Crossing Pattern

Con Trails and highlines cross in the blue sky above Santa Fe. On my way to photograph The City Different's Saturday market I looked up to see this wonderful design forming above me.

Big, Empty

This bleak image is one my entries in the Taos Fall Arts Invitational that opens this weekend. The unforgiving scene reflects the utter desolation of the dying town of Keeler, California where a dozen or so oddballs defy 120 degree summers and bone chilling winters to be alone in its wrenching beauty.

Sirens of the West Mesa

This is about as far from a bridge in the fog as you can get. Aerialists in lingerie for heaven's sake. With the sun dropping below the western horizon these ladies performed lofty feats of derring while suspended from a crane-like structure high above the desert.

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.