On Thanksgiving morning I was on the road before dawn.   The minutes before the full light of a day begins, like those at the end of a day, are magic, but the mist associated with dawn is really cool.    I’ll leave it at that.

These are photos taken Tuesday evening as I took a drive around East Williamson County, getting in touch with the Blackland Prairie once again.   It’s interesting to see the color shift in images as light rapidly changes at the end of a day.  The first and second images were taken short minutes apart.  In the first the sky holds onto a blue cast, but the next photo, the skies seem purple.  Note that I don’t manipulate things.  If so, I may have “color-corrected” the purple sky, but I leave it alone.  The only difference in shooting was zooming in a little more on the second photo.  Otherwise, the camera exposure and ISO are the same.   Later in the evening, rain would come.  The clouds, however, were darkening in an ominous, but beautiful way as I pointed the camera at a distant windmill.   This works well in black and white.   The body of water is an-early night version of one I took a week or so back, but at dawn.  It’s fun to see the differences changing light patterns can create.

You might have noticed the past couple of posts have a connection to the Williamson County Courthouse, the centerpiece of the Georgetown square.   It opened its doors for the first time in 1911.   For me, a highlight of the building is the 26th District courtroom, a grand space on the second floor.  It was in this room, in 1923, and early 1924, Williamson County District Attorney Dan Moody, a Taylor native, successfully prosecuted five members of the Ku Klux Klan.  In 1926, at 33, Moody became Governor, the youngest in the state’s history.   On Saturday evening, however, the courtroom the romping space for a Cowboy Birthday Party honoring Marshall Greger.  Marshall’s parents, Stephanie and Ryan Greger, won the birthday party spot when they attended the Williamson Museum’s Cattlesman’s Ball in October.   For a full two hours this weekend, Marshall, along with his family and a few friends,  had a birthday party to remember.   If you have the funds, you can rent the 26th District courtroom for your event, too.  Check the museum website here for more details. 

I’ve had fun lately toying with color vs. black and white.    This staircase at the Williamson County Courthouse looks grand, however it’s presented, but here’s the black and version, just because I like it, too.

This weekend I spent a bit of time around the town square in Georgetown, Texas, most of that time at the Williamson County Courthouse, the square’s centerpiece.  The courthouse opened in 1911 and looks grand in 2016.    The images begin inside, with one of the spiral staircases, continuing outside, where a few holiday decorations are already in place.  Before leaving for Taylor, I pointed the camera across Austin Avenue, to the Williamson Museum, where the county’s namesake, Robert McAlpin Williamson, stands sentry.   Williamson, also known as Three-Legged Willie, began his life in Georgia, but wisely moved west.

This is one of my little exercises in color vs. black and white.   The subject matter is simple:  the top of a well-utilized barn on a cloudy, cool afternoon in Central Texas.   While I love what good color can do, the same applies to the sweetness of the gray scale.   In this instance, maybe the black and white?

This follows my post earlier today from the Palace Theatre production of “The Little Mermaid,” playing weekends on the Springer Memorial Stage through January 15.   I’ll let the photos do the work this time.   

I spent a long, but pleasant evening last night at the dress rehearsal of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” opening tonight at Georgetown’s Palace Theatre.   Later, I will post some scenes from the actual production, but before that, let’s go behind the scenes as the actors and staff prepare for this fine production, which will run weekends through January 15.   If you’re in Central Texas, a visit to the Palace is worth your time.

Sometimes it’s useful to look back.  Mostly, I’ve posted those “throwback” moments on Facebook, but not here.   Things look much better on the site.   In 1973, while a student at University of Texas at Austin, I spent quite a bit of time documenting a few blocks of East 6th Street in downtown Austin.   These are a few from that period.   I’ve said it before, but it may be time to pay another visit.   It’s changed.

The night’s little drive took me a few miles east, to the Wuthrich Hill area.  En route there, I stopped briefly to enjoy a view of the vacant little farmhouse, regally resting in a field along County Road 413.   The night’s journey once again returned me to Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, but on this visit I walked down the hill a bit, to the church cemetery.  The occasional car would pass, but didn’t take away from the scene.    “Peace” the certainly the proper word for this bit of the Blackland Prairie.