frontier house

old abandoned farm house near mosca, colorado. a collection of photos of this same house can be found on the slv dweller.

lost in the desert, caught in the rocks

sand dunes. hot feet. zapata falls. phat beats.

chama, colorado

mandi, rachel and i spent an afternoon in san luis, colorado, exploring the town and eating some delicious enchiladas. we then ventured to the surrounding smaller towns, rode our bikes around and took some sweet photos. we scored big time in chama, colorado.there were many left behind buildings and vehicles. below are a couple of polaroids from that adventure:


an old school bus left behind in a field in chama. i had a rough time framing this shot as i had to dodge cacti and fire ants swarming around my feet.


the chama post office. i love how small town post offices are always little one room trailers. the sky was particularly foreboding that day, compelling me to capture the mood.

the dwelling of an artist

i finally got my bike fixed and it is ridin like a dream. yesterday i went on a glorious ride around the neighborhood i'm housesitting in. it's not really a neighborhood so much as a massive grid of dirt roads with a scattering of homes. i love the slv desert. so broad and barren.
i decided to take a little trip to my friend eric's house, only a mile or so away from my current gig. eric, unfortunately, was not at home but i snapped some 'roids anyway and am now posting them, unbeknownst to him:


eric built this home himself and in the process made a documentary that won some serious acclaim at the jacksonhole film festival.


eric's trailer, with mt.blanca in the background.

county road

edele's simply honey. while driving to my house-sitting gig one evening i felt compelled to stop and photograph a cooler on the side of the road that read: honey 4 sale. but when i started framing the shot i found myself much more attracted to the mailbox beside it. i don't know why i love this mailbox. maybe it's the fact that it stands on a slant. or it's the barrel loftily holding it up. regardless it's one of my new favorite 'roids.

house sitting in east alamosa

i am currently house sitting a few miles east of town for a woman who's off on a cruise. she has a beautiful place with a beautiful view, some cats, a bunny, and a large grassy lawn. it's a great place to watch the sunset or to lay in the grass and take in the sun. a pretty good gig, to say the least. below are some polaroids of the space:


the view from the yard. clearly a moment meant for the spectra. it's impossible to capture in a polaroid the vastness of mt.blanca but i think she sits well in this photo, framed by the trees, shadows and clouds.


a dirt road in the middle of nowhere.


this is what it looks like laying in the grass. isn't it amazing how the polaroid chooses to focus on just the grass in the middle of the field? click on the image to enlarge and see how crisp that grass is.

the beginnings of summer

it is starting to really feel like summer here in colorado. and i love it. summer is by far my favorite season and the absolute best time for taking polaroids. no worries about it being too cold for proper development or the wind blowing so hard that the images get distorted. and here in colorado the sun shines so bright and the sky is so blue that it's almost impossible to take a terrible photo. so ive got some random shots to share. ive made a habit out of carrying my polaroid with me at all times so i am always ready when a moment strikes me. enjoy!


rainbow's end thrift store on main street here in alamosa. i always have good luck there. so far this year ive found a number of tshirts, button up shirts, a pair of boots, a pair of shades and an electric typewriter.


la puente has its own team in the alamosa adult softball league. seanna's dad, chris, is on the team so seanna is always there with her fam. last wednesday seanna decided she wanted to try on my shades. i think they look swell.


a workgroup from fordham university came for the week and got a lot of planting down in the garden. here they get their hands dirty.

sunday at penitente canyon

on sunday annie, debi, kate, will, michael, montrose and i all went to penitente canyon. it was a beautiful day for a short hike and the view of the valley is incredible. it also turns out montrose is an amazing climber.

here are some highlight shots:


william the conqueror.


michael the pensive.




lounging on the rocks.


michael and montrose.

bike ride through alamosa

on sunday i took a most joyous bike ride around town. it was the nicest day yet; the day we have all been waiting for. after a tumultuously cold winter it seemed a sunny, hot day would never come. but it did. i thought it was the perfect opportunity to do something i hadn't yet tried much; polaroid bike cruising. usually i hop in my car and drive to more far off places to get sweet shots. but there is much material right here in the heart of my little town.

here are sunday's highlights:


the old alamosa power plant. this is one of my favorite structures here in alamosa. it's not totally abandoned; i often see trucks and various machinery parked here. im not exactly sure what they're up to but luckily they were nowhere to be seen on this particular sunday afternoon. this shot is my favorite from the day. the sky could not be bluer.


a half assed cardboard 'closed' sign hangs on the fence that runs along the old power plant.


the alamosa christian science society. i love those weird green stairs.


the shrugging trees on third street. they look like they're saying "sure, why not?"


and more shrugging trees. an old man smoking his pipe and walking his dog wondered what i was up to as i crouched down to take this photo.

afternoons in the monterey backyard

male model

all is not lost

by the end of 2008 polaroid will be no more. i am in the process of gathering as much film as i can but that won't solve the inevitable question: is this really the end of instant film?? many polaroid enthusiasts all over the world, myself included, are finding this to be a hard reality to grapple with. the response: incite a movement to get the formula for instant film licensed to another party so that the art of instant is not lost. at first i felt like this was slightly futile. change is inevitable and the death of polaroid should be no different. but after reading an article in the new york times magazine,(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/magazine/16wwlnConsumed-t.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=polaroid&st=nyt&oref=slogin)
i realized how detrimental this change is. instant film is its own medium - it's not digital, it's not 35mm. it is unlike any other form of photography. instant film captures a moment without haste and leaves no negative, no remnants of its existence. in my travels across the united states i have found polaroids to be a sharply direct and honest way to capture space and land. the transitory nature of polaroid photography allows the immediacy of the moment and memory to be solidified. and unlike a memory card full of digital photos you can delete and duplicate at will, instant film is something to be savored and appreciated. on a roll of polaroid 600 film you are limited to 10 shots; each photo you take is a one time opportunity for greatness. you do not have the luxury of shooting something ten times to pick out the best shot later. there is a certain deliberateness to polariods that makes the whole experience that much more valuable.
with that in mind i have decided that all is not lost in the future of instant film. the new york times article led me to this wonderful site: http://savepolaroid.com/ where a number of other polaroid lovers have put together an effort to urge the higher ups to live and let live. go to the site, download an action pack and start making a ruckus.

on another note:
climbing haystacks may result in tiny cuts on the palms of your hands.

more at the frontier drive-in

frontier drive-in

remember the old frontier drive-in near monte vista? check out the polaroid in the right hand column. yep, that's the one. polly and i ventured out there on our journey and explored the property more fully. what we discovered was mind blowing. beneath the giant screen were three trailers, one blue, one gold and one white & red one. we snuck in all but one (it was locked) and explored the fabulous interiors. the gold one was all gold and yellow on the inside. super 70s chic. the red and white one had many wires strewn across the interior. polly suggested it could be a series of booby traps so we cautiously avoided the wires. i did, however, find a super sweet old gm am radio in one of the closets. call me a looter, if you must. i just feel the need to collect. further down the field we found a couple giant buses and about five more deserted airstream trailers. i also found the old film projector near the projection building. how wild is that?

so here are a couple polaroids from that adventure. i have some digital photos as well that i'll post soon.

why were these super sweet trailers left underneath a drive-in movie screen? so strange.

a trailer for the ladies man. the gold and yellow accents could certainly set the mood for romance. again, tainted during development, hence the bizarre slug-like smudge on the photo.

more adventure 'roids

here are the last of the best polaroids from my adventure days with polly. while i did take some 600 polaroids and some digital i have to say that the spectra is boss. the wide frame of the spectra polaroid is best suited for the wild west landscapes and brilliant colors. the colors weren't captured quite as strikingly as i had hoped due to the mostly overcast days during polly's visit. but all in all i am pleased with the outcome of the shots i got. i hope to get copies of polly's prints soon; then i'll get those on here as well.

anyway, please enjoy the following miscellaneous polaroids below.

(life update and fotos to come soon)

this is probably my favorite of all the polaroids i took during polly's visit. the combination of dilapidated space, big sky and tiny polly put the experience of the wide open west into perspective. it is massive yet contained. the dirty snow and barbed wire fence keep the recklessness of abandonment in check while the vague rocky mountains in the background remind us of place. this is also a great example of how the spectra functions as a landscape medium.

it's true, i did take many photos of polly taking photos. the documentation of documentation. call it lazy, call it post-modernism, call it whatever you please. i personally find something so intriguing about the way one goes about photographing a scene and how inherently by documenting one becomes part of the space they are capturing. so here is polly at sunset capturing a forgotten corral near the taos gorge. sunset can be a tricky time to take photos but i think i did a decent job.

remember nickelodeon's gak? i had forgotten about it until i took this polaroid. for some reason i had a hard time with the film becoming tainted during development. as you can imagine it can be hard to let a polaroid develop untouched when taking photos on the go. so at some point during the development of this photo the edge was tampered with and therefore produced this gak like image. at first it really annoyed me, but i have learned to accept it as being part of the image however strange and unwanted it may be. polly and i found this old gas station on the way to taos. one of the grayest moments of the day. but hey, isnt that a sweet car?

normally i might find a shot like this kinda boring. big road, big sky, silos, blah. but the addition of little miss polly totally changes the view. with her tiny figure against the barbed wire fence we are able to see just how expansive the landscape is. and suddenly other tiny figures become visible. the tiny farmhouse in the far right center, the telephone pole and wires, the mountains peeking out in the distance, the parallel poles of the restrictive fence. it may not be terribly exciting, but this is the west; a collection of tiny details laid against big space takers.

i will end this post with the portrait of a photographer on a windy day. here polly poses for me, bundled against the harsh western winds in the parking lot next to the taos gorge, new mexico. at this point in the day we only had so much light left before the sun completely disappeared. polly and i had just been immersed in conversation with a couple from new jersey, half of whom was too afraid of heights to cross the bridge across the gorge. i was eagerly chatting them up when polly finally said "um, the sun's almost gone. we should go." always the persistent artist; feisty and determined. thats what i look for in a lady.

great sand dunes

a trip to the san luis valley would not be complete without a journey to the great sand dunes national park, just east of alamosa. polly and i trudged through the sand, cameras in tow, in what felt like a pilgrimage to a grander, holier place. while we were not spiritually changed, polly did get some sweet super 8 footage and i got the following polaroids.
the whole experience was beautiful with the slight exception of a man with a remote control dune buggy. it made this obnoxious buzzing noise, seriously interrupting the serene natural setting. but polly got him on film so maybe it was all worth it.