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.
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!
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!
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
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:
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!
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!
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 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!
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
The second trail we hit in Colorado was absolutely gorgeous, but a lot more challenging (well for me who has never really “hiked” before. I’ve been on flatland trails in quite a few states but never on the sides of mountains or in valleys, it’s stunningly gorgeous and I can’t wait to go back!
Assassination City Roller Derby (Conspiracy vs North Texas Fighting Unicorns) Bout 2
I was invited back officially as a ACRD photographer! Which really what that means is that I’m actually just welcome to come and shoot any time rather than asking/being asked. ^.^ Which is great! Links: ACRD Website, ACRD Instagram, NTRD Website, NTRD Instagram
Assassination City Roller Derby (Conspiracy vs North Texas Fighting Unicorns) Bout 1
I was invited back officially as a ACRD photographer! Which really what that means is that I’m actually just welcome to come and shoot any time rather than asking/being asked. ^.^ Which is great!
Gloriana Rodriguez – PDNB
Glory agreed to a shoot with me to test out my new Canon EOS R5! It’s hard to take bad photos of her, she’s just professional through and through, and well, a legitimate honest-to-goodness professional model. Link: Instagram
Zoe’s Graduation University of Texas at Dallas
Almost endless days and nights of hard work and study culminated today for Zoe!
Gloriana Rodriguez – The Fabrication Yard
Glory was available to shoot at The Fabrication Yard and I wasn’t going to pass up on the chance!
Assassination City Roller Derby
My second time shooting with ACRD, and I have to give big huge thanks to Wicked for inviting me and reminding me that I’m more than welcome! There are some amazing photographers here too, I seem to roll in right as things are starting and they’re all set up with c-stands and remote flash units, I feel a bit like a nitwit trying to stay out of their way but also see what they’re shooting and interested in.
Assassination City Roller Derby – May the 4th (be with you)
Feels super awkward shooting a new league, the handful of times I’ve shot Dallas Derby Devils it was closed practices and this feels official, well… because it’s actual “We’re selling tickets!” games. I met Wicked through Jayne (Hexa Dessie Maul) Ochoa who skated for ACRD and then for DDD, and I met Jayne in Photography class at Richland College, and she helped us out on a light painting night class. This feels really “real” official.
Studio Assignment – Carla Ferrell
I’m always intimidated by using the studio by myself because I always have so many questions. But then I find setting up the Dynalite and strobes by myself feels easier than when I have help. Carla is in my Studio Lighting class here at Richland College and was kind enough to sit for portraits!
Richland College Studio Lighting Class
Spent the night in Studio Lighting preparing for finals. Anaïs was kind enough to model for us and did an absolutely amazing job!
Anaïs Julia Jaquez
We have a Rembrandt Lighting assignment coming up and Louis brought her to help all of us out! She did an absolutely amazing job putting up with an entire classroom full of Studio Lighting students that don’t know what in the actual fuck we’re doing.
Richland College Studio Lighting Class
Spent the night up at the college working with strobes, beauty lights, the soft box, and working the Dynalite Power Pack and the Sekonic light meter. It’s a lot to go through, but we have a lot of good people in our Studio Lighting class and a really awesome professor!
St. Patricks Day Parade
We got extra credit for shooting this, honestly I feel like most of the shots were super, super annoyingly pedestrian except for the very last one. Spending a good three hours walking around my old neighborhood (we used to live a block away from Half Priced Books, where this all started) taking photos of drunken and loud people, the parade had finished and everyone was filtering away trying to beat the rush out, and I had a feeling just to keep my camera on me instead of putting it away, and in a sea of green, there was this one lady with a red shirt on sitting down for a smoke. She looked as absolutely done with this nonsense as […]