Old Cold Beer – Montoya, New Mexico

Long exposure photograph of a hidden gem on the outskirts of Montoya, New Mexico, originally a loading point for the Southern Pacific Railroad. It’s not hard to get lost on the old desert alignment of Route 66. We speak from experience when – meandering through the hot, sunny, dusty, and isolated stretch of road – a thirst-quenching libation or two can really hit the spot. Especially as you pass a hand-painted advertisement emblazoned on the side of service station. Although, in this case, the paint on this architectural relic is so sunkissed, the faded “C” drenches this abandoned pit stop in irony. While not a single car passed us on the old road while we took our photos, some 200 yards down the hill, I-40 was littered with squad cars and tow trucks gathered to tackle a disastrous semi-truck accident (one of many we saw during our week-long journey). We were about to wrap up our night photography session, but then, like a mighty wind…a locomotive came screaming by and we were able to catch its lights through the trees as we lit up the crumbling structure with gold from our Protomachines flashlight.

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8″ x 10″ Print will have some cropping. | Print frame not included