A Very Derrick Christmas
We took Sloan to Kilgore’s A Very Derrick Christmas but left early due to hangry baby.
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!
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
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!
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 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!
Big Bend National Park
Zoe and I went on our first vacation, our first camping trip, and our first long-distance road trip with friends who invited us to go camping with them and their family! I got to try my hand at astrophotography for the first time!
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
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 […]
White Rock Lake Dog Park
Just a day in the life! As hard as my wife is working on her masters, about the only thing that is as close to zen for her as humanly possible is time with her (and strangers’) puppers!