The Mummy

On Wednesday, we stopped at Jack in a Box for lunch in Del Rio, which excited me since we don’t have one in Lubbock. Wyman calls it the child molester place because he thinks Jack looks like a child molester. After lunch we stopped in Langtry, TX on our way to Independence Creek to visit one of Wyman’s friends, Jack Skiles. Mr. Skiles lives on a ranch right along the Mexican border. The Rio Grande runs alongside Mr. Skiles house. Mr. Skiles parents found a mummy in the caves along the river over 50 years ago. Mr. Skiles now keeps the mummy preserved along with many other artifacts in a trailer next to his house. The mummy is about 1200 years old and is an Indian who died from Chaga’s disease, which it is speculated that it was transferred to him by an assassin bug. The mummy still has all of the hair on his head and has a decomposed stomach. Mr. Skiles took us down to a bluff that over looks the Rio Grande to show us the caves where most of the artifacts he owns were found. It was very neat to stand a couple of thousand feet from Mexican soil. Mr. Skiles’ wife has found make shift shoes that illegal aliens have used to cross the border. These shoes are rocks covered in the pant legs of jeans that are tied to one’s feet with shoestrings. These shoes keep the dog cactus from poking one’s foot and don’t leave footprints in the dirt for border patrol to find.

Monday, May 17 - Wednesday, May 19 (morning)

Monday morning we woke up ready to pack the van and drive only to find out that the river we had to cross to get to out campsite at Dolan Falls was nearly 3 feet high due to the mass amount of rain we got the night before. Dolan Falls is located in the middle of a Wildlife Reserve privately owned by the state. Dolan Falls is the largest waterfall per volume in Texas. Dolan Falls is not open to the public and only potential donors, educational groups, and the media are invited to camp there.

Eventually Wyman got a phone call from the wildlife reserve that the river had gone down enough for the vans to cross the river, so we loaded up the vans and headed down the road towards Dolan Falls. Once you reach the main gate of the wildlife reserve the falls is 30 miles down a dirt/rocky road. After about an hour of slowly trekking down the road we finally reached camp. The reserve has two person screened-in cabins with cots. It’s nice out at the falls until night falls and a hunting war begins. You are hunting assassin bugs and the assassin bugs are hunting you. Dolan Falls has assassin bugs also known as kissing bugs. These bugs seek you out while you are sleeping in order to suck your blood. I think I only slept an hour the first night at the falls. I kept waking up to turn on my flashlight to check and see it there were any assassin bugs on me. When I woke up in the morning I sighed in relief because I had made it through the night without getting bit. Finally I was able to relax or at least I thought. I rolled over and saw an assassin bug on the floor right next to my bed. Luckily, that was the only assassin bug I saw while I was in Dolan Falls.

We got lots of rain on Monday night and when we got up in the morning to shot the falls Wyman said that in 16 years he had never seen that much water come over the falls. In this class we have a lot of down time since the light is not good to shoot in between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. So in our down time we either catch up on our sleep, blog, upload our digital photos, or make jalapeno poppers. Every year Wyman makes jalapeno poppers for his classes at the falls and Independence Creek. I had helped Wyman make the poppers on Monday without a hitch. Tuesday, however, was a different story. I was shelling the seeds and veins out of the jalapenos when juice shot into my left eye. If you have never had jalapeno juice in your eye let me just tell you it burns! Luckily, I was able to rinse my eye under the faucet in the kitchen and get the juice out of my eye.

Wednesday morning we got up, packed the vans, cleaned camp, and went on a hike to photograph the falls from one of the bluffs. We started walking up the road and I was fine until Wyman veered from the road and started to cut through the brush up a bluff. I was not prepared nor dressed to hike through thorny brush and cactus. I was wearing a pair of shorts and my sandals. Not only was I not prepared to hike through cactus, but also I did not realize that we would be hiking up and then down a very steep bluff. Needless to say I was not a very happy camper by the time we got done with the hike. I only took one picture from the side of the bluff because I was very afraid that I would lose my footing and slide off the bluff. It was very steep and covered in loose rock that came out from under your feet very easily. I look like an animal attacked me because my legs are bruised and scraped up pretty badly. There really wasn’t much I could do about it because I only packed shorts and sandals for this trip. Despite everything I am proud of myself that I completed the hike. Then we got in the vans and headed towards Del Rio for lunch and to restock on food before heading to Independence Creek.

Dolan Falls:

Major Update

On Friday night we headed out to Roosevelt Church to do some light painting. It is a pretty neat church and I was only able to shoot in film so I don't have an images to put up now. Then Saturday morning we went to Llano River Ranch where I got the shots of the Thistles in the previous post. We got to watch the cowboys round up the cattle and seperate the calves from the hefers. We also got to photograph the branding of the calves. All of the cowboys had a very distinct look and personality about them.

Saturday night we headed out to Mason Mountain in Mason, TX. As we were driving to Mason Mountain a huge storm started rolling in. Well, this got Wyman excited, so we hurried out to the mountain and scrambled up the rocks to try and get a few shots before it started to down pour. We had time for about 5 exposures and had to run back to the vans. We waited out the storm in the vans and had clear skies for the rest of the night. It was a nice climb to the top of Mason Mountain, but it was worth it. The view from the top of the mountain was amazing. We also got a full rainbow after the storm.

We finally got a morning off on Sunday morning so I took full advantage of being able to sleep in. We had lunch as a class at La Familia and then had the afternoon off to do laundry. Last night we headed back out to Tye Church to do some more light painting. The clouds were amazing. Today we are heading out to Dolan Falls and then on to Independence Creek. It's gonna be fun!

I will blog about these later but here are pictures from the past few days.

Mason Mountain:


Thistles:

Mason Mountain:

Random Flower:

Wyman Meinzer at the Llano River Ranch:

Llano River Ranch:

Getting Used to the Daily Grind

This morning we had to be up early to get on the van at 7 a.m. We headed down TX road 377 and stopped alongside the road to take photos of the wildflowers that blanket the land. I took a different approach and got down level with the flowers. I used my telephoto lens to zoom across a sea of red flowers to focus in on a single yellow flower. Then I did this again only opposite. It was quite a muggy day because it had rained on our way out there. After about an hour of shooting wildflowers we headed on down the road to stop and have breakfast. The campus had packed us a cereal breakfast complete with fruit and granola bars. Both the photography and video classes spread out along the boulders and rocks that are scattered along 377.

We headed to Mason which is about an hour outside of Junction. Wyman took us down yet another long and winding dirt road until he stopped just outside a gated wildlife reserve. Wyman headed inside the wildlife reserve to ask permission for the class to photograph the landscape. While Wyman was inside the reserve I got out of the van and took some wildflower photos with my digital camera. These are the two good shots I got:

After we got back to Junction, Wyman told us that we had the afternoon off and that we would meet again after dinner to go light paint the Roosevelt Church. My class decided to go float the river, so we picked a inner tube and headed to the river that runs through the Junction campus. The river is quite shallow for the most part, but Erin, Mica and I discovered that more often than not we wound up running into the riverbank. Erin kept getting out of her tube and dragging Mica and I out of the riverbank and on down the river. Thanks Erin!

In Between the Rain

Tonight we went out to Ty Church to do some light painting. We unload the vans and got our cameras set up and focused when it decided to start raining. We all made a mad dash to the porch where nearly 20 people crammed their tripods, cameras and camera equipment onto a pretty small porch. It rained for a few minutes before the rain subsided and we proceeded to set up our equipment again. Just as everyone got reset-up it began to rain again! So once again we all made a mad dash to the porch. Finally the rain stopped long enough for us to set up and take about 5 extended exposures before we decided the rain just wasn't going to hold off long enough for us to keep shooting. Tonight was supposed to be our first night to spend as a class just sitting back and enjoying each other's company. Maybe we'll have better luck tomorrow...

Beginning of a New Day

This morning we started off our Junction experience shooting wildflowers in the field just across from the Administration building. There were lady bugs everywhere! I have never seen so many lady bugs in my life. I was lucky enough to not only find a caterpillar munching on flowers in the field but to also have a butterfly land on a flower right where I was shooting. Shooting in macro is a lot of fun although it is extremely hard to maintain sharp critical focus with a telephoto lens and extension tubes. It's hard to keep a lens that is nearly two feet long stable.

After lunch today we had great light for portraits so Nick and Alison posed for the class. I did take a few digital photos of Nick and Alison which I will post later tonight. We also did a shooting test to see the slowest shutter speed in which we could handhold a camera zoomed in at 200 mm and maintain sharp critical focus. Sadly the slowest shutter speed I can achieve this is 1/500 of a second. But keep in mind this is really difficult to do and I have hand shake to begin with.

After dinner tonight we will be light painting a church while shooting with extended exposure. So far I am thoroughly enjoying my Junction experience. All of the girls in my class are in my dorm and we have become a close knit group already. Believe it or not, we turned the lights out at 10:00 p.m. last night! A new thing for me lately since I have been going to bed after midnight, but luckily I was able to go to sleep and get my last full nights sleep. Well gotta go chow down on dinner, will write more later!

Last Night of Sleep

So tonight will be my last night to get a full night of sleep. I'm at the TTU campus in Junction, TX to study alongside The Official Photographer of Texas, Wyman Meinzer. Tonight we met and got an overview of the Junction experience and tomorrow we will begin two weeks of non-stop immersion in the photographic process. We will be up before the sun rises to travel to location to make use of the perfect light, then hang out for a few hours and set out again to make use of the light just before sunset. I am so excited to have this opportunity. This is the last semester that photo class in Junction will get to use film because the processing company will no longer process film after this class. I'm here with a friend and fellow photographer of mine, Alison Church. I'm really glad to have a friend to share this experience with. Well I have to get ready for tomorrow and watch last night's episode of Glee before bed...so I will write more later.

Preparing for the Long Haul

This semester, I am finally getting to start my photography classes. While I am really excited, I'm a little overwhelmed. There is so much I need to learn this semester and so little time. So, I am preparing for the long haul. It is time to buckle down and enjoy the ride.

I recently reconnected with two fellow photographers in Lubbock and I am excited to start collaborating work with them. Both photographers have a really interesting viewpoint on the world and I really respect both photographers for their artistic abilities. Next Friday I will be working with two other photographers in my senior portfolio class to take pictures of students for the NOH8 campaign. I am excited to start seriously working on my portfolio and brand myself as a photographer.