Monthly Archives: September 2009

North New Mexico, August 21-28 Part II

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Previous blogs from the trip:

This blog is low on words – sorry, even I have my moments when I’m stunningly incoherent.

I got to see some rural scenes between Taos and Cimarron.

Halfway between Taos and Cimarron is Eagle’s Nest where this chapel at the Vietnam Veterans’ National Memorial & State Park resides.

While in Cimarron, I carefully documented with my hi-tech hi-resolution camera phone one of Phillip Jefferson’s finest designs for his architectural portfolio. He must’ve worked on that sign for at least 3 or 4 months. I’ll be sure to include this in my professional photography portfolio to attract future clients. What a masterpiece of contemporary graphics. Here, you can see Bennett Strahan pointing to Phillip’s crafty use of the Comic Sans font.

I got to witness a nice sunrise between Cimarron and Abiquiu…

…and was fortunate to revel in a brilliant sunset in Abiquiu, New Mexico.

I took a morning’s drive down the “Turquoise trail” between Taos and Chimayo.

This is an empty dilapidated house in Truchas. It was one of those stereotypical sleepy New Mexico towns where everyone’s dogs saunter in playful packs through the streets.

I’m trying to remember where this is – I believe it’s in Las Trampas.

Below is the San Lorenzo de Picuris chapel at the Picuris Pueblo.

A tractor-trailer heading towards the village of Chamisal.

One of the most fun places I went to was the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Park. It was so much fun, I went there twice. The first time I went there, I had the entire park to myself. Seriously, do you know difficult it is to have something like that all to yourself? It’s a relatively new and unknown national monument and I arrived just at the start of off-season, so I was lucky. The first time I went there was near the beginning of the trip to hike the entire thing and scope it out. The second time, I took pictures as a storm was brewing. This time, I think I was one of maybe about 5 or 6 people in the entire place.

I was lucky to have emerged from the mountains just as it started pouring. I felt sorry for the people who were a couple miles into the mountains.

Confusing signs. That way! No, wait – go that way!

Rainbow after the storm near the Cochiti pueblo.

And finally, I leave you with a last, inspirational memory with my final photograph from New Mexico. After the rainbow shot, I stopped at a gas station off the interstate. Apparently, the people here to NOT like Dallas Cowboys.

Catch you next blog!

North New Mexico August 21-28 Part I

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The wonderful thing about traveling for work is that it can serve as a neat excuse to see other sights. The first few times I went to New Mexico was in 2005 and I fell in love with the area, inspiring a trip to Colorado and Utah a couple of years later.

I got exactly 30 minutes of sleep before flying out from Raleigh to Albuquerque at 4:00 a.m. – good thing I sleep like a log on airplanes. After I landed and checked into the hotel, did I crash and succumb to a nap? Heck no, I hit the road! In a Toyota Prius. Oh man, it took me like a half hour trying to figure out how to make the keyless entry and ignition work.

The first place I traveled to was the Acoma Pueblo Sky City. I was not disappointed. What an incredible deep history over many centuries these natives have on this land. Through it all, they’ve maintained who they are despite the atrocities they were forced to the suffer under the thumb of European conquerors and Manifest Destiny. To truly appreciate the living culture and history that resides there you must take the tour, the story tellers are amazing and I could never do them justice – so I won’t.

Many of the homes are adobe or stone construction, but they can be constructed of any material the natives desire. So, to the chagrin of some, there are a bunch that are constructed from concrete block – they do look a little odd.

These are some views from the Sky City. Incredible.

Wide expanses of railroad run parallel to I-40 as it runs west from Albuquerque. Growing up next to railroad tracks I’ve always been fascinated by trains, and the great expanse of southwestern terrain made the machines seem like a miniature railroad set.

The drive to Taos along the Rio Grande Rio Grande is long, winding, and incredible. I’ve driven past this gorge at least 15-20 times over the last five years now and never get tired of it.

Though this was the first time I traveled to the bridge and shot down the gorge:

Taos. What a fun town. Here is the famous San Franciso de Asis Mission, photographed and painted by many the world over including timeless greats like Ansel Adams and Georgia O’Keefe. Having been there before (can you believe Catholic Digest is using one of my pics?), I tried getting different views of the church.

I can see some kid today like…”Hey Dad, why is the priest looking at his blackberry like that?”

Previously I only had time to stop by the Rancho de Taos, this was the first occasion i stayed in the area for a greater length.

On the outskirts, past the Rio Grande River Gorge Bridge is the Earthship community. For those of you know who don’t know what this is, it’s a sustainable community that was built in the 60s – incorporating things such as recycled materials like tires, aluminum cans, using passive solar energy, wind energy. Some of the houses are small, and a few of time are like large estates, all with a organic the-end-of-the-world-is-coming vernacular that I like to call Post-Hippyism. Quite a flower-child town definitely interesting and ahead of it’s time for the 60s, but no way I could ever live there.

Most of the community residents use old run-down vehicles to get around. I think I got a couple of snarky looks as I rolled my shiny Prius rental into town.

BUT – there was this kickass GMC truck there.

Part II coming soon!

Pro Gig: Private 5500 s.f. Residence in Northern New Mexico

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One of the neat things about having Bennett Strahan as a client is that he’s also a former boss, so we already have a solid working relationship that’s spanned almost six years. Last month, I flew out West to document one of his designs, a 5500 s.f. residence in the remote desert mountains of northern New Mexico. In shooting it, the house has become my favorite Strahan piece of architecture. No matter the geographical location of his residences, Bennett likes to blend traditional, regional vernacular with contemporary organic cues. A graduate of Taliesin, you can pick in the detail work a steady F.L. Wright influence. Here, he’s built a sculptural yet functional house that nestles in with the rugged striations of the surrounding terrain. The couple that lives here is moved in, but there’s still a few final touches and landscaping to be installed.

The corner glass is a trademark Wright detail.

The formed walls were completed with an insulated concrete wall system for thermal insulation and energy-saving radiant floor heating systems.

The center of the house is the also the main entry of the house that feeds into an open space covering the living area, dining, and kitchen areas. Below, you can see how it connects to the living space.

All of the doors are handmade. The owner is one of the finest wood furniture makers in the world. Not only did the owner do all of the woodwork in the house, but performed the construction of this house himself. Better yet, this was the first and only house he’s ever built. His knack for detail was perfect for a house with so many intersecting geometries. I feel sorry for the guy who had to all the drawings for this thing.

Looking directly up through the center of the house, you’ll see a sculpture installed above. A night in transforms into a kaleidoscope.

Stepping back into the dining area, you’ll see that the center “tube” (which had to be lifted by crane) rests on the three wood columns, which along with the attached shear wall behind it is the only structure that is keeping the entire house together. As seen above, the array of heavy timber structure supporting the roof meet at the center, extending through the house to the outside elements.

Below is the master bedroom and bath, located on the second floor. Glass block was installed in keeping with the organic architecture in the bathroom.

The master bedroom leads to an outdoor deck with a great 180 degree view of the surrounding mountains.

There’s that center piece again…this is looking west from the end of the outdoor deck that leads from the master bedroom.

Eventually, when the house and landscaping is completely finished I’ll be back for a few more shots but this’ll do for now.