820 & 30 :: crossroads II

I really think I may have been an urban landscape shooter in a former life.  Why do I love to photograph interstates so much?  Wasn't it Andy Warhol who said, "I like boring things." apparently so do I.

sunrise over cowtown

During our recent spring break I was able to take some time out and capture a few images I've been dreaming about, one particular image involving a nearby neighborhood and the morning sun; more on that image when I get it back from the lab.  But, while prepping for that shot another one greeted me unexpectedly:  Good morning Fort Worth.

horses, horses, horses...

This is one of those driving-down-the-road-pull-over-and-take-a-picture moments.  It is a practice I usually don't practice enough of.  This day, I was glad I did.  Taken with expired Impossible Project sepia 100 film.

off interstate 20

It is starting to become some sort of tradition:  When scheduled for pictures at Millsap-bring along an extra camera or two for some great photo ops along the route.  Here is one of them found on the outside of Millsap, right off of interstate 20.  Shot with my Polaroid land camera and Impossible sepia film. 

monoliths

I am, and have been, attracted to these huge silos that spread out across Fort Worth. Been eyeing them for a few years now. They're massive structures, nothing of any monumental architectural wonder but they still cast some sort of aesthetic upon me. I think they are awesome. I've been trying to dig up a little history on them lately and really can't find anything that quenches my thirst. They are mysteries to me. What are each of them used for? Are they still in use today? I'm pretty sure they play a part in the story of Fort Worth and it's rise to Western Cowboy Fame, but what part is that? Some of this attraction is that I find wonder and beauty in the simplest of things. A lot of architecture that is applauded can be found on Catholic churches, modern art museums, and the like. I tend to focus on those little known structures that not many people stop to think about: gas stations, grain elevators, flour mills. I don't know why I find beauty in the plain. Maybe it is just the minimalist in me.

barnyard

Behind the old Victorian home sat a half kept up horse barn. The land owner still uses the land but the person who owns the home on the property is content to letting mother nature take it over. Anyway, here's a shot of the barn with that big blue Texas sky stretching out from behind it, for what could be forever.

abandoned beauty

In Justin, Texas on the outside of town, rests this old Victorian style home. If anyone who knows me or seen any of my previous work you know that my lens has a strange attraction to old runned down buildings. I have had my eye on this particular one for the past few years, today I decided that I would finally obey my instincts and photograph it.

homecoming

Every year homecoming season comes and goes and with it I usually get a slew of images that are hard to explain. They are hard to explain just as teenagers are often hard to explain. High school being what it is and filled with teenagers that are all trying to figure out who they are, what they stand for, what is right and wrong with the world around them, what these things are that are known as the opposite sex (and how to communicate with the strange beings), what they want to be when they grow up, and how to go about accomplishing all these things and still remember the periodic symbol of silver for the test next week. I think the images below capture all things homecoming, and simultaneously all things high school and all things youth.

train cars

The difference between Texas backroads and Louisiana ones are most evident in a shot like this. Taking road trips down and around rural south Louisiana the view of the sky is often crowded out by tall pines that line the road on either side. You can see blue sky above the road, but look to the left or the right, and it's tall thin bark and underbrush, palmettos and thickets. In Texas, it's all open sky. Along side the railroad tracks this road was taking me home one day, picked out by my GPS, which at times is wrong and it sends me down these untraveled back roads thinking it can get me to my destination even faster. Once I learn the road I'm on is the wrong one though, I can't get angry, because although I may not be headed directly toward my destination, it's what you find on the road to getting there.

keely and patrick-teaser

It was a dark and stormy morning, frigid winds blew out of the North and while the rest of North Texas were inside their houses, huddling underneath blankets and scratching their heads why it was 40 degrees in Texas in May...Keely, her fiance' Patrick and I were out in the midst of it all taking photographs! Melodrama aside, this past Sunday I spent the morning with a wonderful couple traipsing through Trinity Park and photographing an awesome couple. It was cold, but they were troopers throughout. Below is a sneak peak, more are soon to follow.

windblown

Now that the image-taking process has come to a close on the Louisiana project, is it time yet to begin a series focused on Texas? As I shift my focus from the great parish I was born in and now begin the process of organizing my images and stalking publishers the actual capture part of that project has ended. A photographer's got to shoot though, right? A while back I began thinking of a photography series set in and around Fort Worth, more of a city to me than where I grew up, and having the two books published back to back: one about Livingston Parish, Louisiana. The other about Fort Worth, Texas, and then marketing the two books as a county/city series. The idea still resonates with me and one never knows how these things will turn out. But, as I go through daily life, there are images of Texas that may not be iconic to Texans, but they are iconic to me and what I love about the this area. This photo, taken on the side of the interstate struck me in it's simplicity but notice the grass all laying violently to one side as if they were collectively laying down in the shade, like a day worker on a lunch break. Tell-tale to the high winds that make Fort Worth a permanant home during the spring. This image speaks to me, and reminds me of a Texas I've come to call home. Hopefully it does the same for you.

old school

If you don't know me at all let me just say that every day I grow just a little more disenchanted with digital photography and find myself longing for analog. I don't know if it's the artist in me, or that I didn't fall in love with just photography, but the medium of film itself. The actual material, the physical light-sensitive, ultra cool, (what's now thought of as) cumbersome, beautiful, film. Or whatever your fancy is, be it photographic paper, tintypes, glass, Polaroid transfers, the list could go on-which is why it continues to fascinate me. The list really could go on. I won't delve into that fascinating and magical world, though. I'll save that for another time. Today, I'll just post some photos I did take with my digital camera *looks down at feet in embarrassment* *shuffles from one foot to the other* but was originally shot in black and white then later cropped as a shout out to my original medium format camera, the Mamiya C330-which I must say is already loaded with another film that is being used for another project altogether and was unavailable for today's shoot. So, I had to use what was available. Regardless, though, I brought home some interesting shots taken from the ghost of a horse farm that I once knew.

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.

mineral wells-revisited

Today, let's revisit a shot taken at my ultimate favorite place to take pictures: Mineral Wells. These are some quick shots just taken around town...and me cruising in a shopping cart, a common Mineral Wells past time.

mineral wells-meet holga

Not too long ago I posted some great images taken in a little town called Mineral Wells. On that day I took my Holga along with me and photographed a piece or two of the town with it. Here are those images, untouched, right out of the camera; a town interpreted onto film the only way a Holga can. I love that camera...I do.

happy fourth!

No cool fourth of July pics, but here's some more from Padre island. I took so many pictures while down there, the ones you guys are seeing here are just a small pinch. A lot of them I took with film, so I'm just playing the waiting game until I can get those back from the lab. Anyway, enjoy your holiday everyone!

summer vacation!!!

Tomorrow we leave for South Padre! My first family vacation in years. So, I will not be posting anything for the next week or so. I figured I'd leave you guys with this image of the dry Texas sky, except I'm trading the field in for an ocean view! See everyone next week!

one stop shop

Another image taken from my little trip out to Milsap, Tx. Nothing real special about this image, but I love the humor behind three completely different businesses being ran out of what appears to be a relatively small shop.

one road town

Welcome to Milsap, a town about forty minutes west of Fort Worth. It's barely a town, really, lacking even official buildings-except for the post office. I don't want to go into a whole lot of detail because I plan on visiting Milsap again soon and photograph it and, hopefully, some of the people who live there. Anyway, here's a preview.