Masks, old houses, and Trains

Sorry to the folks who read my blog. I was invited to take a trip to East Texas. I spent all weekend in Jefferson, TX. It was one of the greatest times that I have had in Texas. I got to spend a night in a place called the Cavalier House. Which is delightfully haunted, come to find out Jefferson as a whole is one of the most haunted cities in Texas. So to make up for lost time I will be posting a few photos and explain how and why they were caught :)

 

 This photo above was taken upon arrival at the Cavalier House. We were filming for ghost hunting. While the production crew was getting ready I was taking the time to get some quick shots of the house. This Mardis Gras mask quickly caught my eye. I have yet to get out and enjoy it in Louisiana myself, but after seeing this mask I just may make a trip out!

When I snapped this photo I remember thinking that a conversation about general Lee that may have inspired this lil statue. I saw it and thought that the sculptor may have said something to the effect of "Keep your Pimp hand Strong Mistah Lee" in the southern most baptist voice of course ha!

While snapping this photo, I thought what a curious way to remember the past. Jefferson is marked with some serious history and to go as far as to mark locations that horses used to be tied to, with little horse head posts!

 

When this car was at the end of the street, I was busy snapping other photos. Stacy flagged me down and said "BABE COME HERE!!! LOOK WHATS COMING!!" I ran over and saw this black beauty rolling down the street. I waited for it to creep by and snapped the pic. The driver even went as far as to wave to me!

This is The Grove. Those with knowledge of the location know that the owner rarely lets folks inside the home. He is quite protective of his home, rightfully so because it just so happens to be extremely haunted. I got the rare opportunity to pa-rouse around inside. Before entering my journey I snapped this photo. Watch out for the black cat he looks mean!

 

Sometimes the conditions are just right and everything just happens to fall into place for a photo. This was one of those times. The clouds and baby blue sky were just perfect contrast to this little hotel.

General Stores still exist. In fact this one was one of the greatest ones I have ever seen. Jefferson loves to attract tourists. I paid homage with Sepia!

Apparently, bad Ju-Ju makes great breath. The ouija board has always fascinated me, because of the stories they bring out of random people. I saw these in the general store and before my inner self kicked in, I almost bought this. Of course I will never own a ouija board because of the thought of open doors just downright scares me.

 

Finally!!! This shot was one of my most cherished moments in photography. I heard tha train a comin - As Johnny would say. I heard it come from far off, I actually ran straight up to the tracks and caught this photo. Don't let the pic fool you this train was hauling some serious ass! It was going easily 65 mph. It was going so fast that it blew my hair back as I was taking the photo. It was scary, exhilarating and awesome all at the same time!!!

 

All in all it was one of the greatest days I have had in Texas to date!!! 

Thanks everyone!!! 

A Pity for Manners

Tonight my wife Stacy was continuing her training with JAX our pit puppy. We took him in because my bosses living situation did not allow for a pit to live there. After knowing JAX first hand we realized that he was just a big ol baby. We love him very much, and love having him around. Like all puppies he can be a handful at times, but having owned pits before we knew what we were getting ourselves into. Tonight Stacy was teaching JAX how to "SIT" - "LAY DOWN" and "BEHAVE".

Fun times!!!

When Peaceful Protest is Impossible

VIOLENT REVOLUTION IS INEVITABLE

As inspired by a friends FB post today. I was playing with Double exposures. I decided what better opportunity than to make a political statement. 

The way I see it, there is a storm brewing in the streets. I read everyday how protesters are getting sprayed with pepper spray. Laptops, cameras and other expensive equipment is broken. Cops taking to the streets with riot gear.

I fully stood behind the Occupy movement and what it initially stood for. Though as of recent opposition from both sides has caused lots of headaches. So much so that the U.S. government is now taking actions to break apart the movement. This is going to lead to some very bad news. Once the peaceful protesting is outlawed, violent protesting becomes inevitable. Many people like myself can only watch from the sidelines, while rights are ignored and whittled away one by one. We are closer than ever to merging into a police state. There will be a day when they come and kick in your door and take possessions from you. When that moment happens, Are you ready???

Yes I do see a storm brewing, and when conditions are right, the sky will open up and rain the blood of our people onto the streets. Before you close out this posting ask yourself this question.

Who watches the watchers? 

He brought the sky with him

There are times when you run across just fine workmanship. This is one of those moments for me. You can tell the man or woman who owned this 53 Ford cared very much for this car. They spent many many hours getting it to this point. There was not a dent on the car or was there even a spec of dirt. The chrome bumpers had better than mirror polishing. 

To be honest I miss when people cared for things this much. I also miss vehicles that were made to last. I believe that this Baby Blue Beauty will outlive even me.

The person who owns this car this blogs for you!

The things we shared.

If I had only known then what I know now, I would have surely dedicated more time to my grandfather. I still remember looking at him drive out to the lake, going to Benjamin Franklins (craft store) for grandma's yarn. 

We are a working class family. One of the things that my grandfather taught me was to enjoy every minute of your life doing what you do best. Of all the things that my grandfather could do it was Fishing and Tradesday he loved the most. 

This weekend I set out on a mission to make something for my grandmother. It had to be unique and special. I chose the avenue of mixing tradesday and fishing. I came up with this really retro Steam Punk-esque Photo viewer for my grandma. I bought everything at tradesday and built it in about 3 hours. It was made from old brass lamps and a vintage reel. 

The end result was better than I had expected. I am really happy with this, and come to find out. When I drove to my mothers house to show her my grandma was there. "It was in the stars" as they say. My grandmother was awestruck, which to be honest wasn't my intention. I just wanted to make something for her, for the nights she feels lonely and misses looking at him. There are days when all I can think about is our camping trips.

Grandpa if your are watching this was for you! 

Shogun Masters of Food

Yesterday my family took me to Shogun. It was the first time that I have had food prepared in front of me with the theatrics and fire. It was pretty awesome to see knife flipping, egg tossing and lots of other cool tricks. All while our food was being prepared. I had ordered NY Steak and Shrimp, with fried rice. I will say this it has been a looooonnnnggg while since I have had food this good. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with my family. It has been a great weekend so far!

Nerd Love

This is my blog for last night finally able to upload. 

Yesterday was my birthday, and I wanted to do something special for Stacy. I spent some of my birthday money on this lil beating heart. I had to assemble it but that was 90% of the fun. She was feeling a little down yesterday because of religious indifference. That aside, I wanted to show her that she is loved like a true nerd haha. After making it I thought time for a photo shoot!!! So here are a few examples of her new geek toy :).

So I met George a day before 31

So a fellow employee found out I turn 31 tomorrow. The group of people I work with always get excited about birthdays. They even asked me what do I want? WOW what a group huh? This left me in thought though. What would a 31 year old like me want from fellow workers? Well seeing as how I now have a photo blog up and running, what better chance than to tell them anything to decorate my desk! The weirder the better! So here is the first item to hit my desk that now protects my energy drinks lol. I named him George. Here is his photo shoot!!! Tomorrow for my B-Day I will be shooting many photos as a bonus from me to you!!! 

In advance thank you soo much for taking the time to read and enjoy my blogs and daily life.

La Rata Fea

As the title says. In translation it means the ugly rat. Believe it or not, in spanish culture sometimes put downs are a sign of endearment. A kid whose bowlegged they may call chueco which means crooked. To us to make fun of your weakness is a way of laughing off the curves life throws you. So your fat, ugly, or bony!!! So what go out there and live it!!! Its our philosophy, lifes too short to worry about the small stuff. Take this puppy for instance, she is one of those puppies who has all the wrong things going for her, but that is exactly what makes her the cutest little thing to walk this earth. She belongs to my nephew and he was gracious enough to let me blog about her! Even though she wasn't diggin having her pic taken she takes tonight's spotlight!

So if we ever meet and I put you down smiling, remember its because I like you. Also don't blame me its how I was raised, hahaha. 

Cupid's Arrow

So I get home last night, and Stacy asks me to look at the comp because it is acting weird. I go to look and she has put together one of the most moving love letters for me. We have been on a 4 year ride of ups and downs, however much much more ups than downs :). I loved this letter soo much that I figured I would share it here with you! The cupcake I saw at work and felt the urge to photo it because of the work put into it! 

Faded Memories

Have you ever been in one of those situations where someone asks you to remember something. You pause and look up for a moment or two and for the life of you just cannot remember such event ever taking place? 

That is how this photo makes me feel. It is a photographic art form called bokeh. Its the manipulation of focus to the point of where lights become beautiful and colorful orbs of light. 

After I took this photo it really did remind me of those long lost memories that are not quite gone but are so faded and distant that you just remember a blurry scenario. This photo takes the name of Faded Memories

Fear, Money, and Big Brother

This sign is literally half a mile from my home! At first I chuckled to myself because of the message itself. It even gives you a phone number to call. Yeah likeliest of scenarios right??? But the underlying message here is that this sign was put here to instill fear. So much so that you would jump at the chance to pay your tickets. Which do not get me wrong I have no problems with paying your dues for your wrong doings. What I do have a problem is that we are spending our hard earned tax money on someone to put this sign up, wait by the phone, and worse the Local Law Enforcement to patrol the streets taking in anyone with an awkward eye. 

I believe with the best intent they have a better job to do than to stand by a sign and wait for the criminals. Most of the ones I know are putting in their hard earned time looking for the real criminals, and not trying to generate money by using scare tactics. 

While photographing this sign a Sheriff actually turned around and pulled up next to me and turned on his lights.

"What are you doing?" He asks.

"Who me?" <dangles camera> "Taking photos for my blog." I say.

"Oh ok, but your not gonna mess with the sign or anything right?" He replies

I say "Oh nothing like that man, to be honest I thought it would be a cool picture because of the setting, also the humor in posting the phone number?"

He grins to himself, rolls up his window and drives off. So you see I don't think the LLE really put much effort into small timers like speeders, stop light jumpers and all that jazz. He just wanted to make sure I wasn't trying to do any felonius activity. After hearing what I was there for he grinned and left. If only Big Brother thought the same!!!

Old School Tunes

I love music, more so now than ever. I don't get to listen much though there are days I feel like taking a country road and just jamming out. I found this old radio awhile back and really loved the old sound it produces. I found this one really weird radio station where they literally play everything. Everything??? Everything! Tomorrow I think I will turn on the ol radio and listen to some oldies. 

Texas Horror Trees

So in all my travels over this great country of ours it has come to my attention that Texas indeed has the creepiest trees. When I say creepy, imagine walking through a forest late at night through trees that look like this! Not the same feeling as a forest of pine trees that's for sure. So tonight I wanted to capture the feeling that these trees put off in total darkness. I set my camera for a long exposure and let the tree present itself from the background. Its moments like this when I realize that the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was extra scary because of our forest of creepy branched doom!

Brothel Lights, and cold beer.

Before proceeding onto this beautiful lamp, I wish to apologize for not posting my photo yesterday, but blogger was down for maintenance.

Tucked away below street level there lies a bar that was once an active brothel here in Texas. The bar itself was great with good service. Also not many people know of this location in The Stockyards, though it also adds to the mystery of it all. The bar itself had this dark ambient lighting almost like that of bordellos or real brothels themselves. I looked up at this lamp and realized that I was staring history right in the face. How many endeavors had this lamp lit the way for? 

This lamp and its placement in the room fascinated me because it was playing off the same trick as a candle lit dinner. Candle lit dinners are romantic because it lights up the room enough to see who you are talking to without seeing all the simple imperfections they have about them. Guys we now know they're secret. Again fascinating little bar and environment!

Mary Had a little Lamb

I first laid eyes on this lil toy back in October. Something about this little pink lamb drew me to it. I saw it in a old antique store. It was sitting on a shelf with a bunch of old relics. It had this look almost begging to be taken to a better place, to which 4 months later I happily obliged. I collect lots of small little weird toys. This one had my name written all over it.

So today I took Cotton Candy out for a photo shoot. I did not name it my fiance named it cotton candy. He/she is now resting in a better home with other weird toys from the ages! 

Even Concrete Roses are Delicate

I had to go pick up some parts from a store. On my way I decided to stop into a cemetery and snap a few photos of the stone monuments there. This hand belongs to an Sculpted Angel. I loved the positioning of the hand and rose soo much that I took a close up shot of it. I wanted people to see how detailed and yet delicate this sculpture was. The sculptor definitely needs to be praised as this one has stood the test of time.

Thanks for checking out my blog - Martin Bravo

Walking into the Past

This is my blog photo for 2-6-11

I took a walk down a historic district and met some really cool people. This photo was taken out of a hotel window. The whole block had this amber glow to it so I snapped a few pics from the 3 floor. I really liked the depth of perception on this one!!!

Bear Zebub

So as a ghost hunter, I am always looking for ways to push the envelope to that next step. I was at Walgreen's today looking for a drink, when I stumbled into this aisle. I found a cute little teddy bear for Stacy but then realized that I needed a toy for my newest instructional video on paranormal equipment. So I looked around for a minute and found this lil devil bear which I aptly named Bear Zebub. 

If you are wondering what the grey thing with lights on it is. It is a K2 meter it measures EMF (electro-magnetic field). Ghost hunters use it to detect electrical hot spots in homes, to help find hidden sources of power. 

Then why is the bear lit up you ask? Well this brings us to my instructional. Theory has it that an EM Pump can give spirits energy to speak, manifest or move objects. I have developed various models. The originator of the first EM Pump was Bill Chappell who sells his for almost $200 dollars. Whew that is some serious dinero if you ask me. Well I stumbled across a method that will get one into your hands for less than $20.00. Even better than that it is small enough to fit in most toys making it  perfect for trigger objects.

Now there will be some people who ask why I am not patenting this idea or even selling it. To be honest with ya, I'd rather give this knowledge away. I think everything should be available to everyone. If you have the ability to work with your hands then you deserve to be able to access knowledge, to help aid you in your journey. That is what started my whole instructional video project. I got really tired of people praying on the working class and charging 10 times the cost of making something simple. So I started giving away everything that I know for Paranormal.

I may be crazy for doing what I am doing but, I'm the kinda guy who tries to help everyone out as much as possible.

Thanks for checking out this post of the night. 

Ghosts, Cards, Friends, and A night of unforgettable memories

Guerrilla-Photography's photostream on Flickr.

I also run my own Paranormal team here in North Texas. Last night the wife and I went to Hill House Manor. If  you have never been there it is insane with activity. Last night we had lots of experiences. I heard a female call out Johhny's voice pretty loud. I met TPI who also owns Paranologies for the First time. Jeromy Jones my hats off to you bro for the work you do!!! Through out the night a spirit named Jessie kept interacting with us. One monumental moment was when, something told me to grab a deck of cards and ask to play a game. Mike Mccaskill who is a medium was telling me what Jessie was saying and she directed me to shuffle the cards. Take the top 8 cards off the top, and hold them out all together and toss them up and let them hit the floor. Give me a Jack of Hearts she says. The cards actually hit the ceiling and then fell to the floor. 4 cards were face up and 4 face down. Only one of the cards was a face card. I bet you couldn't guess what that card was??? That's right it was the Jack of Hearts....We all screamed with joy. Again, again says Mike. The spirit girl is pretty excited. So we try it again and this time as the cards are face down Mike leans over and says this is going to be an 8. Now simultaneously downstairs Jeromy Jones is watching us on his DVR system and says to his fellow team mates. This is going to be an 8.......Wait what??? Two people in completely different rooms have the exact same thought from out of nowhere??? I will leave it to you if it is mere coincidence.


We are now entering my favorite phase Evidence Review!!!


I want to personally thank a few people here for making last night Awesome.


First and foremost Stacy, For always being there.


Becca Shugart, For setting all this up and giving us an opportunity to investigate.


Mike Mccaskill and eveveryone with Unknown Paranormal, for an awesome co-investigation.


Jeromy Jones and Everyone with TPI/Paranologies - Your ability to create true ghost hunting products never ceases to amaze.


The Texas Light Coalition, for all the hard work yall have done. 


And Last but not least JOhnny Haney with Walking Dead Paranormal...I can still hear that woman calling your name lol.


With that my friends I am signing off. Until tomorrow have a very safe weekend!