Scott Newton Photo

I haven’t posted for a while but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been working. I still shoot lots of music and politics, but I currently find more personal expression in the act of discerning, or revealing, compelling visual forms all around me…. This medium, with its low res limitations, doesn’t really show off the wonderful details, but, nevertheless, the Flow is there for all to see. As an irascible curmudgeon, I especially identify with the dry rock in the lower left.

I always get the window seat. My dad was a pilot and I’ve always considered flying one of the great privileges and pleasures of our age. I always get the sunset side, if a sunset is in the works. Sometimes I get to see such as this…You should have seen the scene I saw right before I unpacked the camera in time for this shot…. This was pretty good.

I love the feeling of Hole-in-the-Ocean this shot conveys.

SXSW is going strong in Austin right now, and the best thing I’ve seen is REM in studio…here’s a shot from the show.

I’ve been learning digital stitching. It’s been blowing my mind and making me see things in a whole new way. This is a cylindrical rendering of a 360 degree panorama. See the Sun, AND my shadow on the left? See the woman’s bending shadow? The dock was actually a little square wooden rectangle sticking out into the Colorado River about 20 feet, right behind the Four Seasons Hotel–(the building on both the right and the left…) The bridge in the background is the Congress Avenue Bridge–the one where over a million bats so famously live (World’s Largest Urban Bat Colony!)– The woman was sunning herself when I showed up at sunset. She graciously modeled for me for a few minutes. I never did get her name….. This is the result. Like a Mercator Projection Map of the world, where Greenland and Antarctica are squashed flat and big, digital stitching lays out the entire environment in 2 dimensions. Fun. Big Fun.

Austin, TX has a wonderful series of Hike & Bike trails, the crown jewel being the running trail around the Colorado River, which runs right through town. The river is dammed into a series of lakes–when it runs through town it’s called Lady Bird Lake. I run around Lady Bird Lake every morning, usually at sunrise, with my runnin’ pug, Sluggo. We always stop and jump onto this rock and center our spirits for the day. I’ve seen the most amazing sunrises from this rock–but I never have a camera when I’m running. One of my photo projects in the coming years will be a series of shots taken of the many facets of this scene.

A local hotel, The Wyndham, has been purchasing Texas images from me for display in their rooms. I’ve been surprised by some of their choices, but none so much as by this one. Everybody who sees it seems to really like it; I think it’s because of the way it draws you into some story…setting the imagination free. Whoever lived in it has been gone so long the screen door has literally rotted off. The stone work is extremely detailed and painstaking, the symmetry so perfect, the colors harmonizing….someone of artistic sensibilities lived here and left behind this lonely little monument. The little house has the feel of someone’s penance for doing something they wanted to atone for. The house looks vaguely like a sad face. I wonder who built it. I wonder where they went. Now you can wonder, too.

…and I’m so proud. As he mentioned today, it’s the first time he’s graduated, since he “skipped” high school. What turn-around….10 years ago I was sure he was headed staight to an ignominious end. I’m so glad I was wrong. And now he’s worked his way through years of part time school/work to a place where the world’s his oyster. Congratulations, Orion….. Introducing: The Graduate…. (Oh, and btw, this is the same person who is the subject of image #75 of this collection, “The Little Warrior”, shot in 1980….check it out. Navigate with the random button.)

These days, with work and other demands taking up most of one’s time, I find I have room for just 4 or 5 full time–invest the hours, week in and month out–friends…These are the fellow travelers, the ones who step seamlessly into your internal dialogue and set the crooked parts straight….the ones you trust and love being around and talking to…. And this is the friend I actually spend the most time with, in person. (No, she’s not a girlfriend…she’s even better–a bestfriend) She was, for example, my assistant during the heat and sweat of the ACL Fests, a tough gig…she defines “trooper”, and “tough” and “no bullshit”… Don’t mess with Sheri T. The shot is here because I was looking for an example of my work that shows the influence of Henri Cartier-Bresson, (whose Leica I don’t deserve to even think about holding). His portraits are a constant source of inspiration, (kinda like Sheri)….

Austin, TX is a unique, interesting place, and it draws unique characters. Here’s one….Harvey Young. Harvey is an astounding singer, songwriter and dramatic personae unlike anyone you’ve ever seen perform. He’s one of, if not THE favorite musician of many who know who he is. Harvey is currently working as a carpenter and gigging just once a month at a local restaurant….Why the disconnect? Well, to put it succinctly, Harvey’s style isn’t commercial, and Harvey, onstage, is -ahem- uncontrollable and unpredictable. And Harvey doesn’t sell out and Harvey doesn’t do what he doesn’t want to do. For over 10 years (the 80’s), Tex Thomas and the Danglin’ Wranglers (consisting of some of Austin’s finest musicians) played a regular Sunday night gig (Church!) at Hut’s Hamburgers that was attended by everyone who knew brilliant, intelligent music when they heard it–a rather large and raucous dancin’ fools congregation. Harvey is outrageous, and he’d rather be outrageous than commercially successful, or even viable…give a listen and judge for yourself, if you can find his music (“Screamin’ in the Night” -still a few left on CD Baby) … He’s one of the things that’s right, and uncorruptable (by outsiders) about Austin. I just like the shot. The little girl in the shot is now all grown up with her very own little boy….and Harvey’s still Tex Thomas, the Rawhide Messiah.