Semi Continental Photo Shoot 1

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Dawn had not yet crapped when I left my home in Texas and headed west. It was Sunday and I was on a mission.

Following my recent success at the Bosque Art Center photography show in Clifton, Texas, I decided to freshen and expand my portfolio for future opportunities. I devoted the first part of my safari to “Old Homes on the Range.” Accordingly, I snapped as many derelict and abandoned structures as I could manage as I crossed west Texas and entered New Mexico.

To qualify, a structure had to be significant, like a factory or insignificant, like a residence. They must be tumbledown, reflecting age and change. These structures have spoken to me from my earliest days. As a boy, I saw homes sinking into the earth, abandoned by the families that built and occupied them. Sometimes, it seemed generations might have lived there, fighting for a place on Earth. Finally, the tides of time and fortune pushed them out.

These are places where fulfillment and destruction awaited dreams. When I look at them, I try to put myself in the place of the first builder/occupant. Did a family build this home out of hope for a better future? Maybe the old place was a last resort and refuge from economic circumstance. It is impossible to be certain.

I can tell you no manmade structure is sacred in the end. No home lasts forever. No business survives. The “House of God” suffers along with the rest of the community.

In uncertain times, it seems pertinent to remember that our ancestors enjoyed hope and optimism as well as disappointment and defeat. The structures left behind are traces of those who brought us forth.

We too shall abandon the old to decay and give birth to a brighter future.

The testimony is scattered across the entire country. In time, I hope to show you more of it. Photos shall follow.

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