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What I didn’t photograph that day
This was my first visit to Valentine. This is what happened:
I was in Marfa. I thought about going to look at the cemetery. And headed out that way. Then saw a mileage sign that said Valentine was 35 miles away. I ditched the idea of a cemetery visit and headed over to Valentine.
Not too much going on in Valentine, other than the famous (?) Prada Marfa scuplture (or, installation, if you will), which to be honest I didn’t look for because I was a lot more interested in the way the storm looked over the HiWay Cafe. Also, the sculpture/installation has had its picture taken a lot, and I wanted to try to make things right with the Cafe.
And, I am a little bit of a contrarian: if “everyone” takes a picture of something, you can be pretty sure I’ll aim my camera elsewhere. (Sorry. None of you really needed me to point THAT, did you!?)
Valentine, Texas
photographed 8.16.2013
The things I’ll do…
Here’s another shot, from a different trip, of the very same wall in Marfa. This time, though, I spotted the yucca that had been very considerate to send its wavy stalk up right in front of the white line on the wall.
In the interest of full disclosure*, I want to point out that the yucca wasn’t the only, uh, spiky plant in the area. And that I wasn’t standing upright to shoot this. If you see what I am getting at. Also: red ants. There were a lot of red ants. And they weren’t all that happy to have an itinerant photographer show up and walk around their front yard.
Marfa, Texas
photographed 8.16.2013
*Or, as it is also known, too much information.
How odd that this would have caught my attention
Well, look at what I found: rectangles.
In case you wondered – Charles von der Ahe was the founder of the Southern California grocery store chain, Vons, which was among the first stores to offer pre-packaged, self-service meat and deli items. (Vons was also the Official Grocery Store for the 1984 Summer Olympics, for whatever that’s worth.)
This building is on the campus of Loyola Marymount University; when you walk over to it from the visitor parking, a crossing guard will stop traffic for you. Which is sort of entertaining, since compared to the rest of Los Angeles, the campus has practically no traffic. But, still, we made it there and back without any car-pedestrian accidents to mess up the trip.
Los Angeles, California
photographed 6.27.2013
See it. But don’t believe it.
Another view of a movie set in the wilds of West Texas that I featured earlier this year.
As with the previously-featured building, this one was disconcerting: the exterior looked old, with the hitching post out front and that porch roof made of branches*. But on the inside, modern-day plywood was visible…
near Lajitas, Texas
photographed 1.20.2013
*Correctly called latillas, which I could pretend I knew all along, but which actually I only just now looked up. We strive for honesty here at One Day | One Image. Unless an exaggeration** or cheap joke seems more appropriate.
** Actual comment, from my spouse to me, said without irony: You always exaggerate.
Same town but a different toilet
Remember this photo of a toilet? This is another toilet, plus a random chair and a wadded up towel, from the same building.
The walls behind the, uh, seats are old – those narrow wood slats indicate that the original wall was plaster, which fell from use after drywall (or Sheetrock™) became the favored building material.
(If you want to know a LOT more about plaster walls, or any other building material, I can highly recommend The Walls Around Us, by David Owen. It’s witty and accurate, a winning combination if you ask me.)
(On another subject, I had a chat recently with the curator of the local photographic society’s exhibit. My Toilet.Seat. print was in the show, but didn’t win. The curator, whom I had just met for the first time, said, “Oh, your photo of the toilet was SO popular. Everyone loved it….well, everyone except the juror, I mean.” So, there you go: jurors don’t speak for everyone.)
Tahoka, Texas
photographed 6.16.2010
