small town

Outtakes from Almost Forgotten Project- Northern Texas

Posted on by FablesandCoffee

Tioga, Texas

Tioga Fire Department

Van Alstyne, Texas

Van Alstyne Stormy Streets

Funky Monkey, Sherman

Outside Rockwall, Courthouse

Lets Fall, Sherman Texas

Sometimes you go out to explore, take photographs and document…and then come back home and realize there’s a few photos that just don’t…fit. No matter how you shuffle the order, they’re always going to stick out like sore thumbs, so you stick them in an unused folder and forget about them until you’re editing another batch and you find more that doesn’t fit. And then you end up with an album full of photos you really like, but won’t fit anywhere, so you put them all together and hope against hope they make some kind of sense.

These are from my “Almost Forgotten” project, where i’ve been exploring and photographing some small towns and forgotten areas here in Northern Texas. I usually pick the towns randomly, either by driving through them on the way to somewhere else, or by just pointing a finger at a map and saying, “here, lets go here.” The next couple of sets that i’ll be posting though, they’re actually places I set out to explore and document, place I didn’t so much stumble upon as I drove there with full intent to discover.

Summers coming to Texas, and with that, the hell’s armpit kind of heat that tends to almost burn roads to molten lava and boil sweat on the skin, so i’m not sure exactly how much exploring i’ll still be doing then, but for now i’ll take advantage of the cool weather to get out there and explore these places you never see on brochures but are nevertheless interesting in their own ways.

~m

Chairs In The Alley and a Sky So Blue – Tioga, Texas

Posted on by FablesandCoffee

Benches in Tioga Don't Go Wanderin' Alleys and Colors Just another Brick In the Wall Look Inside, Tioga cracks in the Brick skyline here, East Texas Tioga City Park Tioga City Park, Tioga Texas Jail house, Tioga Tioga City Jail Tioga City Fire Department, Tioga

Little town, little town. 

It took over an hour and 1/2 to get here, and once we were within it’s limits, we still had to double back because we missed the very missable right turn onto Main St., going 80 miles and hour and the highway seemed to stretch onto forever and all of a sudden, TURN RIGHT.

There was a local cop who drove past our parked car 2 times while I was messing with the settings, and then drove down the opposite street when finally got out to explore. I could feel his eyes from a distance, but it didn’t feel so much as a distrust of outsiders as just a general sense of diligent watchfulness. Protection runs deep here, and I can’t really blame them. Crumbling brick and brilliant colors mix so lovingly, and my feet crunched on healthy green grass and forgotten trash in equal measure.

It was hot and quiet , the sun scorching the empty sidewalks, with faint notes of country music floating on down from the only business open, the bar down the street. If you asked me though, I would say this place is going to last till the end of days, easily.

~m

Gospel Singing Every Third Saturday- Farmersville, Texas

Posted on by FablesandCoffee

architecture in smalltown texas

church architecture, east texas, farmersville

farmersville, texas

down mainstreet, farmersville texas

sit here, farmersville texas

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visit me, farmersville texas

architecture and aesthetic in east texas

walk down this road, farmersville texas

farmersville, texas

                        There is life here.

Walking down these mostly deserted streets on a muggy Saturday afternoon, I remember thinking it was almost like something out of a movie. Small town Americana, just for me. Clean crooked little streets, flowers growing at every intersection, color popping from every surface and boarded up windows up above telling me about the way time doesn’t stop for anywhere

Getting here takes work. There really isn’t any way you can end up in center of this town unless you mean to. There’s no highway sideroad that inelegantly dumps you onto main street, no hidden farm road that meanders gently to the center. You aim for here, and with some help from the handy (and slightly misleading) signs posted on the outskirts of town, you make it. There are plenty of small town between here and the next big city, you don’t need to stop on your way to top off your tank or pick up a quick snack. There is a persistence to this town that I really like. Unlike my adventure in Pilot Point ,I well and truly aimed to be here.

This series i’m doing, where I go and explore random small towns here in east Texas….its hard to explain why except in the simplest way. I think…I think you can find beauty anywhere, and while my heart longs for mountains, cold oceans roaring on indifferent shores and winding coastal highways,ancient cities dripping in history and culture, museums with the bones of earth encased in them… All these things and more I wish for but, in the meantime and without holding back, I can find joy in this corner of Texas I call home.

~m