The Wyman Experience

Back in May I took a two week long class at the Texas Tech satellite campus in Junction, Texas.  Basically the class consisted of two weeks of running around the Texas Hill Country with the State Photographer of Texas, Wyman Meinzer, and Jerod Foster, another teacher at Tech.  Both are amazing photographers and were able to teach us how to utilize natural light and that laying down in front of a rattlesnake is one of the coolest things ever.  I learned a lot from this class and since taking it my photography has greatly improved.  I use techniques I learned during my time in Junction every time I go out to shoot.  This especially helped when I was in Europe.

I spent a good part of today down in the basement of the Mass Comm building scanning slides from Junction.  It took me 3 hours to scan 40 slides and another 2 to transfer the files from the archaic G4 Macs to my external hard drive (I was a model for my friend Kristen while I was waiting for everything to transfer).  Here are a few shots from May that might sum up some of what we did.  All are Fuji Velvia 100 except for the rattlesnake picture, that is digital.

Tempting Death

      Here in Lubbock it sleeted, snowed, and iced from last night all they way until late this afternoon.  This created hazardous conditions for just getting around time but was no reason to keep me from shooting.  Luckily, Morgan had the same idea.  We hopped in my car and made the treacherous journey out to Justiceburg since it was the closest ghost town we knew how to get to.  The drive took forever because I could go over 50 and at some points on the highway 30 was too fast.  

The abandoned buildings we had painted last week had a shimmering layer of ice on them and there was sleet piled up around the area.  It was interesting seeing these places during the day.  One of the houses I looked into still had late '50s/ early '60s era clothing hanging in the closet.  Here is a shot of one of the buildings we painted:

We walked around a bit more and I got to get a closer look of the bus that caught my eye when we first arrived on Friday night.  The outside was still bright yellow but the inside was all rusted and stripped of just about everything.

As we were leaving, a building in the brush caught my eye so I turned down a small path and we came across the old school and playground that we were unable to see in the dark.  There was a very eery feel to the ruins of the school building.  Definitely going to come back here for some night pictures.  It was creepy during the day, i can't imagine what it will be like after the sun sets.

I wanted to go out tonight after the sun set but when I went out to get in my car i realized i wouldn't even be able to make it out of the parking lot.  Better luck next time.  Here are a few more from the trip.

A Little Fun in Ralls

Tonight my good friends Joe, Kelly, and I went out to Ralls to paint a church Joe told me about.  It was cold but well worth the trip.  The church is just off of the highway and surrounded by a cemetery.  We only took a few shots because of the bitter wind but plan to go back out there and get some more.  Here are a few of the church.  My painting skills are getting a little better.  Colors are much better on my monitor than they are on this blog.

Enjoy!

Back in the Panhandle

I've been on school now for a little over two weeks and haven't shot much but I'm getting back in the habit and have a few classes that are helping me out.  I am doing an independent with Wyman Meinzer and my project for him is the Llano Estacado at night.  A series of photographs that present the Texas Panhandle region after dark.  Last night I went out to the abandoned town of Justiceburg, Tx with two of my fellow photographer friends who I had the pleasure of spending two weeks with in Junction back in May.  Linda, Morgan, and I set out in a rush after being on campus late and got to the ghostly remnants of Justiceburg just before the glow from the sun set behind the distant hills.  We spent a few hours out there practicing painting with light.  I'm anxious to see how the girls' photos came out because I got one great shot before my battery died and being unprepared, my other battery was dead.  It was good practice for my painting skills.  I will have more photos as I continue to work on this project as well as shots from my portfolio class that I have with Jerod and anywhere else I go.  Here is a shot from last night.  My first time light painting.

Hope you enjoy!