Growing up in San Antonio, Al Rendon was captivated by the diverse shapes of the city and the vast Texas landscape around him, catching light and casting shadow, bursting with color. As a teenager, he began photographing the spaces and faces around him; as a professional photographer, Rendon was retained by a number of San Antonio cultural institutions to capture the contours and spirit of the city, among them the San Antonio CVB, the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center and the Fiesta Commission.
“When you’re asked to portray a beautiful city like San Antonio, you immediately hit the River Walk,” says Rendon. “First carved into the banks of the San Antonio River by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s, the River Walk now extends up to the Museum District, featuring artistic re-use of two breweries: the Lone Star and the Pearl. The former has housed the San Antonio Museum of Art for nearly 30 years. This summer, the lower reach of the River Walk, extending to the Missions National Park, opened as a green space accommodating joggers, picnics and great migrating cranes and herons.”
Whether photographing Texas Hill Country bluebonnets, ancient pictographs along the Lower Pecos River or Charreada, a Mexican rodeo held just south of San Antonio, Rendon, whose photographs have appeared in many books and national magazines, including USA Today, People en Español and Texas Monthly, remains as inspired as ever by the “spaces and faces” of Texas.
“In one way or another, everyone in Texas lives off the land,” Rendon says. “Texas is a state of contrasts, from pine forests to deserts, gulf coasts to mountains, great plains to busy cities. The cultural landscape is just as diverse—the gritos of conjunto, the wailing blues of African Americans, European polkas and yodeling cowboys.”
As in his youth, San Antonio remains Rendon’s spiritual home.
“As the gathering place for cultures for centuries, San Antonio has inspired potters, painters, poets, musicians, religious seekers and photographers to document the sublime, timeless moments passing by,” Rendon says. “You can see it in our famous landmarks, but you also see it on front porches, along the riverbanks, in the trees and faces that surround you. It takes an eye for light and experience to be a photographer, but it also takes a lot of luck. I’ve been lucky to get these pictures, and I appreciate every shot.”
