niche with statue
What happened is that I went to Sicily.
I was fortunate to get to travel with a small group of photographers on a tour organized by Don Toothaker at Hunt’s Photo Education in conjunction with an outstanding tour operator, Allison Scola, the founder of Experience Sicily.
So many things happened while I was gone that I haven’t even really processed them yet.
I made new friends, solidified previous friendships, saw a part of the world I’d never seen before, ate delicious food. And, of course, made thousands of photos. I greatly expanded my photographic skills. I had some deeply personal experiences and revelations.
I don’t have the slightest clue on how to start presenting my experiences. I am worried that I’ll bore my reader(s) with endless photos and/or with endless narratives. I am worried that nothing I can say will convey how much I loved everything about the trip. I am worried that it’s going to sound all breathless and vapid, when in fact it was the opposite of vapid.
So I guess the best thing is to just jump right in.
Here’s a scene we discovered in Palermo one afternoon – we walked down some (very) narrow streets, and into a courtyard, and that’s where I spotted this. I don’t know what the building was or anything about what I photographed. But, to me, this is what Palermo looked like: each street a treasure, every turn enchanting, each view a surprise.
Palermo, Sicily
photographed 8.29.2022
altar
You already know that I make a lot of photos by shooting through windows without any ability to carefully compose the shots: I get what I get. Sometimes it’s awful.
And then, there are times like this, when I didn’t even know until I saw this image on my computer that the cross on the altar was lined up through the gap in the door AND was arranged perfectly against a lighter background.
I don’t think I’d’ve planned it any better.
Eastland, Texas
photographed 8.7.2022
gone to the dogs
There was only one reason I came here: I wanted to see what a place called “Nimrod” looked like. Mostly it looked like a church and a cemetery.
But there was this abandoned building; the sign over the door was illegible, so I don’t know what it was. But it was something related to dogs, and to trophies of dogs, and even a dog mural. Somehow these context clues made more mysterious.
Nimrod, Texas
photographed 8.7.2022
eight twenty-seven
Yesterday’s post spoke about how I took a lot of photos at the hotel where I stayed in Oklahoma City. And here’s another one.
I just couldn’t stop myself.
21c Museum Hotel
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
photographed 8.3.2022
accent color
So, the other weekend in Oklahoma City, I spent a few nights at the delightfully eccentric and quirky 21c Museum Hotel. The hotel is in a former Ford assembly plant, and it’s still got a lot of industrial details and the best natural light I’ve ever seen in a hotel.
And that’s why almost every photo I made that weekend was taken in the hotel.
I mean, you see why, right? A red blanket in an otherwise mostly monochromatic room + window light? There’s no way to pass that up.
21c Museum Hotel
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
photographed 8.4.2022
One Day | One Image 