I had planned to photograph this bronze statue of rodeo legend and Taylor native Bill Pickett  for a while, but was waiting for the right light.  Less  than a week ago, however,  a friend and colleague from the Atlanta Journal & Constitution, Kent Johnson, died at 57  while on assignment to cover last Saturday’s Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, in Conyers, Georgia.    Pickett, who lived from 1870-1932, invented bulldogging, also known as steer wrestling.   Mr. Pickett and Mr. Johnson were both African-American.    The statue shown here was created by sculptor Adam Davenport.   Kent will be buried on Saturday.  I wanted to post this in his memory.   Godspeed, Mr. Johnson.

In May 1979, during my time at work for the Shreveport Journal, I spent a day at Shriners Hospital for Children.   The hospital, specializing in orthopaedic treatment of children, was the first of what is now a network of hospitals, this one opening in September 1922.   These two photos show nurses working with children as they grow accustomed to their prosthetic limbs, where one child is comforted while another uses roller skates to build confidence with her new limbs.   The compassion and empathy shown by the staff was what stood out more than anything.   I’m guessing the staff today continues to demonstrate the same level of caring.   Prosthetic limbs have come a long way since these photos were taken.   Note that when I visited, we were careful to avoid showing the faces of the kids, but I determined that was not an issue to bring home the point.   By the way, the spelling of orthopaedic is the classic British form, used in Shriners sites everywhere.   That’s good enough for yours truly.

Earlier this week an assignment I had scheduled in Georgetown fell through, but not before making the 30-minute trek over there.   But why not make the best of the drive, right?   At least that’s my photographic philosophy.  By late afternoon, with light fading in a good way, I parked near the Georgetown square and took a stroll.  It was nice evening, with temperatures moderate after a day of rain.  My cameras and I found ourselves on the lawn of the Williamson County Courthouse, here since 1911.   Thankfully, the windows were rather clean because the reflections I saw were just fine, the windows giving a view of some of Main Street’s nicest buildings.   Once that itch was scratched, I walked around to the courthouse’s north side.  From where I stood, the old structure, usually tan in appearance,  transformed into an elegant study in monotone.  For fun, I converted the photos shown here to black and white, but honestly?  They looked almost the same!   Continuing my stroll around the courthouse, I stopped on its south side, along 8th Street.  Upstairs, in two windows, were two flower vases to complement the scene, with the courthouse also represented in those panes.    Back on Main Street, the trees on the courthouse lawn stood out in yet another window.   Finally, looking at the offices of the Williamson County Sun, there was the lady atop the courthouse, holding onto the scales of justice.   Driving back to Taylor, I realized this:  a negative became a positive.

Here’s a couple photos, the first one taken last night  a bit over a mile from our home in Taylor, and  another from tonight, the sun going down over Coupland, a few miles south of us.   We are blessed with good light on the Blackland Prairie. 

We had a wonderful period of cooling, healing rain in Central Texas.   As I left the grocery store tonight in Taylor, this was what completed the day.

On Sunday afternoon I spent a few pretty hot hours outside taking photos at Ladies Range Day, an event geared toward teaching interested women about firearms and, most important, their  safe and responsible use.   The day’s primary sponsor was Georgetown’s GTX Guns, Thrall Chief of Police Whitney Whitworth, Adore Botique and She Packs.   Most of the guidance was provided by Chief Whitworth.    Many of the attendees had never fired a gun of any sort before, but were interested in expanding their knowledge base.   They got to fire a few smaller pistols, but could also try out an Uzi submachine gun or an M-4 machine gun.   The majority of the group were probably interested in the smaller firearms with personal protection in mind, but they seemed to have fun trying out the big stuff, too!    Except for the heat, I had a good time shooting the photos,  The organizers, and the ladies, were gracious.    While not personally  a firearms owner (too expensive for a photographer!), I have few issues with those who do, assuming they’re responsible and menatally-healthy!   These photos were taken for my friends at the Williamson County Sun.

On the way home from the library Friday evening,  I was passing by Bull Branch Park in Taylor, Texas.  At the park’s pond were fisher-folks, tossing their lines into the water.  From the car, I thought they were father and daughter.   After parking and taking a closer look, the scene, already sweet, improved when I realized these were siblings having a special day of fishing with Nana.  Slice-of-life scenes like those presented here are pretty much why I love community photojournalism.   Most of these photos focus on grandma and granddaughter, but it’s all good family time, spent together outside, enjoying what nature provides.   While not always the case, don’t you think today’s youngsters dwell far too much on high-tech electronic devices?   I do.   These photos, perhaps, drive home that point.

Tonight’s post is just a placeholder for another set of photos also  taken at Bull Branch Park in Taylor, Texas, just a few images where the Texas sky is well-reflected in the park’s pond.    Keep watching for something a bit more in line with community journalism, but not tonight.

This series of photos were taken on a hot August day, 1980, in Shreveport, Louisiana, during my very good years working for the Shreveport Journal.    The boys, twins, found their family water hose to be a fine alternative to beat the heat.   If memory serves, they were probably about 8 or 9 at the time.    The thing I cut my teeth on in photojournalism were these slice-of-life moments of everyday people going about their lives.   Most often, they were kids like this.  For many years, beginning in the early 70s, candidly documenting these things was relatively stress-free.   When I took photos back then, an element of trust existed.    Sadly, that’s harder today, for a couple reasons.  One is a continuing mistrust of the news media.   Also, today’s parents are increasingly careful about allowing their kids’ names to appear in the newspaper, and online.    I ran into this issue recently when I wanted to photograph a group of kids selling lemonade.   The dad, while really nice, would only agree if we used just first names.   Okay, I get a little of this … with the Internet, parents are concerned about their children’s identities becoming so public.   One fact of life, too, is this:  when I took the photos posted here, I was in my late-20s.   Now, I’m nearing 65 and probably look a bit crusty.   That I can’t help.   I fear, however, that these small bits of community photojournalism are slipping away from newspapers, both large and small ones.   While many of my fellow photographers seemed to find my style of coverage beneath them, I loved it.   The passion is still there, but it’s challenging.

A Georgetown friend whose family has raised cotton for years, expects a good cotton crop this year, maybe one of the best in a while.   I like hearing that.   Even though the corn harvest continues on the Blackland Prairie in Texas,  those nice little bolls are already showing up around here.   This is what I saw last evening, just over a mile from our house.