In October of 2005, at the height of his mid-life crisis, I was commissioned by a self absorbed, narcissistic baby-man to photograph a big game hunt in South Africa. The actual photographs were truly disgusting and the trip went poorly. I will not post those photos to this blog and, for once, will let my words do the talking. These are my stories. 

     The Salinas Valley Pueblo Ruins are just a few of the many ancient architectural sites that New Mexico has to offer. They are evidence of the communities that lived there 300 years ago. Before these pueblos were abandoned in the 1670's, Pueblo Indians had created a stable agricultural society. Two ancient southwestern cultures, the Anasazi and the Mogollon, overlapped in the Salinas Valley to produce the later societies of Abo, Quarai, and Gran Quivira. These groups had roots as far back as 7000 years and were preceded by nomadic people who may have arrived as early as 20,000 years ago.

These photos were shot on September 15, 2019

      This abandoned house is on NM 55 is just a few miles south of Mountainair. If you make it all the way to Gran Quivira, you passed it about 20 minutes ago. Every room in this house, including the back hallway, is packed with overturned furniture. The desk and chair pictured below are about the only things sitting right side up. The other rooms of the house were very dark and piled high with all kinds of crazy stuff. One room had about seven mattresses in it. Here in the main room, there are what appears to be diner booths that are tossed about willy-nilly like the tornado version of Joanna Gaines arranged the furniture. 
     If you come here, wear boots and don't touch anything. Hantavirus is real, y'all.

     I visited Fierro, New Mexico in the fall of 2006. These images went missing for about ten years and then I found them again.
     "Fierro" means "iron" in Spanish and the town of Fierro is located a few miles north east of Silver City.  Fierro was founded in 1841 by a German immigrant. It was a mining town that went belly up during the great depression.
​     Those who were not killed in mining accidents moved away when the economy tanked, creating a ghost town and leaving behind a church with a lonely caretaker.

These photos were shot on September 15, 2019  
​     Best I can figure, this abandoned school house is considered to be in the town of Center Point, but there is no town; just this school and the spot where a shack was across the street. Claunch is nearby, but it's not in Claunch and it's certainly not in Mountainair. The school was apparently operational in the 1940's but, from the looks of it, probably abandoned shortly thereafter. And here it sits, watching the tourists drive by on their way to Gran Quivira.