Blog Archives

There was some weather, #3

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I took a little road trip the other day, and drove for many miles just behind this storm. Eventually I caught it, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked from a distance.

The next day, there was a line of storms on the eastern horizon. They were there all day, and it never seemed like my location changed in relation to them. That made the day seem a lot longer than it actually was.

near Perryton, Texas
photographed 8.28.2014

Stairway to…9th Street

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What a graceful stairway! It connects the rarely-used plaza level of the Civic Center with pedestrian-unfriendly 9th Street.

As we say about failed architecture, “I guess it looked good on paper.”

Lubbock Memorial Civic Center
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 8.16.2014

The after-hours club

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Usually when I am out shooting, passersby don’t engage me in conversation.

On this particular day, though, an older man driving a pickup pulled over as I was shooting the old drive in from the other day. Our conversation:

Him: Do you remember what used to be here?
Me: No, sir. I’m from out of town, so I don’t know anything about it.
Him: Well, it used to be one of them after hours clubs. You know the kind I mean – the ones that didn’t even open until all of them other ones had closed. There was a lot going on here.
Me: How long ago did it close down?
Him: How long? Oh, it’s been closed forever.

Now, at this point I had seen three of the four sides of the place and was still under the impression that it was a drive in, so I wasn’t too sure he knew what he was talking about. But after he drove off, I looked in a broken window on the side I’d not yet explored…and then I believed him.

He came back around a few minutes later, pulling up close to where I was standing. This time he said, “Are you looking to buy anything?”

I was afraid to delve any further into that. It can’t have been good, right?!

Midland, Texas
photographed 8.23.2014

Chair

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Anyone who’s read this blog for very long knows that I always try to look around behind these old buildings. Sometimes that’s where the good stuff is.

So, this chair. I found it behind that drive in from yesterday. The first thing I noticed was how the woven stripes in the upholstery weathered differently – half of the fabric was in relatively good condition, while the other half was just threads.  The second thing I noticed was that hole in the wall to the right of the chair. For some reason, that hole seems…ominous.

Midland, Texas
photographed 8.23.2014

Drive In

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Look! A deserted drive-in.

From the state of the paving in the parking lot (it was completely gone) and those trees growing from what would have been paved at some point, I guess the place has been out of business for a while.

Midland, Texas
photographed 8.23.2014