Posts in Category: urban landscape
Infrastructure
New construction over Loop 12, Irving, Texas
New Work
I am continuing to look at the flat, open spaces around North Texas, particularly vacant lots and what is adjacent to them. These near the intersection of the LBJ Freeway and I35.
Looking at the Landscape Over Time
I am preparing an image maker presentation for the Society for Photographic Education South Central Regional Conference in October titled “Don’t Lose Your Way”. The black and white image above will be the first in the Keynote slide show, one that I made as an undergraduate at Ohio University. I had hitchhiked to Cincinnati where I saw this expanse of asphalt and the row of older Ohio industrial city style homes at the top of the frame. The thing is, I am still looking at these things today. I have returned to look at the landscape in much the same way I did then, I have found my way back. The image below was made last year in downtown Dallas, a parking lot with the W Hotel, high rise condos and four story apartments that surround the American Airlines Center.
DART Light Rail
Signs of the Economy
42 acres at the corner of Walnut Hill and US 75, Central Expressway in Dallas, Texas. A large apartment complex was demolished to make room for an ambitious mixed-use, high end development. The land has been taken back by the lenders and they are trying to sell it to recover the more than $40 million they have invested in it. link to image
Executive Fitness in Dallas
Hart’s Military Training, US75, North Central Expressway, Dallas, Texas
link to image
Texas Stadium Awaits Demolition
We dropped my wife off at the airport so she could visit family in Mexico and I stopped to shoot this on the way home: Texas Stadium in Irving, former home of the Dallas Cowboys awaiting demolition. Arlington down the road offered Cowboys owner Jerry Jones a better deal, including huge tax breaks so Irving in the end will soon have a vacant lot. You can just see downtown Dallas in the distance. Is this about politics? I don’t know, but it is about winners and losers when communities bid (and bet) on sports franchises. link to image
The Urban Canopy
I have been including in my photographs the canopy that stands over our heads as part of our built environment. The utility poles and wires of older neighborhoods are being joined by microwave antennas and cell phone towers. The images above are of the athletic field at Dallas Lutheran High School and of the former Whole Foods Market at the intersection of Preston Rd and Forest Ln. in Dallas, TX.
Repurposed Gasoline Stations
I think that part of my interest in repurposed gasoline stations is that they represent both a change and a constant in society. Not too long ago they were service stations, places that not only sold gasoline, but also repaired your car, sold tires and batteries and even supplied maps for your trip at no charge. The station owner’s name was above the office door, though the big sign on the corner said Gulf or Esso, it was his business.
Jake’s White Trash and Pink Lemonade Coiffure
Gasoline Station repurposed as Jake’s White Trash and Pink Lemonade Coiffure, in Fort Worth, Texas.