Architecture Traditional Texas Home

Traditional Texas Home · **2 Likes**

This is a traditional Texas house. My great grandfather and my grandfather both had homes designed like this. If you notice there are two halves to the house... this is a unique design. In the winter you had a smaller space to heat and each side had a fireplace... and in the summer the heat is bad so the 'porch' was in between. It provided shade and the wind would get funneled through the middle. On one side would be the bedrooms and the other side would be the kitchen, dining area, etc and a pantry would be attached. The entry ways face each other.

jnguyen · 11-15-2012, 11:31 PM - **1 Like**

Thank you for the excellent explanation. You taught me something today. I would like to see more pictures of this house.

alamo5000 · 11-15-2012, 11:44 PM

Originally posted by jnguyen

Thank you for the excellent explanation. You taught me something today. I would like to see more pictures of this house.

I would have to jump the fence and walk out there to get more shots

And Texans don't take too kindly to trespassers LOL!

Here is a bit more explanation to go with it... this home is located in central Texas, otherwise known as 'the hill country'...its more of a dry climate with rocky soil and the trees are 'curly'...they don't grow long and tall but rather shorter and twisty...

The construction is made of logs with rocks stuffed in between...then its plastered over with some sort of 'concrete' that they knew how to make...

Over in the part of Texas where I actually live (East Texas) its covered in massive trees. Long tall straight pines and you also get long tall straight hardwoods too. My home is surrounded with 250 square miles of nothing but forest. We get substantially more rain over in this side of the state...

Over here my progenitors' homes were more constructed out of 'boards' that were sawmill cut. There was much less 'rocks and plaster' because they had different materials to make the homes out of. Same basic design, some more elaborate than others...but in central Texas they made more use of rocks and curly wood and plaster...and we made more use of sawmill sawn long straight boards.

I remember when I was a teenager going and playing at my grandpa's house where their 'old house' was still standing and technically 'in use'... after a while though it just got old and started to fall down (after about 100 something years these things happen) so its since been scrapped.

Also when its YOU chopping your own fuel you want to have an efficient home! I've worked an ax more than once and that gets old quick. They made their homes with all this stuff in mind.

alamo5000 · 11-15-2012, 11:54 PM

A picture is supposed to be worth a thousand words... to me I can spend a thousand words explaining this photo. Easily.

**Jacquot** · 11-16-2012, 04:07 AM - **1 Like**

Tennessee had a traditional home like this as well, I've seen a couple well preserved. They call it a "Dog Trot" house.

Na Horuk · 11-16-2012, 04:30 AM - **1 Like**

Very interesting! Good photo and explanation.

tessfully · 11-16-2012, 05:55 AM - **1 Like**

I really enjoyed your image and narrative. Thanks very much!

alamo5000 · 11-16-2012, 02:59 PM

Thank you all for the kind words. I've been playing photographer for about 6 months so I am still learning

I think I might play around a little more with the PP and see what I can get... I am still getting my head around a lot of that part...

**wtlwdwgn** · 11-16-2012, 03:58 PM - **1 Like**

A very instructive image and description. Just remember that you can over process an image and this one looks pretty good as it is. As far as trespassing goes you could ask the owner for permission. Hunters probably do. Whereabouts is the house? Near San Antonio I expect by your username.

**paulh** · 11-16-2012, 04:07 PM

Nice photo and story. I've seen some old cabins up here in the Dallas-Ft Worth area with the same type of construction, but not with the open area in the middle. I always marvel at how those early settlers survived those scorching summers without air conditioning!

alamo5000 · 11-16-2012, 04:55 PM

Originally posted by wtlwdwgn

A very instructive image and description. Just remember that you can over process an image and this one looks pretty good as it is. As far as trespassing goes you could ask the owner for permission. Hunters probably do. Whereabouts is the house? Near San Antonio I expect by your username.

Actually I don't live anywhere near San Antonio. I live in East Texas near Houston. I travel around the state A LOT for work (I drove about 1,200 miles just this week alone-- no I am not a truck driver). This photo was taken near a little town called Johnson City. Its about an hour west of Austin. That whole area is what we call 'the hill country'.

I go to and through some pretty backwater places from time to time. When you drive for an hour or two with no cel phone coverage and no radio stations (at all) in range you know you're out in the middle of no where. I have learned to take CD's.

A friend of mine who is very good at what he does suggested that I do some dodge and burn and increase the contrast some. My software doesn't have dodge and burn on it and to be honest I had to look it up what that meant.

I am with you though that images can look over processed. I did experiment a little and added more contrast and I did like that in a subsequent image. As I stated above I am really new to photography and don't know much especially about post processing. I have only owned any kind of SLR camera since June. I only just started playing around with RAW so I only use Raw Therapee (because its free). The software that came in the box with my K-5 just sucked so I deleted it.

Once I learn more I will make an educated choice and buy a good PP software. Before I ever bought a camera at all I read books and comparison shopped for a year before I made the leap. Before I did anything at all I had a year's worth of homework under my belt and chose Pentax (K5) over Canon or Nikon. If I want to go full frame ever that's different, but I digress.

Anyway I am fairly pleased considering I am a rank amateur. This image to me satisfies my desire to 'shoot with intent' and to have a 'meaning' behind the photo...in large part I did almost nothing to the photo (partly because I don't know how) so this is how it was shot (90%). Yeah I did a little here or there but not much. Still learning that part.

Its not even cropped.

alamo5000 · 11-16-2012, 04:59 PM

Originally posted by paulh

Nice photo and story. I've seen some old cabins up here in the Dallas-Ft Worth area with the same type of construction, but not with the open area in the middle. I always marvel at how those early settlers survived those scorching summers without air conditioning!

Yeah no kidding. It gets hot. Well at least with this kind of house you can cook and not heat up your whole house during the summer.

alamo5000 · 11-16-2012, 06:43 PM

I really don't know what I am doing but here is a revised version I just played with using a couple different software programs.

normhead · 11-16-2012, 06:49 PM - **1 Like**

Nicely spiced up....

alamo5000 · 11-16-2012, 07:14 PM

Originally posted by normhead

Nicely spiced up....

Thank you! I really value your input Normhead. You've always been a professional everywhere I have seen you say almost anything.

I used my 'push buttons and do and undo until something comes out looking half decent' approach.

I started out using Raw Therapee and then made the picture kind of spicy, then I exported it to JPEG and used Paint.net to do other stuff.

Again I had no method. Just eyeballed it. I would like to be able to isolate the sky and darken it but not darken the whole picture...

I need to do more homework on the software and start going at it.

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11-15-2012, 11:44 PM	#3
alamo5000 Pentaxian Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 2,962 Original Poster	Originally posted by jnguyen Thank you for the excellent explanation. You taught me something today. I would like to see more pictures of this house. I would have to jump the fence and walk out there to get more shots And Texans don't take too kindly to trespassers LOL! Here is a bit more explanation to go with it... this home is located in central Texas, otherwise known as 'the hill country'...its more of a dry climate with rocky soil and the trees are 'curly'...they don't grow long and tall but rather shorter and twisty... The construction is made of logs with rocks stuffed in between...then its plastered over with some sort of 'concrete' that they knew how to make... Over in the part of Texas where I actually live (East Texas) its covered in massive trees. Long tall straight pines and you also get long tall straight hardwoods too. My home is surrounded with 250 square miles of nothing but forest. We get substantially more rain over in this side of the state... Over here my progenitors' homes were more constructed out of 'boards' that were sawmill cut. There was much less 'rocks and plaster' because they had different materials to make the homes out of. Same basic design, some more elaborate than others...but in central Texas they made more use of rocks and curly wood and plaster...and we made more use of sawmill sawn long straight boards. I remember when I was a teenager going and playing at my grandpa's house where their 'old house' was still standing and technically 'in use'... after a while though it just got old and started to fall down (after about 100 something years these things happen) so its since been scrapped. Also when its YOU chopping your own fuel you want to have an efficient home! I've worked an ax more than once and that gets old quick. They made their homes with all this stuff in mind. Last edited by alamo5000; 11-15-2012 at 11:52 PM.

11-16-2012, 04:55 PM	#11
alamo5000 Pentaxian Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 2,962 Original Poster	Originally posted by wtlwdwgn A very instructive image and description. Just remember that you can over process an image and this one looks pretty good as it is. As far as trespassing goes you could ask the owner for permission. Hunters probably do. Whereabouts is the house? Near San Antonio I expect by your username. Actually I don't live anywhere near San Antonio. I live in East Texas near Houston. I travel around the state A LOT for work (I drove about 1,200 miles just this week alone-- no I am not a truck driver). This photo was taken near a little town called Johnson City. Its about an hour west of Austin. That whole area is what we call 'the hill country'. I go to and through some pretty backwater places from time to time. When you drive for an hour or two with no cel phone coverage and no radio stations (at all) in range you know you're out in the middle of no where. I have learned to take CD's. A friend of mine who is very good at what he does suggested that I do some dodge and burn and increase the contrast some. My software doesn't have dodge and burn on it and to be honest I had to look it up what that meant. I am with you though that images can look over processed. I did experiment a little and added more contrast and I did like that in a subsequent image. As I stated above I am really new to photography and don't know much especially about post processing. I have only owned any kind of SLR camera since June. I only just started playing around with RAW so I only use Raw Therapee (because its free). The software that came in the box with my K-5 just sucked so I deleted it. Once I learn more I will make an educated choice and buy a good PP software. Before I ever bought a camera at all I read books and comparison shopped for a year before I made the leap. Before I did anything at all I had a year's worth of homework under my belt and chose Pentax (K5) over Canon or Nikon. If I want to go full frame ever that's different, but I digress. Anyway I am fairly pleased considering I am a rank amateur. This image to me satisfies my desire to 'shoot with intent' and to have a 'meaning' behind the photo...in large part I did almost nothing to the photo (partly because I don't know how) so this is how it was shot (90%). Yeah I did a little here or there but not much. Still learning that part. Its not even cropped. Last edited by alamo5000; 11-16-2012 at 05:01 PM.

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11-15-2012, 11:31 PM - 1 Like	#2
jnguyen Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Bellingham, WA Posts: 446	Thank you for the excellent explanation. You taught me something today. I would like to see more pictures of this house.

11-15-2012, 11:54 PM	#4
alamo5000 Pentaxian Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 2,962 Original Poster	A picture is supposed to be worth a thousand words... to me I can spend a thousand words explaining this photo. Easily.

11-16-2012, 04:07 AM - 1 Like	#5
Jacquot Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: May 2008 Location: Sun City Center, FL Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,544	Tennessee had a traditional home like this as well, I've seen a couple well preserved. They call it a "Dog Trot" house.

11-16-2012, 04:30 AM - 1 Like	#6
Na Horuk Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Slovenia, probably Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 11,186	Very interesting! Good photo and explanation.

11-16-2012, 05:55 AM - 1 Like	#7
tessfully Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: S. Algonquin, Ontario Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 5,860	I really enjoyed your image and narrative. Thanks very much!

11-16-2012, 02:59 PM	#8
alamo5000 Pentaxian Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 2,962 Original Poster	Thank you all for the kind words. I've been playing photographer for about 6 months so I am still learning I think I might play around a little more with the PP and see what I can get... I am still getting my head around a lot of that part...

11-16-2012, 03:58 PM - 1 Like	#9
wtlwdwgn Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Billings, MT Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,838	A very instructive image and description. Just remember that you can over process an image and this one looks pretty good as it is. As far as trespassing goes you could ask the owner for permission. Hunters probably do. Whereabouts is the house? Near San Antonio I expect by your username.

11-16-2012, 04:07 PM	#10
paulh Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: DFW Texas/Ventura County, CA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 33,258	Nice photo and story. I've seen some old cabins up here in the Dallas-Ft Worth area with the same type of construction, but not with the open area in the middle. I always marvel at how those early settlers survived those scorching summers without air conditioning!

11-16-2012, 04:59 PM	#12
alamo5000 Pentaxian Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 2,962 Original Poster	Originally posted by paulh Nice photo and story. I've seen some old cabins up here in the Dallas-Ft Worth area with the same type of construction, but not with the open area in the middle. I always marvel at how those early settlers survived those scorching summers without air conditioning! Yeah no kidding. It gets hot. Well at least with this kind of house you can cook and not heat up your whole house during the summer.

11-16-2012, 06:43 PM	#13
alamo5000 Pentaxian Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 2,962 Original Poster	I really don't know what I am doing but here is a revised version I just played with using a couple different software programs.

11-16-2012, 06:49 PM - 1 Like	#14
normhead Pentaxian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Near Algonquin Park Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 40,451	Nicely spiced up....

11-16-2012, 07:14 PM	#15
alamo5000 Pentaxian Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 2,962 Original Poster	Originally posted by normhead Nicely spiced up.... Thank you! I really value your input Normhead. You've always been a professional everywhere I have seen you say almost anything. I used my 'push buttons and do and undo until something comes out looking half decent' approach. I started out using Raw Therapee and then made the picture kind of spicy, then I exported it to JPEG and used Paint.net to do other stuff. Again I had no method. Just eyeballed it. I would like to be able to isolate the sky and darken it but not darken the whole picture... I need to do more homework on the software and start going at it.

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