Blog Archives

braille-ish

This place has five mailboxes which makes me think it is some kind of downtown apartment. But I can’t read the Braille* on the sign so I can’t really tell for sure.
Also, usually a pile of leaves in a doorway would indicate the building is abandoned, but it’s spring in West Texas, so all that probably means here is that the wind had been blowing. (Because OF COURSE the wind had been blowing. it is Thing That Happens on the regular.)
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 3.4.2026
*Because it was too far up to reach. And also, because I can’t read Braille anyway.

Lubbock, Texas
photographed 3.4.2026

his dead eyes saw everything

There’s a lot going on here. For example, the way that red reflected light looks like a corsage. Or his cold dead eyes. Or the way his eyebrows look like he’s had feathers tattooed on where his brows used to be. Or the way that one false eyelash is hanging half way off. Or the haughty angle of his head

Thank you for attending my seminar “Why I Photograph Mannequins.” (Upcoming seminars, including “Really? You Think is a Photo?,” “I Meant For It To Look That Way,” and “This Photo Wanted To Be In Color,” will be scheduled soon.)

Lubbock, Texas
photographed 3.4.2026

monday – friday

All I know about Jonathan, who died at this rural intersection, are his birth and death dates.

He was born on a Monday and died on a Friday.

Separate from his cross, there were three others; they were wooden and unmarked.

Lynn County, Texas
photographed 2.28.2026

just one saint at a time

Not to reveal too much about how much language amuses me (because honestly, it’s sort of embarrassing), but I did entertain myself saying “saint rest” in various ways.

Like a command to a wayward and wrongly-named dog: SAINT! Rest.

Like a mild way to say “fuck on off.”

Like an end to a prayer, in place of “Amen.”

Or the name of a particularly lackadaisical cleric – Saint Rest.

And so on.

But what really amuses me the most about this sign is the implication that, while they are willing to accept saints, there is a one-saint limit. Presumably for safety reasons.

Tahoka, Texas
photographed 2.28.2026

thumbprint

“So, what do you photograph?” – a frequent question I get.
 
I usually don’t get into how very much I love to find abandoned places that include reflections of whatever is behind me. But, yeah: that’s what I photograph.
 
Tahoka, Texas
photographed 2.28.2026
PS – Sometimes I’ll say I document the decline of small towns on the High Plains of Texas as a symbol of greater declines in environmental and societal safety that are mirrored across the country. Other times, I’ll say “rural towns” and if I’m really in a mood, I say “old crap I find.” It’s too hard to explain my deal with reflections.