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![From George Bedell’s Wasteland Series. Fine art photograph of bright orange-red wall, grey sidewalk, and deep blue sky in Baja California, Mexico. 1985.]()
Sr. Rick. Baja California. 1985.
This wall is like a damn set against overwhelming light and heat. The image was captured in the southern limits of the Pacific port of Ensenada. The light in Baja can be intense. It is as if the use of bright colors in this region is an attempt to fight the unforgiving harshness of the midday sun.
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![From George Bedell’s Wasteland Series. Fine art photograph nearly finished, basic white house on barren lot in Baja Sur, Mexico. 1983.]()
Blessed, New, White House. Baja Sur. 1983.There is something hopeful about this renovated home near completion with its new adobe façade, brand-new aluminum window frames, and freshly planted flora in the front yard. Even the misstep of tar dripping from the roof has charm. Living in this house close to Baja’s southern cape, with an ocean view, perfect weather, and enough time to for home improvements should make any sane person happy.
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![From George Bedell’s Wasteland Series. Fine art photograph of cinderblock wall on the Pacific shore of Baja California. 1988.]()
Cinderblock Wall. Baja Sur. 1988.
There is an elemental symmetrically to this surreal scene of a fractured wall on Baja’s Pacific coast. Horizontally cleaved by the horizon and vertically split by a crack in the wall, the two lines meet at dead center. If one looks closely, the sky can be glimpsed through the wall's fissure. The structure’s purpose is anyone’s guess. The bottle cap, with a color matching the sky, was not placed there—at least not by me.
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![From George Bedell’s Wasteland Series. Fine art photograph of architectural monstrosity on Baja California’s Pacific Coast. Taken on Easter Sunday, 1983.]()
Easter Sunday. Baja California. 1987. An overcast sky over an Easter Sunday morning in 1987. I first saw this architectural monstrosity in 1972. Originally put up as a whimsical, modern-style entryway to a residential project that came to nothing, the structure has pricked the curiosity of travelers heading south from Tijuana to Ensenada for years. The building seen here was at a low point in its history. Since then, it has been restored and is now part of an industrial complex. -
![From George Bedell’s Wasteland Series. Fine art photograph of abandoned, never finished rest stop with bright yellow wall in central desert of Baja California. 1984.]()
El Progreso. Baja California. 1984. A place named for Progress, a rest area for travelers, was built on Baja’s Highway One and then soon abandoned. The jarring mustard-yellow wall seems to defy the muted colors of the terrain beyond. -
![From George Bedell’s Wasteland Series. Fine art photograph of a shady street in Ensenada, Baja California, beneath a mounted ladder leading to a bright sky.]()
Escape Route. Baja California. 1997. Shadows encroach upon the viewer. Above, at right, in the distance, the fronds of an imperial palm flash in the clear daylight and a steep ladder on a blank wall leads to the openness of the sky. -
![Alt Text: From George Bedell’s Wasteland Series. Fine art photograph of an abandoned service station under majestic clouds near Catavina, Baja California.]()
Ghost Stop. Baja California. 1985.
Under majestic clouds sits a deserted filling station, a little north of Catavina. About this far south, the distances between places begins to widen until one reaches the Sea of Cortez, and motorists become more dependent on stops for fuel, water, and repairs. There is nothing so disheartening as needing gas, pulling into a Pemex station, and finding it abandoned. Here the importance of a place often is determined by the emptiness surrounding it.
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![Alt Text: From George Bedell’s Wasteland Series. Fine art photograph of an odd assortment of buildings, one with the name Joly painted on it, in central Baja California.]()
Joly’s Yard. Baja California. 1987. An odd assortment of structures set in a dirt yard, the buildings' functions are unknown. Then there is the enigmatic name Yoly. Who was she? Who loved her or wanted to shame her enough to paint her name on a cinderblock wall? Yoly means violet flower. Such a rare, colorful name in such a drab place. -
![From George Bedell’s Wasteland Series. Fine art photograph taken in Baja California of the bright orange walls of a closed filling station pasted with a election poster.]()
Margarita’s Silence. Baja Sur. 1984.
A political poster is taped to a support column of an abandoned Pemex station. Judging from the tape marks left on the column, Margarita's plea for votes is not the first bill posted there, and probably not the last. The imperious solidity of the concrete structure and its defiant colors seems at odds with the transience of paper, tape—and political aspirations.
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![From George Bedell’s Wasteland Series. Fine art photograph taken in Baja Sur of a windswept sky above a windowless wall covered with expressionist graffiti.]()
No. 103. Baja Sur. 1985.
A shady street in Mulege, Baja Sur. A windswept sky above a wall without windows and doors. The wall supports a mural of graffiti that brings to mind the art of American action paintings of the 1950s.
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![From George Bedell’s Wasteland Series. Fine art photograph taken in Catavina, Baja California of backside of desert resort with satellite dish.]()
Oasis. Baja California. 1986.
In Catavina, a settlement of about 150 people with one telephone line out, more than 100 kilometers from the closest small town, a satellite dish is a big asset. Built in the center of this unforgiving terrain is a government hotel, with a pool, tennis court, and a decent restaurant that serves some good local wines. It is a perfect place to spend a night in the center of nowhere under more stars than most people have seen in their lives. This is the hotel's backside, seldom seen by guests.
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The Execution of Mandoza Perez. Baja California. 1987. The roof was never finished. The door and window jambs were never put in place. It is not unusual in Baja for building to start in dedicated earnest then suddenly go dormant for months or years or forever. These desert dwellings are like lizards. They scamper across the hot sand in the bright sun, and in an instant borrow into suspended animation. Then, in more promising times, they spring to life again. Between resurrection and oblivion, local youths used a wall of this site for target practice. A roughly sketched male figure, wearing a sombrero and cavalierly holding a cigar, is punctuated with bullet holes. -
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Violent Landscape with Car Wreck. Baja California. 1983.This bizarre landscape, strewn with volcanic boulders, rare Boojum trees, and the smashed hulk of a car was taken in the area surrounding Catavina. It is said that much of the auto wreckage along Highway One was due to vehicles being trashed by construction workers after the motorway was completed. But the many roadside shrines marking traffic fatalities along the route tell another story. -
Wasteland
The Wasteland Series is comprised of images captured on Mexico's Baja Peninsula. It is an effort to find significance in desolate spaces. In Baja, resignation reigns under an unforgiving sun. Like the desert life found there, human endeavors—homes, mines, factories—suddenly bud, flourish, and then, like desert flora, lay dormant for years. It was under Baja's harsh sun that I first explored color. I believe good photography finds what is exotic in everyday life and that seldom is significant and original photography made by shooting in distant exotic locales. All that said, the Baja is a far stretch from the milky skies and soft light of Minnesota, where I was raised. But, after forty years of roving the Baja peninsula, I have developed a deep affinity with the place. Its colors, heat, and its spirit are as familiar to me as my next breath or heartbeat.
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