Miles and Miles of Texas
Henry Horenstein pictures the Lone Star State
I'm always excited to see what Henry Horenstein is working on. Do you know his work? Last week, I read his latest book, Miles and Miles of Texas. Henry's visual style is instantly recognizable, and his black-and-white photos always grab my attention. We're both fans of country music, and I haven't seen another photographer capture a place the way he does. While I have mixed feelings about Texas politically, it's still one of the great American places, and Henry's photos really capture its spirit. — AA
Screw You: I’m Not from Texas
by Henry Horenstein
With apologies to Ray Wylie Hubbard and Lyle Lovett
I’m a Yankee, born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, which is sixty miles due south of Boston. The state of Texas and the town of New Bedford have at least one thing in common. Oil. Until the mid-19th century, New Bedford was the largest whaling port in the world. In 1841, Herman Melville began an 18-month journey on the whaling ship Acushnet out of New Bedford. He deserted the ship and was captured by cannibals. When free, he wrote Moby Dick. And some say Texas is the wild west!
Whale oil ruled for centuries, making street-lights burn and keeping fireplaces warm. But in 1859, oil was discovered in the ground in Titusville, Pennsylvania. This was way more efficient than sending ships out on the high seas for years, risking life, limb, and profits. Soon people were drilling for oil instead of hunting for whales. Texas and many other places benefited enormously, but New Bedford suffered economic distress.
My fascination with Texas began as a youngster with the TV series, Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier. I even sported the coonskin cap that Davy had popularized. No matter that the real Davy was from Tennessee. He died fighting the Mexicans in 1836 at the Alamo, a mission and fort in San Antonio, Texas.
What I did not know was how much of Texas figured into my other great interest. Music. Many of my favorite songs and singers had a Texas connection. As a kid, I listened to and loved story songs—songs that had historical themes, like Johnny Horton’s “Battle of New Orleans.” (Johnny died in a car crash in Milano, Texas); flat-out honky-tonk shuffles like Ernest Tubb’s “Walking the Floor Over You”; troubadours like Marty Robbins who sang “EI Paso”; and into my folk music phase, Jerry Jeff Walker, who I photographed on stage just before “Mr. Bojangles” became a hit in 1970. Jerry Jeff wasn’t technically a Texan. He was born in Oneonta, New York. For that matter, Ray Benson, another iconic Texas musician, founded his band Asleep at the Wheel in 1969 in Paw Paw, West Virginia. Ray is from Philadelphia.
Some of these artists are represented in some form in Miles and Miles of Texas.
For all its enormous range of space, climate, and physical appearance, and for all the internal squabbles, contentions, and strivings, Texas has a tight cohesiveness perhaps stronger than any other section of America. Rich, poor, Panhandle, Gulf, city, country, Texas is the obsession, the proper study, and the passionate possession of all Texans.”
— John Steinbeck, Travels with Charlie, 1962
I think Steinbeck nailed it. Texans identify as Texan. I can’t imagine someone from, say, Illinois asking a stranger if he was an Illinoisan. None of that was the point of my Texas photographs, though, which was best expressed by singer/songwriter Todd Snider in an on-stage monologue about his songs:
“I don’t share them with you because I think they’re smart or because I think you need to know them; I share them with you because they rhyme.”
So, a few years ago, I set out to find my own rhymes—a personal version of Texas, just a photographer/artist looking around and stopping when something struck. Or, someone. I like walking the small towns , having lunch in a diner or dinner in a cafe, and chatting with people who knew damn well that I wasn’t a Texan, but kindly forgave me anyway. I was not trying to make smart photos that people needed to see, but simply to share what I’ve encountered. Rhymes.
Whatever this book is about, it is not about politics. For that side of things, best to read someone who actually knows what they are writing about. Maybe start with Lawrence Wright’s God Save Texas. Then chase it with Robert Caro’s The Years of Lyndon Johnson. All four volumes.
Truth be told, this book isn’t really heavily researched. To make the pictures, I just wandered through the state looking for interesting subject matter. If the subject stuck me as a little humorous or sad, all the better. I like emotion. Humanity. Humor. Of course, Texas—a complex and nuanced place with almost 300,000 square miles and more than 30,000,000 people—has plenty of that. Big cities, tiny towns, and huge ranches and farms, with endless acres all but unpopulated. I had a big job to do.
I drove to many of these places and photographed what I could. Miles and Miles of Texas is a personal nod to Lone Star culture, history, landscape, and most of all the people I met along the way—“some of the friendliest people you’ll ever see.” (“It’s a Texas Thing,” Gary P. Nunn). And while I nodded, I got to eat some tasty barbecue, listen to inspired music, hear some heartfelt and hilarious stories, and drink a lot of cold beer. And most of all, I got to make pictures I like and put them down in this book.
About the photographer
Henry Horenstein has been a professional photographer, filmmaker, teacher, and author since the 1970s. He studied history at the University of Chicago and earned his BFA and MFA from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he studied with legends Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind.
Henry’s work is collected and exhibited internationally, and he has published over 40 books, including several monographs of his own work, such as Honky Tonk, Histories, Show, Animalia, Humans, Racing Days, Close Relations, and many others.
He has also authored Black & White Photography, Digital Photography, and Beyond Basic Photography, which are used by hundreds of thousands of college, university, high school, and art school students as their introduction to photography. His Shoot What You Love serves both as a memoir and a personal history of photography over the past 50 years.
His recent monographs: Speedway1972, published by Stanley/Barker in 2022, and We Sort of People, published by Kehrer Verlag in 2023. Miles and Miles of Texas was published by Honky Tonk Editions in 2025.
In recent years, Henry has been making films: Preacher, Murray, Spoke, Partners, and Blitto Underground. He is currently in production on Marksville, LA, a film about Cajun Louisiana. He is a professor of photography at RISD and lives in Boston.
Follow him on Instagram at @henryhorenstein.
One more thing…
If you enjoyed these images, you’ll love this book. Miles and Miles of Texas features nearly 100 photographs Henry made while criss-crossing Texas from 2021 to 2024. The best part is when Henry’s stories accompany his images. He’s an excellent writer, and it’s fun to hear his take on what you’re seeing in each picture. You can order signed copies from Henry’s website. Thanks again, Henry!
Thanks, Andy - Henry always has something interesting to say. That picture of the "Bluesman" with is guitar is so classic - amazing.
Thanks for introducing me to Henry. He hooked me when I saw his picture "West Texas Ghost Town, Lobo, 2023." That's the one with the sign that reads: "Keep Lonely Places Lonely" I stopped as I rode along US90 and shot the sign several ways but never could make my capture sing so I put it away. When I saw Henry's version, I grasp what I "had not done" right. So simple and honest. Henry did not overthink it like I did. I stopped buying photography books a few years back when our crammed book shelves ran out of space, but I will probably buy "Miles and Miles of Texas". I'll make room.