By Rudy Lopez, on November 23rd, 2009
A street piper exchanges change for songs as the London Eye turns slowly behind him.
This was the only clear night during my time in London. I was rushing from shot to shot, not wanting to miss a moment of the good light. It was on my way back to Notting Hill that I came across this man playing bagpipes on a bridge. It is a very harmonious instrument, you seem to feel it more than hear it.
By Rudy Lopez, on November 23rd, 2009
 
It happens more times than can easily be explained. Once again, I came upon the most incredible location randomly and at just the right time. This time I was heading south on a narrow country road in eastern Colorado near Kirk, just around sunset. As I was driving, I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye, turned the car around to take a look. It was an old house/farm combo. The farm was standard, pretty but not extraordinary. The house, on the other hand, was about one big snow storm away from collapsing. I have seen many old properties, and they all have their own personalities. But this place is unique simplybecause of it’s teetering quality. A pretty sky and a great location made an otherwise dry day very gratifying.
Shooting Info:
- Nikon D300
- Sigma 12-18mm, Nikor 18-70mm
- HDR, 5 frames over two stops, processed by PhotoMatixPro
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By Rudy Lopez, on November 22nd, 2009
Road trip – Hitting the road on a Sunday afternoon.
Providing live updates with images and maps via the website is proving to be a challenge. So, in the mean time, I will be updating photos and locations via the Twitter feed below.
By Rudy Lopez, on November 21st, 2009
A worker deftly uses a knife to remove banana bunches from the stalk at a plantation near Mtuba, South Africa,2005.
This was a very sophisticated banana harvesting operation. The bananas are moved by overhead wire from the fields into the processing plant. The bananas are then cut, sorted, packaged, then shipped to markets in southeastern South Africa.
By Rudy Lopez, on November 21st, 2009
A Zulu woman breaks into dance during her shift at a small banana plantation in Monzi, South Africa in 2005.
The farm workers live near where they work, in huts either close to the banana fields or the cane fields. The daily cycle is: eat, work, sleep. HIV rates soar in this part of South Africa, and life can be very difficult, but I was struck by how many scenes like this I encountered. I left Africa knowing that people are capable of experiencing joy even in an crushing atmosphere of despair. It re-calibrated the tolerance levels for the challenges in my own life.
By Rudy Lopez, on November 21st, 2009
Looking through a window onto the porch of an abandoned house in eastern Colorado. This location was littered with old appliances and every other manner of large, rusty debris.
nov14, originally uploaded by RudyLopez.
By Rudy Lopez, on November 20th, 2009
Planes trace graceful arcs against a star field north of DIA as they wait to land.
 Nikon D300, 12mm, 493 seconds at f4.5
By Rudy Lopez, on November 19th, 2009
Free limited edition wallpaper. Only 50 will be released.
This shot was taken just north of Byers, Colorado. The lights of Denver glow on the horizon.
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Glow from Denver. Click the thumbnail, then right click the image to save.
By Rudy Lopez, on November 16th, 2009
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It was especially nice to hit the road after a intensive week of daddy duty. There were several locations that I wanted to visit during a winter-like day. I left Denver at 1230 or so on Saturday, headed east on I-70. The weather was cold and windy, temps just above freezing. A large snow storm was on the way, and the low clouds around Denver were a clear sign of what was on the way. Since the storm was primarily a foothills and mountain event, the plains would be windy and cold with low, broken clouds filling the entire sky. I headed east on I-70 then exited at Bennett. The plan was to drive east on US36, then south on Hwy71, ultimately ending up in Limon.
 GPS Track The first location I returned to was an old Quonset hut on off US36, west of Strasburg, that at one time had been used for farming, but has since been left to serve as a dump ground for the locals. There is a fiberglass boat and lots of graffiti, tons of garbage, not to mention an impressive amount of owl shit. The shots feel cold and windy, which is entirely appropriate.
 Hut and Boat From there I moved east on US36, the clouds became wavy due to the upper level winds. Approximately 10 miles west of Last Chance, a large trailer and a couple of pieces of farm equipment decay quietly next to a dusty road. Interesting scene, but hardly unique. The sky is very large around this location, so the weather plays big part with getting good shots. During the previous visit, a distant thunderstorm took up a good portion of the SE sky. On this visit, it was all about the low clouds and texture of the equipment. The shots came out with a sort of rusty sadness, a common vibe out in the middle of nowhere. I shot for 15 minutes, then moved on.
On Hwy71, about 5 miles south of Last Chance, there is a location that is one of my favorites. The house sits on the rim of a small valley, set back from the road only about 50 feet. The entire property seems to have been several acres. A corral, a few old trucks, and some collapsed grain silos dot the landscape on the other side of the basin. The house itself is large and in very bad shape. It seems to have been abandoned relatively recently, perhaps sometime in the last 10 years. Like the Quonset hut from the previous location, the locals use the property as a dump. There are appliances of every type strewn about. Looking through the windows, I could see that the furniture had been abandoned along with the home. It is also possible that couches and chairs that had been dumped on the property were dragged into the house by teenagers with not enough supervision. Either way, there is furniture everywhere, and it has all been turned over.
 Red Tractor As with many abandoned structures, there is a thin film of bird poo on every surface. The feeling of location is more dread than sadness. The place just feels unpleasant. I worked my way around the perimeter of the house, trying to take advantage of the gloomy sky, I wanted to express the feeling of dread in the shots.
The big reason that this location is one of my favorites is because it incorporates my two favorite subjects: abandoned places and rusty cars. Along with the exceedingly creepy house, there are three beautifully rusted cars on the west side of the property. There is an old 30′s era truck with old equipment and rusty wheels on its bed, a 70′s era truck looks like an old dog that has settled for the night, and a 40′s era truck with its rusty door swinging in the breeze. The fifteen minutes I spent shooting these trucks were the best of the day.
I climbed back into the car and headed to Limon, for a quick stop and then back to Denver to enjoy my family and the gathering snow storm.
Shooting Info:
- Nikon D300, RAW format
- Sigma 12mm Nikkor 18-70mm
- All images shot as HDR, five frames over two stops.
- Processed by Photomatix Pro
Shots from the day
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By Rudy Lopez, on November 14th, 2009
Hitting the road on a cold, snowy Saturday. Winter storm watch tonight for Denver,6-12 inches expected. Will try to update locations via Twitter and other info here.
Update: decided to change the route to I-70 east, the snow and low clouds will make I-76 more dangerous.
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