On the Border by auntietk
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Description
Ciudad Juarez in Mexico, and El Paso, Texas in the United States, are directly across the border from one another. This is a place where the Rio Grande River is a trickle, hardly worth the name, and there has been a border wall in place since 2008. If you look at a map of Texas, El Paso is all the way out on the left-hand side, sitting at the westernmost point of the state. It's 552 miles from San Antonio, 635 miles from Dallas, and 820 miles from Brownsville, all cities in Texas. The border is political of course, as opposed to practical, making it cumbersome to have lunch with your cousin who lives in the next town but a different country.
While visiting El Paso in 2013, we stayed at a decent RV park in a crummy location. It was at the far eastern end of town, two miles from the border, right next to the I-10 freeway. I only had to step out of the motorhome to take this picture. Do I need to tell you it was the freeway that was the problem? The neighborhood was just fine, apart from the noise and the fumes. We were there during a road construction project. If you were to stand today where I was then, you would see an elevated roadway streaming across your field of view instead of those lovely hills, which are in Mexico.
This picture would have languished in my files forever, but I happened to take it on the same day we visited the tank museum at Fort Bliss, and it caught my eye as I was looking for a tank that would please Mark. The less than lovely concrete pillars, the power lines and light standards, and the traffic whizzing by on I-10 stood in direct contrast to the sun setting behind the mountains in Mexico, and I liked this as a sort of substitute for the tank. An un-lovely subject in its entirety, but with a redeeming quality. You may find it beautiful or ugly or somewhere in between. Personally, I find it to be somehow insightful in a disturbing sort of way. Whatever you think of it, this is just a moment in time in the history of a border town.
I used a Topaz filter called "Tarawa Boat in Cove" to bring out the colors and some of the details in the shadows.
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I've been coughing all week, and haven't had much energy to be on the computer. I got good drugs on Monday, and am already starting to feel better, so I'm hoping to be able to get around to looking at your recent work in the next day or so.
Comments (14)
wysiwig
I knew what these were immediately but your treatment of them made them seem sinister and threatening. Reminiscent of guard towers. And then I read they are right on the border. Am I that insightful or are you that good?
I'm glad to hear you are taking care of yourself. Nothing but bad news about this flu season.
rainbows
Wonderful work , Auntie, Hope you feel better soon. Hugs. DXiDi. xx
durleybeachbum
Threatening
Get well soon, Tara. I too have been fairly unwell.
Faemike55
my thoughts and prayers to a fast and complete recovery. this images makes me think of Martial Law or a prison - ominous in its beauty.
npauling
An image of contrasts Tara, the beauty of the sunset but the ghastly intrusion of mankind. Excellent capture of modern life, I'm glad I don't live there.
RodS Online Now!
Cool view of this busy border area, Tara! We were there several years ago when my dad had a winter place in Harlingen. We took a drive around Juarez - in a rental car - I might still have a few photos somewhere...
anahata.c
There are scenes like this which aren't on borders, yet they feel the same: Vast, desolate, cloistered, and almost apocalyptic. You brought out the dusky end-of-civilization feeling of the place, and the feeling that those mountains probably have strange creatures hiding out in them. There's a blahhhhed out, bleached desolation to this shot that is perfect for the place. Really well done. And I truly hope you're doing better with your cough; and that it starts to go away for good. From the way it sounded, I hate to think of you stuck with it for a while. I wish you total healing, and soon...(if only you could photograph what that cough makes you feel...if only those things were photographable!)
I love your narrative here, btw: Really well written, Tara. You pulled me into the mood from the very start.
Wolfenshire
A bridge to nowhere.
dochtersions
Amazing, what an interesting whole to study, as well as to incorporate into oneself. You always have such a good eye to 'pick' the most special pictures, my friend. I'm sorry you have the flu (too, because also here it's 'in the house'). I hope your medicine will help soon, dear Tara; take it easy, and take care ♥.
X-PaX
Beautiful capture Tara.
I hope you get well soon.
moochagoo
Looks like a mysterious picture. That border made me sad in 2015. But we have the same problem in Europe, not easy to solve/
FredNunes
Hope you are on the mend... Great photo!
helanker
What a marvellous shot, Tara. And I love what you did with it too. Glad to read you are getting better now. Not fun the have your nights spoiles by coughings, not to mention your days. Continue getting better :)
junge1
Great shot and information Tara. When I first went out to Arizona to interview for a job in August 1973, I camped on the way back to Jersey. While I camped at El Paso I checked out the distances to other places in Texas, and I was going to Texarkana , TX and if I remember right it is close to a 1000 miles. It is a big state alright and it must have really hurt many Texans when Alaska became a state and dwarfed theirs. On another note, in 1965 we flew from Paine Field, WA to El Paso on a weekend trip with a C-119 with the Air Force Reserves. When we landed on the civilian side of the airport in El Paso we got picked up by the motel and made our booze run to Ciudad Juarez, then we came back, cleaned up and went back to Juarez for a nice steak and some drinks, This was before all the border security.