Mr. Pickens is probably one of the most kind and personable people that I've ever photographed. Despite being one of the most prominent Americans on financial, energy, and political fronts, he is still a small town boy at heart. He made me feel so welcome and like we'd been friends forever as we visited long after the photo shoot was over.
Meet Marion Gentry. A kind man who has owned the Gentry Grocery and Hardware store on the square in Crowell, Texas for 58 years. If you ever have a spare minute, stop in his store, buy a thing or two, and take the time to hear his stories. It will be worth your while.
He'll tell stories about growing up in rural Foard County and how things have changed in the time he's lived there.
The cool thing about Texas. I mean the really cool thing is the change in landscape from east to west.
I've lived in Northwest Texas for the past 18 years and prior to that, lived along the Red River at the northern edge of the Blackland Prairie.
From west to east, the landscape goes from shortgrass prairie to mid grass prairie to tall grass prairie. In between you have vast mesquite flats, the Cross Timbers, the Post Oak Savannah, and then the East Texas forests.
I was in Red River County a short time ago and was enthralled by the vast sea of green woods. The oak and pine trees showed off their new green in response to the much needed rain that's fell over east Texas this year.
I'll admit that I am a plant nerd. As such, I couldn't help but notice the immense diversity of the plants growing in the woods.
Through my teens and even a few years before, I spent part of my summers at an older second cousins house in New Braunfels. He and his wife were the same age as my parents but they were more like my aunt and uncle. Each summer he'd let me bring a friend or two and spend a week or so with them exploring the town and having fun. He lived off of one end of Union Street and each day while I was there, my buddies and I would walk out inner tubes down to the river, plop in, and float the lazy u-shaped Comal River to the other end of Union Street where we'd pull out our tubes and walk back across town to his house. And we did it day after day, summer after summer.
The lifestyle was magical.
In the evenings, we'd spend time around typical New Braunfels haunts like the old town of Gruene. Pronounced green, the enclave is a dream for lovers of history and quaint cottage industry. Lined with bed and breakfasts, small shops that sell everything from fly fishing gear to antiques, and restaurants, Gruene sits atop a hill that overlooks the Guadalupe River. The river is emerald green in color with cypress trees lining the river and is an iconic Hill Country stream. It is simply beautiful.
Back up the hill, the centerpiece of town is Gruene Hall - the oldest continually operating dancehall in Texas. It was built in 1878 and its white lap board siding and flat fronted exterior dates it's inception to early Texas. The paint on the building's exterior is flaking a bit but that simple adds to its rustic charm. Gruene Hall is the crown jewel of the old Texas dance halls.
A few weekends ago, I was at Gruene Hall and coincidentally, Dennis Quaid and the Sharks (yes, that Dennis Quaid) were playing a gig. The place was electric with the band playing their brand of blues and the crowd enthusiastically listening in and dancing on the broad wooden floor.
At Gruene Hall, original music is the rule and Dennis Quaid isn't the first notable act to play the dance hall. In the past, iconic Texas acts like George Strait, Willie Nelson, Robert Earl Keene, Lyle Lovett, and others have played the low staged, open raftered venue. The future, it seems, shows no sign of slowing because a quick look at their calendar shows weekend after weekend booked with both local bands and national acts.
Every time I head to New Braunfels, I can’t help but think of the days when I was younger and spent all of those days floating the river and living a carefree lifestyle. The town holds plenty of great memories for me. So much so, I’ve had the chance to take some of my students (when I was a teacher) to tour the Guadalupe River and Gruene and my own kids.
On March 2, 1836 Texas delegates met in this little shack at Washington on the Brazos and declared their Independence from Mexico. Happy Texas Independence Day!
Traveling through New Braunfels, I met Bryan Duckworth of Duckworth Violin. A fascinating man, Bryan was nice enough to spend some time entertaining even though I asked him cold about taking pictures and shooting video.
In the end, I met a man who was amazingly talented, told stories that were engaging, and was passionate about his work.
A morning in the big cattle country of Western Texas is time well spent. The sights, sounds, and textures of cattle work is a subtle, yet exciting exercise in animal health that links the past with the present.
While many cultures have waned with the technological revolution that cowboy culture (especially in Texas) has endured.
I love telling stories with pictures, and increasingly, video. Here in Texas, we've been in the midst of a historic drought and while it's easy to gloss over the subject when looking at the problem from the outside, you need to hear personal stories to get a true feel of what people are going through.
I've been collecting a few stories of locals who've been affected by the drought and recording their perspectives for posterity's sake.
Local history may not make national news but is worth recording.
As photographers, we have all of the tools we need to collect the history around us.
A few weeks ago I spent some time with my friend Fred Hill from Alaska. Fred was in Texas for an extended stay around the holidays and we decided the head out to call coyotes one afternoon.
On our first stand we called a bobcat which we let walk back into the brush.
On a second stand, a coyote promptly came from the brush and with two shots, Fred quickly dispatched a predator that's been causing a local cattle rancher some trouble.
A large male with a thick, rich coat, Fred was proud of his trophy and I was proud of the time we spent together.
