Recent Work...

Members of Temple Fire and Rescue and the Temple Police Department work to free a woman from a white Toyota sedan Thursday (Dec 1,2011) after a head- on collision on Old Highway 95. She along with her two children were taken to Scott and White Memorial Hospital all with life-threatening injuries. (week later one of the woman's children a 6-month-old infant passed away due to injuries sustained in the accident.)
The sister of the driver of the Toyota reacts to the news of the accident after she arrived at the scene.
Serenity Springfield lays red carnations at the VA memorial on Veterans Day for both her great great great grandfather and her great great grandfather.
Ashlee Roan(left) hugs the tombstone of Carl David Roan her grandfather who served in the Marines in Korea and Vietnam as Jeanett Hauck (right) comforts her during a wreath laying ceremony at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen.

Few Rolls of Film...

I've been "lugging" a Holga around on daily gigs snapping a frame when I have a chance.

September/October Daily work

It's been a busy few months here are just a few images...

Crystal Fisher a long time Temple resident is having to figure out what to do after she was informed by Texdot that her house will need to be moved or demolished as they start the expansion of I-35.

Candi Woodum and her daughter Baylie look for a key lost down a hole in their lawn.

Belton area kids enjoy a jumping balloon set up for the Light up the Night event, where the community can get together and meet law enforcement officers to find out about public safety.

First United Methodist Church has been holding middle school dances after the first Belton home football game for the past 25 years. While the music has changed the interaction between the young boys and girls hasn't changed much.

As the rain started to fall at the second University of Mary Hardin- Baylor home football game, fans took cover as best they could.

First week at the Daily Telegram

First week here in Temple and it was an interesting one. Getting back into the Daily Grind of things. First set of images are from the Funeral of MSGT Charles Prince III who died in Afghanistan on the 12th of August.
Gold Prices Jumped Tuesday making the gold buyers very busy.
School year started at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton with a speech from David E. Garland at their fall Convocation.

Potluck...

Just got back from a potluck with Liz and Richard. I will be shooting their up coming wedding this Saturday. Photo above: Richard and his son Travis chatting on the back lawn of Richard and Liz's house. Fun night. I'm sure Saturday will be just as fun if not more fun!

The Track day 2...

At the Track...

Spending the weekend at the Ruidoso downs race track

Testing out my netbook with some street shots...

Picked up a netbook this week and decided to see how it could handle some image processing. It worked well not as well as my Macbook pro, but hey I'm really only using this little guy for short trips to check email,skype and transfer images from a camera to a hard drive. Had a good time shooting downtown this afternoon all and all a good day!

The Mohawk...

Went out to a Diablos ball game this afternoon with the parents and the Cardoza Clan. Nathan here got a new hair cut and eventually really into the game. Sadly the Diablos like the Yankees lost tonight. Ah well it was a good night.

In the BIG PHX

I'm in Phoenix this week and since I haven't updated since Guate I figured it would be a good time. I spent most of my day (Wednesday) wandering up and down Central Ave. Shot the photo above at the Art Museum. I'm giving a presentation today to an Adobe user group hosted by my friend Anthony Bueno should be a good time!

Heading Back to the U.S.

Heading back to the U.S. tomorrow. I have a 9 hour trip back to El Paso. For the past two days I have been in Guatemala City. I plan on exploring this city more on my next trip to Guate, but for now I'll leave you with some images that show the past here is still very much alive. Posters of the disappeared that have been made into graffiti art image of Justice something I know this country is still searching for.

The Return to Demo...

After picking up my friend Jessica from the airport on Wednesday, I'm playing tour guide for the next few days. Can't complain its giving me the chance to go to some of my favorite places like Demo Market.

Sin La Cara Mas Ambiente...

Wednesday afternoon, I spent some time snapping frames around the Nuevos Horizontes Women's Shelter. I've pull away from just shooting portraits and started shooting environmental shots of some of the bedrooms and common areas. Shooting in the shelter is much different from my last project at the hospital in San Lucas. Both situations had privacy issues, but shooting at the shelter has a security element involved adding to the challenge of shooting.

Thursday afternoon the teenagers and women of the shelter had a chance to get some pampering, getting their nails painted, having avocado facial masks and dancing in the lunchroom. Activities like these bring a sense of normality to the lives of the teenagers and women in the shelter.

The coordinators at Nuevos Horizontes and I have been talking about putting together a gallery show sometime later this year. Which I'm pretty excited about. I won't be here to see it go up, but my hope is that it helps the shelter raise some more money or at least attract more volunteers.

Cookin' it up...

Rosie one of the cooks at the Black Cat Hostel. She is always ready with a smile and a joke.

Sin La Cara...

May is my last month here in Guatemala and I have found myself working on a portrait project of sorts. I have begun to photograph inside a women's shelter here in Xela. Because of security concerns I am not allowed to show any of the women's faces. But since so much of the human emotion is brought forth through the face, it is presenting me with a challenge that I did not anticipate.

Today was my first day of shooting and, as with many things in life, it did not go according to plan. But I think that might have helped me discover a better way to shoot these "portraits". The women at the shelter seem to be receptive to my presence. They all have terrible stories as to why they are at the shelter; most have children, and some of the children are products of incestuous molestation and rape. The shelter provides a safe place for them to live and heal.

You can feel the sense of community as you walk in. Everyone is lending a hand cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children in the shelter. The shelter is a nondescript building which resides in a secret location in Xela. Nuevo Horizonte, the association that runs the shelter, is in the process of putting the finishing touches on a new larger shelter in Xela's outskirts. But in the meantime, the women still live in this smaller safe haven where I will be working the next few weeks.

With one day under my belt, I'm pretty excited to see where the work takes me. I have the feeling it will not be what I expect.

Portrait...

(photo shot in Quixayá, Sololá ) This week if all goes well I will be the start of a portrait project here in Xela. should be be a good week or two of creating some challenging portraits. More on that later.

Clinic Update...

Went back to the Clinic in San Lucas this past week. I reminded myself to pull back and soak in the environment of the community and not just let myself get sucked into the activity directly at the clinic. Sometimes you really have to return to basics and remember to cover everything possible that can help a story along. Great trip I'm happy with my take. Now back to editing the story together.

Procession Break...

Got up and headed to Almolonga this morning for what I heard was going to be a very different kind of procession than what I had been shooting this past week here in Xela. Well turns out I was mislead and the processions in this small farming town were on Thursday and Friday. Since I was out there I wandered around the town which here in Guate is know as the "Garden of the Americas." Much of the produce grown here is on small family plots with vegetables growing year around, which is sold and eaten all over Central America.

As I was wandering to the outer edges of Almolonga I ended up on a small dirt path between farm plots. Walking along this path I heard someone behind me calling to me. I turned around and found a farmer asking me to take his photo, after a few minutes of awkwardly navigating the field he was working in I introduced myself to Bartholmu or as he said "Bartholmu de Almolonga." We chat for bit, I snapped a few portraits after which he continued to tend his crop.

One one hand I missed some cool and different processions, but on the other I was able to explore this interesting town for the morning. All in all I think todays little misadventure was a good one. And hey not only did I meet a few very cool people but I found out how much it would have cost to use the baño's at the market, something thats always good to know.

One Image Day

Xela Processions, careful you might get run over!

Procession De Jesus De La Paciencia

As incense burns around the Processional floats Tuesday night, crowds gathered in Quetzaltenago's central park to observe the Procession of Jesus De La Paciencia. The procession is one of many that will take place during Semana Santa or Holy Week in Guatemala, which runs from Palm Sunday to Holy Saturday.