stories through photography

Homeless Homeowner in a Rural Town

2011-04-29T01:20:00.003-05:00

click where it says "captions" to read info on this story.

track season has begun

2011-02-12T13:17:00.001-06:00

track isn’t something that gets a lot of play down here, except for the bigger meets, like regionals, area, and state, but it’s a sport I really enjoy covering. that said, I was excited to be able to shoot a couple of portraits of two hurdlers for the track season preview, and then shoot them in competition in the season’s first meet. below, the result:

the story behind these two is kind of cool. they are students at rival high schools. her uncle is his track coach, who also just happens to hold the local record in the 300m hurdles… a time this kid will likely beat by the time his prep career is over. he came close to breaking the 20+ year old time last year, so we’ll see.

county politics and small town business

2011-01-04T14:34:00.005-06:00

this is ranch land. and these are the folks elected by their community to serve as judges, commissioners, etc. state sen. eddie lucio, jr. administered the oaths of office. all in all, it was interesting to see this tiny wood-paneled, window-edged county courtroom (the only one in the county, actually) packed with people, cameras held aloft, to witness part of the american government in action.

a small farm town saw its first fast food joint (subway) open a few months ago. now, other entrepreneurs are taking a chance... here, a new business is being prepared for its grand opening.

round 3 playoffs

2010-11-29T13:34:00.001-06:00

area round playoffs

2010-11-21T22:49:00.001-06:00

football playoffs–bi-district

2010-11-14T19:26:00.001-06:00

a day at ramsey nature park

2010-11-12T14:36:00.001-06:00

Football

2010-09-27T22:18:00.001-05:00

the 2010 football season started en force for me with a game thursday, friday, and two on the road saturday. here are some of the best photos i took from those four games. eventually i’ll update the rest, seeing as how we’re going into week 5 now. enjoy.

hey whaddaya know? SPORTRAITS!

2010-09-21T23:31:00.003-05:00

so here's a slew of sportraits:

zariah noyola, a triple threat: she's smart (8th in her class or something like that), gorgeous, and a great athlete (valley record holder in the 300m hurdles).

mack sanchez, 2009 QB for the cards. this is probably one of my fave portraits that i've done.

chris villarreal, WR for the cards. nice kid.

blake sapp, port isabel.

bj flores. raymondville running back. this kid goes all out and is the go-to player for the bearkats despite a hearing impairment. another one of my fave portraits.

better late than never: state uil track meet

2010-09-13T03:59:00.001-05:00

transience

2010-08-23T22:48:00.001-05:00

i was digging around my laptop and found some photos i had forgotten about. i named this post “transience” because these scenes entered my mind on soft feet, touched it, and left just as silent. when i happened upon them i had to photograph them (never mind that at the time i was supposed to be looking for wild art anyway… sometimes the assignment just happens to coincide with the photo) i think only one of them ended up in the paper, but i still like these photos. enjoy. (told you i’m too emo, sometimes, lol)

hugo treviño and his horse, chiquito.

* * *

rafael lopez asks motorists to pray and fast. i drive around harlingen all the time, and have never seen him before. but he says he’s on this corner a lot. like i say, transience.

* * *

gilbert de la rosa spreads christmas cheer.

volleyball preview

2010-08-08T01:21:00.002-05:00

in the midst of the pre-season football frenzy, what am i choosing to post? volleyball portraits! football posts will come soon enough.

here's harlingen south and los fresnos:

dj tiësto

2010-06-18T21:26:00.001-05:00

dj tiësto played in front of a crowd of, oh, just a few thousand, on south padre island a couple of months ago. it was a pretty kinetic show. here are a couple of photos:

small town giant with a giant heart: aaron ramirez

2010-05-23T16:58:00.001-05:00

i was tasked with shooting a portrait of santa rosa sophomore aaron ramirez, who plays hoops for the small town’s pretty victorious team. ramirez already stands around 6 foot 4 and is one of the only valley athletes i know who can dunk a ball.

we were set to meet at a tiny park in the middle of a tangle of residential streets in s.r. by a basketball court surrounded by oaks and mesquite. it’s a park where “the guys come to play” when they’re not playing for the warriors, ramirez said.

as i was working, figuring out composition, adjusting my strobes, and learning more about aaron and his fascination with basketball, several young boys surreptitiously made their way across the playground and watched.

aaron was still smiling the whole time.

“do you know them,” i asked?

“yeah, they come all the time and watch us play,” he said, still smiling, still unfazed.

“do a dunk, man. my friend doesn’t believe me when i say you can dunk,” said one adventurous boy who ended up becoming spokesperson for the group.

aaron just smiled. i told him i had actually been going to ask him if he could dunk, too, since i wanted to photograph it. i deputized two of the kids and made them official photo assistants, holding flashes in place. we went through a couple of shots, but i didn’t like what i was getting, and all the trees made the background too busy, so we went on to other ideas.

finally, i thought i had what i wanted and was making to say goodbye, and to thank my new assistants when mr. spokesperson said “aaron, i bet we could beat you, four against one!”

grinning, aaron said he didn’t agree, to which spokesperson said, yeah, they could. aaron replied by saying they’d play half court, til 15 points.

i had to stick around to see it. it was the happiest slaughter i’ve ever seen. aaron ran loops around them, with the biggest smile on his face the entire time. the kids, who were between the ages of 8 and 13, ran loops around him, played with great enthusiasm, and laughed despite scoring just two points.

mister spokesperson kept asking aaron to dunk. he tried a couple more times, but wasn’t quite making it, barely glancing the rim with his fingertips, instead of the full grab and suspended hang i’d seen him do in games. finally, he just said calmly “this hoop’s higher. it’s eleven feet instead of ten.”

it all made more sense then, and i felt bad for having asked him to try it over and over again just a few moments before.

anyway, here are the portraits from the shoot, as well as some of the shots i got while he played against those kids.

yes, drill sergeant!

2010-05-18T15:35:00.002-05:00

sgt. maj. larry carson served in the marines for 30 years before retiring and coming to m.m.a. to teach. he taught other drill sergeants, he loves to cook, and take photographs, especially portraits. he rescued his family when they were devastated by hurricane katrina. he's a pretty cool guy. i'm glad i got the chance to meet him.

One more sportrait, for now...

2010-05-04T19:42:00.002-05:00

katrina zamorano, lyford softball pitcher.

graffiti clean-up

2010-04-28T23:28:00.001-05:00

spent a saturday morning with a group of juveniles recently. all of them had been caught doing graffiti and received graffiti clean-up as part of their punishment. most of the kids live in low-income areas prone to gang activity.

when asked if the punishment would deter them from graffiti in the future, most pretty bluntly said no. i wonder if they saw the adults around them, that day, though? really saw them.

one is a middle-aged man charged with doing NOTHING other than cleaning up after their messes, driving around a beat-up truck armed with buckets, brushes and rollers, applying layer after layer of paint on the same marred city surfaces 5 days a week. another was a very pregnant woman, a member of the juvenile justice system, who stood alongside them, paintbrush in hand: a soon-to-be mother hopeful for the children she was surrounded by who are not even hers. and yet another was their own probation officer, who can come down hard when need be, but is a gentle and dedicated man who sees the sinner not the sin.

but these kids were teenagers. all they could see were themselves. being woken up early on a saturday morning to do a chore.

here are the photos:

sports portraits...

2010-03-04T18:43:00.005-06:00

here are some more sports portraits for ya...

i keep meaning to update more often, then when i finally do, all the sports ones come to mind quickly because they all share a theme. two of them are coming out in the latest edition of the RGVsports.com magazine... so anyway...

tina valenzula, san benito track

harlingen south baseball

rio hondo wrestlers

dallas zamora after the cardinals' win over SA-southwest

mariela sanchez, captain of the san benito girls soccer team.

j.r. gonzalez, harvest christian academy hoops, leukemia survivor

roman robledo, harlingen south golf

santa rosa warriors starting line-up.

los fresnos rodeo

2010-02-10T12:40:00.001-06:00

i had the opportunity to shoot the prca rodeo when it came through los fresnos this past weekend.

here are a few photos to slake your thirst:

from football to basketball

2010-01-02T21:45:00.001-06:00

sending these to the paper from outlook is a real pain. but anyway. here are a couple of tonight’s game between the brownsville hanna eagles and the weslaco panthers:

and a couple from a while ago from a tournament at edcouch-elsa:

winter rgv sports magazine

2009-12-21T00:58:00.001-06:00

the latest edition of the mag is finally out, so here are some of my pics that made it in... and some that didn't. enjoy.

for some reason, all the photos in the table of contents were mine this time.

father and son basketball coaches:

lyford’s jacob carranco. i like the second shot, too.

san benito wide receiver j.c. guzman. again, i like the second shot better.

santa rosa basketball coach johnny cipriano.

harlingen south swimmer erika gutierrez.

ocean tower demolition video

2009-12-15T11:47:00.000-06:00

here's the video i shot and edited of the implosion. it was fun to shoot. and of course, fun to watch. enjoy!

ocean tower demolition

2009-12-14T23:53:00.000-06:00

on saturday, december 13th, the ocean tower was imploded on south padre island.

the demolition was a world record event, with the building being the largest reinforced concrete structure to be imploded to date. here are some photos. hopefully soon i can post the video i shot and edited, as well.

as football season begins to wind down...

2009-11-18T19:31:00.006-06:00

i tagged along for many an interview this season: of football coaches, players, fans, administrators. there was so much hope and enthusiasm with every interview at the beginning of the season. so much so that i forgot a lot of the teams being talked to would lose a few games, wouldn't make it into the post-season at all, or would be picked off fast in game one of the playoffs.

my coworker and fellow photog josh chuckled one afternoon as i came back from one of the many portrait sessions, about to edit, and nearly gushing about this new fact or that new thing i had learned about whatever football practice i had just come from. he laughed and said he thought it funny how i was so invested in these teams (in his words: "such a girl thing to do"). and it's true... each week was a different team, but each week i guess i kind of adopted them as my own.

now, as round 2 games fast approach, only two teams in my paper's coverage area remain, and i'll have the opportunity to shoot one more game with a team that boasts a perfect 11-0 record going in. i've gotten to know this team's coach and this team's players. they're not my kids, it's not my alma mater, but i feel a certain affinity for them, and behind the mask and behind the lens, this friday i will be quietly rooting for them.

so anyway, football season soon draws to a close. so here, to make up for my lack of posting, are some portraits from the latter half of the season:

***************************************************

la feria started out kinda shaky, but worked hard and earned a chance in an all-or-nothing game for the playoffs. they fell to rio hondo in game 10, but this young team will be back.

i liked this shot of them where they're all laughing. i purposely held the trigger down on the camera. hearing the super fast click-click-click-clack of the shutter caught them off guard. it's a simple formula: teen boys + bulky cameras issuing automatic trigger sounds reminiscent of video games = surprise and laughter. before they stopped, i composed the shot.

did this on the way out, after i thought i was done. looked down and realized i had to shoot it.

*******************************************************

the lyford bulldogs achieved a perfect 10-0 season for the first time in 40 years. they were led by qb johnny esparza. i asked him if he does anything special to prepare for a game. he told me he kneels at the goal post and says a quick prayer.

playing any sport takes conviction, and that's especially true of playing quarterback. so i like to see when these kids show how they carry similar convictions in other areas of their lives. esparza said his faith is important to him, and i thought it'd be worth photographing it.

even though this portrait is more straight forward, i like it. sometimes it's more interesting to keep it simple.

********************************************************

harlingen cardinals kicker grant gorman. this kid's just a sophomore, and a soccer player at heart, but he's a consistent kicker. again, a simple portrait, but i like it.

he's a kicker, right? so had to emphasize his feet.

******************************************************

another group shot of the cards. this time of their defense secondary.

a flurry of football photos...

2009-09-29T21:53:00.002-05:00

so it's been a LONG while. time to play catch-up. here are some football portraits, with my favorite one at the end. these have been fun to shoot the past few weeks.

psja north QB noe garcia:

los fresnos kicker robert degollado:

harlingen cardinals defensive line, mingo rincon, nick aviles, tipper ramirez, and ruben castañeda:

rgv sports mag, fall 09 issue

2009-08-25T18:08:00.003-05:00

here are some of my photos that came out in the latest issue of rgvsports magazine.

south texas shrimping

2009-08-13T17:43:00.004-05:00

lin shih, a taiwainese immigrant, has worked this shrimp farm in arroyo city for 20 years. it is one of the few shrimp farms left in deep south texas due to an influx of low-cost shrimp imported from asia, which has forced almost all the local outfits out of business. shih's farm is not immune to the effects: able to produce a million pounds of shrimp in a good year, with 2009 halfway done, the farm has produced less than a quarter of that. but shih has a sense of pride when he describes the hundreds of acres of pools with their green-hued waters: "look at this!" he says. "it's all natural! it's beautiful!"

summer boot camp

2009-07-22T19:01:00.002-05:00

teen boys at a 4 week long military style boot camp. some of the kids choose to come here. some want to be marines some day. most, however, are sent here by exasperated parents "dealing" with their kids' disciplinary problems.

former DA juan angel guerra

2009-07-02T17:20:00.003-05:00

Former Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra came to this overpass in Harlingen to look for spent shell casings which might have been used in the fatal shooting of a man by Harlingen Police officers this past January.

Guerra searches through a portfolio for the autopsy report of a homeless man who was shot by Harlingen Police underneath an overpass.

Sitting on the slope of an overpass where a homeless man was fatally shot by Harlingen Police several months ago, Juan Angel Guerra looks over the autopsy report. He is attempting to prepare a case against the officers involved.

A copy of the autopsy report of a homeless man shot by Harlingen Police notes the cause of death as a shotgun wound to the chest and lists the manner of death as a homicide.

the road starts somewhere

2009-07-02T17:07:00.003-05:00

Just a little bit more, motions truck driver Conrando Treviño, as he waits for an earth mover to top off his trailer with a load of asphalt from a long line of train cars parked along the tracks at N. West St. west of Harlingen's down town district.

As one truck is filled with asphalt, in the distance another truck makes its way past empty cars to receive its own 80,000 pound load. Over 30 trucks from Southern Star Transports have been working since the morning, slowly emptying these train cars of asphalt and carrying the loads to different TXDOT work sites in Pharr and San Benito.

track

2009-06-24T16:55:00.003-05:00

photos from track regionals that i never posted...

san benito teammates take shelter by the ticket booth during a rain delay.

the last hurdle to first place.

when second feels like first. pace's anchor runner closes the distance between last place and second in the home stretch, earning them a spot at state.

more kids

2009-06-17T17:42:00.002-05:00

wildart shots that never got used. but i like 'em.

World War II Veteran's Story

2009-06-02T16:35:00.006-05:00

Glen Cleckler is a WW II vet who fought at the Battle of Iwo Jima. He told me his story as we walked around the original casting of the Iwo Jima Memorial in Harlingen, TX. (The second casting, a smaller version, is the one most people are familiar with because it sits in Washington, D.C.). Cleckler played high school football with Harlon Block, who was captured in the famous Joe Rosenthal photograph, helping to plant the American flag atop Mount Suribachi. Block is immortalized in the statue as the soldier on the far left holding the bottommost part of the flagpole.

Here, Cleckler looks at the plaque beside Harlon Block's grave, which lies just a couple of dozen feet from the statue. According to Mr. Cleckler, Harlon convinced his football teammates, including Cleckler, to join the Marines. It started out as a way to avoid getting in trouble with a school administrator for not being in school one day. The boys picked up enlistment pamphlets, filled them out, and were accepted before their senior year of high school was even over.

Mr. Cleckler shows a wallet-sized photo of Harlon Block that he carries with him in his wallet. Behind the photo is one of Cleckler himself, with the Harley Davidson motorcycle he bought upon returning from the war.

Cleckler and Block earned their letter jackets from Weslaco High School playing football. This photograph was taken just after the friends received their jackets. Cleckler points to Harlon, second from the left. He himself is in the center, 4th from the left.

Before being shipped out to Iwo Jima, the two boys were stationed in Hawaii on leave. Block gave Cleckler his Marine Corps ring, asking that Cleckler return it to his mother when he returned home. Cleckler tried to refuse it, telling Block he could give it to his mother when they returned, but Block replied that he didn't think he would make it back. Just six days after the photo showing Block helping in the flag-raising was taken, he was killed by a Japanese mortar blast.

Glen Cleckler returned to the Valley and did indeed try to return the ring to Harlon Block's mother, but she refused to accept it. As a Seventh Day Adventist, she did not believe in violence and said she had encouraged Harlon to not join the Marines, or at least serve as a medic instead of a fighting soldier. To this day, Glen Cleckler wears the ring of his friend, but it is a responsibility I think he wishes he didn't have to carry. He said sometimes he comes out to the monument to have conversations with Harlon. Sometimes he asks him "Hey Block, do you know what you got us into?"

a day full of graduations

2009-05-30T21:33:00.004-05:00

three different graduation ceremonies. on a day that was grey, muggy, dirty, hot, cool, sunny, ugly, and beautiful, depending on the minute. a bad day personally, but half-way likable shots.

Go to ImageShack® to Create your own Slideshow

magazine pages

2009-05-29T15:34:00.001-05:00

two of my photos from the latest issue of RGV Sports Magazine.

after the rain

2009-05-27T18:10:00.003-05:00

rain delay

2009-05-16T14:00:00.002-05:00

uil regional track meet in san antonio got rained out on day two.

yeah, i know it's blurry. but i kind of like it that way.

last game of the season

2009-05-16T13:55:00.002-05:00

it was san benito's last game of the season. they forced it to game three on their home turf. and it wasn't until this game, the very last, that i found out a friend and former coworker had gotten the school district to build a stand behind the outfield fence to get batter shots. *sigh* but that inning on that stand was FUN! anyway... just two random shots from the dugout.

hot days mean carwashes

2009-05-13T17:12:00.003-05:00

springtime in the valley...

2009-04-28T17:10:00.003-05:00

too far south for the famous bluebonnets, but just perfect for a field full of wild sunflowers.

go fish...

2009-04-23T19:59:00.000-05:00

golf group shot

2009-04-18T22:49:00.003-05:00

el loco tattoo

2009-04-17T18:21:00.007-05:00

made some new friends at a local tattoo parlor. the guys at el loco were all pretty sweet and welcomed this stranger right in. i love that about tattoo shops. this one's probably the best one i've been to in terms of decor and layout. most i've been to here in the valley have white walls that feel clinical and sterile in a dirty way, if that makes sense. this place felt like home. color on the walls (besides the art samples), cool tat rooms, awesome bathroom (trust me... for a girl, that's incredibly important!) anyway, here are some pics of one of the artists doing a quick hip piece:

the design begins

the work starts

concentration

the outline

the inks

TEA bagging...

2009-04-17T15:06:00.003-05:00

a TEA party on a gorgeous afternoon. shame.

baseball portraits...

2009-04-14T18:38:00.003-05:00

i did these a couple of months ago for a local magazine affiliated with my paper, and since i'm covering this team tonight, i figured this'd be the perfect time to play a little catch-up by posting these now.

my saturday...

2009-04-11T19:27:00.005-05:00

involved shooting a community easter egg hunt. those kids were crazy, and some didn't understand the concept of "share," but some were also very gracious and sweet (see #3). saturday also ushered in the first real bout of our famous south texas humidity. i was drowning. the breeze, when it chose to make an appearance, was brief, but welcome, especially when it revealed the last photograph.

texas flavor...

2009-04-11T14:09:00.001-05:00

outfitting the cowgirl

old cowboy reminisces: the horse square dance

stained glass

2009-04-10T16:11:00.003-05:00

jerrie howell, stained glass artist

a portrait

2009-04-08T14:36:00.005-05:00

tony schaub, painter

area artist in his studio. circa lunchtime. yay for people who welcome walk-ins off the street wielding large, uncooperative cameras.

a night on the diamond

2009-04-07T22:15:00.005-05:00

a nice day for golf...

2009-04-07T16:04:00.003-05:00

classic car show

2009-04-04T20:09:00.003-05:00

relay for life

2009-04-03T21:59:00.002-05:00

shadows on the track.

the valley in the afternoon

2009-04-02T21:27:00.005-05:00

just because...

2009-04-01T12:15:00.005-05:00

unknown wildflower, 4/01/09

neighbors 4/01/09

fisherman, 4/01/09

2009-03-30T12:24:00.007-05:00

my paper does lots of portraits in a daily series called "slice of life." i like to do portraits in general, so most of these are SOL pics, but some are just for fun.

THIS MAN IS NOT A MEXICAN... HE'S AN AMERICAN CITIZEN SELLING PRODUCE FROM HIS YARD.

WHY ARE YOU USING A SEARCH ENGINE TO LOOK UP "MEXICAN SELLING ORANGES" ANYWAY?

operation noel

2009-03-30T12:04:00.000-05:00

during christmas time every year, the paper i work for does feature articles on needy families in a public plea to get the community involved to help their neighbors. this annual series is called operation noel. this photograph, done for one of the op noel families, is the first i shot and had printed in the paper.

i wish i could have done diana and her family more justice by it. my nervousness is no excuse. she had a beautiful sense of pride hidden inside her own shyness, though. and she was probably the best i could ask for in terms of my first subject. in need as she and her family was, you'd never know it from her smile or from talking to her. she showed me courage.

finally... more stuff.

2009-03-19T18:24:00.000-05:00

these are photos from a humanitarian mission put on by the frank ferree organization. they regularly deliver food to colonias just across the mexican border at matamoros, reynosa, and las flores. entire families from colonias both nearby and several miles away had waited since the morning for us to arrive at mid-afternoon. children stood in a separate line for their own special treat: day old pastries.

the first post...

2009-03-06T18:36:00.000-06:00

so this is a photo blog.

and here's a photo...