Mr. John Taylor (his family calls him ‘Pops’) has spent his life working a ranch that his grandfather settled in the late 1800′s. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the opportunity to photograph him on his land. (I actually photographed him at a hotel.) So I placed him on a ranch I had previously shot. This technique also works great when photographing corporate clients. It takes far less time (and money) than taking the client out to a remote location.
Thank you Mr. Taylor. It was a pleasure.
Last weekend we went on a wildflower quest and drove the country roads east of San Antonio Texas. I believe we may have been just past peak for that area but we did find some nice spots. My favorite was this field with various rusty farm implements surrounded by fields of bluebonnets.
You can see more of my wildflower photos here.
Recently Beverly & I drove the North Carolina back roads in search of shots of beautiful Autumn leaves. Not too far from Chimney Rock NC we rounded a curve and found these horses grazing in the pasture framed by a beautiful Autumn canopy.
As I stated in a previous post; I really should spend more time driving the back-roads. Although, at todays gas prices (not to mention tomorrows) driving the back-roads can get rather expensive… I discovered this old train depot while driving through Lometa Texas. The station has apparently been moved from it’s original location as it’s no longer sitting by the railroad. Perhaps it’s awaiting restoration/remodeling for some future life? In any case it’s quite a interesting old building. While doing a bit of research I discovered this old photo (Link) taken of the depot in 1916.
I’m currently in the process of helping my wife & daughter plan a train trip through Europe later this month & was imagining how wonderful it would be if we still had a similar great railway infrastructure available for moving around the USA. I’m sure many visitors to the US never get to see the countryside or pass through the small towns of America. They simply hopscotch by air from major city to major city never having the opportunity to see all the wonderful spaces between.
I really should spend more time driving the back roads of America. I am very fortunate to have been able to travel all over the world. Still, some of my best memories and favorite photos come not from some romantic foreign city, but from the small places much closer to home. The Owl Drug Store, Soda Fountain and Grill is a recent addition to that list of fond moments. In the photo below, Sarah and her mother from a nearby Christian Agrarian community enjoy a milk shake at the soda fountain in Coleman Texas.
This place is wonderful. Sitting at a booth eating a burger brought back memories of many years ago. As a child growing up in Austin I would ride my bike to the nearby Rexall drug and drink a cherry coke in the back of the store at a soda fountain much like this. The walls of the Owl Drug store are filled with memorabilia. Many pieces have been donated by families and individuals that have moved away from Coleman but wanted to leave a little bit of history they could return to and visit. On the right side of the photo you can see signed photos left by every ‘Miss Texas’ for the past 10 years or so during their traditional visit. Like the neighbors from Coleman that donated a bit of their history to the store, the store allows each of it’s visitors to re-live a bit of their own history through a memory. It makes me want to return. Next time we will have to try out one of those milkshakes.
My wife Beverly & I just completed a wonderful week long road trip. We saw lot’s of great sights, great family and a number of wonderful photo opportunities. Last night at the suggestion of my brother we found ourselves at the “Hotel Garza Bed & Breakfast” in the historic town of Post Texas. Unfortunately, we arrived late & too tired to enjoy time in this wonderful library space. We pretty much crawled into bed after a short visit by our host Ruth & Ian and of course their canine companion Buddy. This morning we headed home after a great home cooked breakfast. We ended up stopping a couple of times along the way for more photo opportunities, but more about that later.
Just down the road from Waring Texas you will find the Don Strange Ranch. When you close your eyes and imagine a Texas Ranch complete with Longhorn Cattle the picture in your mind is probably pretty close to what you see with your eyes wide open here on the ranch; Old Chuck Wagons, Longhorn Cattle & this very cool little cabin are just a few of the sights. Although I confess I’m a bit skeptical about the “Fallout Shelter” sign on the cabin. Then again, I suppose if you need a fallout shelter it probably doesn’t matter…
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Also, as with all on my images on my site you may click on the image to load it in Flickr. If you then click again on the image there, you can see a larger version.
