June 2009

After hearing about it for years Annie and I made it a point to drive along the new Mexican-American Wall while we were in southern Texas...Ironically the wall--really a fence in the area we saw from Brownsville to McAllen, a 50 mile stretch--was surprisingly attractive physically. As you can see from the attached image it is a very tall "picket fence" made of I-Beam sized steel beams.

Kodak announced this week they have stopped making Kodachrome--probably the most well-known film of all time. This has caused no end of commentary but the truth is that of course it ceased to matter to most of us a long time ago.

My daughter Annie and I just enjoyed a truly wonderful weekend at the Somewhere in Time Guest House which is part of the unique Block Creek Natural Area in the Texas Hill Country...  
 

It's not only mammals and birds which benefit from eye level photography. Some of our smaller friends like this threatened Texas Desert Tortoise also look more interesting and compelling when photographed at eye level. For those of us who don't love getting down on our bellies on the hot desert sand, this is another place where well constructed sunken blinds come into play. We photographed this fellow (it was a male) from the comfort of one of Steve Bentsen's blinds on his Dos Venadas property. We got the shots we wanted without leaving our chairs.