Three thousand people, many of them known as “Chicago Suckers,” were lured here in 1905 with promises of finding gold in the surrounding Jarilla Mountains. Plots of land were sold five and six times. The gold was virtually non-existent, and the prospectors vanished. Today, only 52 people live in Orogrande, a semi-ghost town literally in the middle of nowhere. The town’s most prominent surviving structure is an antique and rock shop, standing alongside of US 54, a lightly used highway connecting Alamogordo, New Mexico to El Paso, Texas. It was closed, and seemed likely to be up for sale. Rusted “antiques” such as pieces of ancient machinery and old advertising signs lay on the ground at its base. I found the Southwest’s most iconic plant, a Prickly Pear Cactus, thriving amidst the clutter, and made this emblematic still-life, symbolizing early 20th century New Mexico.

I moved in on the façade of this historic office building to abstract it, and stress the magical reflections dancing upon its windows. The barren tree layers the image at left and intensifies the abstraction. The Caples building played a critical role in the history of neighboring Mexico. It was built in 1909 as a five-story structure. The top two floors (just above the cornice) were added in between 1915 and 1918. From its fifth floor windows, just below the cornice, viewers could easily see Juarez, Mexico, just across the Rio Grande from El Paso. In 1911, Mexico was in the midst of a revolution. Rebel forces fighting under Francisco Madero, Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata and Pascual Orozco were trying to end the 34-year dictatorial regime of Mexico’s president, Profirio Diaz.

Madero planned the pivotal battle of Juarez in the fifth floor offices of the virtually new Caples Building, perhaps behind the very windows at the bottom of this photograph. On April 7, 1911, the rebels poured 2,500 soldiers into Juarez, which was defended by only 700 government troops. Despite extensive bickering and dissension among their various generals, the rebels somehow managed to win the battle of Juarez after a month of squabbling and fighting, ultimately forcing President Diaz to flee into exile in France. The 38-year old Madero was elected president of Mexico in October, 1911. He was assassinated in February, 1913, during a military coup by General Victoriano Huerta.

El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico, straddle the Rio Grande River. Because of the proximity to Mexico, eighty percent of El Paso’s residents are of Hispanic descent. El Segundo Barrio stands adjacent to the Rio Grande and the Mexican border. In the 19th century, it was an Anglo settlement. In the early 20th century, Mexican immigration into Texas began, and El Segundo Barrio was often the first stop. It is still among the poorest neighborhoods in the nation, yet for visitors, it offers a look at the essence of a culture. This mural, dominating the façade of Sacred Heart Church, tells the story of these immigrants. Every day, people come here to rest, converse, or just sit in the setting sun. This image tells such a story.

An agricultural mural dominates this photograph. It speaks of youth, farming, equipment, and promise. It plays against the body language of a man making a phone call. The pay phone he uses advertises international calls at 25 cents per minute in Spanish. Perhaps he speaks with family or friend in neighboring Mexico. One arm rests on top of the pay phone. It echoes the position of the arm of the young man in the mural. Only he is much larger in scale – a figure of promise, contrasting to the small abstracted figure behind him.

A rank of fifteen mannequins stand behind a pair of parking meters and a small tree in front of a clothing store in downtown El Paso. None of them move. The only subject my camera stops in time are the pair of shoppers pausing to examine some clothing in the doorway that splits the line of mannequins into two sections. The image is incongruous – not only is the sheer mass of mannequins unusual, a pair at each end of the line have lost their heads, while all of the legs are either silver and gold.

I was watching for the play of shadow as much as I was studying the actions of these people. The action here is very simple. A man is checking his cell phone on a street corner, while a man waiting behind him is putting on his jacket as evening arrives. The low angle of the sun has extended the shadow of that man’s arm as he grapples with the jacket, creating an incongruously large shadow on the golden bricks behind him.