Augo Photograph & Essay

Nebraska friends and family- On August 31 I’m fleeing the remainder of the Texas summer to spend a few weeks back home. I’ll be in Columbus the first week of September and Lincoln area for a couple weeks after that. I’ve got some hammer swinging planned but I’m also hoping to pick up a couple photography jobs while I’m around. Portraiture- family, pet, creative, professional; coverage of events, environmental stories, political what-have-yous, flooding/recovery/agricultural stories, or marketing type of work. I really probably only have a few mornings or afternoons or evenings to set aside, so let me know soon if you have a need so we can suss out details. Comment here, DM, or send an email to augophotograph@gmail.com



Looking forward to some time at home! Hopin’ to eat a goulash!

P.S. Before you ask- I know you all would prefer to see her lovely visage over my harried mug, but Liesbeth can’t come on this trip due to being a responsible person. Next time!

Took an impromptu trip to @padreislandnps and went full beach bum with @niespret over the weekend. Drove 25 miles along the shore into total coastal seclusion, got the Blazer stuck in the sand, and set up camp. As a bonus the island is phone reception-free—it’s alluded to in park literature as a slight inconvenience or considerate warning, but it should also be advertised as a park feature. We saw many nice birds, a ghost crab chucking sand out of her little sand cave, and L even charmed a sea turtle enough to allow us to shake hands/flippers and wish each other long, happy, plastic-free lives (The visitor’s center gives out free trash bags to help with their beach junk problems. We took two and filled them up in a 200 yard stretch of beach around our camp. Should have grabbed 20 bags! It’s mostly not park visitor’s trash—it’s from all over the Gulf and washing up out of currents. Lots of straws, water bottles, and bottle caps. The plastic problem is not hippy tree hugger hysteria! It’s truly a pathetic impression our species is leaving on this earth. It’s everywhere, even in these secluded, natural spaces. Most of y’all can reduce your plastic! Try a week during which you only buy three items containing or wrapped in plastic per day, just to get a feeling of what you use, and then scale down further if you can. Discipline is freedom ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ). Over 48 hours the world around me turned many dramatic colors and the sand and salt permeated everything including my very soul. We ran out of food and beer so we left, but maybe we should have just stayed, food and beer be damned. Anyways, be good out there. .

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#texas #nationalparks #seaturtles #pelican #ghostcrab #goplasticfree #chevyblazer

Liefje is home from Belgium* and at last, once again, my enjoyment of the dawn hours is not confined to the outdoors. #mornin .

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*also home

Uncle Sam, who appeared in Wimberley, Texas marching in a parade with insurance agents, real estate agents, Edward Jones folks in a really nice Land Cruiser, LGBTQ patriots, master naturalists, librarians, politicians, judges, constables, radio show personalities, high school marching bands, firefighters, an enormous H-E-B grocery store basket built around a 4-Wheeler, river-advocating mermaids, several unnerved horses and so, so many other Americans, had this advice to me as I back-peddled in front of him with a camera smashed up against my face:

“Stay hydrated.” #YouToo Uncle Sam.

After the last float and fire truck idled by, I started the long walk back to my car. I stopped by the Shell station, and, feeling American Spirited, bought a $14 package of beef jerky and 12 Lone Star beers. The man working the register had had a solid view of the parade. He told me this year’s 4th of July procession was 17 minutes and change shorter than last years’, but still very nice. #verynice #freedom #keeptime

Angel doin the do.

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#fjordhorse #makeportraits #makehorseportraits #angel #horsebidniss #mane #horsemane

Had to pull over for this light on Wayside Drive last night. .

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#makeportraits #goldenhour #wildflowers #texas

Heath Frantzen is in the midst of “the fight of a lifetime.” Heath helps his dad run a year-round hunting operation on 260 acres of land near Fredericksburg, Texas that has been in the Frantzen family for generations. The Frantzen ranch has won several conservation awards for their careful management of a self-sustaining habitat for 300 deer, but now oil and gas giant Kinder Morgan plans to route a 42” diameter natural gas pipeline through that habitat, clear cutting a 125’ wide easement to do so.

With a “proposed” route through the treasured Texas Hill Country, the Permian Highway Pipeline project has laid bare the shocking breadth of eminent domain authority granted to pipeline builders in the state. The Texas Railroad Commission’s policy of allowing fossil fuel companies to build intrastate pipelines essentially anywhere they want has collided head-on with Texas Hill Country landowner’s sacrosanct private property rights.

Much more on this issue, Frantzen, and some of his neighbors coming soon. Swipe over to see Frantzen’s reaction moments after the Blanco City Council unanimously passed a resolution opposing the route of the proposed pipeline last night. Frantzen made the drive from Fredericksburg to show his support for the resolution. Hill Country cities, villages and counties have been passing these types of resolutions since February, but Blanco had been holding out on joining the fray, which made last night’s decision particularly special for concerned residents in the area. The municipal actions don’t do much to directly impede the pipeline building process, but they add urgency to eminent domain reform bills currently working their way through the state legislature, and they are certainly symbolic victories which prove that the opposition to eminent domain abuse and ecological threats is not confined to “fringe activists,” as the oil and gas industry has previously asserted.

Garlic braids and sitting out a storm in the tool shed. #garlic #doghug

Stoic Wolf intentionally eating corn.

Cecile and Lucas!

Cole bagged up, December 2018 @huddleston_cole

Role model @niespret

Got out to shoot some news last night. Kinder Morgan put together a forum at the Wimberley Community Center to address concerns citizens have about the Permian Highway Pipeline Project, which is a natural gas pipeline slated to be routed through the Texas Hill Country. Many in attendance expressed frustration at the offered format of the forum, having expected a presentation from a single Kinder Morgan representative who would address the entire crowd. Instead, posters of maps and statistics were placed along the edges of the room, along with several Kinder Morgan representatives. Several attendees attempted to take control of the floor and refashion the format of the forum, but none of the attending Kinder Morgan representatives would bite. The debate seems to be heating up, though some in attendance expressed concern that there is no debate due to Texas law being extremely friendly to projects like this.

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#wimberley #texas #kindermorgan #pipeline #wimberleytx #tx #hayscounty #hillcountry #texashillcountry

I continue to thumb through archives and have two portraits to share today. Lloyd, 2014, who loved the camera, RIP. Also Lloyd’s buddy, Ross, in 2017, who was telling me a story when this mantis dropped out of a tree onto his head. EDIT: I just found out from google that praying mantises only live for a year, so I’m assuming this bug has also earned a RIP.

Wish I was having a coffee with the great @hannahmac6 today but lord only knows where on earth this legendary soul sister of @niespret is. Lebanon? Chile? Florida? Man, who knows...always on the move, this one. Usually she’d be a blur in any shutter speed longer than 1/1000, but one time in a Polish barnyard she sat still long enough for me to try to get a portrait at an eighth. What a star. Hope you’re well McCrayzzz!

Today a portrait of my father-in-law Lucas, with whom I wish I were having a coffee, or playing a yard game.

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#makeportraits #croquet #family #portraiture #ghent #chasinglight #noshirtnoproblem

A portrait of my Grandma today because I wish I was having coffee with her. .

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#makeportraits #portrait #portraiture #grandma #mygrandma #wenduine #beachbabes

Finally made it up to Pflugerville to have supper with @katiewhumpus and @goddamntravisty and their ghosts. Thanks for the great evening you guys!

It’s that time of the year again when it’s my heroic brother’s birthday. Happy birthday brother! Back in July I got to have a beer with Big Aug at ‘t Velootje, a little alley bar in Gent that may perhaps be one of the oddest drinking establishments on planet earth. Go check it out and crack a coldy for my brother Aug! 🎷

My pops showing his infant granddaughter how to fire up his bike. Glad to have a dad that loves laughin. Celebrating all good dads today, rookies and vets like mine alike. And three cheers to women who carry and give birth to the kids that give good men the opportunity to be good dads. Dad wouldn't let me get away with not acknowledging the full scope of things! #thankspops

Our front lawn/wash room this week. We were the only humans for miles except for four Czech hikers who shared their wine when they came by. Color me impressed with these latitudes.

Took a couple years but finally got her home before dark. ❤️

Made a quick trip to Nebraska and squeezed in too-brief visits with almost all the good people and pets I love here, and got to welcome some brand new turkeys to the world. I love turkeys.

Nothing like a big ol birthday to make a fella feel fresh. This year I am struck by the realization that a mother is behind all these birthdays we celebrate, and I want to take a moment to bow to those who have committed the energy and enthusiasm required to rear and raise a person--especially I want to thank my mom. I'm so grateful that I get this chance to have a go at it all. This year my wife teamed up with others to throw an incredible surprise party for myself and my friends @imktfox and @ringoatringo at the most essential dive bar in Texas. Here is a picture of Rick the owner serenading us out with a perfect country song at the end of the night. Thanks all for the great year.

With Belgian beer, we celebrated the indescribable feeling of relief from having a successful green card interview yesterday. How wonderful it is to feel free. I'm so proud of my darling @niespret and amazed by the patience and determination that she showed over this past year. It's such a joyful and momentous occasion in our lives. Thanks to all for your love and support while we tackled this process. 🌞

Don't give up on it, now. Keep tryin and stay good. Bright and warm love to you all.