An Alamos Film Crew for the Season

44 … A multi-faceted crew for a sparkling season, Christmas 1993 …

Film crew  as ghosts, Álamos, Sonora, Mexico.  Photo by gary Ruble.

Our crew as ghosts on a quiet night in Centro Álamos. Photo:Gary Ruble.

Calle Aurora connects the two busiest areas in Álamos: Alameda and Plaza de
las Armas. It is an one-way street for cars and two-way passage for pedestrians,
bicycles, and animals. It is my favorite street in Álamos, long and narrow with
a gentle climb to the Plaza. Most of the night it can be still, homes sleeping
as peaceful ghosts come out to loiter and reminisce. This is our crew doubling
for ghosts and providing scale and detail to a night portrait frozen in time.

This is the crew that captured Alamos-Christmas-1993 and our hosts the Nuzums.

From left to right: Chaco Valdez, painting of Christina Vega by Jim Wilson,
Anders Tomlinson, Gary Ruble, Donna Beckett, R. L. Harrington, Robert Ganey,
and the Nuzums: Jolene, Kit, Elizabeth and Pember. At this moment we were
all together and thankful.

Gary Ruble photgraphing passerby from a ruin in Alamos, Sonora, Mexico.  Photo by Anders Tomlinson.

Gary Ruble photographs a passerby on Calle Hildalgo.

Gary Ruble took slides, shot 16 mm film, primarily single-frame time lapse,
and helped with audio recording. He also disappeared into the arms of Álamos.
Often the question would be asked, ” where is Gary?” and the answers were ”
we last saw him headed off with some folks”. This is a good example of a
ruin’s interior.

The fountain at La Puerta Rpja bed and breakfast in Álamos, Sonora, México - 1992.  Photo by Gary Ruble.

A special place’s special time. Photo: Gary Ruble


La Puerta Roja’s courtyard was a wonderful subject for a small scale painting
with light
photo by Gary Ruble. Since our 1992 shoot the population of
Álamos has nearly doubled. Looking at Álamos from space with Google maps I
can see new construction and new neighborhoods. Álamos has been part of the
southwest’s now dormant building boom. Another factor for Álamos’s growth
is the same as its beginnings – mining. A large copper mine to the north
reopened in 1999. I wonder how many ruins are still available for
purchase and renovation?

R.L. Harrinton looking in the fountain at La Puerta Rpja bed and breakfast in Álamos, Sonora, México - 1992.  Photo by Anders Tomlinson.

A moment taking in the beginning of another day in Álamos, Sonora, México.


Teri Arnold and Rudy Hale hosted most of the crew at their five guest room
La Puerta Roja, The Red Door, bed and breakfast. The charming hosts treated
the crew with kindness and respect which was reciprocated by the team.

Crew walks to town from Puerta Roja, Alamos, Sonora, Mexico.  Photo by unknown.

Part of the crew starts the day walking to town down Cerro Guadaloupe.

The crew was staying in two places a ten minute walk apart separated by
Cerro Guadaloupe. In Álamos, the greatest joys maybe the unanticipated
encounters en-route to a preconceived destination. For R.L. Harringto,
Robert Ganey, Donna Beckett and Anders Tomlinson this was one of those
moments as they came out of cool winter shade at Puerta Roja and walked
into warm sun as they approached Álamos Centro.

Kit Nuzum videos crew creating shadow dance, Alamos, Sonora, Mexico.  Photo by Anders Tomlinson

Kit Nuzum videos the crew creating an impromptu shadow dance.

Within in every artist there is a child that will not be silenced. At times, the child will take control and a sense of humanity is produced. This is one of those moments: human shadows dancing across a wall of time. There was the wall, the sun was setting, why not dance holding hands? This recreated a moment from a 1983 Álamos film shot by Anders Tomlinson and Kit Nuzum of kids dancing by the camera, holding hands, with their shadows racing across the ground.

Kit Nuzum standing, Alamos, Sonora, Mexico.  Photo by Anders Tomlinson.

Kit Nuzum, as the sun bids adieu, contemplates the meaning of meanings.

Christopher, his friends know him as Kit, Nuzum first introduced me to Álamos. We met on a beach while filming and helping with a preproduction setup of a Suzanne Lacy public art performance, Whispers, The Waves, The Wind, featuring white covered tables with white chairs and women, all over the age of 65, dressed in white discussing their lives. The women’s reflections would be broadcasted over speakers up on the bluffs surrounding the cove. An interesting moment in time of age contemplating time.

A couple of months later, spring of 1985, he invited me to go on a Mexico road trip. All he said about Álamos was that he knew I would like it. We arrived in Álamos hours before sunrise. Driving up Calle Aurora into, and around the Plaza, to Calle Comercio #2 and entering the front courtyard of the Casa Nuzum was a step into a place I had never been before. Kit walked me through three garden areas, fountains gurgling under the stars, to a guest room waiting for me in the back. I went to sleep in a dream, I awake to Álamos.

Today, 2015, Kit Nuzum has been spending time off the grid and brewing beer outside Puerto Varas, Chile. Ever the traveler, Kit has also been brewing bird in Bend Oregon during the summers. He is planning to return to North America. He was sighted in Álamos, Sonora, Mexico during December 2015.

A parade of lights brings song and joy to colonial Alamos streets during Christmas.
We see a traditional Posada visiting from house to house and arriving at Casa de los Tesoros where children in their holiday attire play and adult family take in another Christmas in Álamos. It is a tradition. Another scene is a trip to the Alameda.

To see more Winter Holiday videos by this talented team.

To see more Alamos, Sonora, Mexico videos by Anders and his associates.

To see more Alamos Journal pages.

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©2013 Anders Tomlinson, all rights reserved.



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