Outside Amarillo

I recently came across this account of the making of Outside Amarillo, which happened while I was helping a friend drive back east from L.A. in May of 2006.

By the third night we were crossing into the dark Texas Panhandle. We had decided that mostly we were just going to try to get to the East Coast as quickly as we could on this trip, but we had allowed for maybe one side night of shooting, if an opportunity presented itself.

We were in my friend’s Honda Civic—her belongings plus my luggage plus one small camera bag that I had brought from NC. We had decided that we would pull off the road at the last exit we could before we hit the light spill of Amarillo and see if anything came of it.

I was in the passenger seat, on the phone with my brother (who lives in L.A.) telling him how the homemade rice salad and stuffed grape leaves my sister-in-law had given us for the trip was still feeding us days later. Suddenly Nancy said, “this is it–I’m getting off!” It was a split second decision and very definitely the right one. We could see Amarillo and its light in the distance, but we hadn’t hit it yet. It was the last possible exit.

When we exited, it seemed clear why there was no light at that exit. The only structures there were those in the photo. It was likely sometime between 10 and midnight b/c we were there for a few hours, and I remember when we wrapped, I was not feeling off and compromised, which is definitely how you feel by 3 am if you’ve been shooting at night. So I’m guessing we were done by 2.

I do remember how continually frustrating it was in terms of the exposure. The moon that night was full or mostly so, and when it was out, it was pretty bright. But clouds kept coming through and covering that bright moon. Illumination of a scene by a full moon in a clear sky is one kind of exposure. Illumination of a scene by a moon socked in by cloud cover is a very different kind of exposure. I remember realizing I was going to need to change the exposure on the shot several times.

It played out like this— “Oh good! No clouds—maybe 15 more minutes........No!!!! Heavy cloud cover, now at least 30 more minutes.....” That back and fortth went on throughout the entire exposure. Of course, now I’m really glad for all that cloud cover in that picture b/c the moon’s movement and the cloud cover gently illuminated by that moon from behind makes for a very different picture than would have resulted from a clear night scene.

In the collections of

The Cassilhaus Collection
Frank Konhaus on Outside Amarillo
Chapel Hill, North Carolina

The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University
Acquisition note from the Nasher
Durham, North Carolina

The North Carolina Museum of Art
Curator's Talk
Raleigh, North Carolina

Outside Amarillo Exhibition History

2007 Landscape at the Limit Invitational Exhibit
Curated by Jonathan Stuhlman of the Mint Museum, Charlotte NC
Second Street Gallery | Charlottesville VA
March 2nd – April 28th 2007

2007 New Currents in Contemporary Art : MFA Exhibit
Ackland Art Museum | Chapel Hill NC
April 2007

2012 Light Cache
Craven Allen Gallery | Durham NC
December 3rd 2011 – February 11th 2012

2012 — Present: Multiple shows at Cassilhaus featuring the Cassilhaus collection

2013 Light Sensitive: Photographic Works from North Carolina Collections
Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University | Durham NC
February 14th – May 12th 2013

2014 Close to Home: A Decade of Acquisitions
North Carolina Museum of Art | Raleigh NC
August 18th 2013 – February 9th 2014

2019 Across County Lines: Contemporary Photography from the Piedmont
Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University | Durham NC
October 4th 2018 – February 10th 2019

2021 Reflections on Light: Works from the NCMA Collection
North Carolina Museum of Art | Raleigh NC
September 9th 2020 – July 11th 2021

2025 Nightscapes
Craven Allen Gallery | Durham NC
February 8th – March 1st 2025

2025 Coming into Focus: A Snapshot of Photography at the Nasher
Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University | Durham NC
July 17 2025 — January 4 2026