I'm spending way too much time in my office. I blame the lockdown. I blame the economic conditions, but really, I just blame myself for not being more proactive with my time. I woke up bored this morning and that's never good. I skipped my usual swim practice and slept in till nine. That's a bad sign. So, after breakfast I grabbed a black Fuji X-100V and an extra battery and pointed the car West.
My first stop was Johnson City, birthplace of a great president, Lyndon Baines Johnson. Man, he got a ton of work done and bills passed for a one term president. Just an amazing amount of very good legislation. I've done a lot of research about his life and career (we produced two plays about LBJ at Zach Theatre) and I'm sure most people don't know that he pushed through 87 major pieces of legislation and got 84 bills passed, which gives him the record with a 96% success rate. And most of the bills didn't do anything to destroy the middle class or raise taxes on less affluent people. In fact, it was almost a golden age for fairness.
Johnson City is still small but its proximity to Austin means it's growing up and offering more sophisticated visitor amenities. There are several very decent restaurants, a science museum and a lot of art galleries and wine tasting rooms. The architecture all around town is classic Depression Era Texas Modest. With some buildings featuring embossed tin ceilings and layers and layers of styles. It's also home to a sometimes client of ours: The Pedernales Electric Cooperative.
I made some photos of LBJ's boyhood home, a location which further reminded me that at one point in our country's history a person could rise up from a middle, middle class, rural childhood to become president of the United States of America. It's fun. And you can walk right up and touch the house, if that's what you are into. I touched it with my camera. Then I headed over to Blanco, Texas which is about 10 miles South along Hwy. 281.
Blanco has a nice state park with a river that runs through it but I was more interested in the old courthouse. It's now a visitor center, and a charming young woman named Riley welcomed me and gave me some local perspective. I'd shot stills for a movie production that used this courthouse as a location for three or four days. That was about 25 years ago. Since then the location has been used by a number of other feature films. In fact, it's the go to place in Texas if you want to do a period courtroom scene but can't afford tens of thousands of dollars in location fees. It was fun to see the space again. I'll chalk the visit down to scouting for one of the law firms we provide photos and video to. They'll love it.
One great find today was a new coffee shop in Johnson City. That was the one thing that kept the town from getting an "A" from me as a destination; no good, local coffee. Now the Johnson City Coffee Company is going full steam (intended...) and serving great coffees and pastries. I sampled their medium roast, drip coffee along with a lemon, blueberry scone, freshly drizzled with fresh, thick creme. Delicious and well done.
So funny though, when I walked up and ordered the woman at the counter said, "I recognize your voice. Did you used to swim in the Masters at Western Hills Athletic Club?" I said that I did and she said, "I thought so. I'm Nancy. I used to swim with you all there." I remembered her in flash. So hard to be sociable these days with everyone hidden behind masks.... Nancy and her family own the new coffee shop. They'll do well. She was always a disciplined swimmer.
I'm thrilled with the new shop. Finally, a way station between Austin and Fredericksburg, Texas (or Marble Falls) with great coffee, a good rest room and a wide selection of above average pastries. Better than the fare at Starbucks and located in exactly the right spot. Well, at least for everyone driving through the hot spots in Central Texas.
The camera I took was the Fuji X-100V. The black one. It had fewer than 100 shutter actuations on it when I left. Now it has 396. I set its white balance to the little "sun" icon and kept it there all day. I tried to stick with f8 for most stuff but I did bounce around on apertures when I went into the courthouse. And when I photographed the big ceramic deer. I find the image files to be wonderful; especially when I use the Astia Soft setting in full sun. All good there. Now a recommended camera. At least, it's recommended for me.
Blanco Courthouse Interior.
Blanco Courthouse, exterior.
Vast amounts of outside seating at the Johnson City Coffee Company. Maybe bring a chair in case it gets crowded. Bring two chairs if you are traveling with a spouse. Or fight over one chair.
Whatever.
Hate to get out of your car? They've got a drive through on the other side.
This is a detail of a building I found just outside of Johnson City.
It's like a super-modern Quonset Hut but beautifully designed.
I had to pull in and walk around it a couple of times. The next
few frames are different angles and magnifications.
Courthouse in Johnson City.
who wants to pay for premium electricity?
What do you get if you pay extra?
Gate to the LBJ boyhood house. High security, yes?
The observant among you will notice that I finally got a haircut.
Belinda tells me I look meaner with short hair....
10 comments:
I found this Article about LBJ very informative when I read it some years ago:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/28/the-secrets-of-lyndon-johnsons-archives
I also highly recommend the article linked by Richard Parkin. Since you are so familiar with those parts of Texas, I can imagine you getting a good degree of enjoyment out of it. Robert Caro is the preeminent biographer of LBJ. He even moved to Johnson City with his wife and lived there for three years just so he could gain the trust of those who still knew LBJ when he was growing up there. I ended up using Google street view to "drive" around Johnson City to see the locations. A wonderful read.
Great series of photos. Highly reminiscent of an earlier gotta-go-somewhere trip to Marfa. Something happens when you head west with a tiny camera. I’d like to see more of that quasi-Oaxacan deer.
The photos of the corrugated building might look good in black and white. I've read three of the four Robert Caro's bios of LBJ. He was a complicated guy with lots of insecurities. He used his influence with the FCC to get rich in the radio/TV business. A lot of the time he acted like a major jerk. But he was a master at getting progressive legislation through Congress.
I always enjoy your photos of the Texas countryside and small towns.
So anytime you decide to take off for the hills a camera and a blog post are in order.
Just imagine what LBJ might have accomplished if not for Vietnam and its stranglehold
on him and his time in office.
Nice shots! I gotta say that the B&W ones in your more recent post don't do anything for me. (but all that maters is u r having fun)
Rich, thanks. I gotta say though, when I'm reviewing something like a simulation recipe the images aren't what I would consider "portfolio" quality images but more like quick notes to get a feeling or idea across. I'll let you know when I think an image is really killer and then we can debate that one.
But to your comment, YES! I'm having fun right now.
love your many gorgeous B&W portraits (w/ luscious shadow). Very few B&W pix turn me on - the exceptions being some of the old masters, quintessentially A.A.
You comment about the swimmer who recognized your voice sparked a thought about the kind of anonymity that we're all experiencing right now (at least those who've passed your IQ test.) I broke my arm rather badly last summer, and have been going to physical therapy ever since the surgical repair. PT can be somewhat intimate. I have a young woman manipulating my broken wing twice a week, massaging it, etc., yet, I've never see her face below her eyes. After going to PT for four months, twice a week, I wouldn't recognize her on the street. In some ways, it's kind of leveling -- you can no longer easily judge people on the basis of prettiness or handsomeness. It's all about the eyes, now, and the voice, and what is actually said.
JC, I loved your comment. Very insightful. Thank you. KT
Post a Comment