at the races

Before the holidays I did some family pics at the old horse race tracks in Weatherford. Beyond the old guy in the cowboy hat telling us we "have no business runnin' around out there." it was good fun. Yeah, I'll admit, we had to jump some fences to get a few of the shots, but after we got run off I still stuck around and got these two shots right on the outside of the racetrack. These are my favs of the entire shoot.

More to come soon, I'm trying to get some last minute posts in before the New Year and start 2010 fresh.

to grandmother's house...

So, I'm leaving today for the Boot to spend Christmas with the extended family. Today I'm gearing up and shoving everything in the SUV for the eight hour drive. Along the way there's a whole lot of road, pine trees, grassy median, horizon, and not a whole lot of anything else. Family Fun (a great game of guess who, where we each take turns describing the characteristics of someone-fictional or non-and try to guess who it is!!!) and podcasts usually get me through the drive. We'll be back before the new year, so until then, Merry Christmas!

the congregation

"The Congregation" is a shot I'd been itching to get for months now. I'd seen these pigeons on this same overpass time and time again and always thought it'd be a great, humorous take on the stereotypical church ladies. But once I had the shot in mind either my timing was off, when I'd drive by they weren't there, or worse-I had failed to pack my camera for the day and so I'd pass up my opportunity, not a camera on me, cursing myself the whole way. This morning, I made sure to pack my camera in my car for this very purpose and whaddaya know, there they were, perched and ready to be preached to.

It's been a typical overcast, winter day, so I didn't have any sun to deal with, but still the sky is lackluster just the same, not even giving me good storm clouds to photograph. So, I did my artsy thing with photoshop, adding the vignette, and words, and the sepia tone until I thought it reached the proper balance of serious, religious undertone offsetting a group of gossipy pigeons on their 'pew' awaiting their pastor. It was well worth the wait.This next shot was just a different angle, and sort of lets you see the color and the lighting before I added all my 'magic'. It didn't work for the picture I had in mind, but gives you a better idea of all the birds that were on that ledge. There's just as many opposite them if I had panned to the right and took a shot as well. More to come.

a(nother) southern view

So busy, Christmas being days away and another trip to Louisiana right at my heels but I felt so guilty leaving you hanging with no new posts or updates or anything! Here are yet more shots from south La. I hope you don't get tired with them because I never will. Hopefully I'll be back before Christmas with more pics...

a week!?

A week's already gone my since my last post...whew, I'm not so good at this constant updating my blog thing. After working all day, you get home, you feed the kids, you go over homework, get them in bed, spend some time with the wife, the last thing I want to do is hop on the net and post some images!! So, pardon me. On to the post:

Taken in Thibodaux Louisiana while there for Thanksgiving, took this while on the 'party barge' with my in laws' family, on the water! It was awesome. Aidan quickly took the wheel and we were off! Had a great time...can't wait for the next trip down. I love La.!

golden brown

The last few pics were taken at my aunt's house in South Louisiana on Thanksgiving day. This was a Fall wreath that hung on the door to her home. One my favorite things about the holidays: Food! One of my favorite things about everyday life: Food! So, I enjoyed Thanksgiving very much, although I did miss my Mom's carrot cake, maybe for Christmas?

good book

They say don't judge a book by it's cover, but this one just sounds so good!

the holidays

Hello everyone! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving week and weekend. I've got a lot coming up in the future: a wedding, lots of shots from Thanksgiving and lots of great stuff while I visited family and snuck away a time or two for some great portraits of the Pelican State. So, come back soon, there's a lot more where this came from.

scenes from texas II

Quickie: wildflowers down the street, shot with the Hola, awesome.

scenes from texas

More shots from the Holga! Don't even remember where I took this at, that's how long film sits in my Holga sometimes.

armadillo art

Spotted this at a roadside park near Northeast Mall. Only in Texas does someone choose an armadillo as a subject for their metal sculpture. Gotta' love it.

megan and prince

More shots from Megan and Prince's wedding in Something Blue...check it out!

creepy burgers

Clown Burgers off of Haltom Road may want to update their sign. This is the freakiest clown I've ever seen, he definitely is not selling me burgers...he's selling me nightmares. Shot with the Holga.

november!

We Texans here in Fort Worth have been enjoying something that usually isn't seen in this part of the country-it's called Fall. The weather has been phenomenal. Typically it's stays at around 95 degrees and then, sometime late in November, it freezes and the leaves die of shock and sudden instant hypothermia and just plummet to the ground not knowing what hit them. This year the temperature change came on slow and gradual and the leaves up and down the street are gorgeous.

mark and terri

New post on Something Blue...check it out!----->

quickie

A quick post: hay bales. simple. timeless (think Monet). and shot with the Holga.

halloween II

More from Halloween! Click the pic to see it larger... Later.

halloween...

Scenes from one of the freakiest Halloween parties I've ever been to. I thought parties like this could only be found on movies or sit-coms...they proved me wrong!

Death: standing ten foot tall, standing post, waiting for his next soul...

A book of spells?!


Do you really need to know your fortune?

Earlier party goers...

return to the fair

During my visit I shot both with my Holga (a roll of 120 film, color), but I also took my old Mamiya C330 for a spin simply out of love for that camera. With my Mamiya I shot a roll of 120 film black and white. A few of those from the fair are below:

the livingston parish fair

One thing I've been trying to capture since I began my ongoing project focused on Livingston Parish is the fair. Growing up the fair played a big part of my life, being the place I hung out with friends, learned lessons about winning and losing and giving it my best, getting into trouble, getting out of it, and so much more. A lot of memories come from being at the fair and visiting it again, years later, was almost surreal because not a lot has changed. In fact, mostly nothing has except the faces of those that attend. Anyway, prepare for the greatness that is the Livingston Parish Fair captured with none other than my Holga. This post is also dedicated to my best friend Rocky, who was there with me every step I took here, I'm sure you'll find these photos all too familiar.

terri

Sooooo, I took these a while back but couldn't reveal them to you before the wedding (we didn't wan the groom to sneak a peak at the dress before the big day), but here they are, Terri's bridal portraits taken at the Japanese gardens in Fort Worth. You have to hand it to her, the day was unbelievably humid, and hot, Fort Worth being bathed in sun after a wet and dreary morning, but she hung in there and here are the portraits to show for it.

louisiana

I find digital photography a bit challenging when photographing fine art. Or let me put it this way: It's hard for me to trust digital to capture exactly what I see when I am taking the picture versus what I see later on either on a computer monitor or in print. Similarly I find it a challenge capturing depth, true color, and the actual emotion of the subject or scene I am photographing. Some photographers have this down. So, I am not blaming the digital process, but am saying precisely I have a hard time with this. Everyday I'm learning. Everyday I'm making small discoveries, experiments to improve upon these things so one day I'll trust myself to digital just as much as I trust myself to film. The photograph below, I commend myself on. I feel like that's exactly what I captured on that cloudy day in Louisiana, an old barn, stained with algae, mold, and age. It standing there for who knows how long, but not nearly as long as the tree has stood, huge and majestic, spanning an area nearly twice as big as the barn. This photograph I absolutely love. I think it's beautiful. It tells a little story of the area, old barns, damp skies, green, green, green everything. I love it. Posting it here doesn't even do it the slightest bit of justice. It needs to be viewed life sized on the wall in an empty museum room where all you can see or feel is the grass the barn rests on, the misting rain on your face.

ewan-part II

Ahh, our hero gives himself a congratulatory yank-up on the ol' sport shorts.

No self-respecting super crime fighter is ever without his red boots.

Love this shot below...it just reminds me of...imagination, pretend, playtime, whatever. It reminds me of Where The Wild Things Are.Sometimes our hero must simply fold his arms in defeat, knowing that even though he may lose a battle now and again, he still strives to win the war.

So, in photographing Ewan, I wanted to depict him as his handsome mild-mannered self (in the first post), but I wouldn't be allowed to truly call those portraits until I've captured him showing off a little of his wild imagination. I hope these have adequately done so.

found art

Shooting at schools sometimes affords me photographic opportunities that aren't usual. Like shooting onstage in North Crowley High's auditorium and finding these multicolored panels each painted by different people. It's a cool idea, but unfinished, so I just shot a small section of it. Cool. Anyway, I'm working on part II of Ewan's post, but not quite ready to reveal them yet. Stay tuned...

ewan-part I

Meet Ewan. Imaginative. Funny. Pretty darn good-lookin' and one heckuva PS2 player. He's a charmer, talking to everyone who talks to him and even those that don't. At almost five he's already memorized his numbers one through twenty and can say the whole alphabet. He spells his very own name and references Spongebob like the rest of us reference Seinfeld. But beyond that cushy, pale exterior lies...a hero...