Category Archives: Photography

Stars, Stripes, Barns and Guitars

December 31, 2011 by Jeff C | Comments Off

Over Christmas, I set a record (for this millenium, anyway) for my longest stretch staying in Vian: 9 days. Among the amusements during my stay was a visit with Heath Wright (of Ricochet – previously discussed here and here). I’ve known Heath since . . . well, since he could not play the guitar. I often tell people (with a half-straight face) that Heath, Greg Cook and I “used to be in a little band together before they formed Ricochet.” Granted, it was the Vian High School marching band, but my story is technically true.

I had volunteered to take some pictures that he could use for whatever it is cowboy rockstars use pictures for. I told Heath I’d need to get started before sunrise to get the best lighting. This took two attempts — on Wednesday I arrived dutifully at 6:55 a.m. and was greeted only by a locked door and a dark house with a deep-sleeping Heath allegedly inside. I’m a good sport, so we tried again Thursday and things went much better.

I even brought along a voice-activated lightstand (“VALS”), who you may know better as “Joyce,” my mother. She was a huge help juggling the flashes. I’d borrowed my Mom’s 10’x15′ American flag (doesn’t every mother have one of these?) to use as a backdrop; we strapped it to the side of Heath’s barn, set up the lights and started snapping pictures. I had to get the camera way down low for some of the more interesting angles, which left me wallowing in a fair amount of cow sh…manure.

For a free, novice, amateur middle-aged aspiring photographer, I thought these pictures turned out pretty well. Heath’s a pretty decent model — maybe this was not, as they say, his first rodeo. Thanks to Heath and my Mom for their patience.

We took some pictures sans-flag, too. Note the big W on the gate. Heath’s house/land is a.k.a. the Rockin’ W Ranch. This festive name has nothing to do with Heath’s chosen profession — it was his dad (Bill)’s cattle brand even before Heath got his first electric guitar. I even got a few family pictues with Heath’s 9-yr-old son, Dustin, who is thinner, has more hair, and is better looking than his dad.

What’s Good for the Goose . . .

November 29, 2011 by Jeff C | Comments Off

Just south of my hometown of Vian, Oklahoma, is Sequoyah Wildlife Refuge. Each fall (and spring) the wheatfields of the refuge are swarmed by tens of thousands of wild geese, migrating toward friendlier climates. My dad drove me through the Refuge while I was home for Thanksgiving.

There is a two-lane road through the middle of the Refuge. On the west side, hunting (geese) is legal and popular; on the east side hunting is not allowed. When you drive down that road, you can see thousands of geese on the east side — often just 40 yards or so from the road — but none on the west side. Even the flight patterns of the huge swarms that come in and out carefully stay on the safe side. Like me, the geese are not as dumb as they look.

The www.stevecreek.com website (a photographer from the area) often has pictures (better than mine!) from the Refuge.

Costa Rica November 2011

November 23, 2011 by Jeff C | Comments Off

I spent two weeks in November attending a Spanish language school in Playa Flamingo, Costa Rica. DON’T ask or expect me to bust out any espanol — YET. I’ll need another dose.

Here are a few pictures of some of my friends and classmates surfing at Tamarindo Beach (and some random beach bum types. It may be difficult to discern which are which.)

There’s a town in Costa Rica that’s famous for its pottery (ceramicas). The story is that these families have been making it there for 500 years or so, using pretty much the same materials, designs and methods. I met a guy named (disappointingly) “Willy,” who demonstrated his craft. I wound up flying home with seven pieces of pottery in my luggage. Amusingly, I also wound up giving a multimedia show-and-tell presentation (in Spanish, of course) to the entire school, describing my visit to Guaitil .

Here are some random Costa Rican sunsets from the trip.

Austin (or, “If you can beat them, join them!”)

November 8, 2011 by Jeff C | Comments Off

_JJC7795 Reasoner Kids for Xmas Card.jpg

I’ve watched OU play the Longhorns at least a dozen times. But it’s always in Dallas, so I’d never been to a game in Austin. By happy coincidence, I was in Austin to go to a reception at the law school honoring Robin Gibbs (the founder of my law firm) on the night before a UT/Texas Tech game. Robin had tickets galore, so I got to see my first Longhorn ballgame in Austin. Actually the most striking thing about it was how eerily similar it was to games in Norman — just change the colors.

Notice my hideous orange costume — I was undercover and/or trying to be at least modestly gracious to my burnt orange hosts, who somehow love their ‘horns every bit as much as we love the Sooners (Reminds me of the Police song from the 1980s — “The Russians Love Their Children, Too”.). The “couple” in the stands is a friend and Gibbs & Bruns partner Jeff Kubin, with his sister Jennifer. The happy family pics are the Reasoners; the pretty girl in the picture with me is my goddaughter, Olivia Reasoner. By the way, the Longhorns won the game easily; but the Texas Tech band killed the Orange band.

Cowboy James in Moab

November 6, 2011 by Jeff C | Comments Off

I had a little bit of landscape fatigue after four days at the Moab workshop, so for about 20 minutes I wandered over to the “ranch” next to the lodge where we were staying. I met James, who had worked there as a wrangler/outfitter most of his life. When James isn’t taking Japanese tourists on dude-ranch style outings along the Colorado River, he’s doing the real cowboy work of taking care of the horses. He never stood still, but I got some decent shots.