Blog Archives
Modes of modern travel
The American Southwest is dotted with motels that didn’t make it. Travel patterns changed, towns not on the Interstate highway system got smaller, air travel became more affordable, people were in too much of a hurry to even consider an overnight stay in a place like Encino, New Mexico.
And, so, here, the Photography Gods blessed me with an illustration of how all those things impacted the Encino Motel, which could not be saved by new management and/or low rates.
Encino, New Mexico
photographed 3.23.2019
Window/Frame
When I’ve taken classes from the wonderful Sam Abell, he always speaks of the use of internal framing to make photographs more layered and more interesting. Although he was really encouraging more subtle uses of internal framing, sometimes there is a flagrant example. Like right here.
(Maybe all photographers are like this – the scene as they saw and photographed it seems like it’ll be there forever, unchanged, as though the photograph became the scene. I am that way, so when I passed through this town a week after I made this photo, I was very disappointed that the machinery had vanished.)
Yeso, New Mexico
photographed 3.14.2019
Guns, Antiques
My friends are very good at being location scouts for me, and frequently I get advice from them about places they think I should visit. For at least a year now one of them has been telling me that I needed to deviate from my usual Lubbock-to-Santa Fe route to check out this town.
I finally took her advice, and hit the jackpot, photographically speaking.
Yeso, New Mexico
photographed 3.14.2019
PS: If you go, though, the frontier “musem” noted on the side of the building appears to be closed.
Groundskeeper’s shack has the mange
Well, this looks pretty bad, doesn’t it?
As I was stomping my way through dead grass to get over to this shack, I saw a dun-colored tuft of something stuck in the weeds, and I though it was a piece of some kind of animal fur. Of course it wasn’t that at all – it was a piece of insulation that had escaped from the building.
My wilderness skills remain strong.
at the abandoned golf course
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 3.8.2019
Welcome, worn thin
Sure, I just invited myself in to explore the abandoned golf course. But in my defense, I was still able to read the word “welcome” on that sign, which I think probably puts me on pretty solid legal ground.
Also, I’m not a lawyer, which you could already figure out.
at the abandoned golf course
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 3.8.2019
One Day | One Image 