A Whole New World - At The India Market

Down the street a new India Market opened a couple of weeks ago, so we had to check it out.

Besides all the offerings (some obviously quite new to me) I was really impressed with the natural and artificial light-flow in the new building.

Unfortunately my ignorance is quite high when it comes to the different types of flours being offered; as a cook and baker, (visit my blog - Where In The Hell Is Carlton - for recipes) I love to make my own breads. Maybe some reader may enlighten me, what to use. Being raised in Europe where slightly different flours may go for different breads, the flours generally offered in US stores are of the "all purpose" variety.

A great plus was to actually find a store which has pastry dough (or puff pastry - mille feuille) on sale, which upto now was only available seasonally at Trader Joe's over the Holidays.

Tip Toeing (Thru) The Tulips

A Dutchman came to Texas and missed his tulips so much, that he decided to grow his own and start the Texas Tulip Farm. Situated in North Texas near Pilot Point (about an hour north of the DFW area) if offers an amazing sight of a huge variety of the flowers not native to the Lonestar State.

During blooming season, late February to end of March, try to make it out on a weekday if you can. Saturday and Sundays can be quite populated and you may have to wait in line to park and get in. They charge $ 2.50 a head to get and then you can stroll for hours between the different beds.

It's also a great opportunity to take family pictures, put please don't put your children in the middle of the tulip beds and therefore crushing the flowers. Actually this is not an amusement park and children should be kept on a "leash." Also don't show up in your stilettos, it's a farm, so the ground is uneven, wear rugged pants so you can actually kneel down in the dirt if you want to take close up shots.

You can take (cut, or hand pick) tulips home, but at a rather steep price. To make your tulips last, pick them while they are still closed, they will last much longer at home and  will give you enjoyment for a couple of weeks.

This was the first year we went there and I know I want to go back next spring, tip toeing not thru but next to the tulips.

Sources: texas-tulips.com
This shot and others are available for publication through photo agency, Dispatch Press Images, DPI. It is also featured in my ClickASnap portfolio and in my Niume photo sphere blog.

Night Shift

A lone security guard at the end of the lobby, guarding an office building. As I love to document work in BW pictures I am really taken with the colors in this one. The almost complimentary colors are working wonders for this shot. And the "cold" outside fights the "warm" inside, but there is a guard denying access. There is something Kafkaesque in this shot. 

The BW on the other hand is more to reality in some certain ways: unarmed guards make minimum wage and do mostly "observe & report" duties. It just shows the job at what it is, a simple job. 

Both these shots are available for publication through Dispatch Press Images, a photo agency. They are also featured in my ClickASnap portfolio.

Made It Clean

"I told you, I made the shot, clean. No I did not touch the four ball on the way to the hole." The statement is imagined but it goes well with image. That said I feel comfortable and love to shoot in bars, there is something special about it.

And the only way to improve your aim and your shooting in pool, is HAMB - Hit a Million Balls. That said, I'm up to play next.

This and other shots of mine are available for publication through Dispatch Press Images.

Around White Rock Lake - Dallas

With cooler temperatures in the 80's (around 30C), after the sweltering summer heat, people are starting to come out again and to enjoy a leisurely Sunday. Biking around "White Rock Lake" in Dallas. The trail around the lake is 9.33 miles (15km) long and also serves for the White Rock Marathon, a qualifier for the more famous Boston race.

If not biking, you can stroll along the lake and find a variety of flora and fauna to explore. Basically a water reservoir in the middle of the metroplex this place also offers casual fun, not just on Sundays.

This and other shots of mine are available for publication through Dispatch Press Images.

Sold

It's part of the American landscape and happens in almost every small town, several times a month, sometimes once a week. Farmers converge to sell their cows, heifers, calves and bulls. Buyers investing for breeding purposes or to satisfy our demand for meat. (No, it doesn't come pre-packaged from the super market, as you city slickers want to believe.)

And it's somehow mesmerizing to listen to the sing-song, as the auctioneer chant prices. And as the rhythm fastens and the prices may go up, the bidders bidding; only then you realize that there is a livelihood intrinsically related to the survival of a whole family. So while you are looking at my picture, finding all the details, listen to the auctioneer. "gezortenplotz" put a great shareable audio-file on freesound.org



This shot and other photography of mine are available through Dispatch Press Images for publication.
Sources: freesound.org

Howdy Y'All

Close to Lyndon B. Johnson's birth place Stonewall, is a small ghost town called Albert. Once a town with a post office (1877 - 86) it's now unincorporated. You may have heard the name of Albert because in 2007 it was up for sale on eBay, according to a CBS/AP article it wasn't the first town for sale on the internet bidding site. 

According to the towns own website it was originally called Martinsburg but changed name to Albert, when "Albert Luckenbach" (aka August Engel) and his sister Minnie (or Sophie) sold the general store in Luckenbach and moved in 1892 20 miles east to Martinsburg and renamed the town Albert. The renovated dancehall, a new watering hole and pecan and peach trees were bought in 2009 by Easley family who still run the town. 

The dancehall still holds concerts and dances and the watering hole is open Wednesdays through Sundays and also offers on a smaller scale live music entertainment. 

Friendly people and y'all are greeted with a fine "Howdy Y'All"  

This shot and other photography of mine are available through Dispatch Press Images for publication.

Sources: CBS/AP, AlbertTexas.com

On The Porch

If the world had a front porch like we did back then
we'd still have our problems but we'd all be friends
Treating your neighbor like he's your next of kin
Wouldn't be gone like the wind
If the World had a front porch, like we did back then

These lyrics of Tracy Lawrence's top-ten-hit (#2/1995) "If The World Had A Front Porch" written by Lawrence together with Kenny Beard and Paul Nelson, pretty much sums the content of this picture up, celebrating traditional values and socialising with your neighbour(s). Long gone in the bigger cities where we hardly communicate with our neighbour and most of the time may not even know them - the front porch is(was) a meeting place. It's societal benefits are endless, just start to think about it and spin some yarn.

I don't know what these two gentlemen were upto, but they got ready to contemplate the day and exchange some great togetherness and discussion.

This shot and other photography of mine are available through Dispatch Press Images for publication.

Lone Fisherman

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.
(Henry David Thoreau)

The solitude. The calm. The loneliness. All things we should be striving for and trying to absorb back into our hectic daily life. As Thoreau said, it's not the fish and the fish-fry. It is the time spent. As you. With your surroundings. Your mind wondering while you're wandering on the shores. I guess some people may even call it "go to church."

As a photographer this also means to go out and search. Even if there is no sunshine - you may find something very inspiring.

This shot and other photography of mine are available through Dispatch Press Images for publication.

Salud - En La Perla

This more than a moment in time. It probably soon will be in the very past. La Perla is one of the last Hispanic bars on the legendary East Side of Austin, Texas. With gentrification and condos came higher rent and a change in demographics. Rich kids, mostly working behind desks in the moving in, while families can't afford the raise in taxes anymore. House prices soar, what could have been bought below $100'000 a bit more than a decade ago, triple, quadrupled or even quintupled. And it's not unseen that an "old" 50-60 year old home is bought, torn down, razed and replaced with a "McMansion."

All this is called progress. Progress for what and whom. By destroying the dives and neighbourhood bars - well there aren't anymore customers anyway - part of the social fabric is gone. Replaced by anonymous sports and music bars. Don't get me wrong, where ever there is music, let's check it out. But no more families celebrating a quinceanera, where somebody would have brought fajitas or gabrito, where the six year-old would have made her first dance moves twirling with her dad, where a Mariachi or the jukebox were playing songs by Ramon Ayala, Vincente Fernandez, Juan Gabriel or local hero Flaco Jimenez. No more. No it's a battle of the bands. Loud, agressive - far, far away from the all encompassing family feel to the fake "you're-a-part-of-the-crowd-now"-illusion.

People move to the more affordable edges of town, into non-descript starter homes - as living in a family home for generations now demand that you start a new. "Little boxes" (Thank you Pete Seeger) in cookie-cutter neighbourhoods, where you don't know your neighbours anymore. No social life on the street or in the corner bar - well there are no corner bars.

It's a lament of the times. So next time walk across the tracks or as in Austin under the once dividing highway and soak in a different culture. And have a toast to the times that are gone.

This shot and other photography of mine are available through Dispatch Press Images for publication.

Dreamin' About All Them Tools

I hate malls. I think these consumer palaces are responsible, besides the big box stores, in destroying or at least eliminating every single Mom & Pop store there is, or bettter there was.  
So normally I just tag along with my cameras, always trying to find something to shoot.

Well this was just to precious, this senior taking a nap in front of the Sears store, not at least bothered by the people meandering and rummaging around him. He probably hates malls as much as I do. Or he may have had a tool overload (as in a sugar overload) that mad him take a nap and dream about all the tools he could buy and take home to do his projects.

Daily Life. Sleep and dream well.

This shot and other photography of mine are available through Dispatch Press Images for publication.

In Line At The Convenience Store

Standing in line, waiting. It suddenly hit me, the anonymity of convenience. What used to be a meeting point, and everybody knew at least somebody, has become just another place you visit. A place to make a brief deal. To satisfy your urges. Your addictions. Sugar. Coffee To Go. Nicotine. Alcohol. On the spur of the moment instant satisfaction is guaranteed.
But where are the stories, where is the human interaction. Shouldn't I be writing a book about the four lives reflecting so many different truths, hopes and feelings in this store?

I hope that pictures captures part of this.

These shots and other photography of mine are available through Dispatch Press Images for publication.

Technology Training

The gossip factory is working overtime. Will the new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus see the light of day on 9/7, will CEO Tim Cook lift the veil, what about the design and all the features. Leaks are already talking about a dual-camera, a new operating system IOS 10 with 75 new features and changes. And if you're lost you will have to go back to training to use tomorrow's technology today.

These shots and other photography of mine are available through Dispatch Press Images for publication.