sjfphotography: *fine art images *natural light portraits *greeting cards


Sunday, June 30, 2013

bicycling on the boardwalk
 
Beaufort, North Carolina
6.27.2013

Saturday, June 29, 2013

motif mania
 
After its construction in 1859, the Cape Lookout became a model for all tower lighthouses constructed on the Eastern U.S. coast. When the remaining four North Carolina lighthouses were finished (Cape Lookout, Cape Hatteras, Bodie, and Currituck), the Lighthouse Board painted each different designs to easily distinguish one from another.  The diamond design lighthouse is seen everywhere on the Crystal Coast -- from advertising signs to yard art.  The guy offered to ship the six-foot model home for me but I chose the 2-inch souvenir instead.

Friday, June 28, 2013

saltmarsh
 
 
The barrier islands forming the Outer Banks of North Carolina are moving line of sand in the open Atlantic.  Harkers Island  is connected to the main land by bridges spanning expanses of saltmarsh.  Located on the east headland of Harkers Island, the Cape Lookout National Seashore offers a study in island ecology.  A boardwalk crosses a saltmarsh to Core Sound. The mudflats support cordgrass and a multitude of fiddler crabs.
 
Cape Lookout National Seashore
Harkers Island, North Carolina

Thursday, June 27, 2013

the diamond lighthouse
 
The Cape Lookout Lighthouse on the Outer Banks is only accessible by boat.  During the ride over, we saw the wild horses on the other end of the island and paused to watch the dolphins.  No, I did not climb the 208 steps to the top.
 
Cape Lookout Lighthouse
Beaufort, North Carolina
www.carolinalights.com/north-carolina-lighthouses/cape-lookout-lighthouse

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

north carolina coast

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

elvis sighting
 
Ye Olde Drugstore
Historic Downtown
Swansboro, North Carolina

Monday, June 24, 2013

follow the arrow
 
In case you don't know where the drive-thru window is at the Cowboy Cafe, follow the arrow.
 
Cowboy Cafe
Plains, Texas
6-22-2013

Sunday, June 23, 2013

lavender harvest
 
Neal Newsom demonstrates how to tie a lavender bundle.  He furnished the shears, twine and lavender -- and offered lemonade!
 
Rock'n N B&B and Lavender Farm
Plains, Texas
6-22-2013

Saturday, June 22, 2013

lavender harvest
 
A nice road trip today to Plains, Texas to cut my own wands of lavender.  Located on the grounds of the Rock'n N Bed & Breakfast, the limited lavender field is in full bloom.  The B&B occupies a 1914 ranch house and Neal Newsom, the owner, says he's booked for next week.  Neal gave up cotton farming to grow grapes.  There is no on-site winery but he provides grapes for 14 others -- except for this year when grapes were wiped out by the early spring freeze.  Want a quiet get-away?  Consider the Rock'n N -- wide open spaces, starry skies and no distractions for romance.
 
Rock'n N Bed & Breakfast (and lavender harvest)
2 miles north of Plains on Texas 214
 
 
 

Friday, June 21, 2013

one stop
 
It's a long stretch along highway 350 between Trinidad and Fort Bend.  At one time, travelers could stop at the Delhi Store to buy a soda and use the facilities-- uh, the outhouse.  Now the place is dilapidated and abandoned; only intrepid photographers make the stop.
 
Delhi, Colorado
5.23.2009

Thursday, June 20, 2013

illumination
 
Today I toured the Wiggins complex which offices University Housing and Hospitality Services.  They used black and white photographs by Art Limmer as artwork (http://www.artielimmer.com).  I love Artie's work -- he has captured the spirit of Texas Tech.  I never thought about the Carol of Lights sans color but was taken by the Administration Building in b/w by Artie.  Enough that I hurried home to see what some of my Christmas shots would look like in monochrome. 
Season's Greetings in June!
 
Chemistry Building
Texas Tech
Lubbock, Texas

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

art
 
If you can't find original art to grace your wall in the multitude of galleries in Santa Fe, then go with the popular Southwest motif of cow skulls.  If you don't find a skull lying around on the ranch, then one may be purchased from a shop surrounding the Plaza.  Georgia O’Keeffe said of the sun-bleached bones and skulls she found in the desert. “To me they are as beautiful as anything I know...they are strangely more living than the animals walking around. The bones seem to cut sharply to the center of something that is keenly alive on the desert even tho’ it is vast and empty and untouchable—and knows no kindness with all its beauty.”
 
Santa Fe, New Mexico
3.9.2012

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

upward mobility
 
There is upward mobility with a position in the city's Traffic Engineering department.  On any day, you might be dispatched to go up in the cherry-picker to repair a traffic signal.  This guy has traffic stopped while he works on the signal at 19th and Quaker.  The relative size of the traffic signal is deceptive.  Would you believe the the red light is 12 inches in diameter?

Monday, June 17, 2013


As I post this we have strong winds from the east, rain and nickel-size hail on the ground. Did I cause this with my choice of photo today?   Makes one wonder why McCarley's went out of business.

29th Drive and Slide
Lubbock, Texas

Sunday, June 16, 2013

vanishing point
 
All over the plains, cotton farmers are plowing under this year's hope for crops.  Ever optimistic, they planted with little submoisture and prayed for rain to break the drought.  When the rain came, it brought with it damaging hail and strong winds.  What tender plants weren't beaten down were washed away.  Any that survived that were wind-driven and sand-blasted.  Too late to replant cotton, farmers are trusting in hay-grazer or milo or  else they're off to Ruidoso for the horse-races.  May be better odds there!
 
Hale County, Texas

Saturday, June 15, 2013

affordable
 
There is some ambiguity to this "free house."  Does it mean one can feel free to move into this fixer-upper and live rent-free OR does it mean that one should feel free to haul the house away and relocate on one's own acreage?  By the way, there is a church for sale just down the road.
 
FM 40
Acuff, Texas

Friday, June 14, 2013



In its heyday, Bob's sign was lit by hundreds of light bulbs; today only black sockets and empty holes remain.  Like Bob's sign, "The Strip" is also only a shade of its former self.  The glow of neon from all the signs use to beckon those who imbibed to the stretch of liquor stores outside the city limits to purchase bourbon and beer.  With the passage of liquor sales, there is now a package store on almost every corner of Lubbock and drinkers drive blocks instead of miles to quench their thirst.  What was once the "wet" part of Lubbock has dried up.  Only a few relics, such as Bob's sign beside the Short Road, mark this era of Lubbock's history.

"The Strip"
89th and US 87
Lubbock, Texas

Thursday, June 13, 2013

warehouse #3
 
The unnamed warehouse at 10th and Avenue F has something to do with tires, including tractor tires.  Sometimes they paint the rims.  Do tractor tires make crop circles?
 
10th and Avenue F
Lubbock, Texas

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

salt flat cafe
 
I don't know if the bus still stops in Salt Flat or if the cafe is open (it has a Facebook page), but the place was a welcome stop along the desolate stretch of US 62/180 between Carlsbad Caverns and El Paso.  The town got its name from a series of dry salt lakes.
 
Salt Flat, Texas
10.16.2006

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

MACH 6

MACH stands for Master Agility Champion title awarded by the American Kennel Club.  Dog agility is a competitive sport that tests a person's skills in training and handling of dogs over a timed obstacle course. Competitors race against the clock as they direct their dogs to jump hurdles, scale ramps, burst through tunnels, traverse a see-saw and weave through a line of poles in an obstacle course .  Saki, a miniature poodle is MACH 6 with a wallful of ribbons.  Look for Saki at the International Cultural Center dog photography exhibit.

Monday, June 10, 2013

doc
 
Don't look for Doc in the upcoming "Putting on the Dog" exhibit at the International Cultural Center -- he didn't make the cut.  I did have other images accepted.  You are invited to the reception sometime in late June.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

main street
 
Today's post is a convergence of thoughts.  I've gathered canine images for submission to the annual dog exhibit at the International Cultural Center( this is not one of them).  Then, the June 6 image on "One Day One Image" (http://melindagreenharvey.com/) featured the main street of Sudan.  Hence today's post of a dog on the main drag of Van Horn.  Wonder if Ran Horn, the Van Gogh of Van Horn, is still around?
 
Van Horn, Texas
10.6/2006

Saturday, June 8, 2013

A-1 no more
 
Another victim of last week's storm with 80 mph winds was A-1 Clutch on Avenue A (see January 13 post).  From the Avenue A side the building resembles itself; what is unseen is the collapsed rear two-thirds of the structure.  The curved roof trusses lie upon the stored contents and the concrete blocks are scattered.  Red buildings on this stretch are street must be doomed -- first the Sedberry Church at 18th and B was razed; now A-1 Clutch.  Just more vacant lots for prairie dogs to occupy.

A-1 Clutch
Avenue A and 8th
Lubbock, Texas



Friday, June 7, 2013

t.g.i.f
 
For a brief time this afternoon, smiley faces beamed down on Lubbock.  An unidentified skywriter, dispensing smoke that quickly dissipated in the wind, scribed smiles -- at least 5 that I observed -- with this last one being his/her best.  The last glint of the plane appears at the end of the grin -- which was probably mirrored on the pilot's face.
 


Thursday, June 6, 2013

USAF L-4
 

D-Day activities at the Silent Wings Museum included exhibits and rides. For a fee, one could fly in a vintage C-47 or B-25.  On display was a Piper Cub Grasshopper hat was used as an observation plane during WWII.  The L-4 was the Air Force version of the Piper Cub in which many a pilot learned to fly.  We asked Pop if he wanted a ride; he replied that he'd logged his share of hours -- free and courtesy of the US Marine Corps!
 
Silent Wings Museum
Lubbock, Texas

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

farming
 
What looks like a vintage photograph was actually taken only a few years ago in Amish country.  If the drought doesn't break, there may not be any farming practices.
 
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
3.5.2011

Monday, June 3, 2013

backyard guest
 
I'm not sure if this is last year's visitor Leroy or his cousin Leonard.
 
My backyard
Lubbock, Texas