Episode 48– You can also listen on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google podcasts, and Amazon Music
Bunny talks with New Mexico photographer Sarah McIntyre about her love for New Mexico and its churches. If you believe that New Mexico is one of the most beautiful places to visit (or live in) you’re going to love this episode!
Links
Sarah’s Fine Art Shop
Sarah McIntyre’s Website
Follow Sarah on Instagram
Follow Sarah on Facebook
I Love New Mexico blog page
Bunny’s website
I Love New Mexico Instagram
I Love New Mexico Facebook
Original Music by: Kene Terry
Featuring:
Sarah McIntyre
Sarah is an award-winning photographer, focused on telling the stories of New Mexico’s people and places. A lifelong New Mexican, with familial roots in the state spanning generations, her approach to photographic storytelling is informed by her experiences of life and faith in a place that is truly unlike any other. Though her photographs engage a variety of themes from the sacred to the secular, Sarah is New Mexico’s premier photographer of historic churches, having long ago lost track of time spent traveling across the state to search out and photograph even the tiniest capillas in the remotest areas.
In addition to Sarah’s work documenting New Mexico’s churches, she leads private photography workshops and classes, and wows her portrait photography clients by freezing time with her camera, capturing special moments for a lifetime.
Episode Transcript
Bunny : (00:00)
Hi there. I’m Bunny Terry, and you’re listening to the I Love New Mexico podcast. Whether you’re a native new Mexican, who’s lived here for your entire life, or you’re just considering a visit, this episode is for you. Join us as we share a lot of New Mexico’s stories, talk about all things New Mexico, and include topics like what’s magical here, where you ought to visit, what’s happening, and the things you absolutely cannot miss in the land of Enchantment. We’re excited that you’re here, and we can’t wait to show you what an amazing place New Mexico is, because let’s face it, I love New Mexico. Our guest today is, um, a photographer who lives in Albuquerque. And the cool thing is, as, as all of you know, who listen to the podcast, is that, um, I end up learning more about people doing these podcasts than you may learn about them, um, listening. And it’s the, it’s the coolest thing for me because I’m getting to meet everybody in the state. So, Sarah McIntyre, thank you for being our guest, and, um, thanks for agreeing to share a little bit of your New Mexico story.
Sarah : (01:22)
Thanks for having me, Bunny. I appreciate it. I’m excited to be here. .
Bunny : (01:28)
Well, tell us, um, who you are and what you do. I’m dying to hear that.
Sarah : (01:35)
So, so I’m a photographer as, as you’ve already noted. Um, and I am born and raised from New Mexico, and I like to say that, you know, my, my family roots go back, well, hundreds of years. Um, you know, generationally, so like, my family’s been here for a while, um, you know, like , which is, which is really cool, you know. Um, so born and raised here in Albuquerque. In Albuquerque, in the surrounding area. Um, you know, my, my, my folks live up in Taos now, but I mostly grew up in the Albuquerque Metro. I spent a lot of time in, in various places around the state. I graduated from unm. I actually, so fun fact, I, I’m a photographer, but, uh, my academic background is actually in science , so . Yeah, I, I’m a chemist, um, by, by education. So I Say
Bunny : (02:32)
That again. I’m sorry. You’re, you’re what? By education?
Sarah : (02:35)
I’m a chemist. My degrees are in chemistry and, and in material science. But I always had, uh, a love of photography and art growing up, and it was actually towards the end of my bachelor’s degree when I picked up a camera and said, mm, you know, this is kind of cool. , maybe, maybe this is something I should spend some time with. And that kind of, you know, launched what ended up turning into a, to a photography business, um, along the way. And I also do some other, some other artwork too. I, I paint, um, and do some other kinds of various fun things. I do some, um, wire wrapped jewelry making, so pretty much anything artistic, I will get into my, my primary focus is, and has been photography for almost 20 years now. But, uh, but I do lots of different things and just really in, enjoy traveling the state to, um, make photographs in different places. One of my primary focuses has been documenting all of the historic churches in the state of New Mexico. And that’s a project that just is a gift that keeps on giving. I’ve lost count of the number of hours that I’ve spent in the car driving to, you know, tons of remote places and searching out, um, little tiny capias churches that have, you know, just nobody knows they’re there except for maybe the, the 50 people who live in the little tiny town that’s, that’s around it. Um, so trying to keep these places from being forgotten, make sure that their stories get told. All of those things are really important to me.
Bunny : (04:20)
Sarah, that is, that’s so cool because I, um, there was a point, and you’ve, you’ve followed this, this, this important mission for yourself, but there was a point in time where I thought, I wanna document, document every cemetery, especially in, uh, Northern New Mexico, because they’re such, I mean, they’re amazing. They’re such works of art and they’re so fascinating. Oh, they’re amazing. I will always pull over for, for cemeteries too. They’re, they’re amazing. Uh, just, you know, and, and before Covid, um, the, so the state historian, Rob Martinez is a good friend of mine, and we were kind of talking about collaborating on a book about the historic churches in New Mexico, and then Covid kind of, you know, derailed things for for a few years
Bunny : (05:07)
While, yeah.
Sarah : (05:08)
And, you know, and, and so, but as we’ve kind of continued talking about it, we’ve kind of talked about maybe evolving that idea into a book that might be just about what we would consider to be, um, the sacred spaces of New Mexico to include lots of things besides churches and Yeah, the, the cemeteries are amazing, spectacular, um, monuments to, to our ancestors, you know, great places of remembrance.
Bunny : (05:38)
Well, and I’ve always been, um, you know, every, every culture does, um, death and worship differently. And, um, and you’re right, it’s worth preserving and it’s, um, worth sharing. So can people find you on, where do people find you? Where can they find your images?
Sarah : (06:01)
So I have a lot, I share a lot on Instagram, and I do also have a Facebook page, and I sell prints of, of my photographs, of the ones that I have actually managed to upload into my catalog. There are a lot more that are sitting on my hard drive waiting for me to have time to, to upload them, um, on, on my website as well. And, and, and people can also find information about, um, portrait photography and things like that. Cuz I, I do also work as a portrait photographer having great photographs, whether it’s of a church somewhere in New Mexico or a, a photograph of, you know, somebody with their family. Having those things printed and on walls in people’s homes is really important to me.
Bunny : (06:48)
Oh, I agree. I agree. You know, my mom is about to be 89 and she keeps saying, why don’t you send me more print? I mean, why don’t you send me photos that I can put on the wall? Because she’s not, you know, she’s not getting online and looking at them.
Sarah : (07:05)
Looking at ’em on an iPhone.
Bunny : (07:07)
Yeah. Tell me what your, um, Instagram handle is. We’ve got a link to it in this as well, but I don’t want people to miss that opportunity.
Sarah : (07:17)
So it’s Sarah m picks, s a r a h, that h on the end of Sarah is important. and m as in my last name, McIntyre, M P I X for the, for the photography part.
Bunny : (07:31)
Nice, nice. So we’ll have a link to that. I’m really interested in hearing, um, if you were gonna choose, and, and this is hard. It’s like trying to, it’s like saying, can you choose your favorite child? Talk about your, one of your cool experiences or get, let’s, let’s, um, let’s assume that we’re, we’ve got a listener who is in, I don’t know, Scotland or Dubai right now. And because we do have those listeners.
Sarah : (07:58)
Of Course.
Bunny : (08:00)
Tell them a little bit about what you’ve seen and what you’ve loved specifically, like a location or two.
Sarah : (08:07)
Oh, what I’ve seen and what I’ve loved. Okay. Um, so probably a couple of, a couple of things. Taos and the high road to Taos. Uh, I’ve spent so much time on the high road to Taos, you know and it kind of, I know probably to, to some folks who are very familiar with New Mexico, that might sound a little cliche. photographer spends a lot of time on the high road to Ta ,
Bunny : (08:35)
But a lot of, well, the, but the other thing is that I found, um, and, and we’re both, you and I both are lifelong residents of New Mexico, except for a couple of, you know, forays I made when I married somebody from elsewhere.
Sarah : (08:50)
.
Bunny : (08:52)
But, but I think what I would like for native new Mexicans to get, or people who have lived here all their life is that you’re missing some stuff if you’re not getting out. And once again
Sarah : (09:05)
Yeah.
Bunny : (09:05)
Seeing those things that maybe you saw in your twenties or as a child
Sarah : (09:09)
Oh, absolutely. You know, well, and, the high road to Taos, I think, you know, we, we drive it, we see all these amazing sites, you know, everybody I think is pretty familiar with the Santa Clario to Chi Mayo, of course. But, but there are a lot of other things on the, on the high road that I think tend to go unnoticed. You know, and again, like I go and look for little capias, I go look for the little churches to photograph,
Bunny : (09:35)
Hang on just a second. Explain to people, spell the word you’re saying and explain to them what it means.
Sarah : (09:41)
So, so Kaia, it’s a c a p i l l a Spanish word that that just basically means little church or little chapel. And, and so, so many of these churches were, you know, they’re, they’re in tiny communities. And so it’s a tiny, it’s a corresponding with tiny church and, and there are little capias that are tucked away in places. And, and I think also, like we have to make the distinction between the Kass and the Penitente moradas, which were the Penitente meeting House is because I think sometimes when, when we’re out driving around, a lot of folks will see a marada and they think it’s actually a church and it’s not. It’s actually a penitente meeting house. And, and of course those are places that are reserved for the Penitente Brotherhood that, that we generally don’t get to go into unless explicitly by invitation.
Sarah : (10:31)
And, and certainly you don’t photograph inside of them either. Um, but, but I will, you know, go out like on the high road to Towson. And there have been a few instances where I have come, come, come upon, um, a little tiny church that I didn’t know was there. Like I’ll see one out in the distance and say, oh, ok, how do I get there? , right. You know. But I think one of the, one of the coolest experiences that I’ve had on the high road though, um, so, so I’m also, I am, I am Catholic and the, the church that’s in Las Trumpus,
Bunny : (11:06)
Oh,
Sarah : (11:07)
Have you been inside it Bunny?
Bunny : (11:10)
I haven’t, but she just gave me an extra extraordinary cause it’s so, it’s, it’s so cool. And I have a story about that. But yes.
Sarah : (11:18)
It’s, it’s absolutely extraordinary. And I think it was, it was actually, it was in 2019. I know it was, it was pre Covid, but it was, it was actually, it was specifically 2019, it was March of 2019. So that church is San Jose. And I was, I’d been trying to find a time when it was open, and one of the feasts of of San Jose of St. Joseph is in March. And I kind of had a feeling that maybe the church might be open around the time of that fee day. And I just, I said, you know what, I’m gonna go out with my camera and if it’s open, it’s open. If it’s not, it’s not, I don’t care. You know, one way or the other, I will find something to take to, to, to make a photograph of I’ll, and it was open that day when, when I went up there, I, I picked the right weekend and I’m sure, yeah. You know, like I probably could have found somebody to call and ask, but, you know, sometimes it’s more fun to just go and see what happens, . Right, right. You know, and, and so I got to go inside that church and, and I actually, I asked for permission, um, from the Meyers who were there. I asked them if, if it would be all right if I made a few photographs of it. And I didn’t really, you know, I didn’t realize, you know, of course having never been in there, I had no idea how absolutely extraordinary the inside of that church would be in person. It’s amazing the colors in the artwork, in the Retos that it’s, it’s unlike anything and every single church in New Mexico is, is, is, is beautiful. All of these churches have their own beauty. But there is something about that church and, you know, I’m sure part of it was, uh, I managed to make it there on a day when it was actually open . Right. You know, that, that, that was, that was so cool to begin with. But it really is an extraordinary church. And that was just, that was such an amazing experience. Um, another really cool, cool experience, um, I think this was, I think it was five years ago, uh, we were, we were in Taos for Christmas and I wanted to go to midnight mass at, uh, San Francisco De asis in Rancho State, Taos and . Right. I mean, too cool. You know, another one of these historic churches. And of course that church is so famous because it was painted by, by George O’Keefe, photographed by Ansel Adams. And, and there’s such a, there’s such an ethos. I mean, you know, aside from the fact that like, I think all of New Mexico, we have this sense of place that is just not like anything else. But, but definitely, you know, with that church, it’s so, it’s so historic. It’s so well known. And I had actually, I bought a lens specifically to photograph the back of that church. I get it.
Bunny : (14:18)
Get it. What a great,
Sarah : (14:20)
Because the widest lens I had, it was, it was 24 millimeters. Now I’m gonna get a little technical. It was a 24 millimeter lens, and it was not wide enough from where I wanted to stand to make the photograph. It was not wide enough for me to get everything in the field of you that I wanted. So for Christmas that year, I bought myself a 14 millimeter lens. And on Christmas Eve I was standing in the back of the church and all of the alitos were on top of the church. They had all been put out, you know, cuz it was probably 11:30. It was, you know, leading up to, to midnight mass, the sky was clear, there were stars overhead and , the moon was coming up. These things just don’t get, how does it get better?
Bunny : (15:14)
Oh no, no. Oh no, no. How does it get better? It’s like, ok. So to me, one of my favorite, and I wrote a blog post about it, but one of my favorite stories is about moonrise over Hernandez, which Angela Adams says, I was just driving along in my station wagon with my kids. Yeah. And I came around the corner and there was this tableau, this amazing Yeah. Village. Um, and the moon rising over it and stopped the car. And the way I recall the story is that he just put his camera on top of the car cuz he didn’t even have a tripod with him. Yep. And it resulted in one of the most iconic New Mexico images ever. And it
Sarah : (15:53)
Is, yeah.
Bunny : (15:55)
That, that’s a gift. I mean, that’s a gift from from from the land and the place when you, when you get to do that, don’t you
Sarah : (16:02)
Think it’s, and actually, so, so fun fact, I actually found that spot, uh, because, uh, during Covid I was out by myself Right. Driving around and, and I, I told a friend of mine, I said I’ve gotta see if I can find the spot where he made that photograph, because that area looks completely different now. Of course, yeah. Than it did then. You know, there’s, there’s four lanes of, of, uh, you know, New Mexico to, of us 2 85 going, going through there. And, but I said to myself, you know, we, we can find this place. So I did, I found, I, I know where that old cemetery is and, and the church that, you know, that, that he photographed that moonrise over, there’s no way that you could replicate that photo now because the trees have all grown and, and, and the landscape is much different cause of highways and things like that. But, but I did, I had to go find it.
Bunny : (17:00)
That’s very cool. That’s really cool. And, and there have to be now because I see them, I’ve seen one in Mora. There are, there are, um, capias and, um, small churches on private land. Right. Do you have to Yes,
Sarah : (17:16)
There are. There are in and there is. Yeah. And I think I, I know which one you’re talking about. That’s up in the Mora area and Right. You have to have permission to, to go on their property and photograph those. I have actually photographed that one from the road before and, you know, but, but also there, there’re spectacular capias in the Mora area too. Yeah. And again, just places where you can just go drive for hours really, probably for days. ,
Bunny : (17:47)
I think that you know, the, the, well, I just don’t know how this works. I think that we’re doing a disservice to visitors if we don’t say, just get in your car and drive around.
Sarah : (17:58)
Yeah. Just go like, I no
Bunny : (18:00)
Destination in mind, just go because Yeah. Um,
Sarah : (18:04)
Go, go north, go see, go see the high road to Taos, go drive around in, in, in the, the area around Mora and, and even, or
Bunny : (18:12)
Go the other way. Go through Las Vegas and go up Yeah. To Cleveland, you know, go to Mora Cleveland and Chris Ritos. And that’s one of my favorite drives.
Sarah : (18:21)
Oh, that’s, that’s a gorgeous drive. And, and even then too, you know, like I know, and I tend to spend more time in Northern New Mexico than I do necessarily in the southern part of the state. And obviously everybody knows White Sands, you know, and, and White Sands is gorgeous and it’s beautiful. But there’s also all kinds of, of cool things that are off the beaten path. You know, when you get out of Socorro and you head out towards Magdalena and, you know, the very large array is out there. Right. Science nerd here, uh, , you know, I, I love to go visit the vla, but there’s also, I, there’s all kinds of other amazing things that are, that are out in that area too, that I think get overlooked there. There are ghost towns out there, there are places that, there are little towns that have little churches. I was out there earlier this year and, and photographed some, some places that I had never seen before.
Bunny : (19:13)
And where were you?
Sarah : (19:14)
I was actually, I had been down by the VLA in the, in the area around Magdalena. And then I ended up going down towards Kamado and, you know, found, found a church or two out there that I hadn’t seen. And just beautiful places, you know. And of course the landscape is very different there than it is in, in, in the northern part of the state. But it’s, it’s beautiful and it’s beautiful in a different way. And there are a bunch of other places in that area that, that I really want to get back to and visit as well. Just places that we don’t always necessarily think about.
Bunny : (19:50)
Well, so for and for contrast, have you, um, been to the church that’s on the Mescalero, the one down by Ruidoso, the huge gorgeous church? Have you photographed that?
Sarah : (20:01)
I have. I have actually have a, I have, I have kind of a fun story about that. . Oh, I hear it. I was down. Why did all this stuff happen in 2019? This was, this is also a story from 2019. Wow.
Bunny : (20:14)
That’s cool.
Sarah : (20:14)
I feel like, you know, we had, we had 2019 and then we missed three years. We did. But we did, I was, I was down south and I was actually down there for a photography workshop and, and had spent some time at White Sands, but we had gone up, the group that I was with, we had gone up to Ruidoso for a day. And in between, you know, you, you pass, uh, that, that church, uh, that church on your way to and from Ruidoso. And I had not seen it in person before. And so, so when we were on our way back, um, back down to, to Alamogordo, I said to the other folks I had in the car with me, I said, you know, we have some time. Do you, do y’all mind if we stop? And so we stopped and we actually went into the church. And it is, and and I’m, you’ve been there, I’m guessing.
Bunny : (21:08)
I haven’t been inside. Oh,
Sarah : (21:09)
Really? So, no. So the doors were unlocked. So we went in and the wildest part was, there were actually bats inside the church. there, weres inside the church
Bunny : (21:24)
Services there. Don’t they? They do
Sarah : (21:25)
Or no? Oh yeah, yeah. No, that, that church, the church is in, it’s in, it’s in regular use. It was, it was just, it was kinda surprising. Like, we walked in and, and, and we were kinda surprised because there were actually bats inside the church. But that church is extraordinarily beautiful. And, uh, the, the iconography that is in, because it is actually a, it is actually an icon. There’s an icon, um, of St. Joseph that is in, I believe it’s an icon of St. Joseph. It should, I’m pretty sure that’s what it is since it’s since the church is St. Joseph. But there’s an icon in the sanctuary of that church that’s really beautiful. There’s some really extraordinary stained glass, uh, in inside that church too. And it’s also really cool when you turn around from the sanctuary and you look towards the main doors of the church, the stained glass that is up over the doors. Part of it’s white and then the, then there’s like a gold cross section that’s in the middle of it. And it just kind of, it, like, the reason I remember this is because I turned around, I was standing in front of the sanctuary and I turned around that day. And like, it was just glowing because of the direction of the light. It was beautiful. And I think I actually, I put one of those pictures in my calendar for the following year, and it was, that picture turned around facing the doors with just that stained glass panel illuminated. And the cross was just glowing. It was really cool. It’s a beautiful church. Sure.
Bunny : (22:48)
So I, so I have got to get one of those calendars. . Do you do them every year?
Sarah : (22:55)
I do. I do them every year. I do. And I actually, when I started doing them, I was only doing one and I was doing a mix of landscapes and church photographs. And then I had so many of both. I said, well, maybe I should just do two. So I usually do two. I I do one that is, uh, that’s a landscape landscapes of New Mexico calendar. And then I do another one that is just churches.
Bunny : (23:20)
Wow. So have you been to the church at Gallegos New Mexico? That’s in my, kind of my neck of the woods over by Mosquero.
Sarah : (23:29)
I don’t think I have. No, no, no. I have, I know I have not that actually that area is specifically on my list for this year.
Bunny : (23:38)
Well, that’s where I grew up is in that I grew up in Logan, but between Logan and Mascara, there are two And, and not just two, but two of the, there’s a church at Gallegos and the church at Boros. Okay. And, um, and for people who don’t know, Boros is B U E Y O R O s I think. Yes. Um, but, but those are, I mean, I am not Catholic, but those are churches that whenever somebody says, you know, whenever my, my niece Amy, who grew up in Roy says, I’m, we’re going to mass at Gallego. So like, I’m going just heck Yeah. You know, cause unless there’s a, you know, they don’t have regular services on Sundays. Right. So unless, you know, they do a, a rain mass in the summertime, they do Easter and, um, Christmas Eve and Yeah. Um, if they’re not opening the doors, you’re not gonna get inside. And so No, no.
Sarah : (24:32)
Um, it’s like that, it’s like those little, some of those little churches on the high road, unless it’s a special occasion, special feast day, something like that. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right.
Bunny : (24:41)
And, I would certainly, I mean, I’d like to hear from you, I’d certainly suggest to people that they’re very respectful. I mean, um,
Sarah : (24:48)
Oh yeah, of course.
Bunny : (24:51)
Yeah. I would say be careful and, and, um, ask about taking photos. But, um,
Sarah : (24:56)
Yeah. And that is, that is always something that’s important. Uh, you know, because, and like the, the church in Ranchos, uh, for a long time photography inside that church was not allowed. I believe it is now. I think the last time I was up there, uh, it, it was, it was allowed. But you know, even I, I don’t think you’re technically allowed to photograph the interior of the Santeuareo De ChiMayo without permission. I have actually stopped in, you know, there’s that little office where there’s, there’s frequently a priest who’s sitting in, in the office that’s right near the, the main doors of the, the san during the day. And I have actually kind of poked my head in before and asked if I could take a picture. And sometimes as long as you’re not going to use flash they’ll allow you to do it. But yeah, it’s always important to, to ask for permission and make sure that people are comfortable with, with whatever you’re doing.
Bunny : (25:47)
So here’s what I think we should do. I think as a service, we, you and I should, I could, I should create a blog post and, if you were willing, you could, she could share some images, but we should give people a little pilgrimage. Okay. If you’re staying in Santa Fe, oh, I’d love to. Here’s where you should. Yeah. Here’s where we suggest you take a drive if you’re staying in Sao if you’re staying in Las Cruces. Um, because there’s nothing that is more quintessentially to me, New Mexico as our churches.
Sarah : (26:21)
I totally agree with you, Bunny. I totally agree. .
Bunny : (26:24)
Let’s do that. Let’s, create something that we can share with folks. But, but talk for just a minute, because I don’t want people to miss the chance to hire you to do portraits. Um, talk about where did that, did you start out doing that or did it just evolve
Sarah : (26:41)
? No, you know, I didn’t really, really, I actually really started out when, when I first got my camera, my intent was to photograph things like landscapes and churches . But when you get a camera and you start, you know, becoming a photographer, at some point somebody’s gonna ask you to take their picture too . Right. And, and somewhere along the way, you know, I like to say that, that a lot of my photographic roots were actually in liturgical photography, which is something that you don’t hear a whole lot about, but partly cause I am Catholic. I ended up photographing a lot of masses for the parish that I was part of at the time. And since then, I’ve actually done a lot, a lot of work with with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and with some of the various parishes within the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. I used to photograph a lot of ordination masses. I do that occasionally upon request now. And, you know, it’s so, so kind of like you go from thinking you’re gonna photograph landscapes and churches to photographing events that involve people to then somebody asks you to photograph their wedding and then somebody asks you to photograph their family . And, and I love doing it all. You know, it’s, it’s, um, it’s, it’s all great. Whether it’s me out by myself with a camera on a hill, you know, photographing a church or with whether it’s me in, in the Bosque here in Albuquerque with, with somebody and their family, which is one of the, the most frequent places that I, that I do family portrait sessions is down in, in the Albuquerque busque here in, you know, and just, there’s so many great places. . There are. Yeah, there are. We’re we’re so we’re lucky, right? I mean, we’re lucky. We have state that has incredible natural beauty and everything makes a great backdrop for a family portrait session or for senior photos. When I do business portraits for people headshots, I even do those outdoors most of the time just because, you know, like, if you can be outside, why not?
Bunny : (28:45)
My best headshot, were all taken outside.
Sarah : (28:48)
I mean, oh, it’s the best . Yeah. It’s, it’s the best. It’s totally the best. But you know, when, when I do portrait sessions and whether it’s a senior portrait session, you know, for a graduating high school senior or for somebody with their family, I like to go through an entire process and help people really think about, you know, what’s important about this? You know, who, who are all obviously who are all of the players, right? But how are we going to make this come together? How are we going to plan for this? Um, what are people going to wear and why is that important? Well, that’s important. I mean, obviously because we want everybody to look good together. But it’s also important because you want all of the colors that are in that final photograph, whether it’s the clothes or the location to be something that’s going to look harmonious on your wall when it’s printed, hopefully big.
Sarah : (29:42)
Because I like to print big things. , you know, I have a bunch of photographs in, in my living room. And, and, and when I say big, like two feet by three feet is probably my favorite size. I, I like to print big 24 by 36 is probably my favorite size. I just, I love big statement photos on a wall. Um, you know, and, and that’s what I love to do, those kinds of things for my clients. And so, so, so it’s that whole process of where do you want to put amazing wall artwork of your family in your home, and how are we going to make that come together and, and you know, bring together a vision of, of what we’re going to do so that when we go out and we shoot, we’ve already had a bunch of these conversations. I know you, you know me, we’re comfortable with each other. We know what our goal is and, and we’re going to go and create some great images that are then going to end up having a really treasured spot in your home and be heirloom artwork that people are gonna pass down in their families across generations. So that’s, that’s what I like to do best when I’m, when I’m working with people for portrait photography, you know, and of course I, for, for high school seniors and, and things like that, I do a ton of, of really beautiful printed photo books, albums, uh, because there’re just usually so many cool pictures to, you know, like I did, I did a, a whole series of shoots for a high school senior a couple of years ago. And we started in the fall. We started in the fall . Wow. What a great idea though. Oh. And it was great.
Sarah : (31:17)
And, and she lived in Corrales. And so, so we waited until the leaves were nice and gold and she had this stunning blue velvet dress. And we went out and did a bunch of pictures, you know, blue velvet dress, gold cottonwood leaves, cool, cool stuff. And then we did two or three more shoots after that. So it was like a whole customized experience. It took six months because we went all the way through the winter and I, I made this huge fluffy, you know, all those like big fluffy tool skirts that you see on Pinterest and things like that. I made one of those for her. Wow. And like three different colors. It, it was, it was so fun. I just, I had this wild idea cuz she wanted to do some pictures in the snow. And I said, okay, cool, let’s go do some pictures in the snow. And so she was coming like with her Letterman jacket and you know, she was bringing one of her dogs too. And I said, okay, so we’re gonna do all of that, right? And I said, but I also want to do this really kind of wild, cool, creative thing with this wild skirt. So I got like 300 feet of six inch strips of tool and it was red and black and gold. And I turned, you know, and I, and I turned it into a tool skirt. And I have these amazing photographs of her out in the snow in the Sandias with this crazy fluffy skirt. Wow. And it was just, it was so much fun. But I love doing really customized things like that with portrait clients and just like, get that chance to let the creativity just run wild and do something that, like she’s never gonna forget that
Bunny : (32:50)
No. And her mother, her parents are gonna be thrilled for Yeah. Forever have. And they
Sarah : (32:55)
They have the album to go back and look at . Wow,
Bunny : (33:01)
Sarah, that’s so creative. And you know, I, you really are an artist. I that I’m, I mean it’s interesting that you’re also a chemist cuz there’s some, you know, there’s some, there’s some way that both of those disciplines feed each other. They really do. Um, they do.
Sarah : (33:18)
So creativity is, is something that it’s a continuum. I think it’s a continuum across it’s right and left sides of the brain and, and all of that, all of that.
Bunny : (33:26)
It’s sort of like the part where, you know, kids who that learn to play an instrument early in life are much better at math and Yep. That’s so fascinating. Um, I, so I wanna say again that I want people to be able to find you. So, so everybody who’s listening, please, please check out the links and um, it sounds like you need to hire Sarah right now to start taking pictures of your high school senior this summer so that, so that you’re ready by graduation. It’s
Sarah : (33:54)
The perfect time of year ,
Bunny : (33:55)
It’s the perfect time of year. But um, also watch for, um, we’re gonna work on a post that, um, that we can create, um, a a few, um, suggestions for travel for sort of yeah. What seems like aimless driving, but we’ll take you to some really fascinating places, especially church.
Sarah : (34:16)
And, you know, and also I would say for any photographers out there who are listening, who, you know, who wanna to come to New Mexico and, you know, and go out with a photographer who knows the place.
Bunny : (34:30)
Wow. That’s so generous. Nice.
Sarah : (34:33)
You know, like I love to do, to do private workshops and, and things like that too. So those are, those are always things that I’m happy to talk with folks about and, you know, go out with people and, and show ’em some of the places that I love to, but I’m so excited to do a blog post with you. Oh my gosh. Oh, it’ll be cool.
Bunny : (34:51)
It’ll be really fun. Yeah. And then we’ll, so much fun. And then we’ll do a follow up video where we go to each of those places or something.
Sarah : (34:59)
Oh My gosh.
Bunny : (35:00)
What a great offshoot. Yeah, we’ll have some fun with this. So be amazing
Sarah : (35:05)
,
Bunny : (35:05)
Please everybody check out Sarah’s links, especially check out her Instagram page. Which, um, is, I, I don’t know when I started following you. It has to have been,
Sarah : (35:16)
It’s been a while. I think we’ve been following.
Bunny : (35:18)
It seems like a great idea.
Sarah : (35:20)
And you know, and it’s funny because I found your blog like, I don’t know, 15 years ago, because there was that recipe that you had for red chili Brussels sprouts, which I just want you to know, has been such a hit at Thanksgiving every year. I have made it.
Bunny : (35:36)
Ok. So, so the other ones you have the other one you have to find, and we’ll put a link in here to that one. But is the, um, have you ever made the cranberry salsa?
Sarah : (35:44)
Yes, I made that the same the first year that I made the brussel sprouts, I made the cranberry salsa. It’s amazing. Okay.
Bunny : (35:50)
So there will be a link to that too. Well, I feel like we’re all friends, so, um, we’re gonna collaborate on something fun. But thank you so much, Sarah. This has been really fun.
Sarah : (36:00)
Oh, thank you buddy. This has been fantastic.
Bunny : (36:04)
Okay, folks, bye Sarah. And put her to work. Or better yet, buy a couple of calendars. That’s my plan. We’ll talk again. Okay.
Sarah : (36:14)
All right.
Bunny : (36:14)
Sounds great. Thanks Sarah McIntyre.
Sarah : (36:17)
Thanks Bunny.