Luminous Mizahn

As I was driving to the post office a couple of days ago I contemplated just what triggers my interest in a particular image for my weekly post.  I decided there's no fixed process. Sometimes, as recently, it's work I've just done and other times an image in my portfolio of possibles jumps out.  Such is the case with the extraordinary Mizahn whose radiance captivates.  Simple set up, a single soft box just to the left behind me.  Bright sun behind her on a balcony at the old hospital in downtown Santa Fe.

Lake Valley RIP

Meandering north from Hatch, New Mexico's chile capitol, to Hillsboro, a resurgent ghost town flirting with artiness, we discovered the remains of Lake Valley. The former silver mining town enjoyed its heyday from 1881 to 1893, had a brief affair with manganese and lost its last resident in 1994.  The town is partly privately owned and partly owned by the US Bureau of Land Management whose stewardship is evident.  Lake Valley is in good repair and a worthwhile side trip when you're in Sierra County.  The images are of the old general store and a tiny church.

Single Wides Redux

Saturday night I was doubly blessed.  The opening of my Sketches of Winter show in Taos was boffo and I was awarded first prize in photography for the image Single Wides in the spring juried exhibition at the Museum of the Southwest in Midland, Texas. The museum is a real gem and a must see on your way across the great state of Texas.  Among its many surprizes is a room devoted to the Taos masters. Check it out.

Warm thanks to the Midland Arts Association for including my work the last couple of years and especially for the handsome awards.

Cotton Fields Back Home

The fertile Mesilla Valley grows more than pecans.  Reputedly cabbage is another major crop but since I don't know how to glorify that rude vegetable you're getting cotton.  Specifically Acala cotton from the Four Points gin.   

Cotton and I go way back. I was a cotton inspector for the state of Arizona in maybe '64.  So my buddy Cal Miller and I inspected fields for boll weevils in Gila Bend in the middle of the freakin' summer.  Average high 110 or so. Fry an egg on the hood of your car hot.  In the fields by 6 out by noon.  Lifts weights and take a dip.  Take a nap and have steak and a couple of long neck Buds.  Back to Phoenix for the weekend. Repeat.

Nut Job

New Mexico produces 47 million pounds of pecans in New Mexico, 70% of it in the Mesilla Valley. The vertical image here shows a section being irrigated by Rio Grande river water, something that seems highly unlikely since the river is barely a trickle down here. 

The second shot tries to capture the rhythm of these creatures in some kind of primordial dance.

Pecan Capitol

Mesilla, New Mexico is pecan central in the state that produces more pecans than any other.  Georgia is a poor second, y'all.  This factoid would have escaped me had we not spent a couple of night in Mesilla and chanced upon this majestic stand of pecan trees.  They seem like orchards to me but apparently are called farms.