In 2007 I had the opportunity to photograph at the Pecos National Historic Park. This was about the time that I started to take digital photography seriously. I no longer had a darkroom, and had sold off most of my photography gear. I felt ready to step into the steep learning curve of fine art digital photography. I was going to learn of lot of technical skills in order to produce gallery grade photographs. I had a wonderful to use new digital camera, and here at Pecos, I had the subject matter to work with.
This rendering in color just did not satisfy my previsualized notion of how to present it.
For me this had to be done in black and white.
This rendering was a step in the right direction, but not quite there.
This variation of the ruins was to me a stronger composition. This has become one of my all time favorite images. At this point in my photography, I felt that I had finally reached the point with digital photography that to me equaled and surpassed what I could do with film. I used a Sony R1 camera, and processed the image in Lightroom and Photoshop.
This was my starting point on working this photograph.
THOMAS ALLEN BETHUNE
I have been interested in photography for most of my life. I started taking photographs with a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera when I was eight years old. My early subjects were trains and engineered structures as well as landscapes and family portraits. My interests and vision have matured, but the subjects that catch my eye continue to be of the same genre as my earliest visions.
A neighbor man had a darkroom, and he showed me the basics of camera operation and darkroom processing. I took courses in art and photography in high school and college. I worked as an apprentice to a commercial wedding and event photographer, and I was in charge of a recreational dark room while I was in the military. As an adult, I earned a bachelor’s degree in photography from Humboldt State University. My experience with film formats included 35mm, 2 ¼”, and 4”x 5”. I exhibited at galleries near my home in Arcata California, and in Santa Fe New Mexico.
All my current work is digital. I am scanning many of my legacy negatives and slides. I sometimes process and print the scanned negatives. I often post them on my blog. I process all of my prints with archival media.
An award winning fine art photographer living in a redwood forest.
BA Photography
Director, Redwood Art Association, Eureka CA
Co-curator, F Street Foto Gallery, Eureka CA
Wow! Incredible! I hope you are doing well! Your art cerrtainly is!My Mom was a New Mexican. She was from Artesia, where her dad had been Mayor, but she became the “first lady of the Santa Fe theater” in the 30’s…I loved visiting there as a kid, but I don’t think I ever saw this!thank you!Love and wellness to you and Lisa,Michelle
"I AM"- are the two most powerful words in the dictionary because the ending determines your destiny....so join me in my fight against PD to make sure that everyone who suffers from this chronic progressive degenerative disease can develop the courage to shout to the wind- I AM Fierce and Courageous ....
Thomas Bethune's Photographic Journal 
Wow! Incredible! I hope you are doing well! Your art cerrtainly is!My Mom was a New Mexican. She was from Artesia, where her dad had been Mayor, but she became the “first lady of the Santa Fe theater” in the 30’s…I loved visiting there as a kid, but I don’t think I ever saw this!thank you!Love and wellness to you and Lisa,Michelle
Thanks Michelle I always appreciate our enthusiasm for my work.
Very interesting place, I had never heard of it before.