Signs, Symbols and Time

Signs, Symbols and Sacred Ground.

The caption just about says it all.  But, let me explain it a little further. A descanso is a small piece folk art that is placed on  a spot where somebody died. It is a memorial. It is generally home-made by people who loved or cared for the person who lost his or her life on that spot. Usually it is a car or motorcycle related death. I first started seeing them in New Mexico maybe 25 or 30 years ago. I usually try to stop and photograph them with a special kind of reverence that you give any sacred ground. The word usually is key. Sometimes they are found in places where I can’t stop, or that if stopping might possibly add me to the list of traffic fatalities.

The picture? I made it on the day that I was chasing clouds and rain. I wrote in my hub pages blog that you shouldn’t limit your focus to the subject that you are photographing because it just closes down your vision and you might never pass that way again. It is very important to me that I stop when I see something interesting even if it is only to make a record shot which will direct me to go back there again. I also wrote that for the first time I probably made the kind of picture I always hoped that I would. Once again the picture taught me how to take it. What did I do differently this time? I did what I do with events and parades. I got in the middle of it. The thought of doing that never occurred to me. I’m not sure why it did this time. But, it did.

In case you are wondering, I have no idea why I am drawn to this stuff. I photograph cemeteries as well. I’m sure that there is some kind of global consciousness thing going on. I’m not even sure that I know what that means.