July 2025_Buck Moon
**Dear Friends and the people who love Big Bend National Park**
I want to clarify a couple of things from last months email regarding the proposed new restaurant and the closing of the Chisos basin.
1. Bob Krumenaker is not the current park superintendent. That wasn’t clear. Bob has been very helpful in me understanding the current state of the matter.
2. Rick Lobello, a former park employee has a grass roots organization, that is seeking alternatives to closing the basin. You can learn more at www.oneearthonetime.com.
3. This is a note from Rick Lobello:
"I strongly suggest that you and others also send your comments to the Acting Superintendent with the subject line - Please come up with a plan to keep the Chisos Basin Open. I have been told by park insiders that he can do it with a stroke of his pen. Here is his name and email - John_R_Gupman@nps.gov. He goes by Rick."
Copy and Paste this:
https://chng.it/pzqytMdQp6
You can also learn what the park is saying currently: https://www.nps.gov/bibe/planyourvisit/chisos-basin-construction-timelines.htm
Also this is another organization to understand and possibly be a part of:
www.keepbigbendwild.org
My understanding as I write this is that the allocated money for the project has not been released and there is not a contractor to do the work.
I do believe it is a terrible idea, but maybe if the interim superintendent hears from more concerned people they will alter their plans.
Thank you.
**Jacklyn Martinez_"Goat Girl."**
Last weekend Jackie and her husband stopped in the gallery. She asked Marci if I might be the photographer that took her photograph in the early 90's with her pet goat Romeo and was a wanting a print, if that was possible.
I remembered the image. I had asked her Mom if I could photograph her and I shot it right in front of my gallery with just soft light and no strobe. It was in the selections for my first book. I knew I had printed the image, but it didn't make the cut. Back then you made prints on resin coated paper and sent those to the printer. Of course I had all of them and I was able to find three 11 x 14's. I also found the contact sheet and printed a few up for her. I don't know who was happier, she or I. Her because I had them, and me for locating them so quickly. The image I chose was the far left and middle one. There is a little black dot in the top right corner.
**It's Not Dark Yet**
I am working on a new series. Digital cameras are extremely sensitive to low light. Much more than film ever was. I am exploring the differences. Unfortunately these small images miss the subtleties of photographs.
**Recent Portraits**
Photographing Danielle and the girls I was having technical difficulties with the flash, and while they were waiting for me to fix it I captured a real mother and daughter moment.
I've known Spider for years and finally got to visit and photograph him in Mason.
**Shaul Schwarz Reel Peek Films**
I found a documentary on Netflix the other day called "Narco Cultura." The story was about these musicians who are writing Corridos for gang members in Juarez, but the underlying story is the people who pick up and take to the morgue the murdered people, and the whole story of Juarez at that time. The footage is so deeply honest and unpretentious. It's as if there is no one there with a camera. How he did it without becoming a victim himself is remarkable.
I started to look for more of his work and found "Immigration Nation" and "Unnatural Selection" currently on Netflix. The images of Imigration issues will break your heart. This team deserves a Pulitzer Prize, an Academy Award, and a MacArthur genius award. He doesn't take sides, but just shows you what it means, for example, when a child is seperated from a parent. It is the best documentary work I have ever seen.
Thank you Shaul and your team for showing us these real truths.
There are other works I have not seen yet.
Go to his website: www.reelpeekfilms.com
** A Lesson in Every Bite**
Marci came home from her TCA board meeting with some peaches and vegetables she purchased from a roadside stand. The box of peaches were not ripend yet, and more than half of them were pecked out by birds. I would have probably passed on the farmer's offering, but Marci never gave it a second thought. The gesture struck me as so beautiful that I welled up. My heart is harder, but I am fortunate to learn from and be in love with someone strong and determined and yet so soft and compassionate.