Eyesore
In saying very little, I stood closer to what I had to say and encountered it before I knew what it was. Brag about eyesores if there’s almost nothing nice to say.
On playing records
I love records. Records are time capsules, and I love records that sound fresh across time and go on to inspire new groundbreaking records.
Multiple Visits
A second visit to Palo Duro Canyon can become an opportunity to see change. We can visit the canyon a hundred times without experiencing two identical trips; for example, sometimes it’s the weather, or we’ll see animal tracks.
I’ve been there
Why do we need a photo to explain a place?
Proximity
It’s difficult to see something from too close or too far.
Abstract
In proximity to everything, the thought of everything worsening is a misinterpretation of how far we’ve come. Each photo changes photography. There’s a point where enough is enough and plenty near gratitude. It’s hard to become impoverished in a free society.
Odessa
After a railway had reached El Paso in the 1880s, a sleepy cattle town grew outward across a dusty plain, Grant and Texas avenues, a place changed by energy, where effort and determination resulted in houses and opportunities.
Way Out
What will we do with all of these photos we’ve taken? Gathering new ones takes less time than sifting through our current lot, and how many images of the same vintage motel sign do we need?
Writing
The ability to write is a sturdy boat on rough seas.
Lessen Suffering
Why we start businesses is similar to why we write songs if the reason is to lessen suffering. Reducing suffering is the closest thing I’ve found to a philosophy of everything.
New Monochrome
With a print, I’ll sit with a two-dimensional surface and see tonal variations throughout. I’ll eye lines and shapes and bring meaning to what’s constructed inside my mind.
Corrugated
Rust covers metal as a blacktop marks an arid plain, tubbing stretches over powdery caleche, mesquites surround valved pumpjacks, and a pickup passes roadside debris outside town.
Pre-2000
Film photography was a folk art. People wrote with light, and shutters drew simple moments into dark boxes.
More Art
It takes a beginning to end and ending, and in the end, there’ll be even more.
Standing at the center of it all
Stone clock towers, arched windows, and decorative ornamentation—courthouses center rural counties.
Head, Foot, and Eye Protection Required
Art galleries come and go, yet artists remain open for a lifetime. There’s no positive answer to my work because it looks like pictures of stuff and is often written off as easy, but it’s thoughts on image assemblage.
Tire Art
Tire Mart’s letter M went missing.
Orla
A tall cylindrical gas pump stands outside the small wooden building covered with flaking paint. A concession stand waits beside mailboxes inside the last stop for gas, cold drinks, snacks, beer, and ice — a long way to anywhere from Orla Grocery.
San Antonio to El Paso Road
The San Antonio to El Paso Road, beginning circa 1850, was a western mail route across Texas to the Pacific. It went west along US 90 and turned north to join the Devils River near Comstock, linking forts Lancaster, Stockton, and Davis — and historic sites Casa Navarro, Landmark Inn, and Magoffin Home.
Near–middle–far
Near–middle–far is to a picture what time–manner–place is to a sentence.