Wednesday, January 25, 2017

El Paso: The Thanksgiving Parade, Part 2: The People


El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.

I took tons of photos of the El Paso Thanksgiving Parade, but I've tossed all of them except those in which people are the centers.

Danza de San Juan. El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.

 
There's something special when a person looks straight at me and, forever caught by the camera, there is that wide smile or the model-pose or a slip of a smile or a contemplative, steady gaze or a simple, frank acknowledgement from one person to another. A namaste.


El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.

Every time I look up at the girl on the right, in her sunshine-y shirt, I can't help but smile back. Then I look at the little girl on the left, next to the boy, and I look steadily into her eyes and I wonder about her spirit within.

El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.

There's something Rockwellian about the photo below, a mom, maybe, taking a picture of her daughter, who's engrossed in what's on her phone. Maybe a text from a boy she's crushing on. The anchoring of place(s): El Paso. Anthony. The USA. Space.

El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.


Then below is the real and the pretend, and the present moment awaiting the future one, the look to the distance, off to the side, a man perhaps thinking, wondering, planning, remembering.

Lucha libre. El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.


And below are three playlets on one stage, each unfolding simultaneously, a medley:

El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.


El Paso's mayor. Pausing. The mountain citizen in the back. Baptism.


El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.


Three Texas lawmen.

El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.


The affable, home town newsies.


El Paso Thanksgiving Parade. Texas, November 2016.


A slide show here:

El Paso Thanksgiving Parade 2016

1 comment:

judy said...

Thanks for sharing wonderful pictures!