Smooth

Water for Horses No1
Water for Horses No1
The terrain of the Edwards Plateau is anything but smooth. The early morning ground fog turns rugged landscape into fiction. It is impossible to see the ground falling away just beyond the edge of the water tank into a gully fifty feet below. A quarter mile beyond is another arid hill top. The geography goes on mile after mile broken occasionally by a fence or a gate. It is big country that trains the eye to see wide angle vistas. Those who live there see near or far but not middle distance.

Sunday Morning in the Hill Country

Hay Field, Comfort Texas
Hay Field, Comfort Texas
Super Takumar 35mm 3.5 @f5.6
It has been my habit to go for an early Sunday morning ride since I was old enough to drive. For most of that time my preferred vehicle was some motorcycle. As a young man I favored speed. The technical challenge of riding the back roads and canyons was my obsession. Much later the idea of enjoying the ride in a more relaxed fashion finally occurred to me and I slowed down. That’s when I bought my first camera.

For some years now a four wheeled vehicle has been my choice for Sunday morning drives. Not as much fun perhaps but infinitely safer while allowing me to carry some lenses and a tripod. I got old or I got practical. Take your pick.

Echo Bluff Ranch Gate
Echo Bluff Ranch Gate
Super Takumar 35mm 3.5 @ f3.5
If you live in Central Texas the obvious place to spend Sunday morning is in the Hill Country, The pace of life there matches my weekend ambitions. Getting out before church means you see few people. You can literally stop anywhere to shoot even in the middle of the road.

I carry a camera whenever I’m on the back roads but I tend to look more than shoot. Once in a while something catches my eye but mostly I drive slow and enjoy myself. If I shoot more than two or three photographs then I’m highly motivated. Last weekend I got three.

These photographs were all made within a few miles of Comfort Texas. Just at the Southern edge of what I consider the Hill Country. There are still many active farms and ranches in the area but they are slowly being replaced by recreational properties. Some of which are quite large.

Fence Line Super Takumar 35mm 3.5 @f8.0
Fence Line
Super Takumar 35mm 3.5 @f8.0

Middle of Nowhere

Mansion - Terlingua Texas
Mansion – Terlingua Texas
At the turn of the twentieth century the master of this house could look across the valley and know he was in control. Never mind that the nearest town of any substance was over a hundred miles away. You make your mark where you can.

He built this mansion so his wife and children would be comfortable. They never lived there or even visited for very long. Seems it was difficult to share a vision of privilege in the desert heat and dust. What good is wealth unless you enjoy what it brings to your life?

Mansion - Terlingua Texas No2
Mansion – Terlingua Texas No2