About Us

Desolation Road Studios is an eclectic mix of art and media, spotlighting local and regional artists and artisans. We provide a variety of photographic services such as digital retouching, enlargements and artist quality photographic reproductions. Custom framing and mounting of your artwork is also available. We offer art and photography classes as well as workshops and cultural events. The gallery has free wifi and a lending library which contains a large selection of art and photography books for your use.
Hours: Sun 9-5  Closed Mon-Tues Wed 9-6 Thurs 9-6 Fri 10-10 Sat 10-10    I do close early on occasion so give a call if you are planning a visit in the later hours of the day.

The Story of “Desolation Road”
People have asked me about the relevance or meaning of Desolation Road and where it came from as a business name.  I’ve told the story so many times that I think I do it in my sleep…

It all started back in 2003 when I left “Corporate America” and the world of finance behind after 19 years with the same company.  I’d had enough of the greed and mismanagement and needed to make a change so I decided to try sales.  ”Thats where the money is!” , someone once told me. That proved a challenge and was much more lucrative until the economy which had been declining, really took a nose dive.  With a little savings and a sudden job loss the time was ripe to just say to hell with it and take a chance.  My photography was something I loved to do and with encouragement from family and friends I started a commercial photography business at first out of my home.  The occasional wedding and work for the City of Albany and others got me started and my portfolio grew steadily.  Eventually I had to develop a website and here is where the name Desolation Road comes into play.  Over the course of my tenure with the company I spent most of my post college time with, I accumulated six weeks of vacation time which when I felt like my head would explode, I would use to go mountain biking, back country hiking, skiing, or snowshoeing. I’d find the most remote locales where all you could hear was the wind in the trees and the occasional sound of a loon or maybe the sound of coyotes in the distance.  This was my decompression time and kept me sane.  As I was looking for a website name I tried everything from my name, which is a very common one, to several others all of which were either taken or needed to be changed significantly from what I liked. I happened to be listening to a Bob Dylan tune called Desolation Row as I typed in possible names and on a lark thought, “How about Desolation Road Photography?”. I figured Desolation Row was probably copyright infringement or something and I liked the Road aspect.  It fit my life and lifestyle from the recreational angle and I just typed it in. “Available” came up and for $19.95 the url was mine.  It wasn’t until I opened the current gallery that I changed the studio name to Desolation Road Studios as it fit the space more appropriately.  So there you have it. Thats the story of Desolation Road.