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Another shot at this place (which is also this place), for those of you who are keeping score at home.
The pool’s been vacant so long that there is a nice stand of cattails growing in a marsh at the deep end, which is remarkable since this is in New Mexico – a locale not known for a lot of marshland.
Before the interstate, the main route through town was Route 66, and it was lined with motels and restaurants. Not too many of them are still operational.
One time, a couple of decades back, we failed to have reservations for a hoped-for overnight visit in Santa Fe. We didn’t realize that the Santa Fe Opera was that popular, and that all the rooms would be full. So we headed out, thinking we’d either find a place to stay along the way or drive all night and be home for breakfast.
The first town past Santa Fe is Santa Rosa, where we did find a room in one of the old places along the former Route 66. I think we paid twenty buck for the room, which I am pretty sure was inflated when the desk clerk sensed our desperation (for all our big talk, we really didn’t want to have to drive all night.) The room was tiny, with barely room for a bed. But that wasn’t entirely a bad thing, as the carpet was pretty…questionable…and the bed covered up most of it. We stayed there, successfully, and made it home the next day.
The story would be better, of course, if I could tell you that we stopped for the night in THIS VERY MOTEL. But we strive for accuracy (mostly) here at One Day | One Image, so I can’t claim that. But the place we did stay was right across the road from here.
So, the moral of this story is that you’d probably be better off with a reservation if you want to stay in Santa Fe.
Santa Rosa, New Mexico
photographed 9.22.2013
Posted on October 3, 2013, in Photography and tagged 365 photo project, abandoned buildings, black and white photography, melinda green harvey, new mexico, one day one image, photo a day, photography, santa rosa, santa rosa new mexico. Bookmark the permalink. 10 Comments.
One Day | One Image 
Seems like a reservation won’t do much good at this place though. Nice shot, this reminds me of the pools that Iearned to swim in, though they were in a better condition than this.
I like it that you run a 99% free-facts blog, where accuracy is a concern. Nice counterpoint to Ken and his fact-free space. Between the two you I can find balance every day.
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Yes, it is in fact that balancing effect of Ken and I that keeps the entire internet working.
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Actually, it would have been really interesting to have read that you had stayed at a motel named “Bates Motel”, and survived. For some reason, your words bring this imagery to mind.
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It wasn’t quite THAT bad! Fortunately.
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This location is so obviously photogenic! And you seem to have a good respect for these locations so I’m going to propose a suggestion to you. Take on scene in one location and photograph it every few months for a number of years. Each photo replicates the original one as far as angle and lens used. After a while (a long while) you should have enough material to make a short t/l like ehpem does in Lightroom. We can watch nature reclaim the land.
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That’s a very interesting idea, but I think it’s beyond my technical capabilities! Maybe I could subcontract to the Research Department, whose skills and knowledge and t/l experience is far greater than mine.
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It’s a great idea. I have long thought it would be fun to do a year round timelapse, and I would seriously consider it if I had a spot with the right kind of view from the house. There is probably a post of bit of wall that you could mark for your camera and go back on a regular basis to shoot with camera in a fixed position – even just set a bracket somewhere. And then you could take a bit of video and overlay it too so that you blended some real time in. Like this video which is a very nice bit of art, and interesting as well: http://youtu.be/_-rznxowu4o
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The video was very interesting – I especially liked the way the people faded in and out. I should have done a t/l a couple of years ago when we remodeled the kitchen. That would have been easier than driving all the way to Santa Rosa, NM, to take one picture!
Obviously, the thing to do now is to start ANOTHER kitchen reno!
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I thought kitchen renos were a perpetual affair, never ever quite finished. At least that is how it is in my house. Thank goodness I don’t have a camera dedicated to such a timelapse – I would not have been able to use it for years, and it would be obsolete technology by now anyway.
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I understand that – some of these renos seems to last so long that they are outdated by the time you’re done!
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