Snaggle Tooth

I was on a memorable trip to the Dunton Hot Springs in southwestern Colorado when I encountered Snaggle Tooth. 

Surrounded by the Colorado Rockies and nestled along the Dolores River, the area is home to gorgeous scenery and balmy mineral hot springs. I brought my camera, expecting to find scenic mountain views and wonderful glimpses into nature. 

I made my way down the path, hearing the crisp, breezy mountain air whistle through the trees. Just beyond the brush sat an old, beat-up flatbed truck.

As I stepped closer, bits of broken window glass shimmered in the grass. The long-dormant headlights twinkled like glass eyes in the mountain sun. Pieces were missing from the bumper, the doors, and the grille, leaving behind dark and rusty voids.

The eyes within the headlights, the teeth of the grille, and the shape of the body gave the truck a lifelike quality. As I got closer, I couldn’t take my eyes off his red, crooked smile and its crown jewel in the middle: an oversized, silver-tinted tooth that gleamed in the hot sun. 

Snaggle Tooth was his name from now on. 

Despite his humble home in the mountains, resting while humans and critters criss-cross high-altitude paths, I knew Snaggle Tooth was destined for fame. I wanted to show him off, and he kindly obliged. 

I made him the best-looking truck in the Rockies, and soon he came to become very famous. He and I were published in the prestigious Professional Photographers of America Loan Collection. 

Snaggle Tooth’s award-winning character was put on display, and he lives on as a 55-inch canvas. And soon thereafter, his brothers were born. 

Come back to the blog to learn how I met his siblings, and check out Snaggle Tooth in my shop!