Blog Archives
as american as a car wash
I was waiting for the small-town July 4 parade and street fair to start, so I took a photo walk. I specifically walked directly from where the car was parked to this out-of-business car wash. My eye was caught by the word “American” and it seemed like July 4 was a pretty good day to look around at something that was dilapidated: it matched mood.
However…the town’s street fair made me feel better.
Slaton, Texas
photographed 7.4.2026
city holidays
This wall looks like it’s made of damp cardboard. Or a bunch of OSB panels.
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 3.4.2026
the roof-giants
One of my favorite things I see during wanders through small towns are the civic-pride murals. I can’t recall ever seeing one that looked new – mostly they look like they were left over from the town’s centennial that’s already a quarter-century in the past. The paint is likely to be faded and/or chipped. Sometime’s the perspective is wonky. Or the scale is weird. Sometimes what was an accepted depiction of people a few decades ago seems terribly inappropriate now. There’s always something to see, though.
This time there was the the rare spotting of a whole family of giants standing on top of the farmer’s co-op gin. How frightening that must be for the workers and the horses way down below, like little ants compared the the local giants.
Slaton, Texas
photographed 5.29.2026
for it is no ordinary creature
We stopped off in Levelland the other Sunday to watch a barrel racing event. I don’t know what technical things to watch for (other than knocking down the barrels is not what the riders are supposed to do) but that doesn’t stop me from appreciating the athleticism of the horses and the riders.
But what I do know – because I attended the grand opening of this particular venue – is that a dirt consultant will devise bespoke dirt recipes for your livestock-based event. If I’d know that sooner, perhaps by career would have followed at different trajectory. Who know? (I mean, I sort of know that I would never have become a dirt consultant under any circumstances, but still, it might technically have been an option.)
Levelland, Texas
photographed 5.31.2026
too big to survive
I know for sure that this was the longest car on the whole block and feel confident that it was also the longest car in the entire town.
I tried to imagine parking a car this long…do you think there were smaller cars that operated like tugboats to nudge it into place?
Also, my shooting partner and I were surveilled while we were there – the business owner and his wife drove over* to see what we were up to after his camera alerted him that there was someone walking around. He was sort of belligerent at first but we were charming. According to us. Also we were on the public right of way so we sort of had that on our side and they decided to let us stay.
Floydada, Texas
photographed 5.30.2026
*They wheeled up so fast it was like something was on fire.
One Day | One Image 