Images of La Morada de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, Taos New Mexico
Years ago something extremely important was disclosed to me that would forever change my life.
I was sitting outside at a beach house talking with one of the brightest and funniest people I have ever known. It was a beautiful evening and lots of birds were flying overhead on their way to their nighttime roosts. The person I was sitting with suddenly stopped talking and pointed at a group of pelicans flying overhead.
Confidently she said,
“You know... Pelicans always fly around in odd numbers.”
I looked at her a bit confused, not believing what I was hearing.
“That can’t be true.”
“But it is, See that group over there? Seven. That one over there. Three.”
“How do they know to fly around like that?” I asked
“They just do,” she said
For the next half hour or so, we counted the pelicans together. Sure enough, quite a few of the groups had odd numbers, but there were almost as many with even numbers. When I pointed out the even number groups, she would spin around in her chair and say something like,
“Well, you see those few over there? They’re part of the same group, now they’re an odd number.”
She made up some reason for every group that was even and she was very convincing. I knew that she was just goofing around with me, but that made it a lot fun. This was typical for her sense of humor, always joking around.
Unfortunately, she’ll never know how that moment in time will stay with me forever. I’ve continued to count pelicans to this day. Odd or even, it doesn’t really matter anymore. Counting pelicans is now my way of remembering my mom and her incredible sense of humor.
When I was growing up, Sea Arama was one of the most loved attractions on Galveston Island. It had all kinds of things to see and do. Water ski shows, snake tamers, marine aquariums, and sea lion shows were some of the fun things waiting for you at Sea Arama. I vividly remember going there with my family when I was about 5 years old.
Today, it has been fully demolished and nothing is left but a small lake.
The images in this gallery were taken in the mid to late 90's.
Residents of Galveston and visitors to the island often claim to feel a change when traveling South across the Galveston Causeway. To the people who live in Galveston, it’s often a sense of relief or a reassuring feeling that they are home and finally away from the hustle and bustle of cities to the north. The bridge to them is a symbol of the end of the journey home. To visitors, it can be a sense of de-stressing and escape, because for them, they’ve made it to their vacation and it’s time to have fun and relax. For them, the bridge becomes a symbol for the beginning of their transition into vacation mode..
Pontem Nostris (our bridge) is a photographic study of the Galveston causeway bridge. This initial series of photographs concentrates on the underlying structure. A whole other world exists above the support structure and will be the focus of a future series of images.
The Lone Star Rally descends upon Galveston Island each Fall, bringing upward of 500,000 visitors to the quaint little island over the course of a weekend. All sorts of bikers and non bikers are in attendance and it makes for quite an event. There are hundreds of vendors displaying and selling just about everything associated with biker culture.
The main attraction for many is the motorcycles. Tens of thousands of them line the streets . Everything you can image is there, from stock cruisers to totally custom choppers. The array of possibilities for customizing a motorcycle is endless.
I’m an outsider to biker culture, but I’m still intrigued by its focal point. The motorcycle with its sleek shiny chrome, its promise of freedom and independence, and its deafening roar is quite alluring. What an amazing piece of machinery. Motorcycles are cool. They’re powerful and beautiful, and it is these qualities that have been the cornerstone upon which an entire culture has been built.
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