It seems ages ago, but it’s only been two years since we drove to San Leon (TX) under less-than-optimal circumstances (HERE).

I’ve done a few posts documenting photographs from that and a subsequent visit to Texas (search for ‘San Leon’), and these are the last photos still waiting for their chance to make it to the relatively immortal canvas that is the Internet.

We had stopped at a Comfort Inn in Amarillo, and these shells of once mighty machines sat resting in the adjacent field. One can go to Google Map’s Street View of the Confort Inn on Soncy Road in Amarillo, and see them there.

The reason I’ve held back posting them is the background . . . not exactly photogenic. That, and finding suitable photographic treatments for these old road warriors. Take the above shot. That is my normal photographic treatment; brightness, warmth, sharpening, shadows, and a slight vignette.

The above is treated with the onOne Suite filters, specifically, their HDR single photo treatment lightly applied.

I don’t mind either one, but neither looks like some of the amazing treatments of relic cars I’ve seen elsewhere. When I try to duplicate those “grunge” looks, they seem wrong. They don’t seem to fit my photograph. Perhaps I need to play a bit more with the filters from various applications.

It was early morning when we left the motel, and I was on the clock, trying to make it home at a decent time. That meant I did not have a long time to shoot, and also that the light was changing fast, aggravated by a stinker of a cloud that kept interfering with the sun’s rays.

However, this was interesting; only the bottom of the partially buried Chevy Truck was lit by the sun trying to burn through the obstinate cloud.

For them who like some of my B&W treatments . . .

All of the vehicles in this makeshift graveyard were Chevrolets. I did not take the time to identify the year and model of these old workhorses, but I did try to frame them in the best possible way given the unceremoniously haphazard way they were strewn on the field.

This one was missing the business end, and my usual treatment seemed a tad blasé for the subject, so I threw it into Topaz Suite’s Clarify Filter . . .

A little better, but maybe it’s not the treatment . . . maybe it’s how the photo is framed.

That’s better, and I like the juxtaposition of the old and new Chevys (our Tahoe is in the background).

Hmmm . . . how about . . .

Some people are “purists”, insisting on the photo representing ‘real life’. There is no such thing, of course, because every camera does some processing, and every photographer chooses the options for that processing, or accepts the factory setting options. Even in the heady pre-Digital days, the choice of film emulsion predetermined how a photo would look.

Much as in paintings, the intent is to capture what the subject conveys, not how it looks.

This relic was fortuitously posed in front of some thistle in bloom. Also, this particular view immediately evoked memories of the vehicles used in the television show M.A.S.H.

Therefore . . .

Of course, now the Tahoe in the background detracts from the illusion of traveling 60 years into the past.

The makeshift graveyard where these rest also had remnants of wagons. I initially thought they were used during the settling of the West by incredibly brave (or foolishly optimistic) people.

But no; these were from the early 1900’s. Still a long time to hang around.

One is curious to know how this wagon made it here . . . who owns it? Is the field owned by the motel, or does someone else still holds this plot of land, keeping it open for these old artifacts?

I don’t know; I did not ask because the clerk was barely interested in checking us out of the place, and did not seem too keen on, you know, actually interacting with the customers (with few exceptions, a common theme during our Texas visit).

Other people have also posted photos of these remnants. Search the caption text to find them.

We are not absolutely sure what “F M 11” stands for, and a quick Google(TM) search did not produce anything definitive.

Assuming it’s an address, it’s probably “Farmer Market 11”, as we saw similar names on roads while driving through Texas. If a farmer, or anyone, knows different, feel free to comment on it.

This next one was the oldest wagon in the field, although there were other partial remains I did not check out due to being pressed for time.

Green Bay, eh? You’re a long way from home, Bob. What’s your story? Rhetorical question, in case anyone is wondering. Still, the cream coloring of the metal pieces led me to think it might have been a cheese wagon, and I was looking at baked-in residue of cheese drippings. Yum!

As interesting as the wagons were, generating more questions than answers, the cars had the bulk of my interest.

In part because these were from a time before Chevrolet (GM) became a whiny, please-give-me-a-handout, mismanaged company run by people more focused on making money than providing a good product at a fair price. Of course, that’s just my humble opinion. A bevy of individuals think differently.

Apparently, they also like mom and her apple pie.

Fortunately for me, my mother makes crostoli and castagnole, so I’m not blinded by a fictitious reputation attached to globally produced plastic and metal pieces assembled with globally produced sub-par components by people asking (and getting) special exemptions  and preferential treatment from the President. But again . . . that’s just me.

Say! This one could use a touch of onOne’s Enhance plugin filter!

Well, dear readers, we have come to the end of this post. Two-and-a-half years in the making, this concludes the documenting of our Texas trips.

No, wait . . . 

OK. That it for sure now.

There is a SmugMug gallery HERE with all the above offered at full resolution.

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Astute persons might have noticed these doodles, and correctly surmised they hold some significance for me, and perhaps for humanity at large.  

If you click on the doodle, and nothing happens, this is the link it’s supposed to go to: https://disperser.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/palm-vx-and-i/.

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Note: if you are not reading this blog post at Disperser.Wordpress.com, know that it has been copied without permission, and likely is being used by someone with nefarious intention, like attracting you to a malware-infested website.  Could be they also torture small mammals.

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