Now that the sun is out, it’s easy to forget the recent sub-freezing temperatures around the state, like in areas of West Texas where temperatures dropped below twenty degrees on New Year’s Day. Photographers, both locals and visitors alike, spent the first few days of the year in West Texas capturing the stark winter-white beauty around Marfa, Alpine, and Big Bend for striking results that we have gathered for this gallery of West Texas winter scenes. We talked to each one about some of their favorite photos.
Photographer Jennifer Boomer has lived in West Texas since 2012. She passed the time on snow days with her two children by playing with Legos and sipping hot chocolate. She snapped this snow-covered truck on the north side of Alpine. “I entertained myself over those snowy days by drinking wine!” she says.
Photograph by Jennifer Boomer
Austin-based photographer Nick Simonite has been shooting around West Texas since 2002 and usually heads west every few months. Traveling between Marfa and Alpine, the San Antonio native captured the next few winter scenes on the first day of the year.
Photograph by Nick Simonite
"I love the way the landscape changes throughout the day in West Texas,” photographer Nick Simonite says. "Sunrise and sunset are especially unique and surprising."
Photograph by Nick Simonite
Landscape photography is one of Nick Simonite's specialties. To view more of his work from around West Texas, go to nicksimonite.com.
Photograph by Nick Simonite
Rowdy Dugan is a Marfa-based photographer who got his start in documentary filmmaking. He headed to a ranch outside of Marfa to capture the freezing fog rolling in before the snow storm. He found this "cold and wet heifer" in a solitary moment on a dirt road.
Photograph by Rowdy Dugan
Photographer Rowdy Dugan was drawn to the snowy cacti, the ideal Texas winter study in contrasts.
Photograph by Rowdy Dugan
A native Texan who is now Brooklyn-based, Penny de los Santos mostly shoots food and portraits on travels around the world for National Geographic, Saveur, and many others. To ring in 2018, she spent the day shooting along a 10-15 mile stretch between Marathon and Alpine. "It was one of those rare moments as a photographer: the landscape beckons, and you have no choice but to stop everything and just grab your camera and shoot, hoping that whoever is in the car with you is a cooperating party,” she says.
Photograph by Penny de los Santos
Penny de los Santos reflects on her time in West Texas. "It felt like the most amazing way to start a new year, seeing something that felt so rare for Texas with eyes that have never seen anything like it. It was like seeing a new country for the first time.”
Photograph by Penny de los Santos
Dallas-based photographer Trevor Paulhus went to visit Big Bend National Park, one of his favorite places, as well as looking at some land he is interested in buying nearby. Paulhus shot this scene near Alpine.
Photograph by Trevor Paulhus
"This was my first time in West Texas during the winter. I absolutely loved the peaceful quietness in cold air. A cold front blew in, leaving this frost all through the area. It was so breathtaking,” Paulhus says. "In general, I really appreciate the solitude of West Texas any time of the year. It’s so big, open, and simple."
Photograph by Trevor Paulhus
Photographer Hannah Gentiles has lived in Marfa for three years after a ten-year stint in Nashville. Gentiles also works for local hotel El Cosmico and ventured around the snow-covered property to capture the trailers, tepees, and tents.
Photograph by Hannah Gentiles
Gentiles loves working at El Cosmico (one of its trailers is pictured), where she gets to meet interesting travelers from around the world. "I'm not sure there is anywhere quite like West Texas," she says. "The landscape seems to change in new and beautiful ways in every direction you head."
Photograph by Hannah Gentiles
