I was born and raised on the great high plains of the Texas panhandle.
The big sky above me and flat plain before me deeply shaped my vision and connection to the soul’s expression as poetry, and, to the visual arts.
As a boy, I was a voracious reader. I also spent a lot of time outdoors. I was either roaming the cotton fields, watching the thunderheads billowing overhead, or in the library, caught up in some wild adventure on “Treasure Island” or solving a great mystery with The Hardy Boys.
In the 7th grade I wrote my first book of poetry. It was titled “The Infinite Corridors of Time”.
It wasn’t long after my first book of poetry that I picked up a camera. It was a Polaroid. I fell in love with photography. The first time I peeled the paper off the Polaroid film and watched the black and white image magically pop into view, I was hooked.
My first “official” post was as the high school photographer, reporter and year book staffer.
After high school, I worked my way through college as a studio portrait photographer and dark room technician. I also worked at the local TV station as a cameraman shooting live TV in the studio and on location. I later became a production assistant for a production company and crewed on many art films and commercial film productions. On some of these shoots, I spent time in front of the camera as an actor.
After college I continued to write poetry, and I was a finalist in two national poetry contests. I was invited to read my poetry in Washington DC. My poems were published in an anthology of the collected works of the contestants.
For most of my life I have carried a camera and my love for photography, writing, the arts and the great outdoors has never ceased.
My greatest influence as a child came from my grandfather who attended The Art Institute of Chicago. He was a working artist his entire life. He was a kind and gentle man and my mentor in many ways.
I believe my real education actually came from my life lived as a boy roaming the vast open prairies of West Texas, but, I was formally educated at The University of Texas in Austin and at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas where I studied Sustainable Architecture, Construction Management, Engineering and the Arts.
Needing a day gig, I opened a small landscaping business in 1983. Over time my company grew into an engineering services and landscaping design build firm specializing in storm water management and landscape construction and design.
I was the CEO for 30 years and sold the business in 2012 to devote all of my time to the arts.
During the last 30 years I have lived in Austin, Texas. I’ve raised 4 children along with numerous cats and dogs.
The cats and dogs were a lot easier.
I am currently working on a book titled “Love Takes Over” as well as a screenplay titled “The Last Rodeo.” This book showcases my photography, poetry and prose demonstrating the connection of the voice of the soul as it expresses through images of the natural world.
Thank you for visiting. It is my hope that you will be inspired by these words and images to explore the gift that is our lives and the world we all share, and maybe, as you visit the pages, you’ll catch a glimpse of that sun tanned far seeing boy, wearing a floppy straw hat, with walking stick in hand strolling through an endless sea of cotton under a magnificent clear blue Texas sky.
Thank you,
Jeffery Scott Lockhart
Austin, Texas
August 2013
