Rockport is not Port Aransas

While working on my book Common Tide; Port Aransas, Texas, I had a list of things from the Mercer Logs that I wanted to photograph and I was having trouble finding some of those things on today's Mustang Island. Things like gardens, chickens, cattle, horses, and pigs. So I thought that I could spread out my search to the mainland just across the bay from Port Aransas. Contact with county Farm Bureaus gave me the names of some farmers and that is how I found Four String Farm, an organic farm in Rockport, Texas, owned by Justin and Kayla Butts.

I made some photographs that I really liked on the farm of chickens and pigs and the garden and I thought I could slip them into the book but when I started putting the book together I could not include them. The book is about Port Aransas and Mustang Island and Rockport is not on the island. How could I explain a connection to a reader if they asked who has pigs like this or where did you find these chickens?

As much as the questions that I might be asked, the image above told me I could not use the images from Four String Farm. The landscape is different. I have not seen any area of the island that has vegetation like this image. It would not be true to the Mercer Logs from 1866 to 1877. But, I do like this image; the way the light filters through the canopy and you can see back into the tangle of the trees.

What I Learned in 2018

Well, here it is, the book that you have heard about many times over the last eight years.

COMMON TIDE

Port Aransas, Texas

Photographs Inspired by the Mercer Logs 1866 to 1877

Billie Mercer

It is a large book, 12 by 12, 166 pages. Perfect bound with a linen cover and printed dust jacket. 

How did it come to be? It started as an idea of things to do while Ned was going through treatment for cancer. I wanted to keep him busy with fun things. Ned's family were the first settlers on the northern end of Mustang Island in about 1855 and that settlement eventually became known as Port Aransas. We had vacationed there many times when our boys were young, so we loved the island. I told Ned that I wanted to work on a photography book about the island and use the logs or daily diaries that his family had written as a guide in making those photographs. Ned was always willing to go anywhere with me when I pulled out my camera so, April 2011, was the first trip. The trips continued even after Ned passed away. In fact, making this book became more important to me.

Starting in early 2015, I uploaded to Blurb different versions of the book, even had some of them printed as a proof. I wasn't satisfied with any of them. At the same time, I was looking for other publishers, graphic designers, getting estimates, and learning more and more about self-publishing. I was looking for the perfect book and I was looking for approval. Needless to say, I became discouraged and dropped the project for months.

Fears about artmaking fall into two families: fears about yourself, and fears about your reception by others. In a general, fears about yourself prevent you from doing your best work, while fears about your reception by others prevent you from doing your own work.

                                         Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland

In January 2018, I wrote out what I really wanted, a book for my family. I put aside all my concerns about the cost or marketing the book; or what a designer or publisher might want. 

Everything I had done earlier was dumped and I started over. I learned more about Adobe InDesign and fonts. Almost every day, I spent time on the book and in late October I uploaded the book to get a proof print. My sons received copies of the book for Christmas. I have to tell you that I'm pleased that I pushed this big project though but now I am excited about the responses I've gotten from photographers and book people. Who knows what might happen in 2019. Maybe it will get published for a wider audience. 

What I learned in 2018, and should have already known, is follow my heart and my vision. Just do it!

Only Time Will Tell

It is Palm Sunday and usually I'm in the Centro to photograph the processions. I love seeing Jesus come down San Francisco on a donkey and sometimes it isn't a very cooperative donkey. I love the way the procession is back lit. But I've been there a lot of times to photograph the event and that is not to say that I wouldn't find a special image or two. But not today.

I am still processing the images I shot in Port Aransas and I need to get it done while the way I felt when I was making the image is still fresh. Just because I clicked the shutter and have a digital file of what I saw doesn't mean the camera has a soul. After all, it is a computer that captures an image. The camera doesn't look out across the wetlands with a low lying fog and think, Oh, my God. Isn't that beautiful the way the flats disappear into the horizon. But I think that and hit the shutter button.

Some of the images made in the fog give me trouble. The light was low and I'm looking for subtle and delicate tonalities. There is a fine line between a subtle and delicate image and a flat image. For images I really like, I don't consider the process complete until I have a print. So, I'll make a work print and prop it up on my display ledge for a while to evaluate whether I need to make more adjustments before I make a final print.

Is that what I felt the morning I made the image? Is it subtle and delicate or is it flat? Only time will tell.

Free Range

Mustang Island earned its name from all of the Spanish horses that bred and roamed freely on the island. The settlers brought cattle. They too, roamed freely and when it was time to take them to market they were corralled and driven across to the mainland at wherever the best crossings were at that time. There are pictures of herds of 100's of cows swimming across to the mainland. At some point the residents got tired of stampedes through the town so the free range disappeared. And gradually so have the most of the cattle.

I've been looking for cattle on the island for a while because there are so many Mercer Log entries about cattle. One time I saw some off in the distance but couldn't get close enough to photograph them on private property. But the wonderful people at the Port Aransas Preservation and Historic Association gave me a contact and he arranged to have the cattle brought to the fence line for me to photograph.

So far I have not found a horse or a pig on Mustang Island although I have heard that there are wild pigs on the bay side. If you know of a domestic pig or a horse on Mustang Island, let me know. I really do not want to have to go looking for a wild pig to photograph.

Passing Ferry Boats

After a breakfast of eggs, sausage, biscuits and grits at the Island Cafe with my friend Frank, he headed out towards Corpus Christi. Actually he was not going to Corpus Christi, he was looking for the blue lines on a map that would take him to small communities north and east of Corpus, the places where he can find his images.

I picked up my camera bag and headed out too, into a heavy, wet fog. First to the beach and the life guard stations. I've already photographed them in sun and in overcast light from clouds but that wasn't quite what I wanted. Maybe the fog would be it. It was so quiet on the beach. Very few people and the fog seemed to muffle the sound of the waves as well as the sight of them until you were close to the water. The horizon was lost.

After I photographed the horizon and the life guard stations, I headed over to the ferry docks. The ferry boats would look good in the fog and perhaps a tanker would glide past as well. I was close to a couple who were fishing and while I waited for a tanker we struck up a conversation. Guess what? They were about my oldest son's age and she went to the same high school that he did. She didn't remember him because she was a couple of years older. And then we discovered that her family had lived in the same subdivision that we did.

Once again, I'm reminded, it is a small world.

The Other Side of the Island

I came to Port Aransas hoping for some weather, fog and or rain. I've gotten it. Plus the first few days I also got a lot of wind in the 20-25 mile per hour category. But today was wonderful. In the 50's, fog and a misty rain. Also, today, instead of the Gulf of Mexico side of the island I was on the bay side where there are wetlands. Such a different landscape from what most of us think of when we think of Mustang Island. Sometimes the horizon line disappeared into the fog. At times most beautiful and mysterious. I'm working on my small laptop and I need to get on my big monitor to work on this particular image because the tones are soft and light.

Images to make, People to see.

It has been a long time since I posted to Reservations for One. Oh, I have three drafts started that have become hopeless outdated. Perhaps this one can be finished and posted all in one day. Let me just say that this year has started off way too fast. But it is all good.

I'm in Port Aransas again but this week with a photography group called Shootapalooza. It has been a wonderful experience to see great work, share photography plans and see and play with new processes. I only knew a few of these photographers before this week but I've made new friends and got to visit with some long time friends. The week isn't over. We will not break up until Saturday night. Shootapalooza is going to be one of the highlights of my 2015.

The weather hasn't been cooperating because it has been misty, gray skies, cold and strong winds. I wanted some bad weather to photograph but I only have one weather image to show that has any juice in it. That was yesterday. I looked out my window and the clouds were breaking up and the sky was beautiful. I jumped in the car and headed for the beach. This morning, cold but blue skies and I shot this couple walking along the beach.

When Shootapalooza is finished, I'm staying on in Port Aransas to work on my project. I've got some people I want to see and images to make.

Mercer Logs 4

 

Friday, March 27, 1874

 Barometer 29.5 This day begins with the wind NNE, light. Very foggy weather.

     The first on record. At about half past six O'clock PM was born unto Edward Thos. Bernard and Emma Livingston Mercer, a bouncing boy baby. It made Ned feel about the size of two ordinary sized men. Don't blame him for feeling so. There are others who would feel just as big and wish they were in the same fix, eh Jed.

     So ends this day. Wind ENE, moderate. Very smooth bar. High tide. Barometer 29.5

 

Oh, my gosh. It has been almost a month since I have posted on this blog but I have not been doing nothing. I've spent some serious time working on the project I've mentioned before, The Mercer Logs. In trying to make a photograph that might be evocative of something in the log, I had been worrying about how to handle the issue of three Mercer babies that were born during the time of the preserved logs. I had thought that when I went to Port Aransas again I would try to find some infants to photograph. Suddenly in the middle of the night, which is always when my good ideas seem to occur, I thought, Hey, I don't have to find babies, I already have pictures of Mercer babies. So I spent a day digging through negatives and digital files for pictures of my grandsons. I still have some negatives in Houston and I think I have some additional pictures that will be considered for the book. But when you see a baby in the book, it is going to be a Mercer. 

Mercer Logs, 3

Saturday Jan 8, 1876

This day begins with the wind SSE moderate. Finished the garden fence. John went to the ? got her as far as Cat Fish bend. ???? Harnessed ? in the plow, plowed furrows for the potatoes and melons. Ned and Tom planted potatoes and melons. John Reynolds planted seeds. All hands done a good day’s work. The women folks all busy sewing. Frank farming in his garden. Day ends wind SE pleasant.

Back to working on the Mercer Log project. One of the issues that I have to decide on is how to handle the words and phrases in the log that can not be read. As you see here question marks have been substituted for words that were un-readable. Which boat did John go to? Who did the harnessing and what was the animal's name that was harnessed. Is there a standard way to handle issues like this?

The Bucket List - Blue Highways

Yesterday I was talking with Son #3. That is #3 in birth order. I was telling him that I wanted to take a road trip. Maybe follow the Gulf of Mexico coastline from Galveston all the way to Key West, then back up the East Coast of Florida, on to Savannah. Maybe even to Charleston. I'd love to see Savannah and Charleston when the azaleas are blooming. I think my desire for a road trip and thinking about it was rekindled as I read Kim's blog, El Gringo Suelto, about his road trip around Mexico.

Son #3 immediately said, "So you are thinking about Blue Highways." Blue Highways is a book that I read years ago and then passed it on to #3. The book was written by William Least Heat-Moon. I'm not sure what the copyright date is but I read it sometime in the 1990's. Heat-Moon had some things fall apart in his life so he outfitted a van that he named Ghost Dancing and he headed out on a trip around the US following the blue lines, not the Interstate highways, on an old Rand McNally road atlas. Along the way he wrote about places and about conversations he had with people. That book hit a nerve with me.

My Dad always talked about just driving down the road to see what he could see. His talking about doing a road trip became a dream of mine too. I thought that when he retired he would do it, but other than a trip to California he didn't head out on that open road. Then my mother was sick. After she died, I thought he might do it but again, he didn't.

Hitting the Blue Highways has been on my bucket list for a long time but somehow I've never done it. I've done some road trips but I was getting from point A to point B usually on an Interstate Highway. So when #3 brought up the book, I immediately thought, Billie, are you going to talk about taking a road trip on the blue highways and die without doing it?

When I close my eyes I can see a drive from Galveston to Lake Charles to Sugartown, Louisiana where my Dad grew up. Then back to the coast at New Orleans, somehow to Key West to look across the ocean to Cuba. Turn and head North zig-zagging along on blue lines and small towns until I hit Savannah and Charleston.

Yes, it is on the Bucket List, but I wonder if it is better to leave the long road trip as a dream. It might not be as romantic or the adventure I've long dreamed about. Of course, if I don't like it, I can always turn around and drive back. Whether I do it or not there is one thing I'm sure about, I don't want to get to the place where I don't have any thing on my bucket list. Without a bucket list, what is left?

The image above is another from my Mercer Log and Port Aransas project.

Mercer Logs, 2

The book project about Port Aransas and the Mercer Logs has been on the back burner for a while but I have spent a good part of today, if not putting it on a front burner, at least I've turned up the fire a bit.

First of all I had an email from someone who is a relative of another one of the earlier settlers on Mustang Island. She was doing some ancestry research and came on my blog. Then, I also have a friend who has seen some of the images and a bit from the logs and almost every time I see him he asks me when I'm going to finish the book. I'm also wrapping up another personal book and I learned a lot putting it together and that encourages me to go back to the Mercer Logs.

I made this image the last time I was on the Island. The Mercer's called their place Rancho del Mar and they ran cattle and farmed. This picture of the grassland was made on the bay side of Mustang Island. Looks like it could still be a good place to have cattle but I have only seen a small herd one time.

Today, in a word processor I typed in more of the potential book text from the logs and I gathered all the pictures that might fit the text in a book folder. So as I have said, I've turned up the fire.

I'm Back

Just in case you wondered what happened. Why no blogging? I've been to Texas and back. It has been an interesting month. Not like most of my Christmas Past but that is okay. Things change. The worst thing about the trip was the weather. It was dreary, windy, rainy and cold most days. Then I come back to San Miguel and it has been dreary, windy, rainy and cold. What's up with the drizzly rain in December in San Miguel?

I had planned to spend five days in Port Aransas working on my Mercer Log project and some friends were going to be there as well so I was really looking forward to it. With a weather forecast of 12 to 20 mile an hour wind and some rain, the friends backed out. I backed out except for two days when I had some appointments that would keep me inside.

I shopped, had lunches and dinners with friends and saw as many movies as I could. At this point I think the best movie I saw was Nebraska but I also like Dallas Buyers Club. American Hustle was a good movie. Twelve Years a Slave was ten years too long. Judith Dench in Philomena gave another one of her great performances. The Coen Brothers latest movie, Inside Llewyn Davis was a downer. The Book Thief followed the book and looked like it was made on a theater set. I still have a lot more movies I want to see before the Academy Awards ceremony.

I went to Austin and saw my grandsons and I planned to go back for Christmas Eve until I came down with a cold/sinus thing. I wasn't bedridden but I couldn't expose my Daughter-in-Law who is in the middle of chemo for breast cancer. I really, really missed being with them. Well, there is always next year.

Mike and family went skiing for the holidays so Christmas Dinner was at my Sister-in-law's house. It was so wonderful to be with them.

Now I'm home. Celebrated another birthday last night with friends who arranged a special dinner at Frienze's. Wow! We had oysters prepared two ways, a pumpkin ginger soup, watercress salad, seared scallops on a bed of pecan rice and a lovely chocolate dessert. The dinner was special and so are the friends. That is Sam and me in the photo but Bob, Tom and Linda were there as well.

Mercer Logs, 1

 

March 30, 1866
This day begins with the wind SSE. Pened a cow and calf. Tried to catch some red fish but failed to do so. The fish won't bite. Henry caught some Crabbs. Hauled some bricks for McMullen. The sloop Lucretia arrived from Corpus. Castnets still underway. So ends the day with the wind SSE. Not played out yet.

The moon went blind tonight. Some people call it an Eclipse. It is an awful sight now mind I tell you. It is getting worse. 5 minutes later little worser. 5 minutes later little more worser. 5 minutes later the Moon is pretty near played out. At 12 oclock it went blind.

 1866....not a typo. The quote above is from the Mercer Logs in 1866. The Mercer's were among the first settlers in what is now called Port Aransas, Texas on Mustand Island. The Logs that have been preserved cover a period of some ten years.

Since 2011, I've made several trips to Port Aransas to photograph. My intent was to use some of th entries from the Logs and connect them with my photographs in a book. The last two days I have spent long hours just going through the 1000 or so images I have already made and editing them. As I try to connect passages and images, I realize that the amount of work still to be done is almost overwhelming.

Now that I have some images to test my idea and format, I think it is time to really focus on the Logs and pick out the entries that I'd like to include and identify any additional images that I need to make.

This project is going to take more work than I ever anticipated when I started it. But nothing ventured, nothing gained.