Textures at the Black Place

 

I have photographed large-scale landscape features (like the one above) at the Black Place out in northwest New Mexico dozens of times and posted blog entries about many of them.  You can read them here, here, here, and here.  

This time, on a visit at the end of December last year with my photographer friend, Alan, I chose to pay more attention to shapes and textures on a smaller scale.  Thus, this post mostly contains interesting textures I found within an area about a half-mile square.  To me they are intrinsically fascinating and beautiful, and I don't even know how to describe them, so I'm just going to show them with minimal comment.

Many of the images might legitimately be considered "abstract" because I intentionally excluded indicators of scale or context/environment.  

In addition, I have converted some images to black-and-white, and in some cases I include both versions; you can decide which you like better.  For example,

So here we go.  Let's start with some of the larger scale features with texture:

You might have noticed the waxing gibbous moon in the upper left corner above.  I couldn't resist including it in a few other shots, à la Ansel Adams's "Moonrise Over Hernandez":

                                                                                 - / - / - / -

                                                                                 - / - / - / -

As the sun was setting behind the mesa on the south side of the valley, the light became effectively Blue Hour, and I got very interested in the zaftig features as in the images below:

                                                                                 - / - / - / -

                                                                                 - / - / - / -

                                                                                 - / - / - / -

                                                                                 - / - / - / -

Chasing the light, I began to move away from the base of the mesa and back into direct, low-angle Golden Hour sunlight still shining on the north side of the valley, focusing primarily on the texture mix of small rocks (points) and water courses (lines) on the ground.  For these, I generally prefer the color versions.

I came across a whole field of rocks with orange lichens on them . . .

 . . . and one rock with only the pale blue-green lichens:

Then a huge open space with thousands of rocks of all sizes:

Eventually, even on the north side of the valley, the sun was again disappearing behind the mesa . . .

 . . . and suddenly it was Blue Hour again!  Notice how the right side of the image below is Blue Hour light, the left side is still in Golden Hour (just barely), and the center section (water course) is a mix of both.

Near the base of the northside hills were interesting flows of Mancos shale . . . essentially dried mud.  In Blue Hour light the textures worked well both in color and monochrome:

Then it was time to hike back to the car and head for home (a two-hour drive away).

If you would like to see these images (and more) in a larger format, please visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here!

Cheers,  -- LWO

Art City, New Mexico

                      "People wish to be settled [but] only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them."

                                                                                        -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Last April, my friend, Alan, and I took a trip to Tucumcari, NM, primarily to photograph iconic buildings and locations related to old Route 66, whose 100th anniversary is this year.  I wrote a couple of blog posts with our photos which you can see here and here.

A few miles outside Tucumcari is another area with much more contemporary art:  Art City, a 40-acre glamping and sculpture park which features large-scale installations similar to those you might see at Nevada's "Burning Man" festival.  

Art City is more than just an art park.  It aims to use art installations to create sustainable economic development in small, overlooked (i.e., bypassed) highway towns like Tucumcari.

We had a great time photographing the imaginative and intriguing pieces scattered throughout an open field.  Here are some examples:

The Lips

This is a stainless steel and aluminum piece by San Francisco-based street artist fnnch.  It's 10' x 20', weighs 3,000 pounds, and is the only large-scale sculpture he ever created.

Launch Intention

This is a 25'-long piece by Griffin Loop in the shape of a paper airplane.  It's made of steel and weighs four tons!  (Don't ask me how they transported it.)

Evolution Field

A visually fascinating piece by Matt McConnell, 12' x 30' of curving steel.

Centered

Five 8'-diameter concentric rings made of stainless steel and weighing 4,000 pounds; created by Darrell Ansted.

If you look carefully along the axis of the cylinder of rings, in the distance you will see . . .

Facing the Fear Beast

This gigantic piece, created by Tigre Marshaal-Lively, is made of steel and motorcycle tires.  It's 25 feet tall and 36 feet long, and weighs 8,000 pounds.

Facing the beast is a statue of a small human:

Art City is on NM highway 104 north of Tucumcari.  Google Maps says it's closed temporarily -- I hope not permanently because it's worth the side trip if you're traveling through Tucumcari on I-40.

If you would like to see these images in a larger format, please visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.

Enjoy!