Old Town photography gallery to bring New Mexico into focus

Allen Bourne has a eager eye for images.

As does Allen Morrison.

The photographers met in 2018 when Bourne signed up for a Bisti Wilderness photo tour that Morrison was foremost.

That 1 party has led into a friendship, which has turned into a small business partnership, as the pair opened Land of Enchantment Photography Artwork Gallery in Old City.

Bourne and his spouse produced the shift from Houston to Placitas 3 months just after meeting Morrison.

Bourne has generally been intrigued in photography.

“I was in sixth grade and I was looking at Fortune magazine,” Bourne recalls. “It was a two-website page distribute. It was a blue background and it had a few or four completely white eggs and 1 was cracked open up. There were being shiny environmentally friendly keys coming out. It was an advertisement and the photography just caught my eye. It stuck with me and now I’m building portraits like this.”

The strategy to open up a gallery in Previous Town took some organizing.

Morrison suggests in summer time 2020, he joined an space photographer’s co-op gallery and identified a industry for not only his high-quality artwork shots, but other photograph products and services.

“I realized Allen’s operate, which tends toward the abstract, would enhance mine, so I pitched him on opening a gallery of our individual,” Morrison says. “He purchased in to the company concept and we began looking for house.”

Conversing to some Outdated Town suppliers soon following that, Bourne identified out that the place in Patio Escondido could be coming accessible. Turns out it was, and the two Allens jumped on the prospect.

Bourne claims as the small business name suggests, the concentrate will be on scenes of New Mexico, delivering website visitors with the possibility to acquire dwelling an affordable, but one of a kind visual reminder of their pay a visit to.

“We’ll also give visuals that capture the broader spirit of the Southwest, as nicely as abstract perform that goes beyond those borders,” Bourne states. “More importantly, we hope to make our historic location in Old Town a resource for nearby inside designers seeking for distinctive performs to enrich their clients’ residing spaces, particularly partners who have just lately moved into northern New Mexico.’

Bourne hopes the gallery will also come to be a hub where by area and browsing photographers arrive for thoughts on how to enliven their personal photographs.

“It’s about making and getting element of the neighborhood,” Bourne suggests. “It’s crucial to keep communication open up with other like-minded innovative men and women.”

Within the gallery, there are portraits of anything New Mexico – flora and fauna, as properly as the Rail Yards in Downtown or landscape pictures.

Morrison left a career in human relations to invest a lot more time ballooning with his spouse, Peggy Billson, who is also a security director with the Albuquerque Intercontinental Balloon Fiesta.

Bourne retired from a profession in promotion and marketing and advertising. He is often carrying his camera with him.

“When I obtained hiking there are periods I’m like, ‘Wow, look at that,’ ” Bourne suggests. “I’ll get inspiration from every little thing about me. For me, the subsequent section for me is how to merge other images that I have with each other. I’ve been trying to seize a moonrise more than Cabezon Peak. So I’ve been seeing that for the earlier couple of months.”