Our most recent Senior Rep photo session took place at one of the coolest locations in El Paso; out at Hueco Tanks state park.

Just east of El Paso, Texas, this park is a rock climbers paradise. In fact for years, climbers the world over have visited and found the beauty and the challenge worth coming back to time after time. So this was just a natural location to do a shoot with Chapin High School senior Alex Davis.

My assistant Renee Iglesias and I met Alex and his mom early in the morning for the shoot out at Hueco Tanks. The skies were overcast and holding rain, which meant more flash, but cooler temps too! We had hoped to visit one of the ponds that the park is known for, but they were dry and in much need of one of those clouds holding the goods. We did scale some of the boulder like mountain tops and the natural cliff ramadas that are throughout the park.

We also got a chance to see some of the Indian art paintings that are found on many of the cave like walls, that make this place a gem for archeologists and historians. I don’t know the dating of these hieroglyphics, but park rangers say various people groups have lived there for nearly 6,000 years.

I had a great time with Alex and his mom Judy Davis. They were awesome to work with and such nice people. Judy made for a good grip as she got reflector duties from time to time. I know Alex is going to have a great senior year. He’s a great kid and already has plans to attend Texas Tech were his sister is attending. You can see more pictures of Hueco Tanks and our Session by visiting Alex’s gallery at my website. If you are looking for a great little escape, consider spending a day out at Hueco Tanks. I hope to have many more sessions out there, it’s a great place.

I came across this blog of AJ Wood, courtesy of another photog friend recently, that raises some concerns over pictures you upload on Facebook. Wood, an Adobe instructor, posts on his site that at least one retailer, Walmart, may allow the use of an application that allows folks to upload pictures from their friend’s list on Facebook and then have those pictures printed up in the store.

I did check Facebook and found that a photo page did exist. I also found pages for Walgreens and Target. I have never visited any of these stores with the intent of testing whether this function exists. As with anything, let the buyer beware. I did go to Walmart’s Photo site and found this page which appears to in fact let you print photos from your friend’s galleries on Facebook. If you check out the AJWood blog there is a tutorial on how to remove this feature so that your pictures remain your property!

courtesy of picapp

Now don’t let the heat melt your mind, this is about ice cream, not something pseudo or Rodeo Drive pretentious – like Gelato (insert THE MOST AWESOME Gelato of all-time found at the Cafe Bougainvillea in Sorrento, Italy), and certainly not something that should be illegal like Ice Milk!! And if your one of those folks who wants to live longer than a forest and only eats Yogurt, nope, nope, nope, this is all about ice cream!

Hailing from the great Republic of Texas I’ve got to give my kudos’ to the amazing Blue Bell Ice Cream and their Peaches and Homemade Vanilla ice cream… man oh man! Besides just cranking out wonderfully consistent good stuff packed in a bucket – they still give you a complete half-gallon of heaven, not some metric measured amount like you find in Blue Jackrabbit and other competitors. And you don’t have to worry about your money ending up in Venezuela saving some endangered termite, like you might suspect with that brand in Connecticut (Insert B and J initials here), this is Tejas ice cream… ’nuff said.

In fact I’ve said too much. So pull out your own bowls and spoons and let me know who and what is the best eating frozen dessert you’ve come across. P.S. Momma’s hand cranked don’t count.

They decided before going out and having a romantic dinner, to have a portrait session with me first. So we headed out to Memorial Park for the shoot. Despite the stifling humidity, breaking a light umbrella, wayward puppies and wet grass (yes it does rain in El Paso), Brian and Barbara were awesome! Besides skinning up a tree and laying all over the wet grass for shots, there wasn’t anything they wouldn’t do to help make everything work. In fact, I actually kept them over a bit from their reservation time… sorry guys.

Anyway, here’s to another 13, and another 13 after that to you both. It’s easy to see why you two make such a great couple.

Addendum: I know it’s been a long time since I’ve posted, but my New Year … I mean my New July resolution is to pay more attention to this orphaned blog of mine.

A lot of thanks goes out to Lesa Snyder, one of the best Photoshop guru’s there are, who is also part of the Kelby Training team. Lesa’s great tutorial was the final step we needed to give our images that look that you would find while rummaging through grandma’s photo albums in her upstairs attic.

Here are a couple of beautiful young ladies who decided to use High Noon Photography for their senior pics. With a little work up on our own and some of the steps that Lesa taught, we came up with this. Only thing is that our pictures don’t come with some of grandma’s great cookies and a glass of milk.

It was a pleasure and honor to meet and then get to work with these folks. Thank you to my newest friends, the Marquez Family.

Leave a comment about your moment, and then check back from time to time to see what others have shared.

I hope to soon begin offering my time to local hospitals in the El Paso, Texas area. There is a bit of preliminary work and study that first needs to occur, since this is an area of extreme sensitivity that also comes with certain legal issues. I do know that I am humbled to be affiliated with this amazing group of people.

For the time being, could you perhaps take a moment to offer a simple prayer for the thousands of families and children that are going through this very difficult moment.

Atlanta fans, you have a very good team. I sat there and watched that first drive of the Falcons and knew the Cowboys mettle was going to be severely tested. It seemed that Atlanta went through the Pokes like the obligatory blank through a pig during those first minutes.

There were a lot of interesting moments and at times poor play decisions and execution from the Cowboys. This team loves to be its own worse enemy, especially when it comes to penalties. The only redemption this Sunday was that Cowboy offensive tackle Flozel Adams actually played penalty free. Allow me to repeat that, “played penalty free.”

Another plus was that Da Boys Quarterback Tony Romo has finally figured out that there are a number of talented players on this team who can catch the ball. Receiver Miles Austin is headed for an All-Pro season if he continues to be the on fire player that we’ve seen the last couple of weeks. Of course there still remains at least one receiver who is not and maybe never will be a go-to-guy, and that’s Roy Williams. This picture courtesy of PicAppis what Cowboy fans are accustomed to seeing when it comes to Williams’ performance in games, ball thrown, ball missed, opportunity blown.

I don’t get what is going on with Williams and Romo, but it clearly aint working. I’ve been critical of Romo too, and some of the blame lies in his arm and brain as well. One player who can’t share the blame with Romo is another Poke who probably needs to see different pastures, and that’s defensive back Terrance Newman. In this file photo Newman is once again getting beat on a pass route. The only good news about the photo is that it is preseason and the receiver is also a Cowboy. But today, it weren’t no Sunday and it weren’t no practice that gave Atlanta plenty of opportunities and a touchdown at the hands of, or lack of, Terrance Newman.

Still, there was some promise with the Cowboys performance today. The defense really stood up against a good Atlanta offense and Patrick “I hold the ball like a hot sausage in front of pit bulls” Clayton had a nice game. Perhaps not being the starter will actually bring out his game. As for the sausage, well he didn’t fumble today thank goodness. The Cowboys also tightened up the conference race due to their win and the Giants loss and the smell of 4 and 2 season is much more satisfying than what could have been a 500 record.

So Sunday did turn out to be a good day. I’m a little hungry now, so it’s off to look through the fridge, I think I saw a “sausage.”