Abilene Wide Open: A few from here and there

Ronald W. Erdrich, Abilene Reporter-News
·1 min read

Not every picture makes the print edition of the Reporter-News, but I keep them in mind just the same.

I squirrel them away until I've got enough to provide a snapshot of Abilene from different angles.

Sidney Levesque (right) turns her head away from the chicken she is holding during Wednesday's Broiler competition at the Taylor County Livestock Show. Levesque and her father-in-law, George Walker, were assisting her daughter Julia, 11, a sixth-grader at Wylie West Junior High School who was showing a pen of three chickens.
Sidney Levesque (right) turns her head away from the chicken she is holding during Wednesday's Broiler competition at the Taylor County Livestock Show. Levesque and her father-in-law, George Walker, were assisting her daughter Julia, 11, a sixth-grader at Wylie West Junior High School who was showing a pen of three chickens.

I always love running into longtime friends on assignment.

That's what happened when I saw Sidney Levesque assisting her daughter who was showing chickens at the Taylor County Livestock Show. Sidney was one of the first reporters I meet when I came to the Reporter-News in 2000, so watching her keep her cool holding a flapping chicken was extra fun.

Thanks to pareidolia, red safety reflectors transform a gas meter in a north Abilene alley into a face seemingly non-plussed with winter so far.
Thanks to pareidolia, red safety reflectors transform a gas meter in a north Abilene alley into a face seemingly non-plussed with winter so far.

I've got a long-running fascination with pareidolia, the tendency to see faces in inanimate objects.

Cruising north Abilene for a weather photo Jan. 6, an idle glance out the window made me hit the brakes as I short-cutted through an alley. I can't say I've been that red-eyed driving around, looking for a photo. But I've come close.

Visitors wander the second floor of the Center for Contemporary Arts on Thursday during ArtWalk.
Visitors wander the second floor of the Center for Contemporary Arts on Thursday during ArtWalk.

Finally, ArtWalk.

I'm always fascinated with the large window above The Center for Contemporary Art. But I am hoping for more outdoorsy activities at ArtWalk to photograph this year. Not only do they make great pictures and show a non-stereotypical side of our town, but it's also a great way for all ages in the community to gather downtown on a consistent basis.

Ronald Erdrich is the photojournalist and a columnist for the Abilene Reporter-News. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Abilene Wide Open: A few from here and there