hemisfair
My self-assignment for this image was to see how small a slice of the Tower of the Americas I could get while still conveying what it was.
But you may be wondering what this even is. Good thing I have some facts to share:
- It’s an observation tower that was built for the 1968 San Antonio HemisFair.
- Construction started in 1966.
- O’Neil Ford, who lived and worked in San Antonio was the architect.
- The top house, containing observation decks and a restaurant, was built at ground level and then hoisted to the top of the concrete shaft, inch by inch, using twenty-four steel lifting rods. This process took twenty days.
- The fastest recorded time up the tower’s 952 steps is 5 minutes 18 seconds on January 29, 1981, by Tommy Johnson.
- Or you could take the elevator.
San Antonio, Texas
photographed 10.5.2026
four phone booths
Sometimes I think having a “favorite” photo is sort of weird, like having a “favorite” son or daughter. (Note: I only have one kid so I really don’t even know why I think about it in terms that are not part of my own lived experience.)
But, right now, this is my favorite photo.
I made a single image of these phone booths and it…just worked. Sometimes the Gods of Photography are kind.
San Antonio, Texas
photographed 10.7.2026
pink water
I hate lugging a tripod around. There. I said it.
However, if I had had one that night I could have gotten a more interesting photo of this fountain.
Is there a lesson here? Yes.
Have I learned this lesson? Absolutely not.
San Antonio, Texas
photographed 10.5.2026
ninety eight thousand sunrises
I went to this mission the other morning; almost no one else was there, which was exactly the right number of people to be around.
This church was originally founded in East Texas by Spanish friars 1711. It was relocated to its current site in 1731 and still serves as an active parish. The church building dates from approximately 1755 – it’s hosted over 98,000 sunrises so far.
And look! Here are some more facts:
- On October 28, 1835, Mexican troops and Texian insurgents fought the Battle of Concepción here, making it the first major engagement of the Texas Revolution. (The battle lasted 30 minutes.) (The Battle of the Alamo began seven weeks later. It lasted 13 days.)
- The western entrance to the church is aligned to the sunset in such a way that an “annual double solar illumination event” occurs every year on or around August 15, the feast day of the Assumption of Mary. (The ADSIE alignment is when the setting sunlight passes through two windows of the church and align on the altar.)
Mission Concepción
San Antonio, Texas
photographed 10.9.2026
car/show
When I travel for work, I almost never rent a car. Our work conferences are generally in a walkable city, which is a delightful change from the non-walkable place I live, and my work friends and I enjoy walking to dinner. The other night, we were waiting to cross the street and I glanced up just in time to see the World’s Longest Car™ turning the corner.
Now, if I’d had my photographic shit together I would have taken one of those cool photos where I panned to match the speed of the car, making in it focus, and blurring the background. However, I did not have my shit together. And I have also never successfully made a photo like that. And when those photos are bad, they are REALLY bad, with everything all wonky and blurry, so I guess it worked out more or less for the better.
San Antonio, Texas
photographed 10.5.2026
A Thing I Learned: I wanted to use ® after “World’s Longest Car” but when I was looking for the keyboard command for the sign, the Google informed me that there was a “strict rule” about usage, and that just adding ® for fun is actually not even legal. Sometimes looking something up just sucks the fun right out of it. (Using of ™ is not similarly protected.)
