Ghost Town Art

An unlikely landscape can inspire an artist. Maybe there's something about the desolation or lushness matching a theme in their mind’s eye. Or maybe the peaceful emptiness enhances the channel to the ocean of creative ideas they draw from.

Sculpted Origins

European artist Albert Szukalski came to Death Valley to get a desert setting for his sculpture of Christ's Last Supper. He found his eventual location outside nearby Rhyolite Ghost Town, looking for a surreal empty backdrop for stark white figures. In choosing the planned sculpture's location, he thought about pioneering travellers taking a last meal before attempting a desert crossing, prospectors taking their last chance in nearby played-out gold mines, and gamblers making their last big play in nearby Las Vegas. He also thought not only of Christ's last meal with his disciples, but also the meaning of a traditional Passover Seder, a time for free men and women to thank God for deliverance from bondage in Egypt. He wanted to create something marking an ending, or maybe a new beginning.

I first visited Rhyolite last year after seeing online pictures of its iconic stone ruins. I lit and photographed those ruins, but felt I'd missed something with Szukalski's sculptures. My original idea was to light them as portraits, but using colors on the all-white figures.

Trying For Morning Light

For our return from our annual family visit to California, I'd wanted a small detour through Rhyolite to shoot there again. My wife Pat suggested we could camp in Death Valley's Stovepipe Wells, get up before 4 AM (ugh - I'm not a morning person), and make the 40 minute drive to Rhyolite in early morning for photography.

But when we arrived around 4:45 AM, it was already too light for many stars to still show. I'm too used to skies being dark enough maybe 90 minutes or so after sunset, so I thought a similar amount of time before sunrise would work. But no. So I looked around at what I had, and tried a few ideas.

The Goldwell Open Air Museum's sculpture park has several interesting pieces in it. It wasn't intended as a Christ figure, but Dre Peters' 1992 sculpture of Icara, Icarus as female, struck me as a representation of Christ on the cross. The strange inclusion of Shorty Harris and a penguin nearby just added to the weirdness. These figures were tall and strange enough against the sky that I felt no need to light them.

Szukalski's Ghosts

At first I thought it was an artist with a palette, but the Serving Ghost, created by Szukalski at the same time as the Last Supper in 1984, used to have wooden bottles on its tray. The low profile artist's palette replaced them after they disintegrated. Szukalski’s original intent reminds me of Ian Anderson's line from Slipstream (Aqualung), "And you press on God's waiter your last dime, as he hands you the bill." Ignoring the palette, I pictured this sculpture as a ghostly maître-d’ at the gate to the next existence, Heaven, Hell or something else.

Looking next at the Last Supper figures, I knew I wouldn't be able to light them in too-bright sunrise light. Instead I used the rising sun as my main light, with the orangey southern mountains in the background.

Then I started looking for what else I could shoot. The Goldwell Museum building itself presented cool lines and angles with the shadowy Ghost Rider nearby. By this time, I had the sun to diffract into a sunstar to add to the building and sculpture. I captured one distant shot to establish what was there and help a viewer walk into the scene. Then I got down low for angular closeups. After that, I placed the Ghost Rider riding into the sunstar. For the morning finale I diffracted the sun on Icara.

Goldwell Open Air Museum and Ghost Rider downstairs

We drove back to Beatty to wait for our hotel room and for a tasty dinner at Smokin' J's Barbecue. We got back to Rhyolite around 7:30 for the evening session.

Shorty Harris, penguin, Icara and sunstar — Shorty Harris, penguin, Icara and diffraction sunstar

Back For Seconds - Night Light

On our last visit in February 2024, the rising moon was shining through the Porter Store's stone portal. We had similar moon positioning this time, but building ruins weren't my focus. I captured the moon around some of them, then walked down to the sculpture park. Whenever I shoot ruins or ghost towns, I'm struck by the desolation of formerly active sites. Icara in twilight with the bright moon beacon to one side gave me that lonely, empty feeling.

Finally, it was dark enough to light the Last Supper. I lit from the front, trying purple, blue and pink light, but felt like something was missing.

If you've studied art history, you've seen paintings of Christ and the Apostles with saintly halos behind their heads. Here I was with all of them at the Last Supper, so I picked one figure and light painted a halo behind it. The multicolored LED flasher wand didn't quite give me what I wanted, but the solid orange did.

Shot Notes

I used one lens for almost every picture here. Leica's Walter Mandler designed the 21mm f/2.8 Elmarit and released it in 1980. It provides a sharp but a bit softer rendering than the newer 21mm f/2.8 Elmarit-M ASPH. It also focuses down to 16", unlike most other lenses for Leica M-cameras. That close focusing came in handy for the Goldwell Museum building closeups.

For night shots I put the Leica M11 camera on a tripod. I also set the camera for a delayed shutter release so the shaking caused by my finger pressing the button didn't vibrate it. But the 10 second maximum delay didn't allow me enough time to trip the shutter and move behind the sculptures to paint a halo. I switched to a Panasonic Lumix S5 II camera with a Lumix S 18mm f/1.8 lens, since I had a wireless remote for that camera. After manually focusing on the lit figures, I tried several light-painted shots. When you're behind your subject to paint a halo, it can be a challenge to move an LED flasher wand in a circular arc placed where you want it. After shooting several pictures, I decided I was happy with one.

Cerro Pedro and Lady Desert — 1,000 in 1 Origami Crane and Lady Desert

More Information

Mark Bohrer (March 24, 2024), Rhyolite After Dark. Retrieved from https://www.markbohrerphoto.com/blog/rhyolite-after-dark

Britanica (June 18, 2025), Last Supper. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Last-Supper-fresco-by-Leonardo-da-Vinci

Goldwell Open Air Museum (October 27, 1984), ALBERT SZUKALSKI, DEATH VALLEY PROJECT, RHYOLITE NEV. "GHOST IMAGES" BOOKLET. Retrieved from https://www.goldwellmuseum.org/death-valley-project-booklet-from-1984

Goldwell Open Air Museum (nd), Icara 1992. Retrieved from https://www.goldwellmuseum.org/drepeeters

Goldwell Open Air Museum (nd), Tribute to Shorty Harris 1994. Retrieved from https://www.goldwellmuseum.org/fred-bervoets-1

Goldwell Open Air Museum (nd), Serving Ghost 1984. Retrieved from https://www.goldwellmuseum.org/charles-albert-szukalski-serving-ghost

Goldwell Open Air Museum (nd), Ghost Rider 1984. Retrieved from https://www.goldwellmuseum.org/charles-albert-szukalski-ghost-ryder

Goldwell Open Air Museum (nd), Cierra Pedro. Retrieved from https://www.goldwellmuseum.org/cierrapedro

Cierra Piedro created the 1,000 in 1 origami crane sheet metal sculpture that frames Lady Desert: The Venus of Nevada 1992.

Goldwell Open Air Museum (nd), Lady Desert: The Venus of Nevada 1992. Retrieved from https://www.goldwellmuseum.org/dr-hugo-heyrman

You'll see Lady Desert: The Venus of Nevada referred to as the Pink Lady.

Roadtrippin.fr (April 29, 2025), Goldwell Open Air Museum. Retrieved from https://www.roadtrippin.fr/poi/rhyolite-goldwell-open-air-museum.php

RoadsideAmerica.com (nd), Last Supper and Giant Pink Woman. Retrieved from https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/12538