Field Trip - Texas Wildflowers

"we only take pictures of the things we are afraid to lose." i read this a while back on somebody's instagram and really identified with it. up until that point i could never really define why i took the photographs i did, i probably would have classified myself as a "landscape photographer". and while it's true that i do take some landscape pictures, i take them because of what i'm feeling that moment, standing there with my wife seeing something new for the first time. 

kneeling down in a field of flowers trying to take some pictures for this post taylor asked me "what's wrong", i answered "i don't like any of these pictures, but i'm not really sure what i'm hoping for." here i was taking a technically great photo in the early morning sunlight and it just didn't feel right to me, it was no fun, there was no emotion involved. it wasn't until we climbed up a hay bale that i really started snapping away.

there are times i'll go somewhere without taylor, camera in tow, and not take a single picture. not necessarily because i'm having a bad time, but because my heart is just not there. and if i don't want to take pictures of what i'm looking at why would anyone even want to see them?

all of the photos you see on america y'all were taken because i was feeling something at the exact moment i clicked the shutter, feeling something that i never want to forget. 

Field Trip - Bastrop State Park

rollin' down the highway headed to our new home in austin smoke filled the evening sky, offering an oddly beautiful sunset tinged with sadness and destruction. helicopters in the sky, firetrucks lining the backroads, make shift churches set up offering some respite for those battling the blazes, these were our first images of texas. it was labor day weekend of 2011 and while we were ready to start our new life in austin the worst wildfire in the states history was raging a few towns over. the hardest hit was bastrop and for the first time since moving to texas we went to the state park there this past weekend. a year and a half later the damage caused by the fires is still very real and very evident.

 

American Southwest - Part Two

as we left the grand canyon and the sun set, the snowfall only picked up. after the mishap at the start of our trip i was a little apprehensive to put a lot of miles in when the road in front of us was barely visible. we decided to make it a short night and headed back to flagstaff to meet up with an old friend for dinner. the roads were starting to ice over so we drove to the nearest rest are where we spent another night sleeping in the car, something we are far too used to at this point. 

by the time we woke up the next morning the snow had stopped and we headed to the petrified forest national park for the eight a.m. opening. when we rolled up to the park the gates were closed and the road leading into the park was completely iced over. after numerous calls to the park office no one could give us a straight answer as to what time the park was going to open, or if it would be opening at all. we decided to hang around for a few hours and explore the area surrounding the park in hopes they would eventually open.

after three hours a ranger finally opened the gates but informed us that the hiking trails running through the park would remain closed due to the conditions. we were pretty disappointed with the hours lost and the fact we couldn't explore the interior of the park; i guess you win some and you lose some. we snapped a few photos of what we could see from the parking lot and hit the road again. 

looking at our map and weighing our options we decided to do what we do best; just drive, straight through from arizona to austin. we rung in the new year somewhere along the old dark highways of west texas.

the unexpected event when we embarked, twenty two hundred miles of driving and two national parks were a great way to start two thousand and thirteen. we cannot wait to see what kind of adventures this year has in store for us. ramble on!

New Hampshire

for our one year anniversary we had planned a couple different trips. one idea, to head to new orleans, was scrapped pretty quickly (good thing as hurricane issac hit that weekend). next plan was to head back to one of our favorite places salvation mountain, then head to the coast for some camping in san elijo. we were all set to go but something did not feel right, so we booked a last minute flight up to new hampshire to spend our one year anniversary weekend with family and friends, some of whom we hadn't seen since the wedding. 

our home town laconia is a place where you can swim in clean lakes and enjoy cool breezes. the lakes region consists of 273 lakes and ponds and laconia sits right in the middle of it all, definitely not a bad place to grow up. with a year passing since the last time we were in nh we forgot just how different the architecture is than the modern style here in texas. being an old mill town laconia is full of brick factories and colonial style homes. 

we made sure to take advantage of all the small town has to offer; antique shopping, insanely cheap lobster and trestle jumping.

view the whole set in the gallery.

Mustang Island State Park

we made it to mustang island this weekend to escape the heat of the city and for some swimming and camping. named for the wild horses that once roamed the shore and located in port aransas on the coast of texas, mustang island is a 5 mile stretch of beach that offers drive up camping and a tent view that can't be beat.

the swimming was a little warm with a temperature of 85 degrees, but was still great and a nice change from the 68 degree temperature of barton springs.

night fall brought a campfire, cooking and an amazing starlit sky.

we were hoping to see some of the perseid meteor show, unfortunately we weren't able to see any in the sky and only captured a few with long exposures.

sunday morning we woke up to see the sunrise over the ocean and do a little more swimming before we packed up.

we will most definitely be back to mustang island in the future. the only downside of this park is the fact that we'll be cleaning sand out of our gear for the next week.

more photos in the gallery!

Reimers Ranch - Hamilton Pool

the summer is getting hotter in texas and in search of some swimming we drove out to dripping springs, tx in search of some cool water. first stop was reimers ranch.what we found was more of the same, extremely low water levels. and much like last week we ended up just hiking the river.

next we finally made it over to hamilton pool. there's normally a 2+ hour wait to get in, but.....

we were able to get right in due to the fact that swimming is currently prohibited in the pool. definitely a cool place to check out regardless, but it's not the same without the picturesque water beneath the rock formation.

 check out the gallery for more pictures.