Not Really New… Not Really Mexico

My friend, Craig Scogin, is a wonderful photographer who taught photography for 26 years. He’s now retired, living in Truchas, and has published a book of photography from his first two winters in New Mexico titled, Not Really New… Not Really Mexico. Craig sat the gallery with Anna and me this season. Without his help and support it would have been a very different year. I want to share some of his work with you here. With his permission, I’m going to use Craig’s own words from his book to tell you a little about him. I shot the pictures of Craig and his two dogs. All other photos are his.

“I came to a 250 year old traditional village of about a thousand people from a city that didn’t exist 250 years ago, was burned to the ground in 1865 and grew again to a population of millions. The culture shock was considerable and exactly what my spirit needed. Things are permitted the grace of antiquity here. New Mexico is not new. The Pueblo at Taos has been continuously occupied for nearly a thousand years and the village of Truchas was established as a part of a Spanish land grant before the United States existed (1754). Neither is this Mexico. While the influence of Spanish Mexico exists, the artifact and culture are a lively blend of Native American spirit, Spanish dignity and American vigor.

Creativity is celebrated in this region. There are more artists and craftsmen along the high road between Santa Fe and Taos than I can remember seeing anywhere else. Most conversations center around beauty, of the place and the work created here. The arts community in Truchas alone is lively and diverse. I am pleased and stimulated to be among them.

The photographs presented here represent a beginning. This is a land of visual and cultural wealth. There is much to see and I will never see it all. As a photographer of landscape and artifact, I have come to the promised land. It is beautiful here.”

You can see more of Craig’s work and read his blog at desertlens.livejournal.com.