distant horiZons photography

11/25/2025

Nacogdoches, called by some the oldest town in Texas. My plans for late afternoon and evening yesterday were curtailed by a major downpour that lasted for hours.

I was downtown at dawn this morning, photographing historic sites and structures in the blue hour with the added benefit of Christmas lighting.

The Charles Bright Visitor Center is right in the center of the action. It’s a beautiful old East Texas town!



I Love Texas Photography

11/24/2025

East Texas. Two railroad stops. Where are they? When someone gets the right answers, I’ll share the history.



I Love Texas Photography

11/24/2025

On the road again. I’m overnighting in central Texas, bound for deep east Texas tomorrow to work on my book.

This river rises in New Mexico and makes its way across the Panhandle and Rolling Plains before terminating in the Gulf in the Coastal Bend

From this location, I could see five bridges, four within a quarter mile. I photographed the historic one on the right during the blue hour and will be back there at dawn in the morning, hopefully without people!

So. What’s the name of the river, the historic bridge on the right, and where am I?



I Love Texas Photography

11/22/2025

I always share my accomplishments with my viewers, so it's only fair that I should share my abject failures, right? I have a general policy of not entering photo contests and juried exhibits and haven't done so in many years. I made a promise to myself to never do so if I didn't know the background of the judge or juror.

Nevertheless, I've enjoyed a good couple of of years, with my selection as the photographer for the 2026 Big Bend Calendar. I was awarded a two-page spread in Texas Parks & Wildlife's that highlighted their night photography issue last April. I'm working with some folks who want to use my photography to promote a historical association's fundraising efforts. So, I've been blessed with much good fortune, although always when solicited by those who value my work.

When I saw that the Visit Alpine Texas page was sponsoring a photo contest with five different prizes, I thought, "What the heck?" I was invited to speak at the Photography Symposium at the Museum of the Big Bend at Sul Ross a few years ago. This is the gateway to my favorite place, so these are my people.

With all that in mind, I entered five images in hopes the judge would see something he or she would like. The announcement of the judge wasn't made until after the entry deadline.

To make a long story longer, the winners were announced yesterday and my big, wide landscapes of iconic landmarks in dramatic light, made during a thunderstorm, under the full moon, at dawn, etc, weren't rewarded.

Moving on, congratulations to the five winners, who succeeded in impressing the judge!

In the interest of full and fair disclosure, here are the five "losers" I entered in the Alpine contest. Hopefully some of you will enjoy some of them. 🤣

(I will caption each image with its location in case someone is inspired to visit Alpine, which is central to why I make all my pictures.)

11/18/2025

A freelance writer, Natalie Grigson, recently asked me for a photograph of fall color for an article she was submitting to My San Antonio dot com. Her article was published and my photo was credited. On their Instagram post, my photo was the “cover.” Congrats to Natalie. It’s always fun to be published! Check her story out below and on IG.



I Love Texas Photography

Because yes, Central Texas does get fall—if you know where to look (and when).

11/12/2025

On the road again. Stopped for lunch in Alpine, gateway to the Big Bend. With any luck, hopefully I can capture the Northern Lights tonight from the darkest skies in Texas. 🤞



I Love Texas Photography

11/12/2025

I've long heard of and seen pictures of the Rainbow Bridge over the Neches River that connects Bridge City and Port Arthur via Texas Highways 87 and 73. When I was there in October, all traffic was routed over the adjacent Veteran's Memorial Bridge, and Rainbow Bridge was closed. I don't know if that is temporary or permanent.

The bridge is a cantilever truss bridge with 177 feet of vertical clearance, completed in 1938. It was built with enough clearance to accommodate. the tallest U. S. Navy ships at the time, along with jackup offshore drilling rigs.

With the highway and adjacent access road closed, I had difficulty finding a suitable vantage point to photograph it. I'm not going to tell you what it took to get to this location, as it may or may not have involved going the wrong way on a one way road. 😉

The exposure was 1/2500 at f/11, ISO 100, focal length 70mm. Please click to enlarge.



I Love Texas Photography

11/11/2025

My collection of images in southeast Texas included this photo of the Fred Hartman Bridge at dawn. It is the largest "cable-stayed" bridge in Texas and carries State Highway 146 over the Houston Ship Channel between La Porte and Baytown. It is named for the former editor and publisher of the Baytown Sun.

The exposure was 4 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 400, focal length 53mm. It involved a grueling hike of about 100 yards from my hotel to the dock at the Bayland Marina. Please click to enlarge and zoom in to see the boats and bridge cables.



I Love Texas Photography

I Love Texas

11/07/2025

This location on Buffalo Bayou at present-day Pasadena, Texas is where Mexican General Santa Anna was captured on April 22, 1836, the day after his army was defeated by Sam Houston's Texian Army. Dressed in the uniform of a Mexican Army Private, he managed to escape the battlefield. The capture location is approximately eight miles as the crow flies from his camp on the battlefield.

Hat-tip to my viewer, Larry Jackson Jr, for putting me onto this site and helping me find it. Even though it's a public park, neither Apple Maps nor Google Maps could direct me to it. Parts of the monument are a bit weathered, so click to enlarge and zoom into it as tight as you can.



I Love Texas Photography

I Love Texas

11/06/2025

November's "Beaver Moon," a supermoon, rose about five compass clicks north of Castle Gap, as viewed over the Pecos River at Horsehead Crossing. In October, it was several clicks south. It's aligned with the north end of Castle "Mountain." One of these days (years) it will align with the gap and hopefully I will be there when it does. I was able to compose it much tighter than last year and compress the moon for a more impressive image.

By the time it got up above the ground haze, it was starting to get pretty dark. I had to crank my ISO to 4000 to get shutter speeds fast enough to properly expose it. Settings were 1/320 at f/11, ISO 4000, focal length 167mm. Please click to enlarge.



I Love Texas Photography

I Love Texas

11/05/2025

When I was talking to my buddy, Derrick Birdsall of Unaffected Photography about photographing the San Jacinto Battlefield, he told me, "There's no good vantage point for morning light."

I present to you The San Jacinto Monument at sunrise.

This is an HDR from five bracketed exposures in one-stop increments, the "correct" one being 1/160 at f/16, ISO 400, focal length 28mm. Please click to enlarge.



I Love Texas Photography

I Love Texas

11/04/2025

I wanted to capture images of historic places in Southeast Texas, and there is none more so than the San Jacinto Battlefield near present-day LaPorte, where Texas won its independence. Sam Houston's Texas Army routed General Santa Anna's Mexican Army in 18 minutes along Buffalo Bayou and the San Jacinto River. Against the advice of his officers, Santa Anna chose a camp that backed up to a marsh that didn't allow a means to retreat and they were quickly surrounded, defeated, and captured.

I arrived in the afternoon after a 500 mile drive to learn that not only the museum but the entire battlefield would be closing in about 45 minutes. I scrambled around and located Santa Anna's camp. While there, park security told me I would need to be out the gate at 5:00 PM. I grabbed the images from his camp and then exited the park and got the image of the San Jacinto Monument and the reflecting pool from outside the perimeter fence.

Exposures were 1/80, 1/160, and 1/250 at f/11, ISO 100. Please click each to enlarge.

I will share the "money shot" from San Jacinto, tomorrow.



I Love Texas Photography

I Love Texas