Those that make me me

I have a large box in my office full of film I have taken and either not processed or not even printed.  There are a bunch of TMAX 400 rolls just lying there with memories I have not even processed yet.  As time permits I go through them, scan the negatives and look back at great places and people I know.  Recently I found a lone roll tucked away in a bag that was long forgotten.   Its like a little treasure that will stirr our memories once developed.  For some reason I just had to develop the roll and see what was in there.  To my surprise it was a roll I thought I lost on my last trip to Big Bend a couple of years ago.   It wasn’t the best of images but there was one that I can honestly say is one of my most treasured images.

In this image are two of my favorite people in the world in my favorite place in the world doing the two things I love to do the most.  It can’t really get much better than that.  It is an image of my Uncle Jimmy and my Dad in the middle of Big Bend taking photographs, hitting golf balls and laughing.  It may not mean much to you but I would go head first into a burning building to save this photo.  This photo alone is why I cherish the art of photography so much.

These two guys are important to who I am and where I have been.  Why I think the way I do and how I handle situations.

Just for fun and for my family I thought I would list out a few of these influences:  I will let you figure out who did what.

One taught me to break it
The other taught me to fix it
One told me to “never force it”
The other told me to “hold what ya got”
they both taught me to drive a car
but one taught me that when you drive a jeep fast on a dirt road and come to a sudden stop you will break a rear axle
I learned you can’t go far with a flat tire on a trailer
I learned how to saddle a horse wrong
I learned that when you fall off that horse you need to saddle it right and get back on.
I learned NEVER to say I want to ride a bull around one of them.
I learned to shoot a gun, open a beer and fix a flat in the mud.
I learned that a suburban’s fuel pump shuts off at 120 mph.
I learned its easier  to whip someones ass if they are sitting in a car than standing in front of you.
I learned how to talk the talk with the Banditoes and dance with a  drunk girl.
I learned how to not take shit off anyone from one of them and to just let it go from the other.
One turned me on to Hunter S. Thompson the other kept me from BEING Hunter S. Thompson
I have been to the edge with them both.
I learned NEVER try to pull a boat up to a pier with a wasp nest on it.
I learned how to be a dad, a friends and a father from them both
I learned that doe urine doesn’t work well when you smoke in your blind.
I learned that falling asleep in your blind is great as long as you don’t snore
I learned to cook for lots of people from one
I learned that a good joke is always a commodity in a crowd
One left me on the side of the road in the New Mexico desert
The other lost me in Mexico on New Years Eve.
One taught me to appreciate good music
The other showed me how to dance to good music
One taught me that if a little works well a lot might be better
the other taught me that too much of a good thing will kill ya.
I’ve been down wild rivers, in wild bars, and wild parties with them both.

I learned to love these places from them both -

Mexico
pikes peak
midland
four corners
rome georgia
utah
Big Bend
All of south Texas
This list could go on forever but I think I will stop there.  Just promise yourself one thing, take lots of pictures.  You never know when only one will make you appreciate where you came from and who influences your day.

God bless Texas and God bless our fathers, brothers and sons!