Taos Trippin' part 2

After one night in Taos, we headed off to Colorado. But before we did that, we stopped by the Rio Grande Gorge, just a few miles north of Taos.

Can you spot Madeline looking out on the bridge?

The bridge spans 1,280 feet across the gorge, and is the third highest bridge in the United States (thanks Wikipedia!).

Please do not try this at home. No sneaker was harmed during photography.

Us, standing precariously on the bridge, but smiling for the camera anyway.

Taos Trippin' part 1

After working in Santa Fe, we had a few days off before our next project. So, we decided to mix some pleasure with our business, by stopping in Taos, NM. Madeline and I had never been to Taos, and thought it'd be a great idea to visit.



On the way to Taos, we saw this trailer stand, and Madeline insisted we stop and sample the goods. We ended up with pinon nuts. No jerky!

We stayed at the Sun God Lodge, a boutique motel, with an old southwest design flair.

Downtown plaza in Taos.

The Coyote Moon is an eclectic arts store, filled with unique hand-painted "diablos"

and angels, and a variety of Mexican folkart (http://www.johndunnshops.com/CoyoteMoon.html). Luis and Cristina are the owners of Coyote Moon who've moved to Taos from Southern California. Next time, we'll get photos of the inside of their cool shop!


We had dinner here at this brew pub and restaurant (http://www.eskesbrewpub.com/index.html). We suggest ordering the Taos Green Chile Beer. Yeah, it's got some kick to it!

Santa Fe Gardening

Our company was brought back together for a project in Santa Fe, NM during Sept. 25th and 26th. With our business partner Jim Glover, we've shot a training manual for High Country Gardens in Santa Fe (http://www.highcountrygardens.com/). David and Ava Salman, husband and wife team, started High Country Gardens as a mail order division of their Santa Fe Greenhouses in New Mexico. The garden specializes in drought tolerant plants, using organic materials.

Just a snapshot of beautiful plants and flowers at High Country Gardens.

David Salman, owner of High Country Gardens, demonstrating proper plant care.

Jim Glover letting me know which plants to shoot.

Madeline and I at the entrance of High Country Gardens.

Clovis Music Fest and Golf Shootout

For the first time in the very short history of our company, Madeline and I have taken on two separate jobs occurring at the same time. We've had to temporarily part ways to tackle these two projects. And it was a challenge for us to be away from each other for oh so long.

Madeline was hired to photograph the New Mexico Golf Shootout (http://nmshootout.com/home-page.php) on Friday Sept 5th, located in Elephant Butte, NM. Armed with a Nikon D80 and an 18mm to 135mm lens, Madd took photos from 9AM, covering the event festivities, leading up to the golf tourney, which started at high noon. After the tourney, Madd got a brief break, then covered the rest of the shootout 'til 5PM.

Captured moments by Madeline during the New Mexico Shootout 2008.


On Wednesday Sept. 3rd ('til Sunday afternoon on Sept. 7th), I made the long drive to Clovis, NM (about a 6 hour drive from El Paso) to shoot the grand opening of the Norman and Vi Petty Rock N' Roll Museum (http://www.pettymuseum.com/), and cover the annual Clovis Music Festival. Just a bit of history, Norman Petty was a producer for artists like Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, and many others. His recording studio (http://www.superoldies.com/pettystudios.html) is located in Clovis, New Mexico, and is lovingly cared for by Mr. and Mrs. Broad. The new museum houses an amazing collection of photos, musical instruments, records, and even Norman Petty's old recording equipment that recorded Buddy Holly's songs!

Records, instruments, and photos behind a glass room. This replica Fender Stratocaster hanging from the ceiling is what guests will see first when entering the museum.

The opening was packed, wall to wall people. You can barely see me amidst the crowd.

Performing as Buddy Holly, John Mueller singing "Peggy Sue", and dancing along is the one and only Peggy Sue Gerron, the inspiration for the song! The two gentlemen are Stan Lark and George Tomsco, one half of The Fireballs (remember the hit, "Sugar Shack"?)

The Clovis Music Festival is an annual event and hosts legendary musicians like Bobby Vee, Tommy Allsup (one of Buddy Holly's Crickets), the Chiffons, Chris Montes, as well as a tribute to Elvis, Buddy Holly, and Roy Orbison. Me and our business associate Jim Glover, interviewed many artists and musicians who had recorded at the Norman Petty Studios. I also had a chance to cover a bit of the actual 3-night concert, though it was a bit tough keeping the camera steady while trying to dance and sing along to the music!

Tommy Allsup on guitar, Bobby Vee, and the Chiffons performing at the Clovis Music Festival '08.

Me, "Buddy Holly", and Tommy Allsup at the Norman Petty Studios.

And last and certainly not least are these two photos with me and our production assistant, Nick Mondragon, for the Clovis project. Nick did a tremendous job lugging around lights, cases, and other production equipment all over Clovis. He was also our go to guy for directions in town. He also knew pretty much everyone in town which helped out during our interviews. But mostly Nick is a very nice guy! Thanks, Nick.

Me and Nick "recording" our hit song in the lovingly re-created Norman Petty Recording Studios at the museum. (I'll definitely be keeping my day job...)

Weekend Wildflower

This past Sunday, me and Madeline went to Elephant Butte, NM for a photo shoot. Madeline took photos of our hair stylist Anette's three boys. It was a fun shoot, as we had them climb up a tree, pose in front of desert foliage, and roll around on the lawn.

We also visited Madd's folks, Gerald and Susie, and their soon-to-be-completed new home. It's really close to being done, just laying the concrete around the house, a wall or two, some fencing, and wha-la! We'll take more detailed photos in the coming weeks.

View from their patio. (Notice the manicured dirt. This photo was taken about a month earlier; but rest assured that the patio area has now been paved nicely with concrete.)

Side view of the new house, from the patio point of view. (The architectural style can be called Tuscan. But after nearly a year of building the house, sometimes Gerald has called it by different names.)

But as we were driving back home, we noticed a patch of wildflowers blooming by the side of the road. We had to stop and admire it, and of course, take pictures.

MadJava Production Journal Blog Created!

Hello Folks!

Thought we'd finally join the blog community and set up our own blog site. What we thought we'd do was fill these pages with some current news of our projects, and photos. But we'd also like to incorporate some personal thoughts and introspection along the way. Hopefully make it fun too! So, on with the current news...

At this time, we're busy finishing up a couple of projects for Gouldings' Lodge (located in Monument Valley, Utah--home of John Wayne's and John Ford's classic Western films). Madeline is finishing up with archiving old photos from the lodge's Trading Post Museum. And I'm putting together a channel guide video for viewing in their motel rooms. (And it'll be sometime in October that we'll be heading back to Monument Valley, stay tuned.)

Here are some photos last taken in August when my family (the Anselmo side :) drove out and visited Monument Valley for the first time:

Family photo with Jenny, Dad, Mom, nephew Loren, Madeline, me, and nephew Aaron.

Jenny and Loren sitting pretty on the pretty rock.

Jenny and Aaron inside the stagecoach. Yee-haa!

Loren contemplating life as he knows it.

Nathan (Madeline's brother), Christy (sister-in-law), and their twin girls Odessa and Genevive.

Odessa looks around for her baby bottle.