warrenharris.net

My holiday gift to you is a costume shot for only $99.00.  This is a huge discount from my usual sitting fee and it is only good until December 1, 2011.  You supply the costume, I supply the studio.

If you’ve ever entertained the idea of doing a professionally-photographed theme shoot, let’s talk.  I’m ready to set up some studio shoots for Halloween costume shots and Sexy Santa’s Helper shots.  You need to have your own costume or subsidize the purchase of one for your shoot.  Party City has a large selection at reasonable prices.

Keeping with the idea of costume-themed shoots, we can also do pinup shots in a variety of themes.

If this interests you, let me know as soon as possible, as time goes by pretty fast at the end of the year.

Models I’ve worked with:

Kassandra Kell
TallDallasGal
Julie McNatt
London Levi
Nikki Morrill
Misty Mechura
Wendlin
McKenna Tomlin
Katerina Yonce
Jen Dixon
Kelsey Susan
Deanna Blair
Steffy (mean_kitty)
Amy Fox
Tracie Fox
Ashley Reese
Ashley Franci
Kirstee Michelle
Genie96
Jamie S
Karen H

September 21, 2011: One more reseller has taken delivery of an assortment of Note Cards in Dallas.  Please welcome and patronize the newest member of our team in the Bishop Arts District:

Bishop Street Market

419 N. Bishop Ave. at W.7th.
Dallas, TX 75208
(214) 941-0907

Another new reseller just took delivery of a McKinney, Texas-themed assortment of our Fine Art Note Cards  They have also pre-ordered 24 copies of Texas As I See It, our coffee table book arriving in November.

Please patronize them:

The Little Red Hen

105 E. Virginia St (east side of the Square)
McKinney, TX 75069
(972) 542-0429

We would like to welcome our newest member of the team, Texas Belles and Beaus in Grapevine, Texas.  Just in time for this year’s Grape Fest, we installed a counter-top display yesterday.  Look for it right in front of the cash register:

Texas Belles & Beaus – Grapevine

406 S Main St
Grapevine, TX 76051
(817) 756-6476

Other Texas resellers include:

MarketPlace at Frisco Square

8861 Coleman Boulevard
Frisco, TX 75034
(972) 377-9400

Texas Treasures at Stonebriar Mall

Stonebriar Center
Frisco, TX
(469) 633-1377

Lack of rain, coupled with a record-setting heat wave has certainly contributed to the drought problems here in North Texas.  We hear about this every day on the news and it seems our firefighters have been battling out-of-control brush fires for most of the summer.

It seems after an entire summer of these conditions, coupled with water restrictions in nearly every North Texas municipality, we would all be hyper-aware of the seriousness of this situation.  It seems that way.  Then why do I see flagrant violations of the watering restrictions every day?  One vacant house in our development was running sprinklers during restricted hours EVERY DAY for at least 2 weeks – with water running down the street in 2 directions as a result.

Now it seems we are about to go to Stage 3 restrictions due to zebra mussels interfering with the water flow out of Lake Texoma.

If everyone had adhered to the Stage 2 restrictions, then perhaps we could have avoided Stage 3 restrictions.

Perhaps we all need a little wake-up call.  A visual reminder of just how serious the drought is…

Drought Effect on Cedar Creek Lake

Entitled “High and Dry”,  this is what what Cedar Creek Lake looks like today.

As you can see, these boats are unintentionally dry-docked and unable to get into the water in this vast North Texas lake.  In fact, most boats are unable to access that water as a result of lake levels being so low.  Another side-effect, people that are dependent on the lake for revenue are in big trouble.  One Cedar Creek Lake restaurant is now permanently out of business after months of no water access.

Please conserve water.  We cannot live without it.

• Water only during approved times.
• Do Not water during daylight hours.
• Do Not water on windy days.
• Do Not water longer that 10 minutes per zone.  More than that is just wasted run-off.

We all need to do our part.

Maybe it’s time to consider xeriscape desert-style landscaping.  Many Californians were forced to implement xeriscapes during the several years of continuous drought in the 1970s and 1980s.

It is definitely time to start implementing Drip Irrigation.  We put in a complete Drip system when we built-out our back yard a few years ago.  This also enables you to do as we did and install a foundation Drip zone that will keep your slab properly watered, independent from your lawn or gardens.  It’s not that complicated or expensive.  It IS, however, difficult to find skilled installers.

Xeriscapes can be incredibly beautiful.  They are efficient, low maintenance and free up time for other endeavors.

If the demand for Drip Irrigation increases, perhaps we can lure some skilled support personnel away from California…

(This story is copyrighted and planned for a future children’s book.  We are looking for an illustrator to collaborate with.  Contact us if you are interested.  Meanwhile, don’t you dare infringe on Winston’s rights or your anus will burst into flame right before your own hand mysteriously reaches into your mouth and jerks you inside out.  … seriously…)

Winston, In His Own Words

Hi. My name is Winston. I’m a Mockingbird and this is how I wound up here…

It’s not easy growing up. Initially, your mom takes care of everything and then one day she boots you out of the nest and then everything changes.

And one day that’s exactly what happened. Mom thinks it’s time I learn to fly and gives me the heave-ho. I tumble unceremoniously to terra firma (I know… big words for a little bird, but mom is big on education) and, dazed by the fall, scurry aimlessly in every direction, flapping my little useless wings, looking for shelter.

I spot this big black blob with some room underneath, plenty big enough for me and dart inside.

Whew! That’s a lot better. Out in the open I’m pretty vulnerable, even though mom says she’s looking out for me (easy for her to say – she can FLY).
So I’m just hanging out in the shade of this big blob (mom says it’s a Smart Car – doesn’t seem very smart to me – it just sits there – doesn’t even flinch when I run under it) when big feet come walking up to me. Then I hear a lot of noises I can’t make sense of – and this Smart whatever-it-is starts to rumble and shake. This is scary enough, but then it LEAVES.

And I’m out in the Open again!

Geez. Now what do I do?

I’m trying to figure out my options, which is really difficult with mom flapping all around the roof and yelling at me to “Run, Winston, Run!” when some even bigger feet come up really CLOSE to me and a BIG head comes even closer. This Giant, seems really interested in me. Not particularly menacing, but mom is yelling even louder that it’s dangerous and I need to Run!
Then the Giant leaves. Whew! That was close.

Before I can figure out which way to run, the Giant is back.
Drat!
And it’s got some kind of machine or something pointed right at me. It keeps clicking and the giant peeks around it every now and then, and clicks the machine some more. Meanwhile mom is really freaking out. I can’t even think with all this racket going on, so I just stare menacingly at this big Giant, hoping it will go away.

And it does. Seems it’s lost interest in me. Or it’s going to go get a net and have me for dinner! Either way, I’m out in the open and mom is about to have a stroke.

So I run. Mom is flapping and hollering and shooing me across the street and into the park. Then across another street and into a yard, where I find some nice big bushes to hide in. And then mom takes a break from shrieking at me.

And I can catch my breath.

Wow.

It seems the Giant was not so bad after all. It came back out to look for me again and saw me dart for cover at the last minute. It didn’t come after me and seemed kind of protective in a way.

So mom and I set up housekeeping in the Giant’s yard. I found lots of good bugs to eat on the Giant’s windowsill and he’d talk to me while I foraged for breakfast. Summer was really HOT, but at least we had some rain. Then it started to get cold. Mom said we needed to fly south.

We spent the winter in Mexico, which was pretty cool – and came back to find the Giant still there. I sing for him and he talks to me every time I come by. I’ve hopped into his workshop a few times. It’s a scary place, but the Giant is always friendly and tells me I’m famous. I’m not sure what that means, but it sounds like a good thing.

I think he loves me.

Winston in his own words

Since bringing the new website online last week, I’ve been doing some updates to the content.

As I go through my vast library, I find new images to make available in the Note Card project.  This last weekend I added several dozen new images in the following categories:

• Desolation
• Texas
  • Dallas
  • Denton
  • McKinney
  • Paris
• Frisco
• Music / Lifestyles
• Flora and Fauna

We made a trip to Paris a week ago to photograph their unique, but diminutive version of the Eiffel Tower.  Along the way we discovered an assortment of other interesting items that needed to be captured and added to the collection, not the least of which were numerous old water towers (now properly committed to theWater Tower selection.)  46 different water towers are now available to choose from.

I also spent a good deal of time indexing the Texas page by city and theme to make it easier to find community-based images.

Dallas, Denton and McKinney now have more content than before, with updates coming regularly as we venture out and concentrate on these areas.

Soon to be added is an Automotive catalog of the cars I’ve been shooting over the last several years.  From The Girls and Cars of Texas  (the 4th volume of the Texas As I See It series).

It’s been a bit of a project, but the website is finally up and running for TX-Notecards, the new entity formed to handle distribution for our line of Fine Art Giclée Note Cards.

As a result of our most recent road trip to Paris, Texas, a lot of new material has been added to the Note Card collection.

For those of you not familiar with Paris, the city is roughly 2 hours northeast of Dallas and has it’s fair share of historical buildings and assorted features.  The primary reason for making the trip was to photograph their Eiffel Tower for my next book.  Having been to Paris a couple of times and expecting, therefore, to be able to see the tower from a a fair distance, we drove around aimlessly for some time, looking up in all directions – and stopping every couple of minutes so I could capture some interesting tidbit or other – until it became clear we were not going to find this silly tower by these means.

Fortunately, iPhones work in Paris just like they do in the Big City, so we looked up it’s general location and programmed the GPS to get us there.  You can imagine our surprise when we finally come rolling up to this weenie little 20-foot-tall version of the Eiffel Tower.

Eiffel Tower in Paris, Texas

Really?

This is it?

OK, it DOES have a big, red cowboy hat on top, so I suppose that buys it a little street cred.  But twenty feet (ish)?  And here I thought “everything is bigger in Texas” was essentially a truism (had been up until now…).

Drat.

Anyway…  I took the photos I wanted in about 2 minutes and we were off again.  On the way out of town headed west, I caught sight of the other motivating factor for the trip.  A very large rural lot filled with rusting tractors, all lined up in formation.  Just like I had been told.  Fortunately I had brought a monopod for just this occasion, so I could position the camera up and out slightly – hoping to get a good angle on this unusual collection.  Some decent images were the result, but not exactly what I had in mind…  Know anyone with a bucket truck in Paris I can borrow for an hour?

So along the way, we drove through and examined Greenville, Cumby, Sulphur Springs, Bells, Bonham, Savoy, Whitewright and Ector.  Some of these were on my list, some I had been to before and a few were completely new to us.  As far as I’m concerned, the small towns that crop up all along the back roads of Texas are priceless gems and whenever I get the chance, I’m off to explore them.  You should too.

But wait… There’s MORE!

As a result of rounding up resellers for our Note Card line and Texas As I See It (my book), we have spent some time photographing nearby cities that had slipped through the cracks.  Recent additions to the Texas Note Card collection are Denton and McKinney.  New images will be added regularly, so if these communities interest you, mosey on over and have a look-see.  The Texas page is now indexed by cities to make locating your community easier. Austin, San Antonio and Dallas all have massive updates now.

And the hits keep coming…

We were in Canton recently and found some fascinating sights in Kaufman, Gun Barrel City, Canton and Mabank.  So there are new images from these obscure locations as well.

The book I’ve been working on for so long is finally a reality.

I am taking delivery of the initial shipment on my first photography book “Texas As I See It” in November.
An 11×13 coffee table book with 204 images spanning 168 pages, it retails for $34.95 and is published by Brown Books in Dallas.

You can pre-order the book from the website.  Anyone who pre-orders, not only gets the first books, but gets a signed copy hand-delivered (if they’re within 15 miles of Frisco …or so…)

Texas As I See It

Click the button below to buy Texas As I See It for only $34.95!

But wait, there’s more!…

Due to numerous requests, we are now producing a series of Fine Art Giclée 5×7 Note Cards with Texas themes.  The quality is strictly gallery level with color and depth that actually appears 3-dimensional.
They retail for $3.95 each.  I have samples if you would like to see them.

The Note Cards are being produced in a variety of themes:

• Texas
• Frisco, Texas
• Desolation
• Windmills
• Water Towers
• Route 66
• Flora and Fauna
• Music and Lifestyles
• Ireland

with more to come…

I’ve just wrapped up the e-commerce page for our current lineup of cards to facilitate purchasing any assortment you prefer.

These all make excellent, reasonably-priced Holiday gifts!