12-JAN-2014
Transformations, Magdalena, New Mexico, 2014
Magdalena was once a thriving silver mining town. Its wealth was funneled through this sturdy brick bank building until the silver market collapsed. The bank is gone, yet the weathered signage tells us that this building has since hosted at least a soda fountain and ice cream shop. More recently, a printing company has placed its sign in the curtained window. Today, this 900 person, high desert town is trying to transform itself into an art center and cultural destination. This image may lead us to wonder what else may in store for this handsome vintage structure.
12-JAN-2014
Layers, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico, 2014
More than 20,000 migrating snow geese spend their winters in this remote refuge on the banks of the Rio Grande River. I arrived at this river at sunset, and built this image around four stacked layers. The white geese float on the river at the bottom of my frame. A layer of golden weeds crowns the geese. Behind them a riverbank rises, covered in brush. The background layer adds a stack of soft mountains, molded by time. The last light of day moves through the image from bottom to top.
12-JAN-2014
Sandhill Cranes, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico, 2014
More than 10,000 migrating Sandhill Cranes winter here as well. During the day, they feed in the surrounding irrigated farms and wetlands. At sunset, they commute to the waters of the Rio Grande. I caught this trio of cranes approaching the river below a curving golden cloud.
12-JAN-2014
Fly-in at sunset, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico, 2014
I caught these three Sandhill Cranes on their final approach to the Rio Grande River just after sunset. The negative space between the birds crackles with energy. They summer in the Great Plains, and migrate to the Rio Grande every winter in huge numbers.
13-JAN-2014
Feeding cranes, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico, 2014
Sandhill Cranes root around for seeds and other foods in the shallow wetlands of this refuge. They eat during the day, fly a short distance to the Rio Grande in the evening, and then fly back out to the fields the next morning. The irrigated farmland in this refuge produces quantities of waste corn, wheat, and sorghum as nutrients. During our second day in the refuge, we passed fields that supported thousands of these cranes. This group was feeding fairly close to the road. They allowed me to get reasonably close before scurrying off.
13-JAN-2014
Mule deer, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico, 2014
Mule deer are instantly identified by their large, mule-like ears, and black-tipped tails. We encountered this trio walking alongside of the road in the wildlife refuge. They scattered as we passed them, then traveled in a complete circle around us. Trying to compose a coherent image from a car window proved impossible. We pulled off the road, and I was able to find them coherently grouped in this tight circle as they stood amidst the stalks of dead weeds in the forest.
13-JAN-2014
Morning fly-out, Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico, 2014
Thousands of Snow Geese fly out from the Rio Grande River for a day of feeding in this wildlife refuge. Meanwhile, a huge group of geese remain standing in the shallows of the river in the foreground, while the sky is filled with them in the background. Seconds after I made this image, the group of standing geese lifted off as well, and we were enveloped in a cloud of feathers, amidst thunderous squawks. Because the geese in the foreground were standing still while those in the background were in flight, I was able to compose this image relatively coherently. The geese on the water offer a foreground anchor, while the curtain of geese covering the hills and the sky in the background offers a striking counterpoint.
13-JAN-2014
Ducks at rest, Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico, 2014
These ducks float silently in a cove on the Rio Grande River. The sun is going down, and the bushes in the water with them show their winter colors. I was drawn to this scene for its reflections, and how they work with the subject. Two clusters of trees flank the ducks, and their reflections create protective brackets around them. The water itself seems to be providing shelter for these slumbering ducks.
12-JAN-2014
The Sentinel, Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico, 2014
Ranks of grasses and long dead trees mark the course of the Rio Grande as it flows through this sanctuary. This particular tree looked like a symbolic soldier shouldering a rifle, a lone sentinel guarding this vast wildlife refuge. The setting sun provides the color, as I watched a procession of small clouds float in the background. I waited for the clouds to frame the tree, and then made this image.
13-JAN-2014
Cedarvale Cemetery, White Oaks, New Mexico, 2014
This small cemetery dates from the 1880s. Its occupants reflect the early history of New Mexico -- its first governor and the discoverer of the Mother Lode gold mine are buried here, and so is a deputy sheriff gunned down by the outlaw Billy the Kid. What made this cemetery special for me, however, were the high grasses that enveloped the graves. In the late afternoon light, the grasses bathed the graves in gold and helped me to abstract them. In this image, I photographed these grasses in backlight. Their tiny leaves become a field of floating particles hanging in the air over a pair of graves. The yellow flowers in the urn between the tombstones anchor the image.
13-JAN-2014
Echoes of the Wild West, Cedarvale Cemetery, White Oaks, New Mexico, 2014
The most famous grave in this cemetery belongs to James W. Bell, a twenty eight year old deputy sheriff. Frontier outlaw Billy the Kid murdered Bell during his escape from the Lincoln County Jail on April 28, 1881. Bell was buried in this cemetery, but his grave had been poorly marked. It was recently rediscovered, and a new headstone was installed. I photographed it in late afternoon light, among the golden weeds where his bones have rested for 133 years. Bell’s gravestone may be new, yet the neighboring stones to its left and right are original, dating back to the early years of the cemetery. It is the incongruity in size and condition of these stones that give this picture it’s meaning.
13-JAN-2014
A sense of place, Carrizozo, New Mexico, 2014
Simple economics have determined the nature of this small town. It started as a railroad stop in 1899. The railroad brought business, as well as a county seat, to Carrizozo. This building went up in 1917, when Carrizozo was booming. With rise of the automobile, the railroad’s importance diminished. The last passenger train passed through in 1968, and by the end of the 20th century only a thousand or so people lived here. The very nature of this building, built in 1917, offers a sense of this place today. The name of the town is scrawled in neon along its façade. It seems to be a ghost building – its rooms appear to be vacant. Yet a life sized sculpture of a burro stands incongruously atop the structure. Other burro sculptures line the town’s main street. The sole figure in the picture (and the only person we met in this town) turned out to be the husband of the local artist who created those burros. The burro sculptures symbolize Carrizozo’s effort to gradually renew itself through tourism.
