The Last Picture Show

"If you see anything you want to stop and photograph, just holler," said my friend Ginger as she and Ron were driving me around their hometown of San Angelo, Texas. I thought they might live to regret their offer. I was on my way to a conference at McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas, and had stopped to visit with Ginger and Ron for several days while en route to Fort Davis. San Angelo is a medium-sized town in west Texas, and at first glance, my eyes told me there would be photographs everywhere. We began our day in a coffee shop in an old hotel, with several ranchers in Stetsons and jeans at the next table. I always enjoy listening to conversations for the differences in accent and speech. The grouping of three ranchers was not quite enough of a photograph for me to disturb their breakfast, so I let the moment pass, but it was enough to drink in the scene and listen to the conversation.

After breakfast there were some bent wood chairs in front of watercolors on the wall of the coffee shop...


The interior of the old Cactus hotel, which was the fourth hotel in the Hilton chain...



And Eggemeyer's General store...


With beautiful, huge, scale-model aircraft hanging from the ceiling. I think the wingspan of this is a DC-3 is about six feet...


A primitive painting on the side of a downtown building...



The bail bondsman's Cadillac with horns fastened to the hood...


The pickup in the parking lot of a building painted like the Texas flag...


The brilliant, corrugated-steel Palmer Feed Mill reflecting sunlight against the clear blue Texas sky...


And the International Water Lilly Garden with these are African water lillies...

The old Texas theater which is being restored...

A view of several buildings on Concho avenue, downtown...

A Citgo station and sign against a sky so blue, the scene reminded me of a William Wegman photograph...

And an old Texas Air National Guard T-33 displayed at the local high school.


I was burning up more space on my CF cards than I would have in several days shooting at work! Hey, this is what vacations are for, right? I find that I am absolutely energized by the thought of a new landscape to discover, and San Angelo was no exception. We continued driving around town and the outlying areas that first day, and I would guess that I had them stopping anywere between 1 or 2 blocks, or 4 or 5 miles! They were very gracious, given that they had this madman with a camera in their car. It was late in the day when we headed back into town, just before sunset. We were driving along Chadbourne Street and there it was! An extra wide street, nearly deserted, with some Texas style buildings with the overhanging roofs lit by the setting sun. "STOP!" I hollered, but I needn't have, because they had already noticed the scene and by now knew that it would be my type of photograph. Fortunately, this was not like Ansel Adams' experience with "Moonrise, Hernandez" where the sunlight went off the crosses after he shot the first piece of film. In my case the sun remained above the horizon for perhaps 10 or 15 minutes and I could spend plenty of time trying different compositions. This one is my favorite. I call it "The Last Picture Show," which it's not, but it reminds me of the theatre in the movie of the same name. These buildings are not deserted, they are actually in use as an office and a cabinetmaker's shop. Quite an end to my first day in Texas.

Ken Spencer