Fine Art Images from the American Southwest

Lightning Strikes On The Mesa

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Lightning strikes on the mesa west of Taos. This is an image of six lightning strikes in the same location and composited into one frame. I’m posting this to see if it inspires rain soon. I may post more monsoon images over the next few days. This is my version of a rain dance, far more acceptable to me than dancing on the deck chanting something to bring about rain… although I have been known to do that… after all, I do hail from a long line of Druids!

Lightning strikes on the mesa

Dodge Truck, El Prado

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Dodge truck parked, with no plans of travel this holiday weekend or any future weekends for that matter. That’s great ’cause it’s a fun location, subject and photo op. Had a great photo tour today at the St. Francis church, El Prado for these trucks, the cascading creeks and waterfalls in the Taos Ski Valley, ending at the high bridge and the Rio Grande Gorge. Happy 4th of July. Thanks for looking. G

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Las Trampas Church On The High Road

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Las Trampas Church of San Jose de Gracia de las Trampas. I know, I know, it’s that church again. I made this image yesterday on a High Road photo tour. We were looking for some alternate angles to the usual, oft seen views. The grave marker was photographed by Ansel Adams in the 1940’s. Specifically, he made a tighter cropped image of the cross with the adobe wall as the background. Knowing that Ansel had stood in this very spot can inspire almost anyone. As the sky was overcast and lighting low key I put the camera on the floor and created the low angle view using the grave marker to fill a chunk of the frame and placed the cross prominently over the sky to the right. I thought it created a dramatic and gothic look to the whole scene. Thirty minutes later as we descended into the the Gorge and headed north to the west rim trail along the Rio Grande Gorge the sun burst out and it looked like a different day. This prompted us to recall the saying, “if you don’t like the weather in New Mexico, wait five minutes.” … or in our case, thirty minutes. Thanks for looking. G

Las trampas church

Llano De San Juan, New Mexico

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Llano de San Juan. Over the last few weeks I’ve conducted numerous photo tours on the High Road to Taos. There have been some stunning afternoons with great photographer clients and image making. This building has always intrigued me, and I almost always make a stop here in this high road llano (Spanish for plain) to make an image of this old building and the nearby church. The tin roof, typical in New Mexico architecture, the undulating tin portal roof and a dormer window, forever pointing to the sky, always feels welcoming despite it’s abandoned posture. I’ll be back on the High Road to Taos again tomorrow and no doubt we will visit this place. Thanks for continuing to visit my photo of the day page … and keep on looking. G

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Urban Green Space In My World

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Urban green space. Many years ago, shortly after I arrived in Taos, a great friend and photographer, no longer with us, made a suggestion to me. “Make pictures of your world around you.” He said.  Then, as if a dismissal, he added. “Do with it as you wish”. I didn’t take to it right away … until I did. Since then, I’ve managed to do just that, creating an expansive body of work. Within that large body of work, there are many projects, studies, and subjects that encompass my everyday observations, musings, fascinations, and documentation, of my travels around ‘my’ world. I haven’t travelled vast distances around the globe, but I have seen so much of the “world in a grain of sand”, a blade of grass, the tiniest bird and largest bird. And… in the eyes of my children I have seen new worlds emerge. I keep on looking, sometimes I see what I’m looking for and other times it presents itself to me.

In Tucumcari, NM this scene caught my eye during an early morning photo stroll. It is a simple scene, lacking all grandeur of a vast landscape or sunset. When I happened upon it, this was a perfect moment in my world. Remembering my friend who inspired and encouraged me to look more and see. Thanks for looking. G

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