, some of these HDR photos I took at LSU are my favorite.  I shot multiple angles with the stadium to get a great feel.  To your left is one of them, but feel free to check out the rest at the gallery below.  My only disappointment was the fact that it was a very cloudy day with chances of rain.  I would of liked to of captured more blue skies.

I continued to look over the campus and took a few more pictures and figured it was time to move on.  I then drove downtown Baton Rouge where the entertainment district was.  I walked all around at their downtown memorials and had a great look over.  It was my first time ever getting to see the Big Miss.   I was overly excited and took several photos and then continued on with my venture to the inner part of the city.  After touring around and several photos later, it was time to get a drink.  I stopped in a local hot spot called Lucy’s.  It was there I saw people devouring crawfish by the loads.  I could not bring myself to try crawfish as I found them to be dirty type of crustacean as I used to pick them up at the crick myself.  Yes, I said “crick.”   Instead of trying crawfish I had one of their Margarita’s, and it was just alright.  After a little boredom, I decided it was time to depart Baton Rouge.

Three hours later from Baton Rouge, I came to Lake Charles, LA.   It was late at night, and I didn’t have any plans to stay anywhere.  I decided to try a local Hilton Inn.  I asked them if they had a military discount and they said “yes.”  It turns out it was the same price as their regular stay and there was no “discount.”   I was completely confused.  I kindly turned down their hotel, and called up a local LaQuinta. They seem to always accomodate military members well.  Got an awesome discount, a $114 room for $70.

The next day was my day to venture out into Lake Charles.  I will say it was a bummer because it was storming pretty good that day.  I was anxious to see the historic district but was very bored with it as it seemed to look exactly the same as the historic district of Wilmington, NC.  I drove around more and tried out a local casino, blew a $100.  It then figured it was time to go back and just relax.

The following day I decided to finish my trip into San Antonio, TX to start off my seven weeks of military training.   Feel free to check out the rest of gallery below.

After the staff and group shots I went on to shooting products.  I leaned away from the traditional softbox (white box) method.  I thought the images looked good on a white bottom and just a blurred background.  After shooting the products came the HDR magic for the interior shots.  Feel free to check out the gallery below to look at all the images.

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