Charles Henry 6/8/25 Charles Henry 6/8/25

Tough. Friendly. Hardworking.

If you don’t get run over by a truck, Odessa is a pretty good place.

Charles Henry 6/5/25 Charles Henry 6/5/25

One Big Small Town

If you take pictures from town to town and put everything together, it’s like you’re seeing one big small town.

Charles Henry 5/31/25 Charles Henry 5/31/25

Abandoned Buildings

Abandoned buildings dot rural Texas, but if restored, they’d make great workspaces, and I’d gladly rent one.

Charles Henry 5/30/25 Charles Henry 5/30/25

Colorado City

Colorado City has potential and possesses a great central business district. It’s on busy Interstate Twenty, far out but not too far away, and surrounded by rolling plains.

Charles Henry 5/30/25 Charles Henry 5/30/25

f/8 and be there

F/8 is typically the most optimal aperture for everyday lenses.

Charles Henry 5/29/25 Charles Henry 5/29/25

The end of photo archives

Many new photographs will exist. Image archives are unrealistic because we have too many photos.

Charles Henry 5/26/25 Charles Henry 5/26/25

Watching the sky

Cumulus clouds rise above the horizon, resembling snowcapped mountains where Abilene needs rain. A grudge is a burden none can afford.

Charles Henry 5/22/25 Charles Henry 5/22/25

Endure

One must be blind or drunk or in love to live somewhere worse looking than Odessa.

Charles Henry 5/15/25 Charles Henry 5/15/25

A Home in the Monochrome

In every color image I take, I see a black-and-white photographer trying to escape. It’s black-and-white or bust. Mine are pictures of rust, dents, and dust.

Charles Henry 5/13/25 Charles Henry 5/13/25

Photography

Photography’s reward is doing photography. If you’re interested in something else and using photography in it, then you’re interested in something else to some extent. Something else could be the subject matter or the venue where images are shared. However, to be embedded in photography is to be present with the medium and making images.

Charles Henry 5/12/25 Charles Henry 5/12/25

Far from perfect

There are things we can control and things we cannot. There are things we can get out in front of and things we cannot. Therefore, we must do is our best and grow. It’s life.

Charles Henry 5/10/25 Charles Henry 5/10/25

More Modern

Art made more sense in horse and buggy days because the technology of 1855 more closely resembled that of 1555 than 1955. The first tintypes appeared around 1855, making photography more modern.

Charles Henry 5/6/25 Charles Henry 5/6/25

Twangy

It’s pedal steel, a high-treble electric, and a six-string acoustic; its fiddle, snare, and upright bass and lyrics about heartache.

Charles Henry 4/29/25 Charles Henry 4/29/25

Harsh Daylight

I’ve tried to photograph harsh light for years. Unlike film, digital has less latitude in bright light, which is why you must find techniques to elevate consistency.

Charles Henry 4/19/25 Charles Henry 4/19/25

Calm

In a sea of chaos, be an island of peace.

Charles Henry 4/14/25 Charles Henry 4/14/25

The Westerner

Sometime in the mid 1960s, passenger rail ended for stops serviced by the Westerner. Gone were the days of streamliners west to El Paso or east to Fort Worth. Cars and airplanes replaced passenger trains as speed and convenience took hold.

Charles Henry 4/13/25 Charles Henry 4/13/25

Carscapes

I did the unthinkable and walked in a city as a pedestrian. The fact that nobody stopped to ask for an explanation surprised me.

Charles Henry 3/28/25 Charles Henry 3/28/25

Gear

Photography is 10% taking pictures and 90% watching camera reviews.

Charles Henry 2/26/25 Charles Henry 2/26/25

35, 50

Wide and telephoto touch somewhere between 35 and 50, which means every lens over 50 is called a telephoto and every one below 35 is considered wide, making 35 the longest wide-angle and 50 the widest telephoto.

Charles Henry 2/12/25 Charles Henry 2/12/25

Auxiliary Viewfinders

Forget new lenses and camera specs. One of the most freeing things we can add to our photography is an auxiliary viewfinder because it removes precision.