Let's Go

Collage after Mondrian, Germany, August 2001

(Clockwise from left: Norden, Lauffen/N, Emden;

center, Stuttgart HBF)

Just weeks before September 11, my mind and Nikon were far away from tragedy.  Now, everything has changed, and Germany and the whole Western world are under a shadow.

Here's to happier times.

Los Colores de Coahuila

Ruta Federal 29, San Carlos, Coahuila, January 2002

In the winter, even though the temperatures don't really dip too low, outdoor eating venues are shuttered up.  I ran across this refreshment stand, and was so floored by the desolation, that I shot it with an 81B warming filter, and then desaturated the image after scanning (a departure from my usual processing, which is why this image is not included on my website).  

The resultant image is a place out of time and mind, although the Siempre Coca Cola advertisement places it in the 1990s, though in less than a decade, sun and sand worked twenty years damage on it.

Road Trip: Madawaska Valley, Ontario

Near Greater Madawaska, Madawaska Valley, Ontario, 

June 2004

I always carry many different cameras and types of film when I head out on a road trip.  This photograph, taken on Agfapan APX-25, was captured during one of my trips documenting the Trans-Canada Highway on Polacolor 669 film.  Fortunately, I brought my Rolleiflex SL-66 along, because this image of unpainted barns in the Madawaska Valley was clearly meant to be monochrome.

Los Colores de Coahuila

Mothers and Children, Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, April 2002

These women are the wives and girlfriends of men detained in the city jail in the city of Acuña in Coahuila.  I was introduced to them by my dear friend and guardian angel, Paulina Sanchez.  Whether imprisoned justly or not, these women's men were languishing in jail for want of an attorney.

So, they wait in vigil outside city hall in protest, hoping that the mayor will grant clemency. While I cannot know whether justice was dealt or not, I certainly sympathize with their predicament.

One year before taking this photograph, I had spent time in the jail at the police station in Acuña.  I had been photographing along the main drag, near the border crossing into Del Rio when I passed by a grade school.  As I was taking pictures of street life with my Ricoh, when the kids behind the fence playing at recess asked me to take their picture, I did.  Five minutes later, the police picked me up and took me to the local police station.  

As it turned out, a child had been kidnapped from that school but one month before.  The suspect was a tall gringo who took the boy's photograph the day before.  Apparently, I was suspected of planning to do the same.

By God's grace, a woman named Paulina Sanchez was on her way home for lunch, following about fifty feet behind me.  She went to the police station as a witness on my behalf, and went to the U.S. side of the border to make telephone calls to everyone I knew to call the Acuña police to get me out.  After a long wait in the drunk tank -- which smelled of urine -- the police chief let me go.  My Army administrator called and informed him I was a legitimate military photojournalist.

I've heard it said that street photographers haven't made it until they've been arrested for the "crime" of taking pictures.  Perhaps, but I really don't want to go through it again.

Rediscovered Negatives: Los Colores de Coahuila

Sabinas, Coahuila, April 2002

This photograph of a well-worn -- but still very sweet -- 1964 Plymouth Valiant was featured in Los Colores de Coahuila on my defunct website, which due to the vagaries of the buyout of FlashNet by Prodigy, the buyout of Prodigy by SBC Global, and the buyout of SBC Global by AT&T, has become impossible to remove my primitive and outdated site from the Internet -- whenever I telephone the customer service people at AT&T, they never even heard of FlashNet, nor have the faintest notion whom I should call, as we cancelled our FlashNet account in 2004.

Still, I love the juxtapositions of color from this print:  Deep aquamarine blue against pale salmon, and loam green and golden amber competing for the eye's attention.

Rediscovered Negatives: Los Colores de Coahuila

House entrance, Monclova, Coahuila, March 2008

This photograph was from my last excursion into Mexico before moving to Minnesota later in 2008.  Even on the cloudiest of days, the expressive facades of houses in Coahuila brighten up the day.  Homeowners' associations haven't really caught on in Mexico, save in the gated communities retired Americans move to.

Rediscovered Negatives: Los Colores de Coahuila

Allende, Coahuila, c. November 2004

Off of Federal Route 57 in Allende, is this simple and exquisite example of Art Deco architecture.  Originally built as a gasoline station, this elegant building now serves as a beer and cold beverage store.  I did not purchase anything upon this particular visit, but on prior and subsequent visits (especially in summer), I would pop in for an ice-cold Coronita.  In the blistering August heat, it tasted like a magic elixir, and restored lost energy from a long day of shooting.

The 1997 Saturn SL1 in the left-hand side of the picture racked up almost 300,000 miles for me in eleven years, about half of them on my photography expeditions.

Where I'd Rather Be

U.S. Route 66, Santa Rosa, New Mexico, November 2005

Right about now, it is late afternoon in Southeast Minnesota, yet fog still permeates the air, as raindrops slowly pound the snow and ice still on the ground.  The days lately are like something out of Hobbes's Leviathan: "Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."

Yet, looking at this snapshot I took on Agfa's gorgeous Ultra 50 print film, I am taken to an oasis promising not just sun and sand, but lovely lasses with long legs lounging around the swimming pool.

Rediscovered Negatives: Los Colores de Coahuila

Stations of the Cross, No. 8

Santa Maria de Guadalupe Church,

Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, c. April 2000

Even the shadows in the Santa Maria de Guadalupe Church, built in 1958, follow the building's Cubist architectural forms.  In this sculpture, depicting Christ's visit with the daughters of Jerusalem, Jesus's humanity is simply depicted with grace and beauty.

Rediscovered Negatives: Los Colores de Coahuila

Santa Maria de Guadalupe Church, 
Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, c. April 2000

While I wouldn't mind leaving a legacy comparable to that of Garry Winogrand, hopefully part of that legacy will not be leaving more than 2,500 rolls of film undeveloped by the time of my passing.

At present, I have around 100 or so, and I am currently sending off my C-41 35mm to the lab for development.  The first roll came back today, and it was an old roll of the Agfa Optima II 100 film I had shot in the Mexican frontier city of Acuña.  

There are a few excellent shots on the roll, and this photograph of a friar's statue is my favorite.  It is quite difficult to take natural light photographs indoors on slow film, but the Agfa films of the past decade captured the color balance beautifully, allowing a full tonal range as well.

I miss Mexico.  It is where my photographer's soul resides, particularly in Coahuila, where the drab monotony of the caliche is relieved by building after building painted in lush primary colors.