We returned to the southern portion of Capitol Reef National Park to photograph Strike Valley in the late afternoon with the intention of photographing from somewhere along the switchbacks (numerous sharp turns on the roadway as it climbs steeply from the valley). There were no safe and suitable places to park along the switchbacks, so we settled for shooting from an area above the switchbacks.
Strike Valley View, above the Burr Trail Road Switchbacks, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahStrike Valley View, above the Burr Trail Road Switchbacks, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahStrike Valley View, above the Burr Trail Road Switchbacks, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahStrike Valley View, above the Burr Trail Road Switchbacks, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahStrike Valley and BeyondStrike Valley View, above the Burr Trail Road Switchbacks, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahStrike Valley View, above the Burr Trail Road Switchbacks, Capitol Reef National Park, UtahTwisted 1Twisted 2
In viewing some of these photographs now, I’m thinking some could benefit from cropping portions of the sky, but when I edited these, I was wanting to show the big open sky. Maybe that was a mistake, but I’m not going to change these now.
Abandoned Church Exterior, Front and East Side, New Mexico
After photographing the exterior of this old, abandoned church at the outskirts of a small New Mexico town, I ventured through the open doorway (there was no door) to check out the interior.
Abandoned Church, Interior Graffiti, Just inside the doorway
I had noted much graffiti just looking through the doorway and windows. Judging by the dates and graffiti messages, it looks like this place is popular with teenagers, presumably local ones, since this is a long way from any other towns or cities.
Abandoned Church, Interior and Graffiti
Shooting handheld in the dim light inside the church required high ISO to get sufficiently high shutter speeds to avoid fuzzy images. Shooting through windows from inside resulted in blowing out the exterior portions of the images.
Abandoned Church, Interior and Graffiti, Pulpit
I’ve brought out some of the exterior details in the editing process in the image above just to avoid having a white blur in the windows. The exterior details through the windows are very low quality as a result. If I had not been shooting handheld, I could have acquired images to create HDR images.
The floor boards were still sound, so maybe the missing boards are a result of someone looking for hidden treasure.
Abandoned Church, Interior, Ceiling
The ceiling bead board had a nice patina and mostly appeared to be in good condition. The covers to the ceiling light fixtures were all missing, presumably broken or maybe stolen. There were remnants of broken light bulbs in the fixtures.
There were no window panes so a breeze through the windows made the hanging light fixtures sway. I had to increase the ISO even more to freeze the motion of these.
Obviously some electrical item had been removed from the central portion of the ceiling. I’m guessing a ceiling fan had been here and has been stolen, if not removed legally, since those early day fans might be valuable antiques.
As I traveled towards my second overnight destination in route to the Grand Canyon North Rim in July 2021, I spotted an abandoned church about a block north of the highway at the edge of a small New Mexico town. I had to stop to check out this old church.
The roadway from the highway to the church was gravel, but in good condition. There were other homes or building visible from the church site, but none were very close to the church, making it stand out from its surroundings.
I walked around the exterior photographing the church from various angles and capturing some of the exterior details, before I ventured through the front doorway.
Abandoned Church Exterior, Weathered and Scared SidingAbandoned Church Exterior, Weathered Siding
This post is dedicated to the exterior views. It was afternoon and the lighting was not great for capturing this weathered old church, but I knew I might not pass by again for a long time, if ever, so I had to make the best of the photographic conditions.
Abandoned Church Exterior, East SideAbandoned Church Exterior, Window and Interior ViewAbandoned Church Exterior, Back and East SideAbandoned Church Exterior, Window and Interior ViewAbandoned Church Exterior, Back and West SideAbandoned Church Exterior, Window and Interior ViewAbandoned Church Exterior, Front and West Side, New MexicoAbandoned Church Exterior, Window and View to Interior CeilingAbandoned Church Exterior, Front and West Side, New MexicoAbandoned Church Exterior, Window and Interior View
