Hazy Mother's Day in the Ouachita National Forest

I've said it before, I always seem to be in a hurry to get somewhere or to get home, and never have time to shoot anything interesting or fun coming from or going to a job.  Case in point; two weeks ago I was assigned the graduation ceremonies for University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.  I was late leaving and so I drove through the switchbacks of the Ouachita National Forest in Southeastern Oklahoma at night, and partially in the rain.  I described it as the setting for the horror movie Wrong Turn: Oklahoma because it's the kind of out of the way place that if you disappear no one will ever find you. 

Anyway it was night driving up so I got to see nothing, on the way back I was trying to get back because it was Mother's Day and the wife was understandably upset that I wasn't there to begin with and even more annoyed that I wouldn't be making it back into town before noon.  It was a beautiful morning with sparse clouds and I had a good sunrise getting out of Arkansas, but once I hit the Ouachita again a haze rolled in and blanketed the low peaks, this is the only look out cut into 259 that I saw and I caught it as a little sun was trying to break through.  I wish I would have been able to sit for a while and see if I could have had a little more hit the valley, but it's not a bad shot.

US 59

Sunday I had a PR assignment in Houston.  I am always in a hurry when I am driving there or back, but this time I told myself I was going to stop and take some pictures.  I had my oldest step-son with me helping me drive so I got to sit and look out for shots.

The top image is a closed down drive-in south of Nacogdoches on US 59, which the state of Texas is turning into interstate 69, and will be soon demolishing the old structure.  So, I had to make sure that I stopped and documented it before it was no longer there.  I don't know if I will get a chance, but it faces west and I would really like a shot of the sun coming up right next to it. 

The middle image is from downtown Houston, the sugar skull I saw on a junction box right in front a cemetery and  thought it was too perfect to pass up the shot. 

Finally, the bottom image is one that I have been dying to get since the first trip I took down 59 last January.  I have also seen the tag in Dallas and out on I-20 on a railroad bridge so I am guessing that it was the same person cruising around Texas throwing up the Bob Omb tag for us.  I just think it is excellent that this guy is just hanging out in the middle of the Big Thicket in between Moscow and Corrigan Texas it's too perfect.

Golden Hour Earth Day Flowers

Happy Earth Day.

Lonely Live Oak

This past weekend I was on the road on a Friday evening to get to a hotel room in Mexia Texas for a Tough Mudder race the next morning, so of course I had my camera with me and as I was driving south down FM 2015 just north of Tyler I came across this lone live oak standing sentinel in a field with the sun setting through it's boughs so I had to stop and capture the moment.  As is my new habit I grabbed my 5D my Lomo and my Iphone, and used all three.  The Iphone photo can be seen on my Instagram feed @utsanati and I am waiting to fill up my two rolls of 120 from the Lomo before I have one developed so that should be a fun day when I get those back.

Morning on Montgomery St.

This morning I took the wife to work since we are down to one car at the moment, and I need to run an errand today.  I took these on the way back from the high school on Montgomery St, right outside of Gilmer, with just the 5D and my phone this time; I have to change the film in the Lomo.  I had to stop and get this great light especially since I have to send the 5D back to the rental place, mine had to be sent in for repair, and we are stretched too tight right now for me to send in the repair fee, so I don't know when I will be able to take pictures like this again.  I rent so I can do paying work, but my art doesn't pay the bills.  Such is life. 

Sunset and Rust

I have been living here in Upshur county Texas now for two months.  I have yet to make it to all points on the compass throughout, but I have made it to a few places, and I found a nice one yesterday.  A back road bridge that is obviously frequented by the younger members of the community (hence the stencil) but I got to shoot the sunset on the bridge over the Sabine River.  I took these shots with a Canon 5D Mark II, but I also shot the same ones with my Iphone for Instagram (@utsanati) and a twin reflex Lomo that I bought off e-bay and have loaded with some black and white film (we'll see how those turn out). 

The hubcap with the bullet hole was on a gate right off the bridge that I hadn't noticed until I was pulling out from where I dropped the car.  The old gas pump; that I had to race back to catch, before the sun got too low, is back in town and 20 miles north of the river.

There is a singer/songwriter that I follow named Adam Carroll, his first couple of records are a lot about this part of Texas, so at least I have a soundtrack that fits the rust, the muddy Sabine and the sunset low in the pines of my new home.

Shenandoah Skyline Drive Detour

As was stated in my previous post (for anyone who actually reads this) I spent a few days in Virginia at the end of June for work.  My last work day there I was asked if I would like to drive the new company van back down to Florida...  Of course I said yes, I'm not one to miss the opportunity for a road trip, and so off I went on a 6 hour detour through the Shenandoah National Park.  I figured I could sit on I-95 in the DC/Richmond corridor in traffic for 6 hours or I could get my camera out and make use of it, while seeing something that would be new to me.  The park has a route that you can drive through called Skyline Drive that follows the ridge of the Valley; which allows for some really great shots, at various scenic turnouts, and the speed limit is 35 so you really get to take it all in for a little over three hours (its about 110 miles).  The last two shots are iphone shots; the final one being a North Carolina sunset that I caught after gassing up. 

It had been too long since I pulled out the camera and taken pictures for myself, and take my time getting somewhere.  Not a bad mental reboot for an over stressful summer that isn't done yet. 

30 November 2012

I spend so much of my time in the car on most days that I am constantly looking for interesting things; I have been known too jump three lanes of traffic, stop in medians, or take multiple u-turns in order to get shots of the things that catch my eye.  These are a couple of things that I ran across on the final day of November.  First was some new graffiti on Palm Beach Blvd the second a Ferris wheel on Pine Island Rd in Cape Coral.  

Magic Beans

Saturday evening in Tampa. 
"Hello my name is Jack and I have a problem with magic beans."

I went to go look for something to eat, it was coming up on dusk and the sun was trying to break out from behind a cloud bank, this is my favorite time of day, and behold!  I saw this bridge from interstate 275, immediately exited and waited for that perfect light from the sunset to shine onto this old drawbridge.  I shot these and never found anything to eat. 

Vulcan's Forge

The fires of Vulcan's Forge, a brilliantly blinding sunset on Burnt Store Rd

more ruins

a couple more from the same day

ruins

I love places like this, what I really dig is the way nature takes back what we put on top of it