ChesterLeeds

I was born and raised in West Texas, Odessa to be exact. I like to tell people I'm from so far out in West Texas that the sun set to the east of our place.

I am a self taught photographer and for many years I photographed Texas through the lens of a 35mm Canon film camera. It wasn't until recently that I finally succumbed to technology and converted to digital. Though the format may have changed my cameras haven't. They remain, as always, Canon.

I have two main photographic passions in my life. First, working windmills, especially those found in the high lonesome of West Texas. Those windmills call to me like a Siren to a sailor. Just what it is about a windmill that draws me I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe it's their symbolism with the West. Maybe it's because time means nothing to a windmill . . . they don't care how long it takes to set up a shot or how many frames you shoot. They just stand there, night and day, through the heat and cold, waiting on the wind to move them and doing only what they were meant to, bringing up from deep below ground the most precious commodity in West Texas, water.

My other passion is Paleolithic Rock Art. Hidden in shallow rock shelters and in the countless nooks and crannies in the maze of canyon lands known as the Lower Pecos River region of West Texas are ancient shamanistic rock art paintings characterized by scholars as the Pecos River Style. The fact that this rock art has survived for thousands of years is incredible in that it is completely unprotected from the elements. Centuries before an alphabet existed on this continent these painting were made to help those ancient people understand their world. Current researchers liken these paintings to books and each day is bringing us closer to being able to “read” their meaning.

This website allows me to share with you these treasures of West Texas. My work has been thought of by some not as originals, but as simply copies of passing moments in time that were created by the Master Artist himself. I find solace in the images I capture and it is my sincere hope that you will as well.

So sit back, prop up your boots and browse through my galleries. Be sure and return often to see what's been added since your last visit.