Product Description

For more than twenty years, Craig Varjabedian has explored and photographed the red cliffs and sweeping plains of the fabled 21,000-acre Ghost Ranch in northern New Mexico. In Ghost Ranch and the Faraway Nearby, he shares more than one hundred new black-and-white photographs capturing its evanescent light. These images reach beyond familiar ideas associated with the Ranch--such as its renown as a site of personal renewal and transformation, and as the longtime home of twentieth-century painter Georgia O'Keeffe--into Varjabedian's singular vision of his subject and its ties to ideas of identity, place, and perception. To further illuminate the experience of Ghost Ranch, Varjabedian gathered essays to accompany his photographs, including an "appreciation" of Ghost Ranch written by Georgia O'Keeffe. These include an evocative introduction by photographer Jay Packer, an essay by writer Marin Sardy examining the place's natural features and social history, and topical essays by theological studies professor Belden C. Lane, arts writer Douglas A. Fairfield, and former Ghost Ranch executive director Rob Craig. Also included are forewords by Cathy L. Wright, Director of the Albuquerque Museum of Art & History, and Debra Hepler, Executive Director of Ghost Ranch.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #313981 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

From the Publisher
"With a vintage lens and an eye on regional America, Varjabedian captures both the spirit of place and the sense of enduring culture in the Southwest. His imagery comments upon landscape, culture,and how the two influence and imprint each other. Sometimes tinged with religiosity, sometimes humorous, his photographs have an intense clarity that befits his subject: New Mexico." --Gerald P. Peters, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, Dallas, New York

From the Author
"With an almost crystalline clarity i remember the first time I saw Chimney Rock and the red hills of Ghost Ranch. Shortly after I arrived in New Mexico in 1985 my friend Dan took me to Abiquiu, just northwest of Santa Fe, to see the place that so powerfully captured the heart of painter Georgia O'Keeffe. When I arrived, I knew I had come home: it was at Ghost Ranch that, on some profound level, I learned to make photographs. -Craig Varjabedian, Photographer

From the Inside Flap
"From the broad Colorado Plateau, sunset-red and carving the horizon into pieces, the cliffs of Ghost Ranch rise up suddenly. They are the Piedra Lumbre, the cliffs of Shining Stone, and at Ghost Ranch they divide the world in two: the earth and the sky, the vast and the miniscule. "That changing light gets captured by the colored cliffs, which act like prisms in the way they rearrange, magnify, and transmute the sun and air, so that the rock formations never look the same from one moment to the next. It is as if they wish to tell the world that Ghost Ranch always has been and will forever be a place of sojourns--where visitors rarely stay long but invariably leave somehow changed. "Today, looking up at the surging red stone walls surrounding Ghost Ranch, it seems they must have been frightening to European beholders who had never seen the earth take on such shades and forms. Yet it makes sense, too, that many found in the epic stone suggestions of something greater than terror: some ineffable wonder in the variety and vastness of the universe." --Marin Sardy, Editor-In-Chief, Santa Fean magazine

Customer Reviews

moody photographs of the Southwest region Georgia O'Keeffe found alluring
Varjabedian's photographs cannot help but bring Ansel Adams to mind. The photographer begins his Preface, "With an almost crystalline clarity I remember the first time I saw Chimney Rock and the red hills of Ghost Ranch." Adams' photographs have a crystalline clarity. And Varjabedian's have something of this too. There is even one titled "Moon over Orphan Mesa" which seems especially a nod to Adams. But Varjabedian's photographs are not so iconic. Though having the vistas and technical skill of Adams's photographs, Varjabedian's put one more in touch with the land and the particular subjects. One is not so much awed, but instead usually finds a place in the photographs, often by touches such as a tree or fence or chair one can relate to.

Ghost Ranch is a 21,000-acre expanse of northern New Mexico brought to notice from Georgia O'Keeffe's attachment to the area as displayed in her paintings and in the words in the book's Afterword and elsewhere. But Ghost Ranch had an identity apart from O'Keeffe's attachment. As such a large area, it not only almost ideally represented the particular Southwestern terrain of New Mexico, but also the activities and challenges of permanent and transient peoples from prehistoric bands through Spanish explorers and settlers, ranchers, and environmentalists. The area is also known for attracting spiritual seekers. The photographs complemented by the essays evoke both the natural and the historical sides of Ghost Ranch.

Not so formidable as Adams's iconic photographs while nevertheless capturing the scales, contours, vegetation, and remoteness of the land, these photographs allow for and reward perusal. In exploring their details such as the construction of old dwellings, a line of fence, gullies, twisted trees, and smoothened rocks seem like storytellers of Ghost Ranch's past.

Of very special note is the Afterword by none other than the legendary painter Georgia O'Keeffe
An award-winning fine arts photographer, Craig Varjabedian's work showcased in "Ghost Ranch And The Faraway Nearby" presents his collection of black-and-white photographs depicting the impressive landscapes, scenery, and vistas of the New Mexico country known as Ghost Ranch. This fascinating compendium of compelling images is further enhanced by the inclusion of an informed introduction by Jay Packer, informative essays by Marin Sardy, Belden C. Lane, Douglas A. Fairfield, and Rob Craig. Of very special note is the Afterword by none other than the legendary painter Georgia O'Keeffe. "Ghost Ranch And The Faraway Nearby" is a unique and recommended addition to personal, professional, academic, and community library American photography collections.

A Masterwork of Photography
"Ghost Ranch and the Faraway Nearby" the new book by photographer Craig Varjabedian is a masterwork. His photographs are compelling and thought provoking and capture the physical landscape as well as the essence of the place - the magic and mystery of El Rancho de las Brujas. The images are enhanced by thoughtful essays written by 5 authors who share their in-depth knowledge of Ghost Ranch. Their words bring a deeper insight into the land that Mr. Varjabedian captures so eloquently with his large format camera. I'm glad I bought this wonderful book and I highly recommend it - money well spent.