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This place? Again?
There’s really just one thing of photographic interest in this tiny town – that old church building – and it’s been photographed within an inch of its life. I’ve posted a lot of images of it over the years, making me complicit in the crime of over-shooting.
The last time I was through town, I decided to do something completely unprecedented: I turned off the highway on the other whole side of town* from the church and made some photos. But then, the old place drew me in, and I walked down a dirt road for an unobstructed view. Like every other photographer who’s been here, I just can’t look away.
Taiban, New Mexico
photographed 9.2.2019
*”Other whole side of town” = about two blocks.
Horse Reflection
Back in 2016, I took a photography class that I didn’t like. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration at all to say that I hated it, to the extent that I was ready to come home two days in. But I stuck it out, partly because I’m cheap and didn’t want to lose the money I’d already paid and mostly because the Patient Spouse talked me down off that particular cliff.
One day during that class, we went to an out-of-the-way inn to photograph models. And not just models, but nude models. It was about a million kinds of weird, on top of already hating the class. But the place we went was nice, a quiet and green oasis in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. I’d always wanted to go back, and over this past Labor Day weekend, I made it back there.
It was just as quiet and green as I remembered. And this time, everyone was clothed.
And this is the scene I saw every morning.
Pojoaque, New Mexico
photographed 9.2.2019
His window was always open
If I were the parish priest, I’d keep the window open, too, to get that nice mountain air inside the church. Also, how cool is it to have a stained glass window that opens?
Nambé, New Mexico
photographed 9.1.2019
The only window low enough
My progression toward the “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico” church ended here, peering through the only window that was low enough for me to get to. The churchyard is overgrown with weeds and cactus and there’s nothing to indicate it is still an active church.
There’s something carved over there on the far wall, and traditional vigas make up the ceiling structure. But that’s about all I could get.
Other than that fantastic reflection of my camera. And my manicure, of course, because grooming is important.
Hernandez, New Mexico
photographed 9.1.2019
The southwest corner
And here’s a closer view of the church from the “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico” photograph. Here’s what I had to say about visiting this place.
Hernandez, New Mexico
photographed 9.1.2019
One Day | One Image 