Paris is an incredibly romanticized city for how much it smells like urine.
Being able to spend all day absorbing incredible works of art and then buying a corn on the cob roasted on a shopping cart outside of your metro stop is something I will always love. But having the exquisite pleasure of cheap, fantastic cheese on every corner to pair with a fresh baguette and some sidewalk wine while walking the streets is what freedom feels like.
From the 1st to the 20th arrondissement there is a sense of history and modernity intertwined. Crowded, narrow cobble stone streets empty out to large shopping and transportation complexes, hundreds year old cathedrals over look squares filled with e-cigarettes and day drinking, and never fails to exist a busker playing ‘La Vie En Rose’ who promptly checks their phone afterward.
Textures: El Paso /
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I’ve never received a clear definition for "El Chuco," a.k.a. El Paso.
I’ve read and heard it translates to “The ugly one,“ “disgusting,“ “dirty,“ and that it's a call back to Pachuco, the subculture of Mexican-Americans in the 1930’s associated with zoot suits that originated in the area.
The term is a self-deprecating term of endearment for the city. The people here know they don't live in a glamorous city and accept it in a positive way. Of course, there are some who mire in the self-defeating attitude of not realizing how unique and wonderful the area is, but there are others who do realize the region's potential and they are making such an amazing scene.
Vibrant colors set against the various sands of the Chihuahuan desert and the Franklin Mountains give the city its visual appeal while the people make everyone feel at home. Being in El Paso was such a wonderful experience from the first time I visited to the last time I left.
The problems in Juarez brought over established businesses and incredible food into EP, the kernels of establishing long-term art and music scene infrastructure are popping, and, well, Chico’s Tacos is amazing.
It’s the most beautiful ugly one I know.
All shots in this post were made using a Sony A7Rii and Voigtlander 40mm f/1.2
Textures: Marfa /
My first trip to Marfa is what made me fall in love with West Texas. It was 2009 and I hadn’t experienced the slow dolly zoom of those straight-as-an-arrow roads in my 20 something years living in Texas.
Through five decades, this small section of Texas was taken over by artists and used, in a conscious manner, for its isolation and landscapes. It’s a wonderful experience to drive through miles of rocky pre-desert off an interstate to arrive at a town where an enormous late Warhol piece hangs a stone throw from the county courthouse.
By the time I visited, Marfa was already a force. Donald Judd had strewn his boxes about and the Prada store had existed, it just didn’t have Instagram and Beyonce. Over the years that I have come back, it slowly morphed into a tiny town with a hotel plucked out of SoHo, artisanal cocktail bitters, and possibly the worst Dairy Queen in the country.
While the town emits this varied vibe that is fun to take in and participate within, it’s beginning to feel like a West Texas town themed glamping complex.
Full disclosure: I bought the artisanal cocktail bitters.
All shots in this post were made using a Sony A7Rii and Voigtlander 40mm f/1.2
Textures: Austin /
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I lived in Austin for six years when I only intended to be there for two. I got caught in the velvet rut.
I will always love Austin for what it was for such a long time; a haven for people in Texas who don’t fit in in their small towns. In political terms, it’s the blueberry in the tomato soup. But the left-leaning ideas didn’t matter as much to me as the incredible amount of expression and energy I was exposed to in this city. This discovery of other ideas and ways of life allowed me to completely retool how I see life and myself.
I had only lived in my home town of El Campo and the larger, but still small, city of Lufkin. It was in Austin that I became so aware of the world. And that’s what makes it so special for so many people. It’s a clusterfuck of people awkwardly stepping out into new skins surrounded by shepherds of the weird.
All shots in this post were made using a Sony A7Rii and Voigtlander 40mm f/1.2
Textures: Baltimore /
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Baltimore is one of my favorite cities in the world.
This incredibly fun and wonderful city filled with smart and creative minds is constantly overlooked. The art birthed from this city has constantly made me appreciate what life is and can be.
There is an amazing charm in the facade of the buildings. Small chips taken out of walls and paint over time that add character and display a retained integrity. While there are examples of modern design around much of the downtown area. Most buildings and businesses cling to styles that appear vintage or classical as if to forego the present view of the future in order to focus on what already exists.
There exists a wonderful weirdness that I can identify with even if I do not fully grasp what it is to live there.
