Pie Town sits 8,000 feet high, atop the Continental Divide along Highway 60 in Western New Mexico. It has always been known for its pies, and for its place in photographic history. In 1940, Russell Lee, a documentary photographer working on assignment for the Farm Security Administration of the US Government, photographed Pie Town and its people near the end of the Great Depression. The tiny town was then intact – its main street looking like a scene from an old cowboy movie. Lee was among the few photographers to use the new Kodachrome film for his images.

Today, much of Pie Town lies in ruins. I photographed this homestead, layering the image by using a 24mm wideangle focal length to stress first the high weeds, then the sagging picket fence, and finally the ghostly trees framing the weather-beaten house.