My work for Hemingway Land Company takes me to many well off the beaten path places in New Mexico and I share those photos here on Jason Collin Photography regularly.. The town of Belen is itself a small town about 40 minutes south of Albuquerque, but when you add in 8 miles of dirt road, one finds oneself in places only cows usually venture. Thus, on the drive back from a property shoot in this remote area cows were blocking the dirt road. Now there are thousands of acres out there, and maybe the width of the road takes up 0.000001% of it, yet nearly every time I come and go in the spring time in this area, I have to slow down and wait for cows to get out of the road. This time I thought, “ok, if you are going to make me stop, I am going to make you pose for photos!” Then one cow wanted to perhaps come home with me (see the last photo), but I do not think the amount of grass I have in my backyard would sustain a growing calf!
What it takes to navigate 10 miles offroad where no roads go
This week I made my second trip this month to the El Morro area of Cibola County, New Mexico on a rural land real estate shoot for Hemingway Land. Regular followers of Jason Collin Photography will note that rural land photography is a frequent, and large part of my business. However, I never really detail all that it involves logistically, and then physically, to do a shoot like this that takes me 10+ miles down poorly maintained dirt roads in my Jeep Renegade Trailhawk.
It is still a big thrill to see my photographs in print in a magazine. So when the very first issue of Bimmer Life Magazine arrived in the mail with my photos on a 2-page spread, photo credit, and being mentioned by name in the article itself, I got a rush. The gray M3 convertible above is my own car as well, so my photos and my car in Bimmer Life Magazine! Thank you to Dan for making this happen by getting me to submit these photos to him in time in turn for him to submit them to Bimmer Life Magazine in time.
Not quite a ghost town, not quite totally forgotten, but Lowell, Arizona is certainly in the past. Walking down its main street (and only street), Erie Street, you pass storefronts full of dust covered merchandise, classic cars, a Greyhound bus waiting for no one, pool halls, and a gas station that is not exactly full service anymore, even if you were willing to pay more than 22 cents per gallon! This place fascinated me. In front of the Greyhound bus I just sat right on the sidewalk for 20 minutes trying to listen to the stories coming through the cracks of the sidewalks, the walls, the signs.
Delayed by weeks because of weather, I was finally able to drive to the remote town of Lordsburg, New Mexico, in the far southwest of the state for a serious of rural land real estate shoots. I was last in this area in October 2018 for more photo work for Hemingway Land. These photos are actually from properties close to the very tiny town of Animas, a one gas station town that is one of the only places to get gas in the extreme southwest area of New Mexico. How do I know this? Because in January returning from a vacation that ended in Bisbee, Arizona heading to Columbus, New Mexico, I needed gas for the Jeep and this was the only place around! What else is in this area? Not much at all. If you want privacy and to be off the grid, this is the area for it and needs it because if you want to buy a 4K TV in person, you have at least a 2 hour drive!
I adopted Kiki when she was just 10 weeks old and 11 pounds. She has now turned 11 years old and in all that time we have never even spent one night apart. I cannot say that for any human being in my life. She is the one constant in a life of great change. Whether it was on the beaches of Florida, the capital stairs of Des Moines, or the desert in New Mexico, Kiki has always been by my side.
Kind of on a whim we decided to visit a small theme park outside of Tucson, Arizona called Old Tucson, mostly because it allowed dogs inside! This park was a functioning movie and TV show set for decades. You start in the park by seeing many movie posters of stars who walked on the same dust you get to walk on. It’s not just all old buildings though. This park is very much still alive as exhibited by this amazing Hollywood stunt show! The stuntmen demonstrated how to take a punch, how to shoot a gun loaded with blanks, and how to fall off a ladder pushed off of a ledge! This place is definitely worth checking out, and no need to leave your dog at home!
