Photos of last night’s sunset, courtesy of Gabe Grote.

Man, we live in a beautiful place!

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Ah, I can think of few things better than spending a warm summer evening sitting on the west bank of the Trinity River, with the fireflies and the city lights twinkling in the distance. We can thank Flickr user Yo Spiff for this great image. Check out the rest of his Fort Worth photos here. He’s got some really neat fisheye-panorama type photos of downtown in there. Check it out.

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As I often do, the other day I was cruising Flickr, looking for some cool Fort Worth related photos when I stumbled upon John Ward’s amazing aerial photos of downtown Fort Worth. I like the aerial photography, so I decided to check out Ward’s website thinking he might be a pilot or has a buddy with a plane. Further amazement ensued when I discovered that Ward uses a home-built remote control plane to do his work. I love that American ingenuity!

Fort Worth freelance photographer and flickr user David Kozlowski specializes in hyper-realistic imagery, blending multiple exposures to enhance light, shadows, color tones and saturation to create finished pieces resembling paintings or illustrations.

A voracious photographer, Kozlowski says he is most comfortable shooting urban decay, architecture, industrial sites and especially people. When not shooting photos,the Keller resident enthusiastically assists younger photographers with advice and encouragement.

With work exhibited in several galleries, museums, online and in print, Kozlowski says “I consider myself an advanced amateur, with a couple sales sprinkled on top. I have always had an eye for design, but never utilized it until…I discovered Flickr. It was there that I gained a little attention with my passion for HDR images. To this day I am still addicted to it…I really find it beautiful. I have no formal training or background in photography…what I know has been self-taught, or through lessons given by great Flickr buddies.”

Rocky II, originally uploaded by David Kozlowski.

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Lawrence Carter is a Fort Worth native that goes by the username “dredgemortle” on flickr. Carter is a newb to photography, having bought his camera last February, but the maturity of his striking work conceals his relative inexperience behind the camera. His technique involves heavy post-processing in Photoshop, something which I generally avoid in my own work, but the post-processing adds an moody atmosphere to his images that I really enjoy.

Carter says, “As for processing, I think there is a certain way to post-process every image that is particular to that image… So, I usually let images sit around for a while so I can ’see’ them as they really are, with a more distant and critical eye.”

Ziggurat by dredgemortle

“I took the picture of the Blackstone Hotel in Fort Worth because it’s my wife’s favorite building here. The swirling clouds above the building and sunset light were great and gave it electricity and an ominous foreboding.”

The Masonic Temple by dredgemortle

“I had driven by the Masonic [Center] so many times and never really looked at it. It wasn’t until I saw a picture by Byrd Williams, that I really noticed it. The doors on this place are unbelievable against the overall austerity of the architecture. It’s a beautiful building.”

Dust Devil by dredgemortle

“In Dust Devil, the aim of the processing was to give a rough and parched feel. The sky is reaching out to steal a drink from the tower.”

See more of Carter’s work here

There’s a lot of creativity simmering beneath the surface around these parts, and we want to highlight the (un)known talent in Fort Worth. The View Finder does just that. If you are and flickr user and have an image that is related Fort Worth somehow and you want to share with us, tag it image with “westandclear“. If we like it, we’ll feature it on The View Finder.

The Modern, originally uploaded by UncaMikey.

Less matter, more form!, originally uploaded by UncaMikey.

Flickr user UncaMikey is a recent arrival to Fort Worth. After working for the state in Austin, UncaMikey and his wife retired to downtown Fort Worth. UncaMikey says “Two of the most important reasons for moving from Austin to Fort Worth are the museums and the Trinity Trails.” Describing himself as “very much an amatuer” UncaMikey has dabbled in photography for 40+ years and recently made the switch to digital. See more of UncaMikey’s work here.

There’s a lot of creativity simmering beneath the surface around these parts, and we want to highlight the (un)known talent in Fort Worth. The View Finder does just that. If you are and flickr user and have an image that is related Fort Worth somehow and you want to share with us, tag it image with “westandclear“. If we like it, we’ll feature it on The View Finder.

Purrrrr….., originally uploaded by Tex Flix.

There’s a lot of creativity simmering beneath the surface around Fort Worth, and we want to highlight the (un)known talent out there. We are starting a new feature called The View Finder to do just that.

With the advent of digital technologies, photography is going through a bit of a renaissance. We want to share some of the best images of the people and places of Fort Worth. If you are a user of the photo sharing website flickr, tag your image with “westandclear“. If we like it, we’ll feature it on The View Finder at Westandclear.com.

Our inaugural pick is from Tex Flix…It’s interesting lit tiger’s back, shot at the Fort Worth Zoo. Check out Tex’s Fort Worth Zoo set for some more excellent work.