TexasGirl Photography

Just when I was starting to think I might not make it to Waco this month, I managed to sneak in a trip. The truth is that I’ve lost steam – already! Whatever wind was in my sails at the beginning of the year has already started blowing in another direction; life poked holes in my drive and all the fuel leaked out. So, part of the problem with me getting there to work was a lack of motivation on my part.

The afternoon was a challenging one: it was on the warm side (80s), incredibly windy, and time was tight since it was a school night. My intention was to visit certain shopping centers, and that meant a lot of driving around, pulling in to parking lots, pulling back out again, etc – at rush hour. Waco rush hour isn’t big city rush hour, but it’s rushy enough.

It was the least pleasant photo outing I’ve had in a while, and it was a chore but I managed to get through a roll of film in each of 3 cameras: my Diana (for Frugal Film), my Rollei (for the Waco thing), and my Brownie (half Brownie Camera Daymonthwhatever, half 12 months on film). Originally I had intended to bring a large format camera, but I think I might have completely lost my mind if I tried to use a dark cloth in that crazy wind.

What you are seeing today is the result of the Diana F and Kentmere Pan 400.

While my whole project isn’t focused on it, I find myself seeking out parts of Waco that exist in the photographic record of my Dad’s archive. That history has always been before me, and while I’m hardly an old-timer, I’ve seen enough years to remember how things used to be (and, yes, to complain about the changes).

Photographs sandwiching this text block are an example. Above you see a photo I snapped while I was waiting at the light at Bosque and Valley Mills, on February 21st, 2024. Below you can see a photo that Windy Drum made of the same intersection on February 5th, 1958 (albeit with a better vantage point but I might get hit or arrested if I tried to duplicate it these days unless it was 6am on a Sunday). My version loses the gloss of sharpness, but for me that’s part of the point.

The first photo of this blog post is a double exposure at Richland Mall, where we all hung out in the 1980s and where I have yet to set foot since the 90s.

I went to the site of the old Lake Air Mall, too, and to Westview Village – places that were hubs of local shopping for decades and I suppose still are, just with boring chain stores and boring chain store architecture, except where miraculously preserved in the case of the old Cox’s building. It was Peter Piper Pizza last time I really paid attention.

I made a feeble attempt to get the “same” photo with my Diana and then accidentally double exposed it with Waco’s wonderfully not-yet-made-boring old Arby’s sign. I can’t say I’m sorry about that one! Arby’s – along with several of the fast food places on Valley Mills – is still located where it was when I was a kid.. . . not that I have eaten at Arby’s since high school but mmmm curly fries.

Exasperated, tired, and hungry, we (me and teen) made our way downtown to eat at her fav (Ninfa’s) and I finished up the Diana roll there, mostly out of desperation to be DONE and feel like I had achieved something. There’s an alarming amount of construction taking place downtown, but right now it seems like it’s taking place where the lots were otherwise vacant. . . . . no doubt the result of the city tearing something old and wonderful down years ago in the name of “urban renewal.” (Wouldn’t you all like to hear me riff all over Austin?)

Thanks, y’all, for taking a look at my crabby post today! Results from the Rollei will be shared when I’ve used enough rolls to fill a tank. . . . so probably with March’s efforts.