el paso daily photo blog by chacal la chaise

While the city (or others) try to eradicate all graffiti, whether gang or guerilla artist, other stickers, stencils, et al. remain safe for the moment. Overall, the figurals, animals; stencils and stickers usually make me laugh, especially the inventive and playful (although dangerous) locations they choose to bomb.

Labels: el paso, giraffe, graffiti, railroad bridge, wyoming street

Maybe it's because I finished the final Harry Potter book this morning and now just coming home after seeing the Order of the Phoenix at the nearby metroplex. Could be it's that I found recently I'm not the only person fascinated by cemeteries, which is also proved by so many groups and images on Flickr, including my set of cemeteries in the area. Or, perhaps it's the gaulish and ferocious lightning storm going on at the moment. (Meaning, this is a quick entry.) Whatever the reason, here are a couple of my favorite images from cemeteries in the city.


First is a shot taken at Concordia, which is in the center of town. When you drive through along I-10 you can see it. In fact, it is very near Loretto and the El Paso mural near Reynolds. The second is a slightly fogged Holga image that was taken at the Ft. Bliss National Cemetery before their xeriscape (aka zeroscape) project began.

Labels: cemeteries, concordia, el paso, ft.bliss national cemetery, ghostly whereabouts, harry potter

Listed on the city's public artworks roll as:
TITLE: “Calvary Man”
ARTIST: Jose Ruiz de Rivera
MEDIA: Granite
LOCATION: Prospect, Missouri, and Santa Fe
Stalwart and quiet, he stands for all service personnel posted at Ft. Bliss.

Labels: el paso, ft. bliss, granite, jose ruiz de rivera, sculpture, the calvaryman

While on the subject of subjects revisited, here is another that was originally photographed with one kind of camera, and later re-shot with another. In this case, this image was shot using a little Vivitar point-and-shoot digital.

Again, this is a mainstay of El Paso iconography; a mural most everyone sees everyday and has affection. Unfortunately, I don't know the name of the artist. If anyone knows, please let me know and I'll be sure to add that information. Located near the Interstate 10 East, Reynolds exit, the mural can be seen from the freeway. It is also near Lincoln park, which is known for its Chicano-themed murals, painted on concrete support uprights for various exit and entrance bridges to either I-10 or US-54 (Patriot Freeway).

Here is the first image take of this mural. It is possibly one of the first Holga pictures I shot. At the time, I think "the judge" aka "prepgirl, my daughter was driving while I shot the picture from the car.

Labels: Aztlán, el paso, I-10, iconography, Lincoln Park murals, murals, myths, Patriot Freeway, Reynolds exit, texas

This is one of my favorite little buildings in the city, which is located in the Five Points/Manhattan Heights neighborhood. At one time there were many of these little kiosk-like shops built throughout the country. However, I think this is the only one ever built in El Paso. I don't know if it has always been a repair shop for radios (car and otherwise), but it has been this kind of business for quite a while.

Several years ago I photographed the shop with a Holga, but this picture was taken with a medium format 6x6 Zeiss Nikor.

Labels: architecture, auto radio shop, building, el paso, favorite, five points, texas

"Robotic arm"? cool...
even if one isn't interested in such stuff, it might make for an interesting photo shoot.

UTEP SURPLUS AUCTION || SATURDAY JULY 28TH 10 A.M.|| 3105 SUN BOWL DRIVE

2000 Ford Crown Victoria, 1985 Ford F-150 4x4 with Lift Gate, 2-1992 Ford Ranger Pickups,1980, 86, 88 Chevy S-10 Pickups, 1985 Toyota Pickup, 16 Roland practice Pianos, TV's, Projectors, Laptop Cases,Doors, Chalkboards, Camcorders, Projection Screens, Typewriters, Calculators, Lab Equipment, Desks, File Cabinets, Chairs, Bookcases, Brake Machine, 2 Robotic Arms, Tailgates, Step Bumpers, & many more small items.

Gates Open at 9 A.M. for Viewing

Labels: desks, pianos, robotic arms, surplus auction, trucks, typewriters, UTEP

Being new to the world of a photo blog (and photo city blog), I'm not sure if I should post images of how the city looks today, yesterday, or long ago. That being said, and as I have a large cache of images of El Paso at the ready, I thought I would start at a place (that also refers to a particular point in time, aka high school) when photography began to be a part of my life.

This chapel and its attached convent and high school buildings were designed by architect Henry Trost for the Sisters of Loretto. The chapel is the cornerstone of 7 acres that makes up its schools and other buildings. Now in the center of town, it is the school where I attended and graduated from high school.

According to this article produced by El Paso Community College, "the school opened on September 11, 1923, with 143 students and eight teachers. At the time, the site for the school was outside the city. The first all-girls school in El Paso, the academy would teach not only academic subjects but leadership skills and the means to succeed in everyday life."

Labels: chapel, cityphotoblog, el paso, henry trost, loretto, texas

Today, we (MJ and the Judge, and I) were all able to meet up and have lunch together at Kinley's Coffee House. After MJ took the judge to work, I stayed to finish up work on my laptop.

Late in June, before our Second Childhood Road trip to Wisconsin, my hard drive took a dive. And although I was able to get a new drive installed before we left, I was unable to grab the last minute documents from the Spring Semester. So, they are history unless I can get copies back from my professors. Although, most of my newer images were not lost, so I'm OK in that respect. But, I now realize I need to back up semester work as I go along and not wait to backup "sometime" after the semester ends.

Sometimes old dogs forget their new lessons supposedly learned.

In terms of this image, it's interesting seeing how the clouds moved in after I took this picture about 2 hours ago. Now it looks like it may rain in about 30 minutes or so.

Labels: 79902, kinley's, lost computer files, mesa at kirby, window view, wisconsin roadtrip

A likely place where cougars might go to commit suicide by cop.

In other news, I just received this from Charlie Wakeem of the Frontera Land Alliance:

"...Frontera Land Alliance successfully won Common Open Space valuation for Resler Canyon from the Appraisal Review Board after battling the Central Appraisal District for the past year and four months. The valuation was originally appraised at over $900,000.00 by the CAD last year. Resler Canyon valuation is now on the tax rolls at $200.00 as Common Open Space. The new valuation will not be official until the CAD puts it in writing an mails it to Frontera, which takes a month or two."

While I don't have a photo of Resler Canyon, I do have this picture taken this afternoon. It is of Crazy Cat, home of terriblly-ugly late 20th century "I have more money than sense" houses.

Cheers to Resler Canyon, Charlie Wakeem, et al., for making the CAD understand what "open space" means.

Labels: CAD, cougars, crazy cat, el paso, franklin mountains, frontera land alliance, more money than sense, open space, wildlife

Of course, this happens when I'm ready to post my first entry for Daily City Photo Blog. But then again, I was able to locate the problem with Vox using Google news and checking blog entries."Sites like Livejournal, Craigslist, Technorati, TypePad, and Vox (to name only a few that are affected) are currently down due to a major power outage in San Fransisco. Outages keep repeating, too."

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