Bonanza Creek Movie Ranch

About 10 miles south of Santa Fe are two movie ranches -- full size sets of Old West towns (some with real interiors) that have been used for Hollywood movies and TV shows like Silverado, Lonesome Dove, Aliens and Cowboys, and 3:10 to Yuma (2007 version).  Surrounded by hills, they are remote enough to be free of contemporary visual elements like telephone poles, power lines, and cellphone towers in all directions.


Last Saturday (9/7) by special arrangement a group of photographers from the Enchanted Lens Camera Club went to the Bonanza Creek movie ranch for a day of shooting.  We arrived before sunrise:

Main Street at Dawn

Marshal on Dawn Patrol

We were accompanied by a group dressed in vintage costumes who were making a home movie Western.  (Look carefully at the faces in this bunch; you might recognize one.)

Photo by Helen Johnson

The movie makers weren't planning to start their shooting until mid-morning, so they were willing to pose for photographs.  

Almost all the classic Old West characters were present:



The U.S. marshal . . .

                          The local sheriff . . .

                                                               The mayor . . .

The undertaker . . .

                         The cattle baron . . .

                                                                           The ranch foreman . . .

The cowgirl . . .

A ranch woman and three town ladies . . . 

The gambler . . .

                                        The bartender . . . 

                                                                                    and the madam . . .

In addition to posing, the actors were also willing to enact scenes for us to shoot:

Occasionally a little fun would break out:

Eventually the actors began shooting their movie:

and all us photographers were right there behind them:

Bonanza Creek has all the requisite buildings: 


A saloon (and upstairs adult entertainment center) . . .

A hotel . . .

A church . . .

A jail . . . 

And miscellaneous other establishments . . .

There is even an inside joke in homage to a real New Mexico ghost town, Steins:

Steins Mercantile - The Original

 

Steins Mercantile - Bonanza Creek Version

Some of the buildings have interiors, like the saloon, the jail, and the church . . .

But others are just facades:

And a good time was had by all . . .

You can see larger versions of these (and more) at my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.

Enjoy!