Terry Black’s Smoker – Austin, Texas

We took a short, cleansing post-dinner walk through the park. I took images of the Austin skyline, and we were back at Terry Black’s Barbecue fixing to go home. Attracted to a glowing shack behind the restaurant at the rear of the parking lot, I found the smokers, the key to any barbecue joint.

I once watched a course on Texas Barbecue, more out of curiosity than my desire to smoke meats. But, as I suspected, it’s hard work requiring years of experience and as much art as science. And, as you can imagine, Texans take their smoking seriously. Some of these meats take over 15 hours of controlled smoking at precise temperatures.

I picked a slow shutter speed creating a desirable motion blur of the master tending to the smokers, those large metal cylinders filled with meat and burning wood. Shot through chicken wire and under dim conditions, the image rendered with a satisfying moodiness.

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