Blog Archives

angel with broken wings

I can’t go to Santa Rosa without stopping at this old cemetery, with its roofless, falling down church ruins. I like the way a now-gone bush scratched wind-driven arcs into the wall. I like the way the a little more of the stucco has let go of the adobe walls every time I go by. But mostly I like the broken-winged angel, who is watching the slow-motion collapse of the building.

And I also like this song by Los Lobos. In case you were wondering.

Santa Rosa, New Mexico
photographed 5.28.2022

an easter egg

So, you know that I like to find abandoned places to photograph. And you know that I will take any opportunity to shoot the interiors, capturing the stuff that’s left behind. So nothing about this image will surprise you, probably.

My second favorite part of the image are the handprints on the dusty booth. And my favorite part is the little Route 66 sign, hidden away on the back wall.

Santa Rosa, New Mexico
photographed 5.28.2022

even the crosses had a graveyard

One of the things I’ve always liked to photograph when I visit the sacred site of Chimayó are all the offerings left by other visitors. This time, the fence that usually held hundreds of crosses and other mementos wasn’t even there and the other places were penitents left shoes, or prayers rolled into tiny pieces of paper, or all the crucifixes and crosses hung on any available surface stripped clean. I have not been able to find out why the things were gone, but they were and the place felt different, less personal, less emotional. And the faith and sorrow of the previous visitors seemed to have evaporated.

All I could find were some worn crosses leaning on the parking-lot side of the fence, sort of like they’d been banished to a cross-graveyard.

el santuario de Chimayó
Chimayó, New Mexico
photographed 5.15.2022

tree/line

I fully realize that I am not breaking any photographic ground or anything with this image – it’s what I put in the category of “any reasonable person with a camera could do this shot.” But I like it anyway: it’s a view I don’t get on the plains, the aspens hasn’t leafed out yet, and the clouds were making a good showing of cloud-ness.

Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico
photographed 5.15.2022

terminal

This was not the first time I’d stopped at this abandoned place in Santa Rosa, and I am relatively sure it wasn’t the last time, either. Santa Rosa is one of my favorite places to shoot, as it’s got a nice range of the subjects I like to capture. You know what I mean….

Santa Rosa, New Mexico
photographed 5.28.2022