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 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 series of storage tanks in rural San Luis Valley, Colorado.

Storage Tanks, Highway 285, near W Country Road 6-N, San Luis Valley, Colorado

Three connected storage structures alongside Rd 150N south of Center Colorado in late afternoon light.

Three Connected Storage Stuctures Alongside Rd 105N, South of Center, CO.

An unused field near Hooper, Colorado, late in July.

Field in Disuse with Rolls of Hay and Telephone Poles, just west of Hwy 17 near Hooper, CO.

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 field of potato and canola crops near center, co.

Potato Field and Canola Flowers with Sangre de Cristo mountain range behind, east of Center, CO.

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 from HWY 285, Near Monte Vista, 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

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, County Road 112, 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, County Road 112, San Luis Valley, CO

A farm south of center Colorado with grain bins and a furrowed field.

Grain Bins and Trees, possibly barley, south of Center, Colorado.

​A large Cumulus Cloud over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and a Farm, taken from Country Road D, near Center, CO

Large Cumulus Cloud Over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Farm, Country Road D, near Center, CO

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