A Visit with the Past..

It was early summer 1973, and I was stationed at Fort Polk, LA when I was given a temporary assignment to Fort Wolters, TX.  I figured they knew I was from Fort Worth so they got me close to home.

Anyhow, the photo is of the US Army Hospital at Fort Wolters, TX.  I stopped by this week, while out doing some old school  photography, yes big camera and big sheets of film.  It was kind of strange to drive around the post and see how things had and had not changed.  Some of the areas are being put to good use, other areas – well other areas made be quite sad.

The old hospital was  one that made me sad, it sets empty almost 40 years later, yet it was quite a modern facility in the day.

US Army Hospital, Fort Wolters TX

View of three building

The following 3 photographs are a story of the fate of many building in so many small towns.  One is getting a fresh coat of paint and appears to be almost ready to be put in use, one is already restored and is serving the public once again as a bank, the other sits abandoned and waits for time to decide its fate.  While it is not unusual to see these old buildings crumble or have to be torn down, it always makes me a little sad.  These were places of commerce, they were offices or stores and people lived parts of their lifes in them – there are stories that may never be told, but if the walls could talk. 

Many of the small towns cannot afford to keep these buildings, they offer nothing to the town.  Some, though, find new owners that see the possibilities and they are saved and become part of the town once again.  I hope more business will find these old buildings and place them back in service, many are certainly a joy to look at.

 

 

1st Nartional Bank,

Forgotten Building

More Texas Small Towns – B

Bartlett, TX – Visited my Dad yesterday, and took the opportunity to scout some small towns that were on the list.  Bartlett was one of those towns.  If you drive down TX95 from near Temple you find some really classic small Texas towns.  Holland, Bartlett, Granger, Taylor (not really a small town more of a small city).  

The area around Bartlett, like many small Texas towns, is farming country.  There are fields and fields of corn and other crops around these small towns.  They were once quite prosperous, as you can see in the buildings that were built.  Today some still are, others struggle to keep the building from falling down.  

I will try to capture photos from the surrounding areas to show the farms and how they are still important to the local economy, as well as the economy of the county and state.  These towns are remind me of the town by grand parents lived in and remind me how important the people who live there are.  Good people, many who work hard from sunrise to sunset just as my grand parents did. 

Still have not taken the 7×11 camera out yet, but have enjoyed the freedom the Lumix LX3 has given me.  Here are some views from Bartlett, TX. 

Bartlett, TX

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bartlett, TX view the other direction

 

Time for New Project

Abbott, TX

Time for a new project.  Sometimes a project starts itself, and only after it has started do I realize it IS a project.  Other times, a seed starts to grow and a project begins.  This one is a bit of both I hope and for the first time it will contain both traditional photography and my first attempt at some serious digital photography.  It should be interesting to say the least – with process from the 19th Century and the 21 Century.

The concept of the project is small town Texas, those remarkable towns that have endured the growth and loss of population as well as the rise and fall of the economy.  These places are farming communities, there are no shopping centers, many are not large enough to have a chain grocery store.  The residents may have to drive miles just for the necessities yet they continue to live in the small towns.  Their populations range from 100-300 to over 5,000 residents.  These places will be the focus of the project – ‘Small Texas Towns from A to Z’.  I hope you can drop by from time to time and see where I have been.

Here is the first – Abbott, TX  Some guy named Willie Nelson used to sing at the old Methodist church here as a young man.

Finally a Day Out..

Found time last Saturday to expose a couple of sheets of film.  It had been over a year since my last outing and it felt good.  Loaded some holders the night before.  Some mechanical problems with some new holders (dark slide had gone in fine the night before, but refused to after first exposure).  Rather than getting upset about it, just grab one of the old holders and made a couple more exposures.  Was distracted enough to forget to factor in reciprocity but still managed to get something to print.  Now to get a print. 

Already thinking about going out again, looking at some potential locations.

Ever Notice How…

the weather/light is always best when you can’t get out and photograph?  Or how weekdays can be so nice and weekends are either filled with family obligations?

The urge to photograph is getting stronger, but the time is still illusive.  Will have to work harder to find time, if spring does bloom enternal…the so does the soul.

2010 Huh! Where did the year go

So last update was March 22, 2009 – been very busy and distracting year – sorry about that.  Not much to report at this time, but trying to get the Right Side of the ole brain going again and get back out and create something…will update here so we can all see how that goes.

It was  a busy year, one of those learning experience where one does not get to do what one wants, but is driven to take care of life events that can and do prohibit some of us from feeding our creative side.  Have always admired those folks that seem driven to always feed their creative side and have realized I am just not one of them.

But, not willing to give up on my art either, so watch with me and see if I can find a bit more time during the beginning of this decade to create.  I watched the new year come in that first morning as the sun rose and really enjoyed  the quite for a few moments … at a friends farm, small lake that was smooth as glass, a chill in the air, just a hint of fog and really wonderful scene – and no camera, so promised myself to fix that.

We shall see…

Additional Update on Ritter 8×10

After posting my last impression on the Ritter 7×11/8×10, Richard contacted me asking me to send him the base of the camera for an update.  He made a modification to the base of the system that should help stabilize it on those windy days.

Now, in my book that means a lot, because it means that he is continuing to improve the camera and keeping in contact with his past customers.  I sent the base to him on a Saturday, and he had it back to me by the following Friday.  Great Service.

1300 Miles of Windshield Time

1300 Miles of Windshield Time …. or 24 hours of driving in 5 days and not making a single photograph.

I recently went on a trip to Lubbock, with a couple of other guys from the Texas Church Project, to install the latest work from the project at Texas Tech University.  The morning I left there had been a nice ice storm the evening before so I left much later in the morning than I had planned.  The roads were still a bit icy when I left on Wed. morning, but after a couple of hours the highways were pretty much clear of ice.

Now, I enjoy driving and viewing the scenery and am always on the look-out for a place to stop and make photographs.  This trip however had a purpose, and the car was already loaded with prints for the show.  So, no camera this time.   There are few wind farms near Abilene, but nothing to compare to the numbers of wind turbines I saw after I turned off of I-20 near Sweetwater and head North on US-82.

The trip back on Friday, was really nice.  Left Lubbock early (read oh-dark-thirty) and watch the sun come up.  The light was just perfect that morning, but a had to get home so I could leave for Tulsa, OK early Saturday morning.

Trip to Tulsa was nice, stopped in Gainesville, TX at the Fried Pie Co & Restaurant.  From the crowd inside the food must be good, picked up 1/2 dozen fried pies (wonderful!!).  Then east on US-82 to Sherman and then north to Tulsa.  There was ice and snow everywhere (remember the ice storm I mentioned earlier).  The further North we went, the more snow we encountered.  By Atoka, OK the snow plowed from the roads was as tall as a car, and most of the ponds were still frozen.  Plus side of this, the roads were nice a clear for the most part.

Visited overnight and headed back on Sunday.  Not a single shutter tripped, not a sheet of film exposed.  Still I enjoyed the trip, though I really would not want to cover that much distance in the same amount of time.

Point of all this, you are probably wondering?  Not really any, other than the mental notes of places to return to with a camera.  That, and the pleasure of driving and enjoying the places I passed by.  Not all trips are photographic, but somehow they all remind me how much I do love driving and looking for a place to stop.  Oh, and how wonderfull the light can be sometimes.  Yeah, I do love good light.

Ritter 7×11/8×10 Re-visited

Well, it’s been a bit over 3 months since the brown box arrived and I added the images of the camera.  Seems like a good time to reflect on using the camera. 

When it first arrived, I spent some time setting the camera up then folding it up.  The exercise, per Bruce Barlow, is known as ‘cuddling’ and it was a very good exercise – especially once I got into the field using the camera.

So what is using the camera like? Well, it is everything I had hoped it would be.  I have burned a few sheets of film, as recently as yesterday (Jan. 3, 2009).  The wind was pretty steady at 20-25 mph, with gust up to 30 mph.  A test for any camera, much less one that only weighs in the neighborhood of 6.5 lbs.  The Ritter is like any other camera, it does vibrate in the wind.  However I made six separate negatives – 4 7×11 and 2 8×10′s and the as long as I waited for a lull in the wind and did my part – the negatives looked good – even though the shutter was set a 1/2 sec.

Problems?The worst issue I have with the camera, is it has more movements, than my lens have coverage – I use a 240mm Germinar, 300mm C Fuji and a 450mm C Fuji.  Now, I have not run out of image circle with the 450 Fuji, but have gotten myself in trouble with the 240 and 300.  Not a fault of the camera, but the photographer.  Yesterday was a good example – I was shooting a church for the church project and wanted to get the steeple and part of the roof line, using the 300.  Well the camera was tilted up at the steeple at a pretty sharp angle, then the front(axis and base) and rear(base) standards were tilted to keep the film plane parallel, then I add some rise.  Now, that is the most movements I have tried to use and I looked, but did not notice that I had run out of image circle – just clipped the corners at the top of the image.

So, not a camera issue, just a novice photographer learning how to use the tools.  The fit and finish are really nice, the back comes off to rotate, or be replace with the 8×10/7×11 back.  I hauled it up and down the banks of the Guadalupe River, back in October of last year.  If I had been carrying the old Eastman No. 2 (it weighs in at 16+ lbs) it would not have been as much fun.

Guadalupe River

After 3 months of shooting, would I recommend a Ritter 8×10.  The answer is a resounding YES.  The camera is light, has more movements than I will ever figure out how to use, is well made and the the weight – well the weight is a dream for a large format photographer.  Don’t look for this one to be up for sale anytime in the future, I plan to put a LOT more film through it before I retire from taking photographs.

Stayed tuned, I have some new 7×11 film holders due in from S&S.  Will give my impression of these after I have had a chance to run some film through them.

Hope you all have a Great 2009.