"Photography takes an instant out of time...

Dry Waterfalls & Ghost Towns

2009-06-29T20:11:48Z

Two things we came to realize yesterday:
-You cannot find waterfalls in Texas during the summer. They don't exist.
-We are getting entirely way too law abiding in our old age.

I have quite a few pictures of both.

In search of a waterfall outside of Weatherford, Texas.

If it wasn't for our GPS we would NOT be doing these things...

And if it wasn't for my cell phone with internet access, I wouldn't have know this was the "waterfall". The water spills under the road and off the cliff - making the waterfall. But only in rainy season, it seems.

In search of a ghost town called Belle Plain, Texas.

I have been wanting to go to this place for quite some time but every time we would go by this area, it would be super dark or the weather wouldn't be right. I plugged in the lattitude and longitude into the GPS & let it take us away. Lord knows where in the world we would end up...I was putting all faith into that small little device.

Belle Plain Wiki
Belle Plain Texas Escapes
Belle Plain Ghost Town

After getting off a main road, I held my breath. The road seemed to be a maintained road...

But, after the next turn, it turned into a dirt road.

And then into an even more of a dirt road...After awhile, it was like we were driving through somebody's pasture. I had no idea what to look out for. Was there going to be a sign? Was there going to be an obvious large deteriorating building? Were we never going to get back to the main road from here? WHO KNOWS.

Then literally all of a sudden we see this really old barn. When we first pulled up, there were buzzards sitting on top. I was truly breath taken by how it looked.

A few feet away, around a curve, there was this sign. I knew this was it. This was the location but WHERE is the buildings people were talking about??

Our dirty-dango. ;)

We got into the Durango & decided to go down the road just a bit more. Not even a little bit down the road, we saw the Dean's house. Right through this area, it was beaten down & the fence was pried apart just right that we COULD have gone over to take more & better pictures. BUT...there was this nice large PURPLE pole. Purple meant literally "Stay the fuck out." Beau - who has more balls than I - said No, we weren't going. (Also, looking at other websites, it seems as though the beaten path & messed up fence is within the past few months. On a website, it shows Jan. of 2009 that the fence was fine.)

Back into the Durango and we were backing up the road...and we finally saw it. We BARELY saw it. I doubt YOU can see it in this picture. SO CLOSE YET SO FAR AWAY.

The place was surrounded by these dead trees. It definitely added to it all. It was really eerie. To know that these buildings were built in the 1880s. To know they are still standing - barely.

I just couldn't stop taking pictures of everything, I wanted to document it all just because I didn't know if we would ever come back this way. Beau says we will, whenever its fall or winter, whenever things have died off and we could probably see through the trees even more.

Then...I was at peace. I become so relaxed. I didn't care if the Durango broke down. I didn't care if I had a cellphone signal or not. I just...didn't want to leave this one spot. It is what I want. I was at peace & I knew the minute I got back in the Durango, it would leave me.

The remains of the college - We were probably about a mile or two away whenever I took this picture. You can see the top of the barn to the right of the building (which would be the ). It shows to you how close we were earlier...but just couldn't get close enough.

audphotos @ 2008-11-02T21:24:00

2008-11-03T03:24:08Z

audphotos @ 2008-11-02T15:00:00

2008-11-02T21:00:35Z

Halloween party

2008-10-20T16:48:08Z

Went to a Halloween party at a friends house...the sunset is always amazing.

Not even 5 minutes later, the colors have already changed.

Me in their bathroom...I went as a 1950s housewife.

Beau at the party - he went as Jake Blues from the Blue Brothers..

A Convent in Stanton, TX

2008-10-13T00:12:02Z

With the purpose of founding a monastery and a German Catholic Colony, Carmelite Monks, in 1881, began the first Catholic Church between Fort Worth and El Paso. The adobe and brick monastery was completed in 1884, and St. Joseph's Church in 1885.

Sisters of Divine Providence opened a short-lived school in 1887. It was reopened in 1894 by the Sisters of Mercy. In 1897, the Carmelite Monks disbanded and sold the property to the Sisters of Mercy. They operated a convent and academy until abandonment in 1938 (due to a tornado on June 11, 1938). All that remains are the dormitory, ruins of the other buildings and the cemetery.

audphotos @ 2008-05-06T09:11:00

2008-05-06T14:11:07Z

Some shots while we were in vacation.

It was Beau's first time in the Gulf of Mexico. Actually, besides his Army stint in Missouri, he had never left Texas...for pleasure. So, it was a nice change for him.

The night before we left, there was a storm rolling in.

Yea, I don't know...it was a light bulb. I had to do it.

But, a few days before the light bulb, I saw an apple on the beach. Ha!

During Hurricane Camille, this tug boat was pushed ashore. During Hurricane Katrina, it destroyed the gift shop behind it but only put a dent in the hull. (I'm glad we took photos of her while we did because apparently, the City is wanting her gone! If you are curious, Link here!)

My husband walking with his niece on the pier.

My sister-in-law, Shera.

I kept begging them to do photos on the beach but they just...didn't want to for some reason.

Beau's uncle lives on Caddo Lake - in far East Texas. On our way home, we stopped and stayed the night. It was one of the creepiest places ever.

See what I mean?

On our way to Biloxi, MS. Taken after we left Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Even before that...our first stop on our week long vacation was to my parents & my husband's dad's places in East Texas.

Didn't even know those little bugs were on there until I uploaded the photo onto the laptop that evening!

Ha, even before ALL of this. This was taken before we even left on our vacation. Our pomegranate tree had bloomed.

audphotos @ 2008-05-06T08:58:00

2008-05-06T13:58:19Z

Alright, kevo295 was the third person to nudge me this week. (Which is odd beings that he has seen most of my photos in my normal journal. Ha.)

I did my first photo shoot mid April. With my best friend Amanda her husband Steven and their 9 month old son Texas.

I was trying to prepare shooting people for the a wedding I was supposed to shoot in Mississippi.

audphotos @ 2008-04-01T12:07:00

2008-04-01T17:07:35Z

It has been a long time since I've posted in here...life was super-duper crazy.

But, if you still wanted to check out a few of my photos - here are three places they are at.

My Project 365 Blogspot.

My DeviantArt page.

Or even my photos on Myspace.

I am going to start posting things in here again...so...yea. :)

audphotos @ 2007-12-22T11:13:00

2007-12-22T17:13:46Z

Not quite "man behind the mask" but I am the woman behind the lens.

audphotos @ 2007-12-18T10:58:00

2007-12-18T16:58:39Z

Large photo update...

2007-12-13T19:35:27Z

Wow...so it has been damn near two months since I have updated this thing. I have been so busy with babysitting my (step) neice that I just don't have time to update this.

Let's start off with Bill...She is a dog that was rescued from a park, covered in fleas and ticks. We took her in & changed her name to Bill (which, she comes to Bill, not Belle.) We were told she was a chihuahua but as she has grown into herself these past few months, the vet thinks she is (or at least has) some sort of terrier in her.

Can't forget my pup, Tinker. I guess I can't say she is a pup anymore...she will be 3 in January. I love this dog with all of my heart and it has completely changed my views - and my families - on Pit bulls. She is the best.dog.ever....She knows when C. is arriving so she will stand like this in front of the window waiting for her to show up. She sure does love that kiddo.

Now, onto C. She is the (almost) 3 year old daughter of my sister-in-law. I truly have no idea how to take photos of people. But, I am learning...slowly.

The moon on the morning of Oct. 27th, 2007.

Out near the airport, Oct. 30th, 2007.

My backyard, Nov. 19, 2007...

On the Thanksgiving holidays, we got snow. And it actually stuck...until we got back into the 60s and 70s weather, haha. A lot of snow in November in West Texas? Strange...

At the Stonehenge replica on University of the Permian Basin's campus.

Pyote, Texas, Dec. 6, 2007

The sunrise on December 7, 2007.

audphotos @ 2007-10-21T11:49:00

2007-10-21T16:49:40Z

With every photo I take, I grown and learn more.

My husband likes this one because you can see the line of electrical poles.

See it larger)

Larger version.

audphotos @ 2007-10-19T22:10:00

2007-10-20T03:10:52Z

My husband bought me a new camera today.

These are just a few test shots from when I first got it.

This photo was taken on full zoom, going about 75 mph down the road.

(Main reason I took this photo was how the guy was holding onto the handlebars with his left hand.)

A leaf!
See larger version here.

Rocks.
See larger version here.

My jeans, on SUPER macro!
See larger version here.

audphotos @ 2007-10-08T10:04:00

2007-10-08T15:04:32Z

Okay...these last two. It was later in the day and the sun was already starting to go down. Connie told me that the Monarch Butterflies were coming out and I wanted to see if I could get a photo of some. I was SO surprised whenever I saw these two butterflies sitting still for me.

...they came out okay. But...the 'butterflies' are dead. And THAT throws the photo completely off. I THINK I got a photo of a LIVE one but I am not 100% on it because it sat there too while I was taking photos but it was hanging upside down in a tree, haha.

And then...upon closer inspection, I started thinking that I wasn't even sure if these were even butterflies. They might just be moths or something, haha.

Photos were not edited in any shape or way other than borders being added.

Autumn Leaves in Texas.

2007-10-05T23:02:41Z

audphotos @ 2007-09-21T23:06:00

2007-09-22T04:06:07Z

Today, Beau got new tattoos.

One for Danny, whom we lost last October & the other for a friend who we lost October of 2004.

The beginning of his chest piece.

audphotos @ 2007-09-14T23:09:00

2007-09-15T04:09:11Z

Project 365 - Two weeks down. (You can view it at Flickr or Blogspot.) On Blogspot, I do believe you can leave comments, if you want.

audphotos @ 2007-09-06T22:56:00

2007-09-07T03:56:13Z

I've been doing Project 365 for an entire week....wanna check it out? Here is the link. Click me!

audphotos @ 2007-09-05T09:56:00

2007-09-05T14:56:19Z

audphotos @ 2007-09-04T21:51:00

2007-09-05T02:51:48Z

I haven't posted here in ages. I've started doing Project 365...but on another site. If you want to keep track of it, here it is. I'm thinking about making weekly posts in here of my progress. Not sure though.

Anyway.

I took quite a few photos when I was at work with Beau tonight.

(No, we haven't started smoking again. This was Beau's boss'....)

audphotos @ 2007-08-06T13:41:00

2007-08-06T18:41:18Z

Out of all the photos I took this weekend, only 4 were decent. *makes a mental note to not take photos when the wind is blowing*

San Angelo, Texas

2007-07-09T15:03:18Z

Went to San Angelo this past weekend for a wedding...

Then we headed to the Railway Museum of San Angelo

It looks like a foot...minus a few toes!

The train depot (museum now) built in 1909.

Cream Cheese Poundcake w/ blueberry sauce

2007-06-26T21:41:29Z

Gotta love homemade food made from scratch! :)

audphotos @ 2007-06-20T22:03:00

2007-06-21T03:04:27Z

Have you ever been this close to buffalo? I kept thinking

Photos of flowers - or weeds...whichever you want to go

A house behind an old grocery/gas station.

An old gas station in Glen Rose, Texas

audphotos @ 2007-05-28T20:31:00

2007-05-29T01:31:24Z