Smiling Eyes Photo Gallery Lets You Step Into the Past

By Allan C. Kimball

Some people just hate having their picture taken. It’s a different story at Smiling Eyes Photo Gallery where everyone is smiling and having fun.

Proprietor smilin’ Wally Hayes makes everyone who comes in through his front door feel welcome, feel special and, ultimately, feel a little bit old fashioned as he guides them in choosing a costume and adjusts poses in front of an Old West saloons’ bar.

Wally doesn’t take any old portrait. He takes old time portraits. He’ll make you and your family look like something out of a Mathew Brady daguerreotype or a sepia-toned highlight in a Western documentary on the History Channel. And he’ll do it right in the middle of one of the Hill Country’s most historic districts—Gruene—with notable old buildings all around.

Though still a young man, Wally’s almost historic himself. He’s been taking these old time photos for 32 years.

“Only maybe two or three people in the entire world have been doing this as long or longer than I have,” he says.

He started in the business at Aquarena Springs in San Marcos when he was a freshman at what was then Southwest Texas State University. He got his degree in Industrial Arts, bought the business, moved it to Gruene, and he and wife Danita ran it for many years until she moved down the street a couple years ago to help manage the Gruene River Inn that they co-own. Today, their daughter, also named Danita, helps out at Smiling Eyes, too. Daughters Kaitlin and Elizabeth are waiting in the wings.

“Once I started doing this, I never thought of doing anything else,” Wally says.

What keeps Wally fascinated with his work is that he loves working with all sorts of people.

He notes that the customers’ personalities emerge with their choice of costumes. He has about 400 costumes and combinations, from saloon girls to gunfighters, Confederate or Union soldiers, townsmen and women, gamblers and more.

“Everyone seems to absolutely enjoy getting dressed up and getting their photo taken,” Wally says. “But everyone is different. It’s great to see the variety and the excitement. I get challenged every day with different personalities. I try to go with the natural flow. If you treat customers well, they’ll come back.”

And Wally’s customers do keep coming back.

About 45 to 50 percent of his business are impulse buyers, up to 30 percent are repeat customers, and the remainder are people staying at local lodging.

“I just had a family from New Jersey come back in after 10 years,” Wally notes. “I’ve had some people whose pictures I took when they were children and they’ve back as grown ups.”

Smiling Eyes’ old time photos are taken either inside the studio in front of an Old West saloon bar, outside at an old covered wagon, or next door at the historic Gruene Mansion Inn. He’s even taken photos by the Guadalupe riverside.

One indication of how good a job he’s doing is that he’s won several top awards for his old time photography, including a first place at the Antique and Amusement International Show and a first at the National Photography Awards.

“In order to do a good job, I need to be entertaining,” Wally says. “I try to make everything fun.” The smiling eyes of customers as they view their photos at Smiling Eyes Photos says Wally has succeeded in that.

Smiling Eyes Photo Gallery is located at 1263 Gruene Road in the Gruene Historic District of New Braunfels. Hours are 11 am to 6 pm daily, sometimes later on weekends. For more information, call 830-629-7474 or visit the web site at www.smilingeyesphoto.com. For information on the Gruene River Inn, call 830-627-1600 or visit the web site at www.grueneriverinn.com.