Monthly Archives: April 2014
Trio
If you are going to Spur, from Lubbock, the best route is to take the cutoff before you get to Dickens; that’ll take you by this place, for one thing. And you’ll get to see some spectacular canyon scenery (really), too.
And, just after you make the turn off the main road, you can see this nice arrangement of buildings, small against the large sky. But don’t wait too long – like a lot of buildings out here, they are abandoned and it’s only a matter of time until they succumb to gravity and neglect.
Crosby County, Texas
photographed 3.26.2014
My favorite building
Well, I don’t know if it’s my favorite building ever, but it is my favorite building in Spur. I’ve been watching it for a long time – longer than I’ve been a photographer – and make a point to go see it every time I am in town. I look to see how many more windows are boarded up or broken, or if that one door on the north side has finally fallen off the hinges. I think about how, if I had a few million extra dollars, I could fix the place up and turn it into something. What? I don’t know. But it would be something.
So that made me start wondering what my favorite building is. You’d think with my architecture background and all that I might have one. But, really, I don’t think I do. I’ll give it some thought, though, and let you know if I decide.
Spur, Texas
photographed 3.26.2014
Producers (closed)
I liked Doughtery. I was there for work (really!) and stuck around town after the work commitment was completed so I could get some photographs. The people there are friendly and are happy to tell you about their little town. If you stay long enough, maybe you can hear about the tornado that “blowed” down a house, the perils of highway routes, and the day the school exploded.* But even if you’re just passing through** you can see a glimpse of how it used to be.
Dougherty, Texas
photographed 4.2.2014
* True story.
** You won’t be passing through. It’s not on the way to anywhere. And even if you are trying to go there, and have a map and everything, there’s a chance you’ll get lost.***
***Another true story.
The apparatus
This thing. I saw this thing in Dougherty. I just think of it as the apparatus. Maybe someone can tell me what it is, because I don’t have any idea. Something to do, maybe, with what ever goes on at a grain elevator?
If you want to check it out for yourself, it’s easy to find: it’s the only apparatus of this sort in town.
Dougherty, Texas
photographed 4.2.2014
Lean-to
It’s not spelled the way it’s pronounced. The locals call it “Darty.” (We asked.) There’s not much there anymore, but it used to have a school (through grade 6, then kids were bused over to Floydada), a dancehall, a grocery store.
But now it’s got this skeletal building, slumped against the other one.
Dougherty, Texas
photographed 4.2.2014
One Day | One Image 