Northeastern New Mexico...

[Matt Magruder]

I am scheduled to give a wet plate collodion demo on July 31 for APIS. So I plan on being in the NE New Mexico area for a little vacation. Wondering if people wouldn't mind suggesting locations to visit and photograph.
I'm always interested in industrial/rural/building decay, ghost towns, old architecture, etc.
Ill be shooting with my film with my 12x20 and 8x10... and also some wet plate with the 8x10.
Would greatly appreciate any suggestions on locales and also any suggestions on places to camp as I'm trying to do this on a shoestring budget.

Thanks in advance.

[Colin Graham]

I spent a lot of summers around the I-40 corridor between Amarillo TX and Tucumcari NM- and have been trying to get back there and take some pictures ever since. Could be just nostalgia, but have great memories of the area. Great mesa landscapes and lots of small boom town decay along old Rt 66 especially. Sorry I can't help with any current info, but I do envy you...well, except for the July heat maybe.

[venchka]

Old architecture and camping: Bandelier National Monument.

I don't have a map handy, but the highway on the east side of the Sandia Mountains, north from I-40 toward Santa Fe was a nice drive.

Matt, what route are you taking to Santa Fe? US 287 from Ft Worth to Amarillo goes past a lot of interesting small towns. You have to get off the main 4 lane highway to find the good stuff. When the sky and the light are right, the Panhandle is AWESOME!

Tucumcari & Santa Rosa, N.M. should be good for 40s, 50s, 60s look.

[Donald Miller]

Matt, I think that you might make a few images here. From what I have been able to determine Nara Vista is basically a ghost town today. It is certainly NE NM.

http://www.nenewmexico.com/counties.php?p=85

Best regards,
Donald Miller

[Frank Petronio]

The TOWN of Las Vegas, NEW MEXICO is an architectural treasure.

[Matt Magruder]

Fellas, thank you so much for all these suggestions.
I'm making lots of map notes.

[venchka]

If you take the southern route through Lubbock......

William Bonney's monument & Fort Sumner are all I remember. Lincoln County New Mexico is sparse country. No doubt a keen eye will find beauty.

[Nathan Potter]

Matt, I spend a lot of time around Taos NM. But if you like decrepit buildings and such I think the old adobe mill at La Cueva just east of Mora (on the east side of the Sangre de Cristos Mts.) you'll find exceptional. Nearby the church on the Salman ranch is splendid - ask at the mill store for directions to the church. To the north of La Cueva is the old, basically Spanish, adobe town of Ocate. A few interesting buildings thereabouts. Just to the south of Santa Fe is a funky town (was a semi ghost) of Madrid. On the way to Madrid from Santa Fe is another old town with good adobe subjects (off the main road to the right) but I'm travelling right now so I don't have my "back roads of New Mexico" map with me so can't recall the name.

Of course the Pecos National Historic site is most spectacular off I 25 east of Santa Fe. It sits high on a bluff with significant early ruins still existent. But it can be terrifying late in the day with an aluminum tripod and an approaching thunderstorm blowing in from the Sangre de Cristos.

Hey, the entire area is simply stunning, naturally, culturally, historically, image wise.

Nate Potter, Harrington ME. wet and cool; but OH the blueberries.

[venchka]

If you like steam trains, the Cumbres & Toltec is based in Chama, NM.

http://www.cumbrestoltec.com/

[D. Bryant]

On the way to Madrid from Santa Fe is another old town with good adobe subjects (off the main road to the right) but I'm travelling right now so I don't have my "back roads of New Mexico" map with me so can't recall the name.

That's Cerillos off Hwy 14, aka The Turquoise Trail. Madrid is a bit of a tourist trap now but there maybe something intersting there to photograph. I always stop there. On southward is the small town of Golden. If you drive too fast you will miss it. Look for the little adobe chruch on the left up on a rise when you are driving south.

Just north of Cerillos on the left hand side of the road is a pull off with some really cool looking rocks called Valley of the Kings (or Valley of the Gods, I can't remeber which). This location is also called Ambush Pass as it was the location used to ambush gold shipments back in the day. And directly accross the highway is a dirt road named Ambush Road. If the gate is open you can drive back and perhaps find petrified trees.

But I would go with Nathan's suggestion to travel up to Mora and or Taos. There is a lot of interesting landscapes and buildings up that way. If you go to Taos you might want to look up Chuck Henningsen who is an old platinum printer. He has a really neat home and if you visit him he may even show you his darkroom. He has lots of large palladium and gum over pallsdium prints on the wall. You can find his address in a Taos gallery guide.

And since you are going to be in Santa Fe be sure to at least visit the Andrew Smith photography galleries (they have two locations) for some really out standing photographs. There is also the Monroe gallery and Photogenesis Gallery. There is also the Edward S. Curtis gallery. For more information google santa fe photography galleries.

I would say don't go photographing there with pre-expectations of things you wish to photograph, rather be open to what you discover.

Have fun at APIS and bring your 5 prints to show and talk for 5 minutes.

Good luck,

Don Bryant