Scott Newton Photo

The plants are doing their annual slow motion dance. It’s Springtime in Newtonia once again. I love it so much. Today, the Red Amaryllis are doing their visual crescendo…what a sight! There are 9 bloom stalks coming out of the pot, and each stalk has at least 4 huge flowers on it! What a neat invention! Yay God!

Here’s the latest addition to my Family: Sluggo The Wonder Pug. Sluggo is just 9 weeks old. He was given to me, on my 57th birthday, by my sons… Sluggo greets me every morning with Absoute Joy and Total Excitement, and it gets better from there… I won’t talk about my New Best Friend too much more…. I wanted you to meet him. He’s really smart.

One of the more startling performers today is Joss Stone. A seemingly typical English teenager until she starts singing. The most incredible seemingly 50 year old African-American female voice comes out of her and blows your mind. The inflections and intonations denoting depth and awareness are fully formed, mature and world weary. I don’t know how she can do it, or why. I only know she’s more than remarkable….

In 1974 Waymore was raw and surly. I remember him glaring at me and thinking, “Man! I hope he doesn’t kick me…” He didn’t. Good thing. This shot is the cover of the album “Waylon Live-the expanded edition” He was also, in my opinion, a better performer than he’d ever be, later. He was really great in ’74-’75, just the perfect balance of fresh, new, raw and tough. And the voice and swagger and songs by Billy Joe Shaver didn’t hurt, either.

The first year I called myself “photographer”, I made this shot. Can you see the woman spiraling down the drain? Those are her arms touching the sides and her hair flying out as she spins downward. It’s stuck with me through all those years as one of my favorites.

I love doing this photo blog. Every once in a while I’ll feel like it’s time to post something, and I’ll review what I can share and what I have to say. I have no idea why I’m showing what I’m showing…I guess I’m channeling some Muse, or maybe just surfing the Flow and doing the next image that seems like fun… Here’s an image from 25 years ago. It’s a shot of my two oldest sons. It makes me feel warm; does it work for you, too?

Here’s a little still life, shot just the other day. Isn’t digital photgraphy great? You can just grab the everyday beauty all around.

Every once in a while, I shoot an image for fun that sticks in my mind. This is one of them. I really like this image. With nothing but a strong light and a chessboard, a noble striving and unified fortitude is evoked….

About 15 years ago, Terry Lickona, the producer of ACL, asked me to shoot a generic beauty shot of the ACL set. I brought in the big gun–my 4 X 5 view camera, and came up with this…. I see this shot as a self portrait, or at least a hidden anthology. In 1981 I shot the photo that the set was made from. This image was the cover of my last book. This is the setting for some of the best performances I’ve ever seen, and since 1979 I’ve seen all of them. This is the place where I’ve made a good bit of my Life’s Work. I just realized that this shot, so unlike most of what I’ve done, 4 X 5, set up, static, is one of the most widely seen of all..

Here are two heroes of mine, Ann Richards and Dan Rather, seen at a reception for Dan at the Stephen F Austin Hotel the night Dan spoke at the Paramount Theatre in Austin as part of KLRU tv’s series of Distinguished Speakers. Both, I’m glad to report, are doing great. Ann Richards, last Democratic Governor of Texas, is as happy, and just as fun, as she ever was. Dan Rather is truly impressive, at least to me. He is one of the rare public figures who had the guts to take on Bush during the “I”m the War President” hysteria.. Got sacked for it. Doesn’t cry about it. Both have picked up and carried on quite well, thank you very much…. Both are fine examples of what any young Texan might want to grow up to be like.