My buddy, Russell

For over 10 years, my work mornings began in a quiet newsroom. But I always had company – Russell Autrey. He'd be sitting at the editorial desk, reading the newspaper, a cup of coffee in one hand, and he always had a cheery "good morning" for everybody.

After a bit, Russell would grab his camera bag and head out the door. A couple of hours later, he'd be back, close the door to the dark room and, 15 minutes later, emerge for his second cup of coffee as the negatives developed.

While waiting, we were privileged to hear "Russell stories," and those involved his many adventures in the 60's and the "fact-is-stranger-than-fiction" scrapes he'd gotten into over his life.

The buzzer would go off in the dark room, he'd retrieve the negatives and then pull the images up on the computer. I'd wistfully watch over his shoulder as shot after shot appeared on the screen, each one amazing.

Somehow, Russell managed to find beauty in the every day, from an elderly woman mowing her yard to anxious moms and youngsters waiting for the school bus on the first day of school.

Those photos could've been easily forgotten, but luckily the Fort Bend Museum is hosting an exhibition of Russell's work. Over the next few months, the staff will change out the pictures so visitors can see how Russell sees the four seasons of the year.

Currently, the exhibit features daily photos he took for the newspaper as well as some dating back to the early days of his 30-year career.

Russell's prints easily fill dozens of boxes, and he's got a story to tell about every one of them. There's the one of his son, Cole, and a friend supposedly hovering over Morton Street for a story about Halloween.

Russell and Cole had many adventures together, including the time Russell spotted a tornado at First Colony Mall. Cole grabbed the wheel of the still moving car while Russell snapped the finger of the tornado touching the roof of the food court.

It's impossible to look at Russell's elegant black-and-white pictures of a poor sharecropper without feeling empathy for the man's dire situation. Russell photographed the man casually holding a pipe with a mangled hand, but still retained the man's dignity while allowing the viewer to enter that bleak world.

There's the many colorful pictures from festivals, beaming youngsters with their turkeys at the county fair, dignitaries and future presidents of the United States at the annual fair parade and weathered farmers working their cotton fields.

As gorgeous as those photos are, I must confess my personal favorites are when Russell and I collaborated on stories.

We worked on one about young cowboys in Fort Bend County, and we had a blast at a small diner out in the country, listening to the cowboys spin their tall tales.

We spent one Sunday morning at Mount Mariah Baptist Church, and Russell snapped over 300 pictures. I saw spirituality at its purest in that little wooden church and what I can't even begin to express in words, Russell caught on film.

That's because Russell has an eye for the small details that make up life. This humble artist teaches us that beauty is all around if we pay attention to the details and appreciate what's been in front of our eyes all along.

Although the museum has hundreds of artifacts from Fort Bend County's past, they've got a wonderful treasure on the walls, and that's the stellar work of the state's best, and one of my favorite people in the world, Russell Autrey.

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald. The Fort Bend Museum is located at 500 Houston St. in downtown Richmond. Visit www.fortbendmuseum.org for more information.