Patrick's blog

Even Santa can't help himself -- there's just something about this tree. This moment unfolded at Pegasus Plaza, just outside my apartment window really, midway through the Dallas Santa Rampage last weekend. Here are some more photos from the Santa pub crawl/pillow fight up at the Observer.

Dallas's annual Veterans Day parade drew a huge crowd downtown -- out my window overlooking Main Street, it almost looked like a vintage photo of 1930's downtown brought back to life.

I remember watching the Dallas theme sequence on TV as a kid and being amazed at all the reflective skyscrapers in downtown. All those mirrored buildings were a huge help during Wednesday's shoot, helping to throw some amazing light just where I'd least expect it.

Thanks to the good people at the Association of Alternative Weeklies, I had the chance to get grilled have a lively conversation Friday afternoon about my Texas Observer story on former KBR trucker Preston Wheeler.

Here's the latest landmark unveiled in Dallas -- one of the sculptures from the "Traveling Man" series installed along Dallas's new light rail line at the Deep Ellum Station. The artists behind it, Brad Oldham and Brandon Oldenburg were on hand during a preview ride I covered for the Observer -- check it out here, along with a shot from a few seconds later -- and it was great hearing them talk about how it all came together.

I've been doing lots of shooting for the Observer's food blog, City of Ate, over the last few months, and thought I'd throw a few of those shots onto the site here.

A couple weeks ago, I spent my Saturday morning at a North Dallas Petco parking lot, taking in my first live dog race. These guys didn't have the speed of a greyhound, but chances are they'll be well taken care of when their racing days are done.

After a long week with lots of shooting for the Observer, I wasn't totally thrilled at the idea of getting up early on Saturday for another one. The fact that it was a high school reunion, and not even my high school, didn't get me any more enthused.

But I was dead wrong -- following the parade on its short route to the school, and talking to old Woodrow alums along the way, made for one of the most fun shoots I've had yet in Dallas. There was a great small-town feel around the Lakewood neighborhood school, and best of all, this was my neighborhood.

For four days in March, my life basically consisted of one of three things: shooting photos of bands, editing photos of bands and waiting in line for pizza from a truck.

This was my first year photographing the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, though I've been in Austin during that week since 2007.

For the first update in a while, I just want to share a few stories worth noting form the last few weeks.

The biggest story I've seen in a while on PTSD is

President Obama promised major defense contracting reform and a $40 billion savings in a speech Wednesday morning (the Boston Globe's coverage includes his full remarks.)

Here's one especially meaty cut: