WORKING IN BLACK AND WHITE AGAIN was refreshing (things have changed since my darkroom days). It was wonderful to revisit how satisfying it can be to deliver an image using the basic elements of composition and value. I am still in love with the magic of color and who wouldn't be, living in New Mexico, but I suspect I will be doing more black and white as well. The images below are from years of archives - slides, film and now digital images.
Birds Eye View
The steep trail down from Guadalupe Ruins in remote Sandoval County southeast of San Ysidro provides a birds eye view of the terrain for miles around. The mesa-top ruins are a small Chacoan outlier, probably located there because they could see anyone approaching from miles around. This red tail hawk is not enjoying the scenery; he's just looking for lunch.
Available framed and unframed or mounted on birch panel with a wax finish.
Available framed and unframed or mounted on birch panel with a wax finish.
Afternoon Reflections
Running full bank to bank, the Gunnison River below Black Canyon of the Gunnison in southwest Colorado provided a perfect surface for reflecting the summer cumulus clouds. It was a peaceful scene, following a visit to the dramatic narrow and steep Black Canyon of the Gunnison that is difficult to photograph well unless you are hanging off the rim with a rope.
Available framed and unframed or mounted on birch panel with a wax finish.
Available framed and unframed or mounted on birch panel with a wax finish.
Rocky Mountain High
Near the summit of Mt. Evans in Colorado, the highest auto road in America, these mountain goats posed on the rocks above us at over 14,000 feet for several minutes before scampering off. On the drive to the summit you pass a 2,000 year old Bristlecone pine forest and are likely to see bighorn sheep, marmot and pika.
Available framed and unframed or mounted on birch panel with a wax finish.
Available framed and unframed or mounted on birch panel with a wax finish.
The Road to Nowhere
This lonely dirt road is at Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in south central New Mexico, named for the Apache who often camped along the Rio Grande there. Its 57,331 acres are refuge to a large variety of migratory birds including cranes and geese and is the year-around home to ducks, hawks, eagles, coyote, cougar, deer and more.
Available framed and unframed or mounted on birch panel with a wax finish.
Available framed and unframed or mounted on birch panel with a wax finish.
Sin Sol (without sun)
I was disappointed to arrive at White Sands National Monument in southern New Mexico in the rain, and it had been raining heavily all night. But I was soon rewarded with one of those uncommon shots ... the sand dunes reflecting in the water filled parking lot. I found the shapes both powerful and sensual.
Available framed and unframed or mounted on birch panel with a wax finish.
Available framed and unframed or mounted on birch panel with a wax finish.
Morada de la Conquistadora
Located at El Rancho de las Golondrinas, this morada is a replica. But it is accurate in design and the spirit of the moradas found throughout New Mexico and southern Colorado where Los Penitentes come together for prayer and to offer spiritual and social aid to the community. They still gather in these meeting houses (moradas) and are known for their secrecy, songs of worship (alabados) and their ascetic practices.
Available framed and unframed or mounted on birch panel with a wax finish.
Available framed and unframed or mounted on birch panel with a wax finish.
Kįts’iil Ruins
Kiet Siel (Kįts’iil), which stands for "broken house" in Navajo, is a well-preserved Anasazi cliff dwelling located in a branch of the Tsegi Canyon in the Kayenta region of Northeastern Arizona. The site was first occupied around AD 1250. At its peak, it is believed that 150 people inhabited this site. Kiet Siel, along with Betatakin and Ts’ah Bii’ Kin and the Navajo National Monument were declared a national monument in 1909. The ruin can be reached on foot, a hike of about eight miles. We were accompanied by a Navajo family who carried the food and all our gear on horseback.
Available framed and unframed or mounted on birch panel with a wax finish.
Available framed and unframed or mounted on birch panel with a wax finish.
Huerfanito (little orphan)
This hardy, though foolish, tree is alone on the face of a cliff in Penitente Canyon, a remote BLM site near Del Norte, Colorado. Named for the
Hermanos who often visited this canyon in the 1800s and early 1900s, the narrow canyon also surprises you with a painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe high above the trail below. The September day we hiked the narrow trail among berry bushes and scrub oak, my overriding thought (other than the spectacular scenery) was "this is bear country".
Available framed and unframed or mounted on birch panel with a wax finish.
Hermanos who often visited this canyon in the 1800s and early 1900s, the narrow canyon also surprises you with a painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe high above the trail below. The September day we hiked the narrow trail among berry bushes and scrub oak, my overriding thought (other than the spectacular scenery) was "this is bear country".
Available framed and unframed or mounted on birch panel with a wax finish.
A Little Trout Stream
Those of us raised in the Rocky Mountains are drawn in by small, meandering streams, concealing deep pools where the native trout and browns dwell. No boat, no fly fishing skills; only patience rewards you. I'm from a line of men
and women who rarely came home empty handed because they always understood what the fish were feeding on and how to quietly lure them to the bait.
Below the north rim of the volcanic caldera now called Valles Caldera National Preserve lies 12 miles of San Antonio Creek. The creak meanders through lush mountain meadows of the Valle San Antonio and is home to thousands
of brown trout. Elk, bear, coyotes and mountain bluebirds are often spotted
along the banks of the creek.
Available framed and unframed or mounted on birch panel with a wax finish.
Those of us raised in the Rocky Mountains are drawn in by small, meandering streams, concealing deep pools where the native trout and browns dwell. No boat, no fly fishing skills; only patience rewards you. I'm from a line of men
and women who rarely came home empty handed because they always understood what the fish were feeding on and how to quietly lure them to the bait.
Below the north rim of the volcanic caldera now called Valles Caldera National Preserve lies 12 miles of San Antonio Creek. The creak meanders through lush mountain meadows of the Valle San Antonio and is home to thousands
of brown trout. Elk, bear, coyotes and mountain bluebirds are often spotted
along the banks of the creek.
Available framed and unframed or mounted on birch panel with a wax finish.
