Inside the Embudo Gas Museum
If you are like me, shooting a bunch of old gas pumps and other antique memorabilia is your idea of an afternoon well spent! I did just that in Embudo, New Mexico at the Classical Gas Museum, and it was absolutely awesome. Here's a visual tour of the inside of the museum - 14 photos in all. It should keep your eyes busy for a bit! :-)
If you like old gas station stuff, this is your heaven!
Out West in New Mexico, there's a tiny little town between Taos and Santa Fe known as Embudo. It's not a big town - don't blink or you will miss it, as they say - but thanks to one man's devotion to a project, it's well worth a stop.
That man is Johnnie Meier, and his project is the Classical Gas Museum. Johnnie has built an incredible collection of old gas station and vintage Americana memorabilia - gas pumps, gas signs and more. Incredible is the best word that comes to mind.
Oh, and PHOTOGRAPHY!
Yeah, you need to stop here and spend some time with the camera, inside and out. There is just so much to shoot that even though I have shot here twice in my life, I feel like I could return another dozen times and still not get it all. There is that much.
And Johnnie could not be any nicer. He lets you freely wander here around the grounds and shoot to your hearts content - so I did, thank you very much Johnnie. And he also let me inside where all these wonderful signs and old gas pumps are lit up and working great. I think I spent an hour inside (and the inside is not too large) shooting all the stuff you see here today. And I had it all to myself that entire time!
I probably spent another hour or more outside, getting all the rusted up and busted up old stuff captured, one gas pump at a time. It's almost overwhelming when you see it. You will round the bend in the road, and if you are paying attention, you will see a bunch of old gas pumps in a yard, plus a bunch of other old stuff. It will catch your eye, that's for sure! (and likely your imagination too)
I need to go back. I already can think of plenty of stuff I should have done when I was last there.
You ever get like that? When you are somewhere and shooting, you fire away at every possible thing you can imagine. You look around, you look at the stuff on your camera, and think you got it all. So you depart. You feel good. You feel like you got it done.
Then, about 30 minutes later, you realize there were about 4 million other things you could have shot there, or shot differently, or something like that. I do that all the time, so as I write this and look at these photos, I realize how much I left behind.
Well, that just means I have to go back, right? Right!
Anyways, this is a quick summary of the inside of his Classical Gas Museum. I have plenty of other stuff to share from here, so when I can find the time, I will get those onto the blog as well.
Thanks for the visit today and hope you enjoy the photos!
The Embudo Gas Museum
Day 4 of Santa Fe week: The Embudo Gas Museum
Driving north from Santa Fe on Route 68 (no, not Route 66, that's elsewhere, but nearby, sorta) you encounter this little town of Embudo. It hugs the Rio Grande River and the whole area is very pretty. Just be sure and keep your eyes ready for this awesome stop: The Embudo Gas Museum!
This place is incredible, and is like an HDR heaven for all your HDRtists out there! Get your brackets fired up! I spent a couple of hours here, getting a nice tour from Johnnie, the friendly gent who owns the place. He has an incredible and amazing collection of so much antique gas memorabilia from all over: gas pumps, gas signs, neon, old cars...the list goes on and the brackets just keep firing.
This trio of old pumps sits out front and though it was really windy and the sky was boring, I never get tired of shooting stuff like this!
This is a closeup of the entrance to the museum itself. Inside is like candyland for HDR shooters. I spent a good while in there, firing shots with reckless abandon!
Thank you for stopping by today!
Discarded but not forgotten
In the little town of Embudo, New Mexico there is this roadside stop which is an antique gas museum. It has an amazing collection of old gas pumps, roadside signs and other things from years past. It is a very interesting place and the collection of Americana is impressive. It's almost like stepping back in time. These old gas pumps are lined up everywhere - it's a great place to take photos, especially in HDR since everything is covered in layers of rust.
The antique gas musem
This antique gas museum sits on the side of the road in Embudo, NM. It is an awesome place. It has this huge collection of old gas pumps, gas signs and lots of other great stuff. It feels like you went back in time to the 1950's. It is great fun to wander around and especially fun to take pictures of!
Back to the future
Driving south from Taos down NM State Road 68, you come across a tiny little place called Embudo. Don't blink because you might miss it, and you don't want to. The area is pretty and the drive is a nice one, since it meanders alongside the Rio Grande River. There are some nice viewpoints and some interesting geological spots but for me the most interesting was this old Gas Museum on the side of the road. The owner is a retired Los Alamos scientist and he has an amazing collection of old gas pumps, signs, cars and other bits of Americana. It was like being in the 1950's, and I was half expecting Marty McFly to show up in the DeLorean.