Albuquerque Railyard

My friends, Raine and Leighanna went to this site back in August. When I saw the images they posted in their blogs from their photo shoot of this old railyard, I fell in love with it. Subsequently, Raine had made several more trips and with each trip she made, I ached even more to go, but timing didn't offer a chance for me until this weekend.

It is hautingly beautiful. When they had gone, the gate to get in was kept locked and there was a security gaurd for the site. Yesterday I went with Raine and Leau; the gate was wide open (we did have permission to be there, though) and there were several homeless men and their dogs taking up residence there. And bullet casings on the ground (people stil see this as the "Wild West"). There were also some other curious people wandering around. Still, though, the property is huge and there are three large buildings with several smaller, auxillary ones.

Raine has since become involved with the folks from the Wheels Museum as I think that the ten year plus dream to renovate and make this site an active commercial site again is starting to take wing. For a glimpse of what it is to become, click on this link. Articles on trying to get this project up and running have been going on for quite a few years. I found some dating back at least 8 years ago (announcing this 'new' project).

You can feel the energy from a century ago within the largest building which is the first shot you see posted here of the exterior. The last shot is within the interior of that building (you can see a homeless man in the bottom left corner of the image). It is as though the workers were still there servicing the trains, keeping things on 'track', loading and unloading the cargo. These were not passenger trains. Even the smell of the kreosote and deisel oil permeates your clothing! Well, it did mine, anyway and I had to launder everything I wore after I got home!

I tried to research who the architect was as I think the design is simple genius. It is a successful meld of art and function; from the exterior lines of the building whose profile mimicks the line of a train, to the interior use of so many glass panes to let the light in. The large steel spans that repeat are reminiscent of Greek columns. It really is quite breathtaking even in its current state of deterioration.

It is tempting to just take photos that exclude the current spray art imposed on the building. It does jar the senses a bit to see this seemingly permanent imposition on these old glass panes. I suppose when the rennovation takes place, all that will change. I included two shots of the graffiti as the artists who did these knew what effect it would have with the color on the glass with the light passing through it.

I wonder why the architect chose to use so much glass and were these glass panes random patterns of color in its heydey? Or, were they all celar? Why are some of them colored? And, why shades of green (for the most part)? So many questions came up in mind...I researched the site for the Burlington Nothern Santa Fe Railroad (who is the company from which this railyard came from)and it was no help to me (but if you're looking for employment with them, the site is geared for that!).

One of the buildings on the property (it was locked up thank goodness) which Raine tells me is in the best condition of them all, will become the installation site for the Cradle Project scheduled for this June. If I can ever get mine done, I will have an entry in that project too.

If you go to Raine's blog to check out what she has posted on this railyard (and I encourage you to do so). She has multiple postings, so when you go to her blog, type in "railyard" on the search engine for the blog and it will provide you with all of her posts. Not only does she have photos, but she has created digital photo collages using images from the railyard and from some glass negatives from the turn of the 20th century. And her images are just as hauntingly beautiful as the building itself.

Moon Dancer

It's an old image (done a long time ago). It's a collograph. I consider it unsuccessful, but I finally got around to scanning it, so here it is!

And for those who are curious, it was done on a Sintra plate instead of cardboard.

(Pyrat) Booty Call

Yo ho! yo ho! A Pyrat's Life for me! Pyrat Booty And a Pyrat's Life And to sail the deep blue seas!

We're coming up on the second Saturday of the month, which means that it's time for me to post a sneak peek of my ATC submission for this month. The suggested theme was "Pirates". I've taken the liberty of changing the spelling to the name of the label of my favorite rum, "Pyrat". I can see why Pirates were drunk all the time as once you've had good rum you realize that it goes down easy and it goes down good! Now I'm sounding like quite the lush!

I had another concept for this month's ATC that was a 3-D design of a treasure chest full of booty. However, after several prototypes and stressing out over the time it would take just to make the 'chest', I still had the problem of finding enough 'booty' to fill said chests with! So, I scrapped that design and went to a 2-D version of Pirate booty. What you see here is 5 of the 23 I made and each one is different.

Cue the music from Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride: "Yo ho, yo ho! A Pirate's life for me..." Yo ho, yo ho!

grATITUDE 101

This image is from a photograph that Leau took on a trip to Paris a while back. It's a pretty cool image and she showed me how you can print it on watercolor paper and paint over it with Twinkling H20s. I think it's a pretty cool treatment as it involves altering an image. Gifts can come in surprising 'packages'; often the 'package' can easily slip us by if we aren't in an open frame of mind. Take, for example the fact that I had spent an inordinate amount of time at the car dealer a few weeks back for a routine 60,000 checkup. I usually wait there at the dealer as I don't mind chilling out for a couple of hours. However, for some reason, the wait extended to three hours. Then four. Then five. Nearly six hours before I finally got out of there! I didn't bring enough things to read or music to listen to! So, the the last thing I wanted to do anytime too soon was to have to go back to the car dealer. Tell that to my fuel pump which decided to konk out after that trip. So, I faithfully call and schedule my appointment, but this time request a ride home to avoid a 'replay'. The morning light on the snow encrusted Sandia mountain was a sight to behold as the courtesy van pulls out of the parking lot. That in itself was a treat; it reminded me of the mountains in the Himalyas. The driver was a delightful man (retired twice and does this job to keep busy) who, oddly enough grew up in India in the foothills of the Himalyas. Wow. A long ways from home, I commented. He cheerfully replies that that is not his home; his home is here in America. He chose to come to America after studying many countries in high school history (high school in India is different than here; kinda like a combo of high school and college). He carefully studied not only the history of many world countries, but their immigration laws. The United States impressed him and decided that this is where he wants to end up. Quite a decision for a teenager, huh? He finishes his studies at the University of Edinborough in Scotland with an honors degree in English. Impressive. He moves to this country in 1970 and 5 years later becomes a citizen. This man is proud and grateful to be an American (he is not shy about proclaiming this) and has many interesting insights on those of us who are born into this citizenship. He says that we celebrate our gratitude once a year on 11/25 (or whatever dates Thanksgiving lands on). He says he celebrates his gratitude every single day. He goes on to point out that there is no other country like ours where we have all the freedoms that we do; social and economic mobility. He pointed out that even if you are in this country illegally, this country is nice to you. We don't require an exit Visa. Even if you choose to be a criminal, they are nice to you (remember the perspective of comparing it to other countries in the world). I wish I could recall verbatim all the 'gems' of insights he had (wishing I had Leau's ability to recall conversations). It was a great ride across town, full of wonderful conversation with this delightful gentleman who hailed from India and is more American than most of us can ever be. Very humbling. A very postive person with a very kind heart and a great sense of humor. As he dropped me off at my destination, I told him how originally, I wasn't too thrilled that I had to bring my car back in to the dealer so soon after being there, but that in doing so, I had the pleasure of meeting him and his delightful company. He was that gift that came in a surprising package.