Wonderland: A Photographer's Journey in the Bisti

Called a poet of the visual image, Eduardo Fuss has photographed in his native Argentina, Spain, and all across North America. However, the Bisti Wilderness in northwest New Mexico, near Farmington, has inspired his most striking photographs.

In 1966, Fuss settled in the United States in Seattle, Washington. He soon traveled across his newly adopted country, working in New York and Connecticut as a painter and curator. In the late 1970s, he returned to the West, traveling through New Mexico, a land that had been instilled in his childhood memory by John Ford westerns and an Ansel Adams photograph of the moon hanging over a village called Hernandez. He bought a camera to capture the light and shadow and mountains of New Mexico.

He found the Bisti Wilderness irresistible. Once, when he was there to shoot, high clouds formed. When a thin line of empty sky appeared on the horizon, he set up his equipment. "Suddenly a shaft of light appeared, the clouds providing a tremendously black background. I got two rolls of incredible, vibrant pictures. Mostly I just work with what is there--rarely is nothing there. Once you start looking, you find different ways to do things."

Throughout his career Eduardo has used natural light, one camera, a Canon, and one film, Fuji Velvia ASA 50, to take his photographs. His artistry comes with patience, with waiting for the shot. Lately he has been excitedly exploring the possibilities of combining his transparencies with computer capabilities to make sure his prints reflect what he saw, what he perceives as the emotions of the earth itself.