Eric Lubbers

@brofax.com

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Co-founder of @coloradosun.com + journalism tech + art photography. 🏔️ 303 + 505 🌶️

A Nancy panel featuring Nancy holding a gun (punchline: it’s a squirt gun) walking with purpose toward a door. Sluggo is in the foreground, facing away from us (we’re looking over his shoulder) as he looks at Nancy. His speech bubble contains a single question mark. This is basically a Twin Peaks tableau.
An idiot 20-something with few discernible life skills sits on the floor of an apartment he could barely afford, painting over the pixelated outline of a Nancy comic strip panel featuring Sluggo floating on his back in mid-air, with a speech bubble reading “NO”. I first saw it on a Boing Boing post calling it the greatest comic panel of all time and it has really stuck with me through every season of my life since then, evidenced by the no fewer than seven copies of the image I found when searching through my photo library. Yes, I’m in my early 40s now and yes, I’ve considered getting a tattoo of it several times. Is that a crime now? Are you going to arrest me for thought crimes?
Just a cartoonishly cute Schnauzer with a fluffy haircut, sitting with grace, wearing the shit out of a blue bandanna. And like that isn’t enough, his tongue is sticking out a little. Yeah, I know.
A cactus with vivid orange and red flowers caught in a sunbeam
Sluggo staring at a plate with utensils, saying “Nancy this is a very punk meal” as Nancy approaches with a bowl of foot. Both of their brows are furrowed
A screenshot of a Denver Post headline reading: “Puddle of Mudd frontman arrested at Denver International Airport, according to police” along with a really intense mugshot of lead singer Wes Scantlin
A poster with an image of Shrek in rave gear. The poster is for an event called, you guessed it, Shrek Rave. Taglines: It’s dumb just come have fun! Cool is dead! Who cares?
A small sticker on a truck window shows a cartoon cowboy saying “KEEP THE DESERT BEAUTIFUL OLD HARRY SAYS STASH THAT TRASH”
Thick snow sits atop the long, thin and dense spines of a desert cactus in Santa Fe.
Two small figures are seen through one cell of a chain link fence over an arroyo between two interstates lined with graffiti. I call this one “A stroll through the gallery”
The sign for 4 Queens casino on Fremont Street in the bright midday light of Las Vegas
The stark white stucco of the El Rey hotel in Santa Fe at twilight
A stop sign that had been spray painted entirely red before someone wrote “stop tho” with a yellow paint pen where STOP would normally be seen. This is at a post office and hasn’t been fixed for months and makes me smile every time I see it.
A sign reading “ABSOLUTELY NO DUMPING” sits atop a hill of sagebrush as the sun sets behind it.
A light pole casts a shadow over the center of a stop sign, and the combined shadow of the two objects falls right in the center of a wooden panel in the background. This photo really hit me because it kind of represents the reasons I actually take pictures in the first place. If I had anything like an artist’s statement, it would be something like this: "Eric Lubbers is a photographer who collaborates with the rotation of the earth, the contents of the atmosphere and the power of the sun to acknowledge the fleeting presence of joy and symmetry whenever he's lucky enough to see it." Like an Incan observatory, this might have been the only moment of the year that this pole cast its shadow at this particular angle, connecting it to its environment so neatly. I stopped in my tracks to just bask in it, knowing I would never see this moment, this convergence, this organized beauty in the same way ever again.
A snowman made out of tumbleweeds faces an interstate from its pedestals. The curves of the snowman’s three sections are illuminated in a gentle orange-and-blue hued sunset.
A doofus holding a small lamp in his right hand to get better lighting takes a photo of himself in a mirror while wearing a shirt that reads “Colorado Is For Hustlers” with a little red heart in fading velvety lettering. He’s also wearing a big winter hat.
Two figures framed by a cell of a chain link fence look at a fresh piece of graffiti on the wall of a long drainage arroyo running between two corridors of interstate. I call this one “A stroll through the gallery”
A distant airliner is visible between power lines in the foreground descending in front of a low mountain range colored pink with the setting sun.
A sad little man sits on the floor of an apartment he can’t afford, painting a large comic book frame on some paper he taped to the plywood. He also has a lot more hair on the back of his head than he does now.
A view through a chain link fence of a drainage arroyo between lanes of an interstate. Two figures are framed in one cell of the fence as they stand back to look at a fresh piece of graffiti among many others along the wall.
A frosty dried plant bulb covered in tiny spikes
A silver leaf nightshade (sometimes known as a tomato weed) covered in frost.
A disconnected pay phone covered in graffiti on an adobe wall, with a half full cup of green juice sitting inside the frame.
A banner reading “DISPENSARY NOW OPEN” hanging on the back of a building where someone has spray painted “I’M BORED” on a dumpster.
The mountains visible at the end of the highway near Pecos, NM
An American flag themed inflatable dancer is blown sideways by howling west Texas winds.
On the left, a set of keys dangling from an ignition with a chrome keychain shaped like a gun with the word “TEXAS” emblazoned on it. On the right, the grill of a Subaru with a novelty New Mexico license plate reading “DIVA”
A black and white comic illustration featuring Nancy, a child, approaching a door holding what appears to be a handgun while Sluggo, another child, looks on with a question mark thought bubble.
A CVS sign at night. The “p” in “pharmacy” is burned out, reading “harmacy” in a juicy bit of social commentary.
A screenshot of three Chrome tabs in which the middle tab is a Wikipedia page titled "Kolchack: The Night Stalker"
Among a group of onlookers to a parade, a small girl in a purple dress looks up at the head of a ceremonial dragon puppet being held by a shirtless performer with his face painted like a skull.
A black and white image of a tall sign reading “Lake Shores Church” and a sign beneath it reading “NO RULES, JUST JESUS”
The entrance of a restaurant called China Kitchen. The building has been badly burned and is behind a chain link fence.
A black and white panoramic view of a bridge spanning a wide river with tree covered hills rising from the banks.
Pee-Wee Herman with his face covered in scotch tape, with the words “My idols are dead and my enemies are in power” superimposed.
A visual joke from The Simpsons of a framed newspaper with a headline reading GOD STEALS SUN / MAYOR OFFERS SACRIFICES over an image of an eclipse and Mayor Quimby holding two goats.
The photographer’s silhouette reflected in a window with the word “BEAUTY” stenciled on it.
A bronze sign reading “Jester Center”
A book on the shelf of a library at the University of Texas titled “Computer Electronics”
A black and white photo of an old sign, the panels that once carried its message missing, leaving just burnt out bulbs and the evening sky visible inside its borders.