The Bridge to Nowhere

The fog moved slowly westward with patches of sunlight exposing the Golden Gate Bridge. In this image vehicles disappear into nothingness and the fearsome prospect of a nosedive into the straights below.

Cloaked in Fog

The fog off the bay made this image seem out of focus when, in fact, stationary objects in the picture are tack sharp. Part of this impression was accomplished by using a very long exposure to capture the ephemeral and mysterious nature of the slowly moving fog.

Rose's Eyes

Rose has elaborate tattoos and baleful eyes. Here those magical eyes are set off by alabaster skin that seems to have never seen the sun.

And Another Thing

This one is for you neo-cons (you know who you are) who think last week's high key post was not "a Steve Immel photograph." Taken in the same lighting conditions, this image is closer to an 'as shot' shot where I haven't blown the bejeezus out of the background. Whaddaya like?

Nima

My friend Steve Ray and I photographed the glorious Nima Nejad at the Presidio of San Francisco. The morning floated from fog to sun and back again as we shot him in the long closed battlements that line the bay within sight of the Golden Gate Bridge. With a light gray hoodie and gray sky this shot lent itself to a high key interpretation that fused the garment with the fog.

Dado

The dude walks into a room and all eyes are riveted on his wispy and white chin feathers. After 27 years in the military he now works for the BLM . He's also a photography buff who buys lenses as a hobby. His latest is some slow 1300mm. Gotta see him hand hold that beast. "But it was cheap", sez Dado. There's that.

Early Grave

The hilltop cemetary in Elizabethtown is strewn with humble gravestones and makeshift adornments. The teddy bear decorating the grave of a young child was especially poignant. Winter's last snow clung to the ground rendering the moment achingly sad and simply beautiful

Crossed Arms

This torso belongs to the disembodied legs several entries ago. I'm fond of the way the sun highlights the model's right arm. Naturally lit, this image depicts healthy athleticism and natural beauty.

Meeting Place

America's tallest dunes are 800 feet high and lie just beneath the 14,000 foot high Sangre de Cristo mountains in southern Colorado. These amazing hills of sand are blown off and formed again by winds that scour the San Luis Valley to their west.

Ornamentation

Elizabethtown, New Mexico is almost a ghost town. There may be a dozen residents today. Along with a smattering of abandoned buildings and a captivating little cemetary was the hulk of a thirties vintage automobile that some creative soul had decorated with plastic flowers. The effect was much like flowers placed on a grave to honor the departed.

Camera Magnet

It's funny how some folks love the camera and the camera returns the favor. Alain Comeau is such a character. He's not classicly handsome but definitely has the French thing going on. Easy to use. Easy to shoot. Works like a charm.

All Legs

My model was in a classic beach position on the mantel of a kiva fireplace in an old hacienda. As a globetrotting professional figure model the hardest thing to get was an unposed appearing shot. This image seemed to accomplish two things; to be both natural and abstract at the same time. The light was through a skylight that was diffused through a scrim mounted just above her

Decommisioned

The sun was low in the sky when I photographed the Frontier Drive-in near Antonito, Colorado. Defunct along with the closed theatre was this line up of decommisioned trailers; four of which were gleaming aluminum. Their reflective surfaces punctuated the scene as the 14,000 foot Sangre de Cristos rose above the San Luis Valley.

Butternut Squash

Occasionally I revisit a significant photograph from the past. This one of a bushel of Butternut Squash was taken just after leaving the Fryeburg Fair in western Maine. The weather outside was frightful or threatening to get that way fast. There was a gentle mist at the moment the image was made. The even light produced lovely mid-tones and tremendous luminosity. The richness of this image sealed my decision to go digital from capture to print. That was late September 2003.

Muffler Art

I've photographed a defunct gallery called "Outsider Art" on numerous occasions. Quirky assemblages of mechanical flotsam and jetsam adorn the exterior offering limitless still lifes and abstract compositions. This muffler welded vertically was the clear focal point of this image.

At the Marienplatz

On our way to some glorious back country skiing in Austria we spent three grand days in Munich and one beer soaked night the its famous Hofbrau Haus. The heart of the Bavarian Capitol's Old Town is the broad urban plaza called the Marienplatz. This ornate building once housed the state's legislature. A light rain had just fallen leaving the air clean and the details of the grand ediface ever so sharp.

Happy's Face

This polished study in chrome is of a friend's 1939 Chevy. The big old sedan was Terry's pride and joy till he sold it recently. The photograph was taken during magic light; those moments just after the sun goes down when there's an even, shadowless light. I love the graphic quality of this shot.

Above Lama

It was a blustery spring evening just before an unseen sun dipped below the western horizon. This forlorn dwelling looked past the Rio Grande and north to southern Colorado. Not far away, maybe half a mile, stood Lama Foundation one of the original hippy communes that were built in northern New Mexico the mid 1960s.

Budding Up

Unbelievably this is a natural light photograph taken in mid-afternoon beside the historic meeting house in Eaton, New Hampshire. The plant was very close to the meeting house wall and somewhat protected from the raking sun. I underexposed substantially so the background faded to black as though I had shot against black seamless with a single snooted keylight on the buds.

Las Toallas

Truth be known I don't remember if these drying towels were in San Miguel de Allende or Dolores Hidalgo. They lived in one of those colonial cities in the Mexican highlands that is certain. This shot feels like somebody's catching lunch nearby.

Adobe Motif

In late spring I photographed in a sprawling hacienda in the village of Bernalillo, New Mexico. This shot was taken in the enclosed courtyard with natural overhead light filtered through a scrim to soften the effect. The image has been toned to reflect the setting, the sun and the model in repose.

My 55

Tangled in vines this New Hampshire Crown Victoria hadn't hit road in many a year. The two tone coupe replete with continental kit was a body double for the one we had in my family back when we all liked Ike.

More Found Art

As I was waiting for the The Cache Gallery in Fort Collins to open and not wanting to leave the immediate area I challenged myself to find a worthy subject for inclusion in my Found Art Series. Quick as a blink I was taken by the remarkable elegance of the gas meter and pipes on the adjacent building. Voila!

The fence at the top of the world

I spent the better part of two days at more than 10,000 feet photographing along the high road between Tres Piedras and Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico. Highway 64, among the state's highest and most scenic rises 3,000 feet above the desert floor through classic ranchland and into Aspen forest. In late April two feet of fresh snow had fallen leaving a smooth, soft surface through which junipers and fence posts stood in stark contrast.

Plane Geometry

Driving south on Highway 285 just north of Antonito, Colorado I saw a corrugated building with late afternoon shadows that fell just so. The vertical seams of the aluminum siding and the fully black shadows created precise diagonals and striking geometric shapes.

Filigree

These shimmering, silvery leaves at El Charco Botannical Gardens in San Miguel de Allende intermingle with dozens of varieties of succulents and cacti in the high desert of Central Mexico.

Spider's Web

Electrical wiring in San Miguel de Allende is nothing if not creative as demonstrated by this elaborate bit of wizardry. This street light in our neighborhood, Colonia Obraje, glows against a dimming sky.

Sketches of Winter at Wilder Nightingale

During the second week of the New Year I was honored to join the fine roster of artists at the highly regarded Wilder Nightingale Gallery in Taos. This recent image called Fade to White is part of the growing Sketches of Winter series that is being featured at the gallery.

World View

Just north of the border in Colorado I encountered this lonely little building with a very big view. Across the broad San Luis Valley the Sangre de Cristo mountains rose large above the plains.

Blessing of the Horses

More than ten thousand faithful and curious attended the two day Blessing of the Horses in the village of San Martin thirty minutes south of San Miguel de Allende. A temporary city blossomed as hundreds of horses and riders rode across the Campo for a pilgrimage and celebration of all things equine. Dozens of food stalls purveying the likes of carnitas, barbacoa and tortas lined the pathways leading to San Martin's splendid square where riders, hat in hand, bowed before young Padres sprinkling holy water on them and their steeds.

Abuela

The shawl and checkered apron are traditional attire for older Mexican ladies from the Campo. This Dolores Hidalgo grandmother is crossing the square to church; a visit she makes every single day.

Two and Half Garretts

Some 25 years after his mother painted him as twins Garrett Immel is pictured in a reminiscent pose. A musician, make-up artist, guitar maker and all round good guy he makes his folks mighty proud.

Cerillos Curtains

The vilage of Cerillos just south of Santa Fe on New Mexico's Turquoise Trail is in a time warp. Though charming in a dissolute sort of way it also has a forboding subtext where you're not at all sure that you're welcome. This abstract of billowing curtains behind mesh and glass captures neither but appeals nonetheless.

Waves

Seeing southern Colorado's Great Sand Dunes in nautical terms seems to work. This image depicts the ever moving sand in an abstract form resembling waves or building surf.

Lines and Cleat

Just before embarking on the short hour voyage from Port Clyde to Monhegan Island, Maine this compelling still life caught my eye. The lines were gracefully looped around a cleat on the weathered dock as if intended for artistic purpose.

Peter's Fedora

On a long weekend of photographing in The Needles of South Dakota I had the chance to shoot rock climbers on the spectacular spires for which the area was named. On a couple of evenings we enjoyed the company of Sylvan Rocks guide Peter Lev. One day Peter and long time friend George Hurley put up a new route that they named Most Gruesome and rated 9 plus on the climber's scale of difficulty. After their first ascent George computed that 2008 is his 50th year on vertical rock. For Peter a scant 48. A doff of the hat to these young rascals.

Conservatory Dome

Built in the early 20th Century the Rose Hills Conservatory at Pasadena's Huntington Museum is a misty, fecund repository of exotic plants. The conservatory was remodelled to the tune of $1.75 million and re-opened in October 2005. The intricate lath and glass evoke turn of the century design and aesthetics.

Old 24-16

Trains, peeling paint and good design are a marvelous combination. The Mount Washington Scenic Railroad in North Conway, New Hampshire offers a treasure trove of worn and rusted locamotives, cars and cabooses.

Justin's Palette

Several years back I spent a week in Canyon de Chelly on a horseback painting trip where I was the sole photographer. One afternoon shortly after lunch our Navajo guide, Justin Tso, set up to paint and I caught this colorful still life of his tubes of oil paint and palette.

Found Art

On an exterior wall of a closed gallery in Rinconada just south of Taos I photographed these bedsprings displayed as some kind of artistic statement. I liked the design and was struck their strong graphic quality.

Salt Marsh

In early fall with evening light the salt grass in Moody Beach, Maine wove a sweeping, glowing pattern against the brackish water.

Leather Tough

Joe Graves is a real Mountain Man. Born and raised in Taos Joe is part cowboy, part miner and a big part craftsman. His buddy Lindsey says he can make anything and that he once carved his own false teeth out of wood and tied the things in with fishing line. Later he got real choppers in Mexico. Did I mention Joe's tough?

People in Places

For an exhausting week fifteen photographers explored the world of portrait lighting on location with the estimable Alan Thornton. In a rigorous, sometimes frustrating and ultimately exhilirating workshop Alan and his able assistants Kevin and Karen turned a bunch of natural light shooters into reasonable facsimiles of professional location photographers. Our best work was perfectly lit and startlingly rendered. I am transformed.

Dreamscapes

Though I had been photographing for a very long time I had never photographed the undraped female form. When the Dreamscapes workshop became available I jumped at the chance to participate in a weekend long session shooting the nude in a northern New Mexican hacienda and on the Zia Pueblo. I departed the workshop with a grasp of natural light augmented with reflecters and diffusers and with several memorable images to remember it by.

Elegy

The lovely adobe church in Las Trampas is one of my favorite northern New Mexico subjects, rivaling famous Ranchos Church in Taos in form and expression. Called San Jose de Gracia the church was built in the early 1700s to serve the faithful along the High Road between Penasco and Chimayo. Within the church's courtyard is a tiny graveyard with ornate crosses of crude wood and wrought iron.

Chaco Canyon

An extraordinary Native American culture flourished in northwestern New Mexico before mysteriously disappearing around 1400 AD. The Chacoans mastered a complex and highly precise construction process using flat stones rather than adobe to erect massive ceremonial structures in a pastoral mecca that was central to an ancient Puebloan religion.

Sketches of Winter

Early in December just after our first real snowfall I photographed La Morada de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, a lay chapel built in the early 1800s by the Brotherhood of Penitentes. As I made my way around the little church I was taken by patterns of weeds and fences that peeked through the foot of fresh snow. Through the Winter I found similar subjects in my travels through northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. These images became the first in a series I've named Sketches of Winter.

Cow Spring

Though it was late Fall the weather in northern Arizona's Four Corners region was warm, bright and glorious. There was little traffic on US 264 east of Ganado on the vast Navajo reservation and I looked for images that would depict the high desert and its empty beauty. Out the side of my left eye I saw an iconic southwestern scene with cattle and horses gathered around a stock tank. Consulting my Gazateer I discovered that the nearest settlement was called Cow Spring.

The Boxed Set

Rush Creek Gallery near Santa Fe's historic plaza is launching a groundbreaking Boxed Set only format. In offering boxed portfolios of as many as 25 visual artists owner and photographer Steve Zeifman is changing the way that photographic images are displayed and sold. Aimed at the educated collector Rush Creek offers a new way to see and buy fine photography. To learn more log on to www.rushcreekeditions.com.

Martinez Hacienda

Two properties make up Taos Historic Museums. They are the Martinez de Los Martinez shown here and the Ernest Blumenschein house. Best known is the sprawling Martinez Hacienda built by legendary Padre Martinez in the early 1800s. The hacienda is a living history museum that surrounds a courtyard and houses a weaving studio where practitioners of northern New Mexico wool arts ply their craft. Signed photographs of each property as well as other Taos icons are available for sale at the Hacienda and Blumenschein House.