Blog Archives
The end of Sears: shoes
Sears was nearly gone for good and not much merchandise was left over. But, somehow, even at 80% off these shoes hadn’t sold. A retail mystery, I suppose.
Sears (the last days)
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 1.3.2019
The end of Sears: clothes
Our local Sears store closed at the beginning of 2019; during the last few weeks it was open, I went there often to photograph the ever-diminishing inventory. At first, I made the Patient Spouse go with me to provide cover, in case the employees weren’t too keen on wandering photographers. What I learned from that was that if your job at Sears is disappearing in a matter of days, you really don’t care one bit if wandering photographers are on the premises. So, the Patient Spouse got to stay home while I wandered.
Sears (the last days)
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 12.26.2018
through the haze
Remember back at the end of the summer when the West Coast had devastating wildfires? And also remember how the smoke plume spread itself across almost the entire country?
The hazy skies in Utah were from smoke, and the distant rock formations, which already seem other-worldly, took on an even more surreal look.
near Dead Horse Point, Utah
photographed 9.7.2020
Mud and Snow
I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again: a real challenge when visiting often-photographed, iconic locations is finding a new way to look at them. I *think* this is a new way to see this old church, but in fact, all I can say for certain is that it was a new view for me. And I hope it’s a new one for one or two of my readers as well.
I wear a bracelet all the time; it’s engraved with words attributed to Georgia O’Keeffe: Take time to look. It makes me feel contented in my artistic life to look down and see those words, and to try to follow them. And taking time to look, to walk slowly and deliberately around this building, thinking about ways to capture its particular magic led me to see this, and to photograph it.
(My current bracelet is actually my second one; the first one got lost. And – fun fact – I bought its replacement at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe the day before I made this photograph. And – another fun fact – if this bracelet gets lost, I am going to get the words tattooed on my wrist. I don’t feel myself without them.)
San Francisco de Asis
Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico
photographed 3.16.2019
Jesus
I can’t imagine a photographic world where I will not visit a cemetery, even though once at a class a self-absorbed Famous Photographer said we should “never” photograph them because there was “nothing new” to see. But part of growing as an artist is knowing what sorts of advice to ignore, so I grew greatly during that class and rejected not only that directive but many other things he pontificated about.
And so that’s how, a few years later, I found myself face-to-face with Jesus in northern New Mexico. I’m not sure what Jesus thought about it, but I was delighted.
Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico
photographed 3.16.2019
