Divided #8 – Day 40
New Orleans was a short but welcome break from life on the road. 2 days in this vibrant city helped us to regenerate. And we even got 2 good portraits. A young, upcoming Jazz band and a homeless transgender crystal meth addict who didn’t quite know what to expect from life. But while we enjoyed the vibe of New Orleans our son did even more so. There are probably not many 7 years old who enjoyed Bourbon street more than he did.
But not only New Orleans was good to us, we liked all of Louisiana, although we did struggle a bit with the heat and humidity. On our last night before leaving the Pelican State, we went to an unofficial beach camping, where you can park your car anywhere on the beach. Only the next day did we find out that parking a Mercedes Sprinter on the beach isn’t the best idea. We had asked a local the day before if it was a problem to drive with that car on the beach and he assured us that there wouldn’t be a problem. Our saying “never ask locals”, was proven once again correct. The car did get stuck and only thanks to some southern hospitality and the help of a solid chain and a big truck did we get of that beach again.
And then we were off to Texas! The first stop was Houston, more specifically NASA’S Space Center. Visiting this cool museum with Elias was also a bit of a reward for all the patience our son has to have during shoots. But there were so many e-mails to answer (an ongoing struggle on a trip like this) that Mathias stayed back to work for a bit longer. While working on his computer at Starbucks, a guy sat down close by, with a big official looking NASA emblem on his shirt. We had not anticipated to get a NASA scientist for our project, but if an opportunity offers itself like that you have to give it a try. Mathias started talking with him and he found out that he was Scott Smith, NASA’s head of Nutritional Biochemistry, which basically means, he was studying the effects of microgravity and was in charge of what Astronauts had to eat to stay healthy while in space. If you would have to cast a NASA scientist for a movie, he would be your man. And he agreed to participate. So when we left Houston there wasn’t only a very happy boy with a miniature Saturn V rocket sitting in the van but also 2 happy photographers with the portrait of a real NASA scientist.
Texas is a great place with lots of characters and stories. And of course it has also lots of rattle snakes! To find great characters and rattle snakes in one place, for that you have to go to Sweetwater. It’s home of the biggest rattle snake round up in the world and the hometown not only of Miss Snake Charmer but of some men who know how to hunt and handle rattle snakes. On Friday evening, we met David Sager, probably the most experienced of them all. Of course he had brought along a couple of snakes in an antique snake carrier box. Once the studio was finished and ready for the shoot he opened it and pulled out a live fully grown Western diamond back rattle snake. Seeing such a snake in a zoo is one thing. But doing a photo shoot with it is quite a different story. And as always it wasn’t just a photoshoot. We also needed some additional video footage for the interview. And while Monika was shooting some making of images from a safe distance, she encouraged Mathias to get closer and closer with the video camera.
But there is more to Texas than rattle snakes and rockets. There are real ranchers and cowboys. And while some people in the lone star state love to catch rattlers, others spend every minute they have on a horse to perfect their roping skills. Shiloh and Cutter are siblings that do exactly that. We me them at the Western Texan Team Roping Championship where they were competing. Shiloh is only 16 years old and one of the few girls that are doing this tough sport. Her brother Cutter is 2 years older and close to becoming a professional roper. Team roping is a sport where 2 riders on horseback are chasing a small bull that is being released, trying to get him with a lasso as quick as possible, whereas one of them has to rope the head (header) while the other has to get the hind legs (heeler). It is amazing to see how well these athletes are riding and how precise they can rope. But getting these skills takes a lot of practice. Cutter and Shiloh told us that they would practice every day several hours and that they both wanted to become professional ropers. We couldn’t resist and bought a rope for ourselves only to find out that it is pretty hard to rope indeed. Elias was working on his skills all afternoon, while we filmed and photographed the two. Later on Mathias and Monika started working on their roping skills as well and it looks like we as a family have found a new hobby.
