[1]

May

THE OPENING

Page 2

PHOTO TIPPage 2

FEATURED COLUMN

SYNDICATION INFOPage 3

FISHING

PHOTO ESSAY

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NEED TO KNOW NEWS

Page 8

Made with 100% Texas grit...

RUSS

ELLG

RAVE

S.COM

UPD

ATES

2010

IN THIS ISSUE

[2]

The Opening

A little more than a week ago, my brother and I debuted our first documentary to a standing room only crowd of about 300 people in Honey Grove, Texas. The film, called Bois d’Arc Goodbye, tells the story of a creek that’s doomed for flooding underneath a coming reservoir.

While it took about a year to produce the film, I’ve been spending time on the Northeast Texas creek all of my life. I am happy that the documentary turned out to be a nice mix of high definition video, still images, ambient sounds, narration, great music, and first person interviews. When I set out to produce the piece, that’s the kind of multimedia presentation I set out to produce.

The initial word on the documentary is positive. People in attendance were moved by the film and it was heart-warming to hear that others love this muddy landscape as much I my brother and I love it.

With the premiere behind us, now it’s time to shop the documentary around to a few television outlets and a film festival or two. We currently have some television opportunities that I’ll be pursuing and I’ll fill you in on when to expect it on the small screen.

The documentary isn’t the last of the projects coming down the pike. I’ll soon be working on a fly-fishing project, a short film about Childress, Texas, and another project about Texas food (I can’t wait for that one).

Things are getting interesting and I am thankful for your support. if you get a chance, take a look at the full documentary. I’d love to hear your feedback.

Have a great May.

-Russell Graves

PHOTO TIP

It’s about the eyes

When shooting people pictures, I like to concentrate on the eyes. It’s our first link to communicating with another person and we’re invariable drawn to a person’s eyes. So not matter the pose, focus on the eyes and your images will soar.

When shooting people pictures, I focus on the eyes.

[3]

The Buckhorn

“...and besides the whiskey I think we’ll require a little respect,” emphasized Captain McCray just seconds after blooding the bar keep’s nose. From the time Captains McCray and Call walked into the bar they were rudely brushed aside as dirty cowboys. Laying a dollar in coins on the bar to pay for his shot of rye was merely a diversion. When the bartender reached for the money, Gus grabbed him by the hair and slammed his head onto the bar. “I am Captain Augustus McCray and this is Captain Woodrow F. Call and if you care to turn around, you can see how we looked when we was younger and the people around here wanted to make us senators [referring to a photograph on the bar’s wall]. And the thing we didn’t put up with then was doddling service and as you can see we still don’t put up with it!” Unapologetically, he belies his message to the bloody bartender right before tossing his shot glass into the air and shooting it with his Colt revolver - just for emphasis. What a scene... I can’t believe it’s been twenty years since I eagerly watched the

Lonesome Dove mini-series each night. As a teenager, I wasn’t really into westerns - still not. But there was something about this one. Something that was raw, authentic, and gritty ultimately struck a nerve with me and I payed attention to every detail - including the bar in some of the movie’s early scenes. I noticed the bar because I’d been there before. As a boy I had stood at that very bar where Captains Call and McCary stood in preparation for their epic cattle drive to Montana. If you’ve never seen the movie, see it. If you have watched it, watch it again. It’s definitely worth your time. I digress. That bar in the movie is no Hollywood prop. It’s real and it’s authentic and it originally sat in the downtown bar in the Buckhorn Saloon in San Antonio, Texas. The first time I saw the bar was after it was moved into the Buckhorn Saloon and Hall of Horns at the old Lone Star Brewery just a few miles from downtown San Antonio. The bar is ornate and is indeed a showpiece - especially considering it was built by hand.

While the Lone Star Brewery is closed, you can

still see the bar in all of its historic glory at the Buckhorn Museum just a few blocks away from the Alamo and close to its original location. Like at the original Buckhorn Saloon, the Buckhorn Hall of Horns, and now the museum, the bar is a centerpiece of the establishment. A historical fixture, people like Theodore Roosevelt and venerable writer O. Henry bellied up the the bar. Today the bar is a part of a larger museum complex that aggrandizes Texas, the outdoors, and the Texas Rangers (law enforcement - not the baseball team). It’s full of history and many of the thousands of set of antlers you’ll see in the museum were initially traded for drinks back in the bar’s early, rowdier days.

FEATURED COLUMN

About Russell Graves Outdoors

Russell Graves Outdoors is a syndicated newspaper column that appears weekly in newspapers in Texas and Oklahoma. If you’d like more information about how to get the column in your newspaper, feel free to contact me.

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RUSSELLGRAVES.COM UPDATESRussell@russellgraves.com

“That bar in the movie is no Hollywood

prop.”

[4]

The person looking backWhen I first started shooting

pictures, I preferred to shoot

images of things that couldn’t

talk back. Landscapes, wildlife,

and livestock dominated my

imagery. A few years ago, all of

that changed.

Now, I cherish the opportunity

to photograph people. You

know: real people with real

stories to tell.

With only a camera and maybe

some flash equipment, I am

honored to capture their story

and their personality with just a

click of the camera.

PEOPLE

[5]

The SkinnyDate: Various

Location: All over Texas

Camera Gear: Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 1D Mark III, 16-35mm f2.8 lens, 85mm f1.2 lens, 70-2000mm f2.8 lens, portable flash equipment

[6]

[7]

NEED TO KNOW NEWSBois d’Arc Goodbye FilmJust to reiterate, the entire Bois

d’Arc Goodbye documentary is available on my website. You can

check it out by clicking HERE.

New Web Videos

Last month I mentioned the upcoming piece on Texas

Parks & Wildlife featuring my

brother and I working on our film. I have that video

posted on-line. Check it out HERE.

New Blog AddressA couple of weeks ago,

I had to make a shift in the way I publish my

website. It is a bunch of technical stuff that I do not understand but

just know that the address of the

blog has changed. Please point your browsers to

blog.russellgraves.com.

If you subscribe to the blog via RSS, that address has

changed to http://

blog.russellgraves.com/feeds/posts/default

Connect with me!

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blog.russellgraves.com.

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Russell@russellgraves.com

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