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Lens-Artists Challenge #394—History Through the Lens

Vulture City Assay Office

This week, it’s my great pleasure to host a challenge that leans into two of my favorite pastimes—photography and historic sites. Many of my favorite destinations are places where history still lives—recreated, restored, or simply preserved as they stand today. While it would be perfectly proper to feature a single favorite park, site, or museum if you’d like, I’m opening the door to a bit more variety. You’re welcome to choose from any of the subtopics in this challenge, mix and match them, or bring your own historic theme if none of these themes quite fit your submission.

Where the Past Still Stands

My opening photo features an old mining town where some buildings remain as they were, and others have been carefully recreated to match their original design. The former boomtown sits beside an active commercial gold mine, a detail that underscores the authenticity of Vulture City. Located near Wickenburg, Arizona, the site includes both the historic Vulture Mine and the preserved mining town that grew around it. The image above shows the Assay Office and its vault, where gold from Arizona’s formerly most productive mine was once secured. The small building to the right now serves as the town’s gift shop—still under construction when we visited in 2017. You can visit my full post on Vulture City here.

Rio Puerco Bridge on Route 66
The historic Rio Puerco Bridge on Route 66

Roadside History Revisited

Traveling I‑40 between Albuquerque and Flagstaff over the years, we’ve passed through the wide sweep of the Rio Puerco Valley more times than I can count. One trip in 2021, a flash of steel off to the south caught our attention, and curiosity won out. We slipped off the Interstate and found ourselves on a surviving stretch of historic Route 66. Improvements to the “Mother Road” eventually turned this segment into a frontage road, but the old Rio Puerco Bridge, now open only to pedestrians, still stands as a reminder of the highway that once carried travelers west. You can read more about our visit to the Rio Puerco Bridge here.

American Cemetery at Normandy

Moments That Made Us

I wasn’t part of the Greatest Generation—those who served and returned, and those who gave the last full measure of their devotion. I wasn’t even born until after that global conflict, though I’ve spent much of my life studying the strategies and battles of World War II. In 2013, I visited the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, but it wasn’t until 2024, when a cruise stop in Le Havre brought me to the American Cemetery at Normandy, that the history I’d read about became deeply personal. Standing among the rows of markers and later walking Omaha Beach affected me far more than any book or documentary ever could. You can view more photos from this solemn place, so steeped in our shared history, even on a foreign shore. My original post is here.

Abandoned in Tombstone, Arizona
Abandoned in Tombstone, Arizona

Timeworn Details

On a road trip to “The Town Too Tough to Die,” Tombstone, Arizona, in 2013, the town’s famous history—the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Boot Hill, and all the legends that surround them—was very much on my mind. Yet one of the things that stopped me in my tracks wasn’t a reenactment or a museum display, but an old buckboard wagon sitting on a vacant lot just off the historic Allen Street. Its weathered boards and sun‑bleached wheels drew me in, and I found myself photographing not only the full wagon but also the worn details of the front wheel assembly. If that wagon is still there today, I doubt it will ever be restored to working condition, but it remains a reminder of how people once moved through what we now call “The Old West.” You can walk with me through my photo story here.

Tucson’s layered skyline from Barrio Viejo
Tucson’s layered skyline from Barrio Viejo

Walking Through Yesterday

Fresh in my mind is a recent walk through Tucson’s Barrio Viejo, a neighborhood that holds one of the largest surviving collections of 19th‑century adobe homes in the United States. Those adobe walls, weathered textures, and long‑standing homes have anchored the community for generations. Yet the modern city rises just beyond the rooftops—skyscrapers, power poles, rental scooters, and the hum of contemporary life reminding me that yesterday and today coexist here in a single frame. It’s a place where the old neighborhood continues to tell its story even as Tucson grows around it. This photo is from my walk through the neighborhood, and will be featured in an upcoming post (June 2026).

The Garman Wall Display

History in Unexpected Places

Stepping into The Ranch in Fairmont, Minnesota, the first thing to catch your eye isn’t the menu, but a miniature cityscape stretching across the entryway wall. Alongside the scents of wonderful food, this sprawling scale model, known as the Garman Wall, captures a gritty, lifelike world frozen in time. On the left, café patrons chat outside the White Owl Café, a kid leans against weathered bricks, and storefronts like Gunther Food and Drake’s Bakery embody mid-20th-century American charm. Even the power poles and electrical wiring, which are usually distracting in a photo, blend seamlessly into this urban artwork. This photograph is from a Cellpic Sunday post shared here.

For a closer look at the images I’ve shared this week, you’ll find the full gallery in 2K HD on my Flickr site here. I hope these examples spark plenty of ideas for your own response. You’re welcome to choose one or more of the subtopics, or explore a historic theme entirely your own. Tag your post with Lens‑Artists, and be sure to leave a comment with a link so we can all enjoy your contribution.

A big thanks to Sofia for her challenge last week, “Lucky Shots.” Next week, it’s Beth’s turn to host. Be sure to follow her [here] so you don’t miss her challenge that goes live on Saturday at noon Eastern Time.

If you’re sharing a Lens‑Artists Challenge response for the first time, welcome—we’d love to visit your post. To participate, publish your take on this week’s theme, link back to this page, and add the Lens‑Artists tag so others can discover your work. You’ll find more details on how the challenge works here.

John Steiner

94 comments

  1. Wow…great post. I too love these subjects. That bridge <3″Abandoned in Tombstone”…I could do a whole photo essay on “abandoned”, oh wait…I have. :)AND…I MUST come back and check out your post about Normandy, I am moved just by your introduction. Off to work now Johnny, but excited about this one!

    Reply

  4. John, thanks for taking us on this journey through history with you. I enjoyed all of these images and stories. My favorite image is the Abandoned in Tombstone, Arizona.

    Reply

  8. This is so you, John, and, as usual, executed perfectly. I’ve seen about half of these, so your photos brought back some good memories, as well as some ideas of future places to see.

    Reply

  11. […] “This week, it’s my great pleasure to host a challenge that leans into two of my favorite pastimes—photography and historic sites. Many of my favorite destinations are places where history still lives—recreated, restored, or simply preserved as they stand today. While it would be perfectly proper to feature a single favorite park, site, or museum if you’d like, I’m opening the door to a bit more variety. You’re welcome to choose from any of the subtopics in this challenge, mix and match them, or bring your own historic theme if none of these themes quite fit your submission.” John […]

    Reply

    • Thanks, Nes. I really enjoy finding out more about the places I visit. It’s so much easier at home on the computer than it was when I was in college at the library, computers owned by average citizens a couple of decades in the future.

      Reply

  28. This is a wonderful topic and gallery John. I love the history of places and the museums that preserve the past. We can’t know where we are heading if we forget the past. I love Rio Puerco Bridge photo!

    Reply

  34. First: BEST. EVER. CHALLENGE. You played right into my wheelhouse and I loved putting my own blog post together. I’m unable to travel so I’ve no international shots in my portfolio, and Canada’s history is all, comparatively speaking, “recent” but even so, this game me a thoroughly enjoyable project for the weekend, thank you.

    Second: You have a wide and diverse portfolio of lovely images and I very much liked those you selected for this challenge. But, as always, John, your narrative is unexcelled. I could read your history “lessons” for hours on end and this post was no exception. Well-done you!

    pp

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  35. John, I linked to your post but forgot to leave a comment! I loved this theme and you have excellent examples of historical sites in Arizona. No wonder you like to hang around there all winter! The Vulture City Assay office looks amazing and I love the abandoned wagon. This was the perfect them to fit your style!

    Reply

  39. Well done, John — this was a great topic choice. I’ve seen that Rio Puerco bridge many times but never walked across it. I’ll make a point to do that. And those old frontier outposts, like Vulture City, are still out there if you know where to look. I’m afraid I might need to find a local chapter of “Historians Anonymous” because once I get started I can’t stop. I enjoyed seeing all of the images. My contribution is here: Lens Artist Challenge 394– History Through the Lens | The View From Here

    Reply

    • I enjoyed your post thoroughly, KLH. Not too far down I-40 is the Khe Sanh Bridge near Laguna. A much more modern bridge, but it has a story of dedication that is much more important than its architecture.

      Reply

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