TexasGirl Photography

Last year, there was a fire in Big Bend National Park (read about it here). I knew nothing about this prior to our arrival; I learned about it from the newspaper the ranger gave us when we passed through the entrance gate. We rolled up (as usual!) with our National Park Pass but no reservations, and were absolutely thrilled to find a wonderful campsite in the Cottonwood campground, which is at the Santa Elena Canyon end of the park and just happened to be within the zone of that fire. The campground itself was lush and green, with the newly leafed-out cottonwoods towering over us with a glory that roared in the wind, but it was surrounded on all sides by a scorched yet recovering landscape.

A visit to Castolon itself (for the store, mainly) told the visual story of how awful fighting the fire must have been for the crews that took on the task. It was sobering, and sad, to see the place we remembered from 6 years ago reduced to a shell. BUT at least the shell remains!

The trees around the campsite were beautiful; I always find it striking and oddly comforting how much beauty you can find in a place of destruction or decay. I don’t know if they will recover, or if they have just yet to be cleared. All I know is that I loved looking at them, loved the wonder of finding an owl perched in one, couldn’t quit photographing them.

One afternoon during our stay was hotter than the others, and we were tired from days of activity, so we spent some time relaxing at camp. I can only “relax” for so long, so I loaded my most favorite recent present of the Ondu 120 mutliformat, popped on a red filter, and made a few exposures. Here they are, all from that roll, all 6×9.

I’m especially glad I made the last photograph above, since it was where I would stand each evening watching bats swoop with joy over their evening meal. It was the place where invariably my phone would suddenly ding to life, which meant I could say hi to my daughter and my parents. It was the place where I could see the sunset shoot incredible colors over the cliffs that flank the Rio Grande, where the rain would rush in from Mexico. It’s the place that now contains a little piece of me.

All photographs Kodak Tri-x