Blog Archives
beyond adobe lies the white place
Perhaps I’ve mentioned this previously: I have a crush on New Mexico. There’s just nowhere else that looks…this way.
My great thanks to my great friend David Marks for spending a whole day driving me around, showing me the things I didn’t know to look for. Like this place, a melting-away adobe church with a view of the famous White Place through an opening in the wall.
near Abiquiu, New Mexico
photographed 3.31.2024
morada, easter sunday
Prior to the arrival of Spanish settlers in the 1700s, the indigenous Tewa people had a long-established village in this very location.
This church – the Penitente Morada – dates to around 1730 and remains a sacred site for members of the Penitente Brotherhood, a group of Catholics of Spanish descent who dedicate themselves to memorializing the spirit of the penance and the Passion of Christ.
Abiquiú, New Mexico
photographed 3.31.2024
Fearless
A hostile landscape and a threatening storm: there should have been a warning that only the most fearless of us should enter.
near Abiquiu, New Mexico
photographed 7.3.2014
Many things require an anchor
My good friend Brett Erickson was in town last weekend; it was so good to see him again. We met about seven years ago, through photo blogs, and in many (or, really, most) ways, I consider him to be my mentor.
Five summers ago, I took a class from him at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, where I produced a version of this image during one of the class’s field trips. A print of that attempt is hanging in my Gallery O’ Shame* and Brett mentioned some things that happened the day I’d made it. That gave me a chance to look at the image again and realize that I really didn’t like what I’d done with it in post-processing, so I did something I almost never do: I had another go at it. Five years more Photoshop experience makes a difference!**
near Abiquiu, New Mexico
photographed 7.3.2014
*It’s where all the stuff that got into shows but didn’t sell now resides. It’s also the guest bedroom. Guests at my home are required to take a photo with them***. If they seem reluctant to do so, I distract them with coffee with the Patient Spouse moves a photo to their car. You’ve been warned.
**See? I am teachable, which comes as a big surprise to all of us!
***Because I can’t figure out how else to get rid of the damn things.
PhotoPlace Gallery
In the summer of 2014, I took a class from my very good friend Brett Erickson at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops; I struggled quite a bit during the week, and one morning was ready to put my cameras away forever because I was so frustrated. But, I’d already paid for the class, so I stuck it out. I’m frugal like that.
That evening, our plan was to shoot at a place near Abiquiu, New Mexico, but a huge thunderstorm thwarted those plans. The reasonable members of the class returned to Santa Fe. But Brett and four students decided the thing to do was to go higher into the mountains, and closer to the storm, so he could show us how to shoot lightning.
Safe, right? (Brett’s a lot taller than I am, so I figured…well, you know. Fortunately all of us returned safely to Santa Fe.)
Anyway, I just found out that my favorite lightning image from that wonderful night of shooting was accepted into the online gallery for PhotoPlace Gallery’s Landscape: Earth and Sky show. You can see it the entire show here.
And you can see my image here:
One Day | One Image 