I’ve lived in Wylie, TX for a decade, and every year I think about attending the annual Bluegrass on Ballard Jubilee, but it’s never happened until this year. The event is filled with 250+ classic cars, a park full of vendors, and, of course, lots of great Bluegrass music.

On March 7, 2026, Wylie High School Theatre had its one and only public performance of Anatomies, its chosen one-act play for UIL (University Interscholastic League) competition. After their first competition performance, on March 11th, they finished 1st and will advance to the next level! Congratulations to the cast and crew!

It was 13˚ F this morning, and we are expecting 80+ consecutive hours of sub-freezing temperatures. What you see in these photos is not snow, but sleet frozen into a solid sheet of ice.

As 2026 rolls in, changes to how I shoot are also in the works.

On day two of our vacation, we started with breakfast at Café La Maison Smith René-Lévesque. Café La Maison Smith is a chain café with several locations in Quebec City and at least one in Montreal. For my fellow Americans, think of Starbucks, but actually good—very good. Pastries, quiches, coffee, lattes, everything we tried was great, and their chai latte was the best I’ve tasted anywhere!

After a long travel day and great night’s sleep in our hotel room, the first full day in Quebec City did not start well for me. We woke and dressed as planned, but I didn’t get 10 steps out the hotel room door before my stomach committed mutiny.

When we arrived at Hotel Sainte-Anne on our first evening in Quebec City, Canada, it was already getting dark. Our room was cozy and inviting, so Jen and I had half a mind to stay in and call it a night. However, after the long trip, I was hungry, and there were a decent number of people still milling around the streets outside, so there was a small chance of getting a photo worth keeping. We were in a new country, and I wanted to explore!

Good photos, at least those I consider good, generally fall into two categories: they are either stand-alone or part of a story. Any time I’m fortunate enough to photograph new locations over long periods, I inevitably end up with a handful of stand-alone photos (if I’m lucky), a decent collection that benefits from being part of a story, and a bucketful of junk photos that will never see the light of day. What’s the difference between stand-alone and story photos? In my opinion, a stand-alone photo can interest someone who wasn’t there when it was taken. It contains something in the lighting, composition, subject matter, or a mixture of elements that makes it strong enough to bear the weight of scrutiny without the support of other images. Because of the criteria I listed, they are rare.