Slow week...

Last week was a pretty slow news week. Ended up at the State of Fort Hood Address at the Hilton, then made some story inquiries that fell through and started praying for some pink elephants to fall from the sky and make my week interesting. Kind of got my wish when a gust of wind tossed a mobile home from a trailer blocking traffic on I-35 for a few hours.

 I wasn't really happy with the shots from the wreck. I couldn't find an angle I really liked. Sometimes that's the way it goes. Ah well lets see what this week brings.

From the Archive...

Spent most of my morning trying to re-organize my archive, but I was sidetracked by looking at old images. The shot above I took at a football game in September 2011.  Now to get away from my archive and my machine I'm taking my dog and a holga for a walk.

Moment of Silence...

I covered the Bell County Rodeo this week. While I have covered rodeos all over the place, the first day of this rodeo was something new for me. Normally, you just hear the national anthem followed by a Christian prayer. But this time, the announcer spoke for all the faiths practiced in the U.S., mentioning that he had great respect for them. Everyone then bowed their heads in prayer. I don't know if this

is happening at other rodeos, but I was was pleasantly surprised to witness it in Central Texas.

My three-day weekend...

Spent my weekend with these two lovely ladies. Ok, so I spend most of my weekends with them, but this weekend was different since I had three days to hang out (not the normal Sunday/Monday weekend I get every week). We spent the weekend touring around the area, first at the Walker Honey Farm and Winery then Sunday headed out to Mother Neff State Park. I could definitely get used to three-day weekends, but tomorrow it's back to the grind stone. I feel pretty refreshed after all the wandering.

January 2013 extras...

 January felt like one hell of a long month. All these photos I snapped while either looking for stand alone or when I got to an assignment really early. I really need to keep up the blog entries, if not for the sake of blogging and shooting at least for my folks who are constantly asking what I've been working on and asking why I haven't blogged in a long time. Alright well I hope you enjoy the snaps.(Above) As the sun sets over Temple a large storm system moved into the area.

 Audrey Hubbard the Nursing Director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the McLane Children's Hospital plays a few hymns on the piano in the Hospital's chapel before Bonnie Layton and Wayne Woolsey get married.

Rain that collected on my passenger side window early in January as I wandered Temple looking for weather art.

 Cattle wait in pens behind the equine arena at the Bell County Expo Center, before being brought inside to test the skills of Cutting Horses and their riders.

On Holiday...

It has been a long time between posts on the ole blog. I figured I start back with some snaps I shot while on Christmas vacation in Memphis, TN with the Girlfriend. Graceland was an experience. I have never been a big Elvis fan, but I still had a lot of fun wandering around the mansion and adjacent grounds. All of this photos were shot with the Hipstimatic App on my phone.

Little Tracks...

I covered one of the many Model Train shows that takes place in Temple ever few months. This was the CentraMOD Inc. 's annual show at the Frank W. Mayborn Civic & Convention Center. The show had over 100 vendors as well as workshops for those interested in Model Rail Roading. What really caught my interest was the age range interested in model trains older folks, kids and everyone one in between.  I never really considered model trains as way for people to  create community, always pictured a lone dude sitting in his basement lit by a single light bulb, but now I can see that I was completely wrong about that. Its a pretty weird vibrant community.

From the Archive...

Pulling from my archive I found this landscape I snapped  after my interview in Temple at the Telegram from a rest stop off of I-10. Since this month marks a year since I took the gig here, I figured I would mark the occasion with a photo.

East Temple

I really enjoyed working on a series with our former city reporter, Jessica Priest, about East Temple. And while the series ran in the Telegram about a week ago, I still feel like there are more stories to tell in this very forgotten part of the city. I desire to delve deeper into the narrative of this part of town through its people and history. You will definitely see more of this project here in future posts. 

Hiding from the camera...

I always get a kick out of people hiding from the camera when I'm out on assignment. While I was covering a Juneteenth Parade this morning I ran into these two kids on a street corner James (right) called me over to take his photo laughing and dancing while his friend Jakayla pulled her blanket over her face. I'm pretty sure I heard a few words being mumbled to James  as I hung out snapping frames about how he was going to get it later.

Battle of Temple Junction

Saturday afternoon I drove my little fuel efficient car into a cut-down corn field and step back in time. My assignment: cover a Civil War reenactment that never actually happened here in Temple. "The Battle of Temple Junction" part of a three-day event showcasing the tactics of the war, the medical treatment of the time and living conditions.

I spent some time weaving between Confederate and Union lines before joining the crowd gathered to watch the Battle begin. As the smoke filled the field of battle, some bystanders started joking that with all that gun fire no one was hit. All I kept thinking was, "Wow, the Union forces here are few and far between." No surprise. The Confederate forces won this demonstration. As the smoke cleared, some of the reenactors stumbled off the field to a field hospital set up to show the 100 or so event spectators how the wounded and dying were treated.

During the battle and following medical demonstrations, you would hear onlookers discussing the Civil War (mostly bashing the Union army and Lincoln). I know I shouldn't be, but I found myself surprised at the resentment so many years after the end of the conflict. I guess that's how it is after any war.

It was a weird way to spend an afternoon, however it was fun to cover!

State Track

 Spent Friday and Saturday covering the state track meet. As of 3:30 Friday afternoon, I was getting cozy under the photographer tent at Mike Martinez Stadium. I love covering track and field. Besides the long history, the sport contains some of the most dramatically emotional moments in sports as the athletes concentrate, wince in pain, cry in sorrow and celebrate in victory. These are just a few of the many images I took over the weekend. I hope you enjoy them.

Film...

Two snaps off a roll shot back in October at a Halloween street festival, one of those "safer to bring your kids here rather than have them trick or treat in the neighborhood" deals. These were my two favorites off the roll.

Random Images from the week

The China House, Temple, TX

Horses, Little River Academy, TX

Its funny how a roll of film can make my day...

Holga

Lubitel

Holga

Holga

Lubitel

Ok so it was actually two rolls of film. One from a Holga and one is a test roll from my Russian Lubitel.

Portrait: Marcus

Snapped this frame Wednesday morning of Marcus Hood A.K.A. M HOOD! one of the Sports guys at the paper.