A Very Derrick Christmas
We took Sloan to Kilgore’s A Very Derrick Christmas but left early due to hangry baby.
Día de los Muertos
Was fortunate enough to spend part of my day with friends at the Longview Day of the Dead festival! It was a great turnout despite the threat of rain. It felt like I was only there for a brief moment but it was amazing!
LACAC HOWLS & GROWLS, and Story Time at Books & Barrels
We spent Saturday surviving the brief moment of heat we were exposed to at Longview Animal Care and Adoption Center’s Howls and Growls, but it was… actually really too hot for Sloan so we scoot’d and skedaddled over to Books & Barrels for Story Time with Kelly la Artista (Kelly Danielle Ramón)! Sloan was about as tired as she could be, until story time picked up and she had a real life Winnie the Pooh her own age she could interact (intensely) with.
Argiope aurantia
Late afternoon snack in the garden. I don’t do a lot of macro, but finding this lady makes me want to meander about and take a bunch of macro nature shots!
Longview Art Walk
Zoe wanted to meander around Arts Longview ArtWalk and I brought my camera, didn’t do a lot of shooting but I really only took photos of what I wanted to rather than just butterfly around aimlessly, did meet a few fellow photographers (Got a picture of Steve Korevec (Impressions by Ziggy), a quick photo of T. Daniel from the Longview Fire Department and took a couple of photos of Kelly Danielle Ramón showing her art in Silver Grizzly Espresso. Also bumped into (literally) Watercolor Witchery and got a print!
Caldwell Zoo
Zoe, Jade, Sloan, and myself went to the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler today! Jade, Sloan and I had never been to a zoo and Zoe and Jade had Sloan so I could take photos, it was pretty awesome and almost every single animal there looked fat and sassy and absolutely happy. With the exception of one fox that looked like they’d rather be armed with a knife and a bottle of tequila. 😮 I absolutely LOVED the flamingos!
three Roots Boutique in Gladewater Texas
Zoe, Sloan, and myself went to Three Roots Boutique in Gladewater Texas this morning!
Patreon
I jhave had a Patreon account for over ten years, never really used it but I also just recently learned you can have free memberships! Facebook for me is going the way of Twitter, and I know my other social media accounts are not airports so I don’t need to announce my arrival or departure, but all in all I find myself using Patreon more and more and other social media accounts less. Link: https://www.patreon.com/dangilman
Children’s Story Time with Austin Behlke at Books & Barrels
We went to Independent Bookstore Day at Books & Barrels today to listen to Austin read some books to kids! Ended up getting a couple of books and it was the first time we’ve had to come in since they’ve started reorganizing! Sloan even gave Zoe some free dental work. Independent Bookstore Day is observed on the last Saturday in April. It is a national one-day celebration that supports and celebrates independent bookstores across the U.S. On this day, bookstores host events, offer discounts, and provide safe spaces for literature and ideas.
Sloan’s first Lake visit!
Our daughter’s first visit to Lake O’ The Pines, she had a blast and got to eat her first pine needles and fistfuls of dirt. You know, that quality campground lake dirt!
Sinclair Law Office
Was thrilled to update Sinclair Law Office‘s portraits today! Hands down my biggest on-location, studio project to date, and a day of almost non-stop photography, but I am thrilled with the results and by all accounts they are too!
Downtown Longview Sunset
Had some spare time this afternoon, missed the Downtown Longview Gingerbread Walk, but it was a pretty sunset!
A Super Collider of Zigs and Zags Book Launch
Was more than happy to photograph the book launch of Brendon Behlke’s poetry collection: A Super Collider of Zigs and Zags at Books & Barrels tonight! A collection of over 100 poems, each poem was submitted as a prompt to an AI art generator and produced the artwork on display. Published by Fontaine House Publishing. Brendon Behlke
Longview Poet’s Society
Went to Poetry Night at Books & Barrels, listened to some of my favorite people speak, watched Austin and Brendon re-enact some dopeass dancing skills, played a round of who-knows-what at Silver Grizzly Espresso, and admired this funky weather while crossing the street!
Sloan’s first Trick-or-Treat!
Zoe, April, Carrie, and myself took Sloan and Jade to “THIS is HOWL-o-WEEN” Trick or Treat Carnival” hosted by Longview Animal Care and Adoption Center and then to her very first Trick-or-Treat in downtown Longview! We dinked around one of our favorite haunts (Books & Barrels), had some drinks at Silver Grizzly Espresso, flopped out at Wild Honey Creamery, and then made our rounds to all the vendors handing out candy to my very own Mothma’am! I also took a couple of shots of Jade with the Canon EOS M3 to calibrate it before letting her use it for the day: These are my two favorite photographs of Sloan that Jade captured:
Baby’s First Buc-ees (and Topgolf)!
Sloan got to go to Dallas yesterday! Zoe’s firm had a Topgolf event we went to and everyone wanted to finally meet Sloan, so of course we had to stop at Buc-ee’s to stretch, get some sun, and meet Buc-ee Beaver for the first time!
Yamboree 2023
Breezed through the Gilmer Yamboree today! We didn’t do a whole lot because we are still getting used to going places with the baby girl but she enjoyed looking at all the stuff at the Gilmer Yamboree and seeing all her family! Got more photos of her and our family than much else, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Pumpkin Glow 2023
Went scootin’ and skedaddling through the Ellis Home and Garden Pumpkin Glow at here in Longview today! Sloan was tired more than anything, but enjoyed dinking around through the walk-through, and there was plenty to see and do even for babies! Though honestly I think she was down to throw hands at the petting zoo for some odd reason…
Happy Birthday!
I did not think it was possible to be happier than being Zoe’s husband, but on July 28th, 2023 at 5:10pm Zoe Gilman gave birth to our daughter Sloan Annelise Reeves Gilman, and I am now daddy to the most wonderful little girl!
Longview Poet’s Society: Outspoken Bean at Books & Barrels
The Longview Poet’s Society hosted The Outspoken Bean at Books and Barrels for a free poetry workshop and reading on Wednesday night (February 15th 2023) and I am thankful to have been invited to be a part of it! It was wonderful to see so many people turn out to support art in East Texas!
Upshur County Youth Softball (Black Widows) VS. Pittsburg
The kid’s first away game was in Pittsburg, Texas and they won 14/0!
East Texas Gusher Days
Started off and on sprinkling, was hoping to take a lot more photos but we mainly just made the circuit and talked with just a couple of people working stands (Easley Haus, Apothecary & Oddities gave The Child a free soap sample), might make the rounds again tomorrow!
Upshur County Youth Softball Black Widows vs. Winnsboro Baseball & Softball Association
Kid did an entire softball tonight! Then we celebrated with Sonic and Chipotle!
ArtWalk Longview April
It was an absolutely stunningly beautiful day for a downtown event, and despite the city of Longview having a boil notice for the water supply, Arts Longview’s ArtWalk April went forward. It was supposed to be the biggest yet, but I’ve been to three, maybe four and never could find parking unless I’d go to the end of West Tyler Street all the way to North First Street (the last one I had to park in front of Longview News-Journal when I came an hour early), but was able to park in front of Oil Horse Brewing Co. for this ArtWalk, despite being an hour late, but then maybe that’s the secret. The mood seemed fairly tense in comparison with […]
Upshur County Youth Softball (Black Widows vs. Thunder Chickens)
Got to watch The Child play her first game today! Link: Website, Facebook Second game started at 7PM, you could tell everyone was tired.
Strut Your Mutt 2022 (Longview Animal Control and Adoption Center
Before we moved to Dallas we volunteered at the Longview Animal Control and Adoption Center to socialize the dogs by walking them and giving the animals regular human interaction, we also fostered kittens. We’ve adopted two of our menagerie from them and absolutely adore the people who work and volunteer there. For the past few years everything has been insanely hectic for everyone, so it was great to see so many people, vendors, sponsors and local companies turn out to support them! LCAC Links: Website, Facebook, Instagram
Longview Art Walk (October 7th, 2021)
As much as I enjoyed shooting last night and editing photos until late in the evening, I was exhausted today but still wanted to run amok in historic Longview and see some of the arts! I ended up mainly chatting up artists, briefly reuniting with friends, oogling other photographers work, and looking down back alleys and cobblestone side streets for cool places to shoot portraits in the future. I did have a brief moment where there was entirely too many people and I just ended up petting doggos and looking for cool bugs to photograph. No bugs, but found some weird bulbous plant just dingling about right outside the main square. ArtWalk Longview links: Website, Facebook, Instagram
Longview Poet’s Society (October 6th, 2021)
Everything I know about poetry pretty much comes from Redd Foxx and Andrew Dice Clay, which isn’t to say I can’t appreciate poetry… I’m just not inclined to be able to do more than listen and know what I like. Regardless! I do like Brendon, I’ve known him for quite some time, longer than anyone else I’ve known in Texas, and I asked him if he minded if I came to take photographs of the poetry reading at Books & Barrels (website), which I did! I hadn’t really shot anything with an actual camera since the freeze, so it was super nice to actually get back into it, even if it felt super awkward at first!