View Obscura

The sun rises over the sugar cane fields in Lecompte, Louisiana.  Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come - Anne Lamott The Lord your God is in your midst, a Mighty One who will save. - Zeph. 3:17 For some, we need to get back to the basics and renew our thinking to His word so we can walk in His blessings. Psalm 91:1–2 — Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust Him. - Pastor Steve Smothermon of Legacy Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico Check Out: "If I Had More, I'd Be Happier" ➝ Bad Mindset A Spiritual Revival Happening In Central Louisiana Pastor Leanne Matthesius - Awaken Church - A Tale of Two Hearts Pastor Steven Roberts - Journey Church - Say it, Do it, Be it Pastor Leanne Matthesius - Awaken Church - When the House of the Priest Doesn’t Fe...

 Ex Crowell & Spencer Lumber Company Locomotive #400 sits abandoned next to tracks that used to be the Red River & Gulf' Railroad's main line from Longleaf to Lecompte, Louisiana. The Red River & Gulf was a logging railroad that served the lumber mill that is nearby. Both the mill and railroad equipment are part of the collection of the Southern Forest Heritage Museum.  The Lord is my strength and my defense: He has become my salvation - Exodus 15:2 Location: Check Out: Abandoned Louisiana: Crowell & Spen cer Lumber Company Locomotive #400, Longleaf Abandoned Louisiana: Meridian Lumber Company Locomotive #202, Longleaf Red River & Gulf Railroad Depot / Ice House Lecompte, LA Abandoned Louisiana: Long Leaf Sawmill - Long Leaf Abandoned Louisiana: Locomotive Graveyard. Longleaf Abandoned Louisiana: Planer Mill, Longleaf

 I have been reflecting back on my days as a reporter on the independent film a lot recently. Those were good times and I got a chance to meet and interact with a lot of cool people who had a passion to create films that in many ways paid homage to the movies many of us grew up watching on weekend afternoons and after midnight on cable television. These creative film makers were so determined to get their movie projects done that they didn't let things like having little to no money or even zoning laws stand in their way. For a brief period of time between the years 2009 and 2011 it seems that all of these film makers became hyper focused on one subject matter at one time and surprisingly independently of each other. I am of course talking about Bigfoot the legendary man-beast that allegedly inhabits remote areas wilderness all around the world.  The concept seems simple enough, you put a guy in a gorilla suit and have him chase a bunch of young women in bikinis around the wo...

 For railfans the California high desert is nothing short of heaven on earth. On any given day there more trains traveling through the region than anyone can keep track of. One train passes then laterally minutes later another one arrives. The BNSF and Union Pacific are moving goods from the ports in Los Angeles to destinations all over our great nation. All of the goods imported from Asia travel by train through this corridor.  Here is a collection of railroad photographs that I took in one afternoon as I traveled from Oro Grande (located between Barstow and Victorville) to the summit of Cajon Pass.   Check Out: A Brief Stopover At The Southern California Railroad Museum Vincent Hill Station's Wonderful Caboose Collection - Acton, California Ex Southern Pacific Steam Locomotive #2472 Returns To Excursion Service Louisiana Through My Lens - The Decaying Fate Of Illinois Central 0-6-0 Locomotive 333 The Forgotten Pullmans Of Orange - California's Lost Trains On The Grounds...

 A line of F-16C fighter jets that belong to the pride of the United States Air Force known world wide as the Thunderbirds stand at the ready on the tarmac of their home Nellis Air Force Base located just outside Las Vegas, Nevada. Most people only get to see these plans as they perform skilled aerial maneuvers at high speeds hundreds of feet in the air. To see them up close like this truly spectacular. The red, white and blue colors really pop against the Nevada desert landscape. It may seem wrong to look at a machine designed as combat weapon and admire it's beauty but the F-16 Falcon is truly striking to look at. Check Out: B-17G Flying Fortress 'Nine O Nine' and B-24 Liberator 'Witchcraft' In Palm Springs, California The Cold Blue - A wonderful tribute to all the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives to save the world from tyranny Memorial Day: Remembering Erskin Leon Hulsey First Lieutenant US Army Air Corps Today In History: Auschwitz is liberated To...

For some reason I woke up thinking about some of the actresses that I used to feature a lot on my old blog back in the day. One of those actresses was Arizona's own Elske McCain. Elske was actually more than just a pretty face in front of the camera she was also a director, producer and writer as well. In fact she actually submitted several articles for my website.  Over the years I lost touch with the fiery miss McCain and I haven't kept up with her career.  A quick search of IMDB shows that she pretty much stopped acting back in 2010 but she did pop back up in 2020 in a small role. According to her Facebook page she was doing some promotional work for some independent horror films up to about 2016.  A decade ago Elske McCain was a real force in the independent film industry and from these photos you can see why she was popular my male readers. Check Out: Who Was Red Hot Ten Years Ago This Month - Rachel Grubb Who Was Red Hot Twenty Years Ago This Month - Harumi Nemoto W...

Tonight while I was going through some of my files I stumbled upon a group of images of some lobby card and poster designs I created for my online store Atomic Robot Comics (previously View Obscura Comics). I used to sell  prints of these in sizes from 8 x 10 inches to 24 x 36 inches. They actually sold quite well but when my family moved I couldn't find a local printer so that part of my business simply went away. Recently I did find a new printing company but after a four year absence I found that there wasn't much of a market for these anymore so I never added them back to the store. I had a lot of fun creating these and I chose some of my favorite movies as subject matter. On of my favorites is a Creature From The Black Lagoon lobby card that I created from some of the elements the original lobby set that Universal produced in 1954 combined with an publicity image I had. To add some style to the piece I included a green and black rendering of a photo that the late actor Be...