Serious Shopper
New York, New York
2017

Finding Your Muse
New York, New York
2017

I went to the Guggenheim Museum of Art yesterday to be inspired by the art. Little did I know I would quite literally find my muse there.

36th St.
New York, New York
2017

I’m really getting around this last couple of weeks. After ten days on my Nevada and California trip, I was home for another ten days and now am in New York City for a week with the Fashion Queen.

Given my companion, is it just a coincidence that we are one block from the Garment District? Actually it is indeed just a coincidence, just like it’s just a coincidence we’re only two blocks from B&H Photo Video, my go-to camera store.

This is the view from our hotel room. When I found out our room was on the 15th floor of our hotel, I was thinking we might have a decent long range view–and then I remembered where we were. Silly me. A fifteen story building in Bozeman, if we had one, would be the tallest building for 150 miles. But in New York City, especially when only a couple of blocks from the Empire State Building, it probably barely makes low-rise status.

I’ll have more photos from my California trip to post later, but since I’m in the city, I think I’ll go with city shots for the duration.

Truck Tires
Austin, Nevada
2017

I had to admire the economy and simplicity of this sign; it’s direct and to the point.

The Loneliest Tag
U.S. 50, Nevada
2017

At first glance I thought this graffiti said “tank” rather than “tag.” But then I remembered tag is a slang term for graffiti (although usually in reference to someone signing their name). The full message is a take-off of the advertising gimmick in which U.S. 50 has for some years been billed as “The Loneliest Highway in America.” I don’t think it qualifies for that moniker anymore as it seemed a lot busier than some other highways I drove on during this trip. It was certainly much busier than when I last drove it some 10-15 years ago. At any rate, this graffiti may in fact be in the running for the loneliest tag in America as it was in fact the only graffiti of note that I remember seeing in driving some 250 miles on U.S. 50 from Ely to Fallon, NV.

Mansplainin’
Eureka, Nevada
2017

Everything
Shellbourne Station, NV
2017

Well-Protected
Alabama Hills, CA
2017

Patriot’s Dream
Cherry Creek, Nevada
2004

On a bright, sunny morning 13 years ago I took this photo of a ragged flag in a paint-peeled cabin in Cherry Creek, Nevada. I called it Patriot’s Dream as a bit of a wry comment on the state of our nation, which at that time had been embroiled in the Iraq War for a year and it was clear it was a mess with no quick or easy end in sight. In February 2006 the literary and art journal Words and Pictures published the photo along with a list of confirmed U.S. casualties in just the first 37 days of the year. The list contained 54 names, but a small time sampling of the carnage the fighting has produced.

Now, all these years later, we are still fighting in Iraq, and also in at least some capacity in Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, etc., etc., etc. And who knows, maybe soon in Korea.

In that context, on my recent trip to California I revisited Cherry Creek and the cabin in the Patriot’s Dream photo. This time it was on a dreary, rainy day. That same flag is still there. It’s hanging in there. Just barely.

Dreams Fade
Cherry Creek, Nevada
2017

The Road to Cherry Creek
Cherry Creek, Nevada
2017