19,370 Miles To Go: Or There And Back Again; A Photographer’s Tale

DFW to Heathrow to Lusaka International

Some of you may know that in just under two weeks I’ll be flying from DFW to London and then on to Lusaka, Zambia to work for roughly a month for a non-profit organization.  I’ll be the photographer for Family Legacy; an organization that works with orphaned children that have been abused or are inflicted with the AIDS virus.  This is an opportunity that I have been looking forward to for quite some time now and I am patiently awaiting the challenges that await me on my journey.

My primary responsibilities will be to photograph all the benefits that Family Legacy provides for the orphans of Zambia; benefits including schools, housing, food, and clothing.  At the same time I will also be going into surrounding villages to document living conditions and situations that these children are presented with.  My hope is to both show the importance of the non-profit work that goes on as well as to thoughtfully and carefully convey what these children go through on a day to day basis.  I will be accompanied by a couple of Zambian guides when I go into the villages as some of the areas may not be the safest; and have free reign to shoot all the facilities Family Legacy has to offer.  Regardless of what I am shooting my style will be the same; a fly on the wall approach.  In order to get the most genuine and natural reactions I want to be as non-invasive as possible.

It won’t be all work though; I get to spend some time in London on the way to Zambia and on the way back home.  I also am going on a three day trip to Victoria Falls which are the largest in the world.  Another added bonus is my Mother (Patty) and Sister (Katy) who are also working with Family Legacy will be with me the whole time I’m there.  Seeing as how they have both already been multiple times I consider it a valuable resource and am thankful they will be there to help me along the way.

Internet, texting, and phone communication will all be very minimal but I hope to try and update my blog as much as possible.  This whole trip is essentially what I want to be doing as a photographer and a major reason why I wanted to pursue a career in the field.  Traveling, documenting, and experiencing other cultures is exactly what I want to be doing; I’m hoping this is the first of many and that the standards I hold my work up to are met and exceeded.  I can’t wait to get back, edit, and share a finished product with those who are interested.

Finally a HUGE thank you to all those who donated to help make this trip possible, without you guys I wouldn’t be going so again thank you.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Confucius

King of the Rabbit Trail and The Phuss Live at City Tavern Dallas, TX

Shot this show on September 3rd 2010…  The two bands were King of the Rabbit Trail and The Phuss.  Both bands drew a large crowd and it was a packed venue through out the entire show.  Plus who can turn down live bands and a P.B.R. and a shot for $5?  Only an insane person is the answer to that question.

City Tavern‘s crowd has a great mix and hosts numerous local live bands every week.  So for those of you that say Dallas has no music scene, please read the aforementioned statement.  I’d recommend you try and catch both these bands if you have the opportunity to do so, but be warned they play loud and for the most part they play fast.

Enjoy the photos and let me know what you think.

And if you want to see a loud, local, rock band look these guys up and give them a listen…

The Phuss:

King of the Rabbit Trail:

Spector 45 @ La Grange in Deep Ellum

I wanted to post a blog of some of the event and concert work I have been doing lately to showcase a different range of photography that I do.  I am starting to really enjoy shooting bands and doing concert work.  It presents a whole new set of challenges and opportunities for me to work on and continue to improve upon.  There is a great deal of concert and event photography done so I relish the chance to put my own spin and vision on that specific area of photography.

Spector 45 is Frankie 45 on Vocals and Guitar, Animal Anthony on Drums/Vocals, and Adam Carter on Bass/Vocals.  This is an artist’s statement from the band in these specific photos:  “Spector 45 is a Dallas based greaser punk band. We aspire to capture the pure energy of 50’s Rock n Roll and original 70’s Punk Rock, and kick it out for today’s audience…”  Having now seen them twice I completely back that statement.  The uncorked raw energy and pace at which they perform is easily unmatched in Dallas.  Guess that’s the reason they have won Best Punk act by the Dallas Observer two years in a row now.

They had their CD release party at La Grange in Deep Ellum and had the crowd thoroughly into it the entire set.  “Break Me” the band’s five song EP was on sale for $5 so I bought a copy and have been listening to it quite a bit lately.  My goal when I shoot a concert or specific venue is to show off not just the show but the little in between moments that go into what makes a show memorable.  The thought being that after seeing my shots you have a sense of the band, show, and venue.

Hope you enjoy the photographs and check out Spector 45’s EP “Break Me” or catch a live show of theirs if you can, you won’t be disappointed…

State Highway 55; Middle of Nowhere, New Mexico: My Happy Place

This is from my road trip through New Mexico that I took in March of this year.  My good friend Zach Moniz and I went through West Texas stopping in Caprock Canyons, on to north of Santa Fe into the Santa Fe National forest where we camped at around 9,000 ft. in roughly 2.5 feet of snow, continuing on we made our way south stopping at several Pueblo Missions along the way, and we spent our last night in White Sands National Monument.  Being out on deserted roads and camping in beautiful isolated environments was incredibly relaxing and I hope to be planning another trip relatively soon.

I came back with a ton of pictures and will be editing a great deal of them finally during this break from school now that I’ll have time to do so.  Enjoy and stay tuned.

America Failed: Ranger, TX

“When the Texas and Pacific Railroad entered the valley in 1880, 160 acres were donated to the railroad and the community moved to establish the permanent town of Ranger. In the last few days of 1880, the town’s new post office opened. Growth was slow but assured. By the end of the 1880s Ranger had 350 people which grew to 750 by 1904.

The region suffered a drought in 1917 – just about the time the area’s first oil well came in. With daily production measured at 1,700 barrels, this produced one of the largest (and some say the most archetypical) oil boom in Texas. The Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company had 22 wells either in production or being drilled in 1919. No fewer than eight refineries were under construction or refining and with $5 million in deposits, banking was good in Ranger. The 1920 Census figures have given the population of Ranger as 16,201, but the tent cities and transient population made an acurate count impossible. Some estimates go as high as 30,000. Ranger received a second railroad with the arrival of the Wichita Falls and Southern and soon five trains a day were stopping at the boom town.

Every silver-lining has its dark cloud and when the drought broke Ranger’s dirt streets turned into a morass. Unsanitary conditions caused an outbreak of typhoid fever. An April fire in 1919, destroyed two downtown blocks. Naturally, the parasites descended on Ranger and violence, gambling and prostitution sprang up like the proverbial mushrooms.  The boom was short lived and while some in 1921 were hoping for new oil discoveries, a string of bank failures dashed all hopes. The 1930 population of Ranger (which was much easier to count than the 1920 census) was down to just 6,208.  After the bust, unrest and discontentment provided a strong base for the Ku Klux Klan. By 1980 Ranger had a population of 3,142 which has since declined to just under 2,600.”

Cited from www.texasescapes.com

The town’s population now sits right around 2,500.  While I was there I got to talk to a few of the town’s people and visit with the clerk at City Hall.  They had numerous old photographs and printed newspaper clippings about the history of the town; it was really a treasure trove of information and insight into this town’s dwindling legacy.

I went there on the 18th of May 2010, all these photographs were taken with a Canon DSLR.  I would like to return with a large format 4×5 film camera as soon as I acquire one and the time to do so.  This was one of the string of towns I visited that were Oil & Railroad boom and bust towns out off of I20 an hour and a half south-west of Ft. Worth, TX.  I also have visited some cotton/timber boom and bust towns in East Texas that I am currently working on getting edited.

Stay tuned for more from my series America Failed.

America Failed

One of the first images in a large series I am doing entitled “America Failed” in which I am attempting to illustrate the slow destruction of smaller towns and the Main St. mentality that has been with us since our country’s founding.  Due to corporate greed, big box retailers, micro economies booming and busting in the communities, planned cities/towns; this slice of Americana will rapidly start to disappear.

When a town was founded it always started from a court house or central strip of local businesses and spread out towards the farms and surrounding area.  Now we have cookie cutter cities that begin to all appear the same and have zero character or speciality.  In these pre-planned cloned towns and cities we get the same big box retailers in every single one.  Gone is the individuality and speciality that used to come from people honing and mastering certain trades that people would come from miles away to acquire these specialized goods and services.

With this comes a great loss of both of our history and some of the ideology this country was founded on.  I consider myself fortunate to be able to document and witness these great towns before they are gone from our American landscape.