Photographing in Oil


Small vignettes inspired by landscape oil painters, who carefully arrange their subject matter to create formally strong yet quiet compositions. These photographs document groupings of houses and farm buildings, center pivot sprinklers, trucks and storage tanks, trees and cultivated fields that form the society and the visual field of the San Luis Valley's agricultural economy. Work in progress. I welcome your comments or thoughts.

A white farm house with a red roof and outbuildings set against a beautiful field of yellow canola flowers in the san luis valley of southern colorado.

White Farm House with Red Roof, San Luis Valley, CO, 2020

In contrast to the yellow canola the potato fields yield a sea of white flowers that look cooling in the hot san luis valley of southern colorado.

Farm House and Mountains with Potato Field, San Luis Valley, CO, 2020

Yellow canola flowers form a bright bed across which you can see a center pivot sprinkler and home in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado.

Canola Field with Center Pivot Sprinkler and Buildings, San Luis Valley, CO, 2020

A series of farm buildings sit behind a field of potato plants in the San Luis Valley, CO.

Potato Field with Farm Buildings, San Luis Valley, CO, 2020

A field near Monte Vista, Colorado, with a center pivot sprinkler, some telephone poles, and fencing.

Simple Composition of Field in Disuse and Telephone Poles, near Monte Vista, CO, 2020

A small farming outbuilding seen behind a center pivot over a fallow field, near Monte Vista, CO, in the San Luis Valley of Colorado.

Center Pivot with Small Shack, near Monte Vista, CO, 2020

The fields near Saguache are especially verdant because that part of the valley is an endorheic basin. The green contrasts with the sculptural hay bale wall.

Single Haybale Wall in Green Field, Saguache, CO, 2020

A sparse collection of trees, probably near a small source of water, that characterizes the types of trees you see in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado.

Trees on the Plain Near Monte Vista, CO, 2020

Dusk image of cumulous clouds behind the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range, seen from Center, Colorado, Country Road D.

Smoking Clouds Behind Kit Carson, seen from County Rd D, near Center, CO, 2020

The ridges in this furrowed field run straight toward a single tree on a country road, near Center, CO, in the San Luis Valley.

Furrowed Soil and Single Tree, near Center, CO, 2020

A view of a farm house and barn across a field of yellowing grasses from County Road 112 in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado.

Farm House and Yellow Field, Country Road 112, San Luis Valley, CO

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