Taos Pueblo #3
Taos. New Mexico
2011

This view shows a traditional horno (beehive shaped oven) in front of the pueblo. (I’m not sure what that buttress like thing is sticking against the back of the horno–that’s not typical.) Hornos are everywhere in the Taos area. Lots of people have them in their backyard, some for show but many are actually used to bake bread.

When I lived in Tucson many years ago I got interested in adobe buildings and made my own horno in the backyard of the place I was renting. I never did bake anything in it though. Later when I bought my own little adobe home, I added onto it using traditional adobe building techniques. I had a truckload of dirt hauled in, built a brick form, made a big mud pit and molded and sun-dried my own bricks. Some friends from graduate school (a few who are POTD readers) helped me on the project, stacking bricks, plastering, and painting. At least for me it was a welcome diversion from all that studying. I went by the house the last time I was in Tucson and the addition was still standing after all these years, so I guess we did a decent job.

Taos Pueblo #2
Taos, New Mexico
2011

Originally the only way to enter any of the rooms in the pueblo was through a hatch in the ceiling. The windows were quite small too, as they still are. This was all done for security purposes I believe. Even with all famous bright sunlight of northern New Mexico, those rooms must have been quite dark inside. If it were me, I would have spent most of the time outside, except in really bad weather.

Taos Pueblo #1
Taos, New Mexico
2011

Taos Pueblo is one of those famous well-photographed locations that I had no aspirations of providing any particularly noteworthy new views of the place. But still, I had fun and will post some of the results in a short series over the next few days.

Back Door Beauty
Taos, New Mexico
2011

Yesterday’s photo was accidentally pictorialist. This one I set up that way on purpose. The lighting on the back of this vacant building reminded me of an Edward Hopper painting, so I convinced Connie to sit on the steps and provide the trademark lone figure.

Sizing It Up
Taos, New Mexico
2011

When I travel and take a lot of photographs it is always a struggle to decide if I want to work through the photos sequentially or just randomly cherry-pick the ones that look like the most fun to play with each day. Randomness has won the day for now as I am skipping a lot of Wichita photographs as well as some from the trip to Taos for the time being.

This out of focus photo of some gentlemen checking out a piece of property that was for sale is so blurry it seems an unlikely candidate for cherry-picking. But I thought it has merit in an impressionist sense. The blurriness takes your attention off of the specifics of the scene and allows the eye to enjoy the bright splashes of color and the warmth of the evening “magic hour.” Just to be clear, this was not a planned effect with the camera, it was due to operator error. Whether the error was fortunate or unfortunate is in the eyes of the beholder.

Corral
Wichita, Kansas
2011

Another semi-abstract image from the Cowtown farm. By underexposing the shot, it makes the corral posts and rails into just a series of bright lines on a dark background.

One-Off
Wichita, Kansas
2011

A little abstract image from the back of one of the out-buildings of the farm at Cowtown. (I guess the official name is the Old Cowntown Museum.)

Down on the Farm
Wichita, Kansas
2011

This is the farm at Wichita’s Cowtown. It’s easy to tell a real working farm (which was what this was before it was moved to Cowtown) as opposed to one of the hobby farms you see a lot of these days. The hobby farms have huge houses and a smattering of token outbuildings. On a real farm you have to look hard sometimes to see the house in amongst all the huge barns and accessory buildings it takes to make a real go at agriculture.

The Gesture (Celebration)
Wichita, Kansas
2011

Another addition to my series on gestures in sculpture and paintings. I could just as well have called this one The Smoking Gun the way that jet contrail lines up with the end of the cowboy’s gun. I wish I could take credit for that quirky result but I was totally concentrating on getting a decent angle on the sculpture and didn’t even pay attention to the sky. (The sculpture by the way is a copy of Frederick Remington’s Coming Through the Rye.)

Walking It Off
Wichita, Kansas
2011

Some kids getting fired up for a tour of the Wichita Art Museum.