People

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.

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:

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!

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.

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 […]