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!

More Awesome Monsoon Clouds

We had a great cloud and color show yesterday evening (Sept. 3), both in the east and the west at sunset.  Didn't get much rain in Corrales, but parts of Albuquerque got wet!



These are from our back yard looking toward the east and southeast:

These are looking west out our front door:

 

More (and bigger) versions of these at Todos Juntos Photography -- click here.

Enjoy!

Monsoon Season

In the Southwest, July and August are the two wettest months of the year, when Albuquerque receives one-third of its annual 9.5-inch precipitation.  This season is ruefully yclept "Monsoon Season" by the locals.

Monsoon Season brings lots of clouds -- amazing, awesome clouds -- but little of their moisture reaches the ground because the air is so dry.  The fickle clouds, however, bring a visual feast for the photographer.

Sunrises are dramatic and colorful . . .

The clouds build up in the afternoon . . .

and when they're overhead, they look strange and dangerous . . .

 


























Or even downright apocalyptic . . .

Sometimes you get a great sunrise and apocalyptic clouds:

When it finally does rain, it comes with lightning:

And an occasional piece of a rainbow:

If you would like to see larger versions of these and more, you can go to my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.

Enjoy!

Las Fiestas de San Lorenzo

As I have said before in this space, once the weather warms up there are festivals or celebrations happening virtually every week across New Mexico.

Locally, the town of Bernalillo, NM (population about 8,500), hosts Las Fiestas de San Lorenzo, a three-day street fair celebrating the patron saint of the town.  It's not a large event like the ones in Santa Fe or Albuquerque, but it is typical of the many events that celebrate the diversity of cultures in New Mexico.

The centerpiece of Las Fiestas is La Danza de los Matachines -- twelve masked individuals dancing to the traditional Spanish instruments (guitar and violin), carrying wooden tridents and gourd rattles.

Unfortunately, I somehow completely missed this part.  So next year I'll pay more attention and post another blog about that.

This post, perforce, will be about the other elements of Las Fiestas -- in particular, music, dancing, and classic cars (with a few bicycles and motorcycles thrown in for good measure).

Let's start with the cars.  New Mexicans love their cars, and some take loving care of the old ones.  For Las Fiestas, the Albuquerque chapter of Viejitos Car Club (principally, but not exclusively, focused on the lowrider style vehicles) brought about 20 for display along the main street:

Parked so close together they were difficult to photograph individually, so I got a few whole cars and lots of details:

I mentioned the bicycles and motorcycles.  Here are a few:

As for the music, it was a mix of Hispanic and country/western.  The groups perform in a large tent (complete with dance floor) set up in front of City Hall.  This one is called Ana Maria y Sangre Latino:

And the dancers are everyday people.  Here's my favorite couple:

One other observation:  the iconography of these festivals is principally -- and very graphically -- religious.  Here's the T-shirt booth:

But stacked next to shirts depicting a crucified Jesus are shirts depicting a couple of other religions:

If you would like to see larger versions of these images (and more), visit my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.

Enjoy!

When It Rains . . .

 
Last Friday evening a huge storm blew through the Rio Grande valley of central New Mexico.  It brought much-needed rain -- and not-needed high wind and hail -- to our drought-stricken area.

In some parts of Albuquerque there were many uprooted trees and downed power lines; in our neighborhood (having few trees), just a lot of water erosion, some of which was significant.  (Though not anything like what western North Carolina got about the same time.)

These irrigation pipes are supposed to be buried.

But in the aftermath, the flowing water also left beautiful patterns.  Here are some examples:

 

 

Some are even more interesting in black-and-white:

But all are, in their own way, beautiful . . . 

You can see these images (and more) in a larger size at my photography website, Todos Juntos Photography, by clicking here.

Enjoy!