Desert States

In 1995 I was working on my trilogy of nuclear projects. I had just photographed the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania and then made my way over to San Francisco. Here I met up with a friend and we set off on a car journey to New Mexico to photograph Los Alamos and the Trinity Site.

This circular journey of 5,000 miles took us through California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah (fantastic experience for someone from England's industrial north!). We slept in the desert...well until we saw our first rattlesnake then we slept in the car...and I photographed all the way there. The landscape, so familiar to me from a lifetime of watching John Ford westerns, opened up endless possibilities and the juxtapositions between natural and man-made fascinated me.

Eventually we reached Los Alamos and I got my images (see By Association) and then travelled back up through Utah. Why no images of Utah? Well basically because I'd run out of film (and steam!) by this point...next time maybe!

These images are by way of a big thank you to LWM.