Blog Archives
remember
Remember? (It’s the Alamo.)
This was another self-assigned challenge: to get a photo of the Alamo that didn’t look like the other one billion photos that we’ve all seen. (Part Two of the challenge was to get it without a bunch of people in the shot – going at night when it’s closed made that part pretty easy.)
San Antonio, Texas
photographed 10.7.2026
hemisfair
My self-assignment for this image was to see how small a slice of the Tower of the Americas I could get while still conveying what it was.
But you may be wondering what this even is. Good thing I have some facts to share:
- It’s an observation tower that was built for the 1968 San Antonio HemisFair.
- Construction started in 1966.
- O’Neil Ford, who lived and worked in San Antonio was the architect.
- The top house, containing observation decks and a restaurant, was built at ground level and then hoisted to the top of the concrete shaft, inch by inch, using twenty-four steel lifting rods. This process took twenty days.
- The fastest recorded time up the tower’s 952 steps is 5 minutes 18 seconds on January 29, 1981, by Tommy Johnson.
- Or you could take the elevator.
San Antonio, Texas
photographed 10.5.2026
four phone booths
Sometimes I think having a “favorite” photo is sort of weird, like having a “favorite” son or daughter. (Note: I only have one kid so I really don’t even know why I think about it in terms that are not part of my own lived experience.)
But, right now, this is my favorite photo.
I made a single image of these phone booths and it…just worked. Sometimes the Gods of Photography are kind.
San Antonio, Texas
photographed 10.7.2026
pink water
I hate lugging a tripod around. There. I said it.
However, if I had had one that night I could have gotten a more interesting photo of this fountain.
Is there a lesson here? Yes.
Have I learned this lesson? Absolutely not.
San Antonio, Texas
photographed 10.5.2026
car/show
When I travel for work, I almost never rent a car. Our work conferences are generally in a walkable city, which is a delightful change from the non-walkable place I live, and my work friends and I enjoy walking to dinner. The other night, we were waiting to cross the street and I glanced up just in time to see the World’s Longest Car™ turning the corner.
Now, if I’d had my photographic shit together I would have taken one of those cool photos where I panned to match the speed of the car, making in it focus, and blurring the background. However, I did not have my shit together. And I have also never successfully made a photo like that. And when those photos are bad, they are REALLY bad, with everything all wonky and blurry, so I guess it worked out more or less for the better.
San Antonio, Texas
photographed 10.5.2026
A Thing I Learned: I wanted to use ® after “World’s Longest Car” but when I was looking for the keyboard command for the sign, the Google informed me that there was a “strict rule” about usage, and that just adding ® for fun is actually not even legal. Sometimes looking something up just sucks the fun right out of it. (Using of ™ is not similarly protected.)
