One Frame At A Time

A major rain storm swept through Abilene today.

I covered stock shows in ten counties over the past eight days for the Abilene Reporter-News. I also filed 14 stories from the shows, and I now know more about pigs than I did two weeks ago. Here are some images from the shows…

Photographing medical stories is always a balancing act for me, between invading a sick person’s privacy and telling the story that needs to be told. A local man had to get a CT scan, after doctors told him his cancer had likely moved in to his brain. He got this news one day after what was supposed to be his last radiation treatment.

I covered 9 livestock shows for the Abilene Reporter-News in 3 days. I did over 700 miles in my car driving between the 9 counties. On two of the days, dense fog was everywhere, and I saw this little tree standing out by itself in a field…

Last weekend, two local colleges (Hardin-Simmons and McMurry) had their fall commencement ceremonies. I took pictures of them.

I just found this image from Friday night’s police academy graduation graphically pleasing.

Yesterday I got a call from my editor at the paper. Would I be interested, he asked, in going on what might turn out to be a wild goose chase? There had been a report of a five-person bike somewhere on a backroad between Albany and Anson. They wanted me to run out and get a standalone photo, just because it was weird and quirky enough to be news.

So, I headed out, and about 20 miles east of Anson, I came across the Harrison family. What we thought was a standalone photo op quickly turned into a feature story: a family of five (Mom, Dad and 3 little girls), on a quint-bike, riding 7000 miles from their home in Mt. Vernon, KY to Fairbanks, AK. I spent a little while with them, drove in to Anson to get them some groceries and dinner, and then sped back home to make my deadline. You should definitely check out their website (pedouin.org) to learn more about these very cool people! You can also read the ARN article here.

(R-L: Cheyenne, Amarins, Robin, Jasmine and Bill Harrison)

(The family usually rides for about 7 hours a day, and can make up to 50 miles depending on road conditions, terrain, and weather. On Monday, strong headwinds and long hills limited their trek to 22 miles)

(Some nights, they get a hotel, or strangers take them in. Most nights, they pitch their tent on the side of the road and bundle up for the night. They left home with $300 to their name, and have relied on the kindness and generosity of strangers to help them along the way)

I wish the title was mine. Alas, when I submitted the story, I went completely blank on ideas for the title, so someone, somewhere deep in the bowels of the Scripps news service machine, penned that one.

But, the photos and the story are all mine. I first came across Bruce Townsley in a WIRED magazine article, and looked him up online. I called him to see if I could come out and see his place sometime, and he agreed. The editors at the Abilene Reporter-News asked me if I’d be willing to shoot some pics and write up a little piece on Bruce and his missile-silo-turned-home. I was, and here’s the result. You can read the story at the ARN website.

{Note: these did not run as heavily-edited B/W pics in the paper. I just felt like doing something a little different with them here. You can see them in color on the newspaper site.}

The tunnel connecting the Launch Control Center where Townsley lives to the 180-ft deep silo.

Stairs leading down from the entrance to the first vestibule, which is protected by a series of 90-degree corners and a pair of solid steel blast doors.

When I drove up to the site, Townsley was outside working on sealing a control box.

The Launch Control Center’s “First Floor” is Townsley’s main living area- it’s got a bathroom, kitchen, living room and bedroom in an open-plan layout. The second floor is also complete.

Townsley’s kitchen.

The silo sat vacant for decades, and local teenagers often broke in through the ventilation system to make their mark.

Townsley’s silo is the only one in the world with an operational silo door. The massive ram lifts the 75-ton steel and concrete door in about 15 minutes.

Installed over 40 years ago, the blast doors still swing smoothly.

The actual silo extends 180 feet down into the earth. I was less than comfortable being out on the rickety old flooring…

A schematic diagram showing the layout of the “Spirit of Oplin” missile base when it was first built.