On a hot Sunday afternoon, I took my 11 year old grandson Erik with me on a photo shoot at Senglemann Hall in Schulenburg, Texas. A short time after we arrived, Erik decided that he wanted in on the shoot so I handed him my backup Nikon, gave him a few quick pointers and sent him on his way to take some photos.

This beautiful old dance hall has bright outside light coming in on one end and a dark area around the stage which makes shooting a well lit photo somewhat of a challenge. However, Erik was up to the task and he took some pretty nice photos which he can certainly be proud of. He did a good job of mixing it up with a variety of natural light and flash shots.

Erik was most proud of the new friends he made. In the short time we were there, he managed to befriend all of the band members, the three bartenders, Sengelmann’s owners and a number of other people.

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On Sunday afternoon I took a quick trip west to see some friends play Cajun music at Sengelmann Hall. Sengelmann’s is a restored 1890’s Texas dance hall, restaurant, saloon, biergarten & bakery in historic downtown Schulenburg, TX. The building has recently been renovated and it is a beautiful sight, inside and out. The atmosphere in the large upstairs dance hall is quite impressive with its original long leaf pine wooden dance floor.

The Evangeline Aces with band leader and Accordionist Cory McCauley, beautiful and talented Lisa McCauley on guitar, famous fiddler Brian Marshall and drummer extraordinaire Chuck Bolin entertained the crowd of dancers with lots of foot stomping old time Cajun music.

Sengelmann Hall has live music ine the dancehall on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If you need to get away from the big city, this is definitely the place to go.

Sengelmann Hall in Schulenburg, Texas

Cory and Lisa McCauley

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Last Saturday my camera and I traveled to Bremond Texas to take some photos for the Polish Texans Website. Bremond’s annual Polski Dzien or Polish Days celebration starts off with a 5k run and a 1k run for the kids. I always have a lot of fun people watching at these types of events. Here’s a few of the interesting people photos I shot.

How’s this for a memory from out of the past. Back in 1991 or maybe it was 1992, one of our favorite sow hogs made the big time. She got her ’15 minutes of fame’ or more accurately, she got about 2 seconds of fame. A KHOU Channel 11 camera crew filmed mama pig for a 30 second commercial promoting the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. They also filmed my neighbors cows and horses. The video was then manipulated to make the animals seem to be talking. Our pig was seen in the commercial saying “Well, I’ll be hog tied”.

Don’t blink while watching the video or you might miss mama pig.

This group of original black and white photos of United States Navy Fighter planes was taken in and around the South Pacific Marshall Islands in 1943 and 1944. These were some of the planes that my Dad, Rip Smock worked on as a Naval Aviation Electrician. It was common during World War 2 for aircrews to decorate their planes with pictures or drawings.

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Here’s a group of great old black and white photos of my Dad during World War II in the Marshall Islands. Rip was an Aviation Electrician in the United States Navy in Carrier Aircraft Service Unit 35 and spent most of his tour of duty in the South Pacific. There is no doubt that we owe a debt of gratitude to those brave young men who risked their lives to ensure our freedom.

This is CASU is a great online article written in 1942 about the Carrier Aircraft Service Units roll in World War 2.

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At St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Plantersville, I am frequently referred to as ‘the guy with the camera’. Over the years, I have taken thousands of photos of the beautiful church and the surrounding grounds. On Saturday I did something a little different, I took photos of a really nice group of photographers and their very interesting cameras. Watching them take medium and large format photos with real film brought back a lot of very pleasant memories for me. So far, I’m resisting the urge to go out and buy some big film, but I’m not sure how long I can hold out.

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Gosh those little kids sure grow up fast.

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I’ve been wanting to take a new photograph of the exterior of one of my favorite churches, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in New Waverly, for some time now, but just never had the opportunity. I went to Plantersville the other day and the weather was so beautiful that I decided to continue on to New Waverly.

It was pretty windy when I got to the church so I set up my camera on a tripod and waited for the big fluffy clouds to come rolling by. I stayed for a couple of hours and took a bunch of photos, just hoping to get a good one. Here’s my favorite.