West of everything...
I find everything about this image to be funny. It's funny that the Works Project Administration built this road side, rest stop/camping shelter out in the middle of nowhere all the way back in the 1930's when there wasn't a major highway within a hundred miles of this plot of land. It's funnier still that I was driving around aimlessly on roads that shifted from partially paved to partially graveled just looking for interesting stuff to stare at.
It's funny, to me, that I was most attracted at the time to the character of the sky and little else in the frame.
It's funny that 2010 was a year when giant DSLR cameras still ruled the photograph scene. Big zoom lenses and fat bodies with ever growing sensors. But I chose to take only two cameras along with me on my road trip that time. My main camera was the brand new Olympus EP-2 and the other was a less expensive EPL-1 that I bought a few months earlier as a back up to the svelte EP-2. I bought into that little mirrorless system for three reasons. The first reason was that I finally had a camera system that I could use with the old Pen-FT lenses from the half frame system. The second was the introduction of the VF electronic viewfinder which allowed me to easily (and happily) use the camera at eye level. And third, I could set the camera to shoot squares and I could see the 1:1 composition in the EVF. For a camera with only 12.3 megapixels it punched way above its weight for me.
I'm just recently being re-attracted to the idea of revisiting West Texas once again. The epicenter for a lot of people is the little, haute town of Marfa, but for me I think Marathon, Texas is a great base. Smaller but with so much landscape everywhere. Might be time to saddle up the Subaru and take a drive.
How different the camera market is now. Today the DSLR is the odd man out while mirrorless cameras with EVFs strut around in prominence. Wouldn't have believed it back then. It seemed like camera makers had a long way to go before they could turn the tide and really appeal to the old farts who were legendary for bemoaning the loss of mirrors and pentaprism finders. I still hear the refrain as though it was yesterday, "I'll never use an EVF. They'll never replace an "optical" viewfinder!!!" Same guys are now crowing about the fine finders in their Sonys. The world is a funny place. West Texas can be even funnier.
The Canon R5 has an 5.76M EVF, like the SL2. 48 years later, we now have viewfinders as good as the OM1.
ReplyDeleteThe R5 is the finest stills camera I have ever used, better than <£30K 'Blads, etc..oh and the Fuji GFX-50R, which overall, from my experience, is pretty awful.
Answer the call. Saddle up. What goes with you this time? SL2, the 65mm and a big zoom? Or the little X100V, in the spirit of the 2010 trip? Seems to me the Kirk of that era was telling his readers to stop buying big, super megapixel cameras.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the paint at Eve’s Organic B&B held up. That’s asking a lot of pigment, particularly when exposed to endless bright sunlight.
West Texas is indeed fascinating. Get out there and go discover something, and discover oneself as well.
ReplyDeleteI really miss road trips out there. US 90 between Marathon and Del Rio is always interesting. And the Balmorhea State Park natural springs pool is a good diversion to go for a swim.
That's a semi-serious looking fence alongside that "roadside" stand. What does it enclose?
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing better to both clear and recharge the soul than a good road trip!
ReplyDeleteGo minimal, no fuss no muss, just you and the open road.
I'm jealous :)
Eric
And don't forget to bring some tunes. I'm pegging you as a CCR guy... blaring Proud Mary with the windows down and the breeze flowing through your hair. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'm going to West Texas from Santa Fe on Wednesday, doing my version of location research. I'll get to Midland Wednesday afternoon, be there all day Thursday, drive through (and pause, briefly at) Marfa to Presidio on Friday, spend whatever is left of Friday in Presidio, and Saturday morning, then head to El Paso late on Saturday, spend the night, and home to Santa Fe on Sunday. I'm taking my MacBook Pro, two GX8s. I'm thinking one with the Leica 12-60 and the other with the Lumix 7-14 on the passenger seat, though maybe, depending on conditions, the Oly 75 (my favorite m4/3 lens) on the second. I'll have a bag of additional lenses with me, but I doubt they'll see much use. If I see a portrait or similar opportunity, I may pop out the tidy Lumix f1.7 42.5. ASPH.
ReplyDeleteGonna be hot -- in the 80s in Midland on Wednesday.
If we pass on the road, flag me down and I'll buy you a meal. With margaritas.
Karmagroovy, Nope. Not a CCR fan. If I drive through west Texas with the windows down it's probably going to be Janis Joplin on the audio system. I'm from Austin, not Cerrito California.
ReplyDeleteInteresting image, the sky is interesting as is the structure. The most interesting fact was it was built in the 1930's projects. I believe we need these programs back. Road trip music, Janis, CCR, Jackson Brown, Dire Straits, Beatles plus more.
ReplyDeleteNow West, up in the Pan Handle. Turkey, Texas. Home of Bob Wills. Fire hydrants that are interesting.
ReplyDeleteA good place to stop in for a photo project.
18 months ago, my friends and I took a drive along Route 66 from Texola to LA. Some cool stuff in that part of Texas. Straight shot up I-35 to Oklahoma City from Austin.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, a road trip. Taking a trip with a camera almost anywhere is a great way to enrich the creative spirit. Especially if you have had your 2nd shot and don't have to worry about dying from this "cold" or "flu" going around. (Well it is Texas after all).
ReplyDeleteI would think Paul Simon singing "Kodachrome" would be your song of choice. My question: KII or K64?
Anthony Bourdain, Part's Unknown, had an interesting episode on southwest Texas. It certainly piqued my interest, anyway. And as Bruce mentioned above, Route 66 through the Texas panhandle is a pretty cool experience.
ReplyDeleteThis is actually a comment on what you posted yesterday on The On Line Photographer. Like you, I have a paper copy of passwords hidden among my books. I also have an industrial strength digital password manager. Some addresses in my paper phone book are actually passwords.
ReplyDeleteMy wife died last September. She did not leave any copy of her passwords and I do not know them. I can not open her computer, her iPhone, or her iPad.
I'm so glad you re-posted this image; it's been in the back of my mind to try and relocate it. I'm totally in to structure/architecture where the columns are sloped/angled like this, and love the simple, but elegant, shape of this shade structure. Before knowing it was built in the 1930s, I would have guessed the 1950s. FWIW, if I were to make road trip to Texas, I would like to check out some of these locations to photograph. The first two are in your own backyard.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.austintexas.gov/news/convenience-store-food-fuel-now-cell-phone-lot (dusk/night shot)
https://pterrys.com/locations/capital-plaza (dusk/night shot)
https://www.roadarch.com/gas/txice5.html
I haven't been to West Texas since fall of 2012. When we went, we stayed in Alpine. It's a really good central point to visit the McDonald Observatory (which is cool), Big Bend National Park, Terlingua and Marfa. It's a very relaxed, chill place with gorgeous, starry night skies.
ReplyDelete