Blog Archives
the long and short of it
This has been my absolute favorite family photo for as long as I can remember. I’ve always thought of it as “Grandpa and the Tall Guy.” And while I have no context on any of this, I want to think that someone saw the humor in getting the shortest man in town to stand next to the tallest one and grabbing a quick photo.
My grandpa wrote “with Bob Bowers, Branson Colo” on the back of the print.
My grandfather was about 5′-2″, which I think puts Bob Bowers at something like seven feet tall.
Branson, Colorado
vintage family photo – date unknown
the four chesters
Yeah, I don’t know what these photos were for – some sort of ID badges maybe? What’s even more of a mystery is why lots of lots of copies (11 of one of them!) were saved all this time.
But this is what my dad looked like (from the front AND from the side) at a couple of points in time.
scans, vintage photos
dates unknown
my first street photography
I was recently reminded (when I was looking a box of random stuff) that my street-photography efforts started much earlier than what I remembered. If you’d asked me prior to this discovery, I would have said 2022 or so marked the beginning.
But here’s proof that I actually did a bit of street photography in the summer of 1967, while on a family trip to Mexico.
Also, check out the guitars for sale in the background…
family photo, scanned
Toluca, Mexico
photographed summer 1967
toilet training department
Apparently I happened to walk by the cleaning supplies (which included kids’ potty chairs) portion of the street-side market.
Palermo, Sicily
photographed 9.1.2022
“…the quintessential cowboy”
I looked up Clifford Jackson Taylor after I made the photo but before I wrote this post, and here’s what I learned.
He went by Jackson and was a cowboy, working on ranches across the United States and in Australia. He was a member of the Western Ranch Cowboys Association and was professional bronc rider; he appeared in two seasons of the reality show “Ultimate Cowboy Showdown.” In 2023, he was competing in the WRCA-sanctioned Estancia Valley Ranch Rodeo in Moriarty, New Mexico, fell during a bronc ride and later died, according to a report from the Floyd County Hesperian-Beacon. He was 33 years old.
His grave is here, in a tiny country cemetery that’s down a dirt road.
Grey Mule Cemetery
Hall County, Texas
photographed 12.29.2024
One Day | One Image 