Out on a rural land photography assignment in Edgewood, New Mexico, I was warned by the land broker that access to this 5-acre property might be challenging. It certainly was! Barbed wire and gates blocked the first few access road, and the last, "legal access" point was down an eroded incline even too extreme for my Jeep Renegade Trailhawk! I had to park at the top of the incline, then carry about 40 pounds of photographer gear, drone gear and my tripod for about a third of a mile first down that incline then up a rocky ridge.
Return to the San Juan River in northern New Mexico
The very green and beautiful San Juan River flows for miles through New Mexico. This portion of the river is near Navajo Dam, an area I first visited in February. I only had time for a quick drone flight over the dam area itself, but on this trip I was able to fly over a large stretch of the river! I was out on another rural land property assignment, but now since I have my own off road capable vehicle (Jeep Renegade Trailhawk), I no longer have to rush back to Albuquerque to return the rental truck to Enterprise so I can stay in places like this with Jessica and the dogs at our leisure!
In my second trip to the Navajo Dam Lake area, I was able to fly my drone more over the lake itself and make aerial photos with my DJI Mavic Pro drone as well! The first time was only able to fly over the dam, this time I got to fly out over the lake, even very low and fast to the water! There is a surprisingly large marina at this lake, and not something one would expect to find in a land-locked, desert state that's for sure! A head's up though, if you are thinking of renting any kind of watercraft, be there early! Me and Jessica and the dogs were too late (even at 10am!) to get a boat, but that could not stop us from having fun!
A few months ago I went to Dona Ana County, New Mexico for the first time for a rural land photography shoot and drone video flight. I visited White Sands on the way back, and after that the desert highway took me through a wild landscape of lava. There was no time to stop then, but on my return to the area for another photo and drone shoot in Cloudcroft, I made sure I had time to stop and fly my DJI Mavic Pro drone over the Valley of Fires!
This is a 4K drone video made of a rural land property in Edgewood, New Mexico for an out of state client. He asked for ideas of what to name the property. Since the land rose from east to west, and I was there at sunset, I suggested "Sunset Rise" and he liked it and used it!
My latest rural land real estatedrone video and photo shoot assignment had me going to not so far away Sedillo, New Mexico for Hemingway Land Company. Not only was this the closest I have traveled for a rural land shoot, it was also one of the only times a paved road went right up to the property! This was a very nice subdivision that you would never know is there because it is hidden in a valley and then winds up to a ridge. You can get a sense of this topography in the drone video above and the aerial drone photos below.
My New Mexico rural land photography work took me to south of Grants, New Mexico, near the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary, which I unfortunately did not have time to visit, just drive by, and did not see any wolves either! This area is near El Morro National Monument also, which I only had time to stop at very briefly! Well, I am sorry to mention all these cool places, but only show you rural New Mexico land! And, due to circumstances, I had to fly in the early afternoon light, which is not ideal. I used my darkest PolarPro ND16 filter to still try and achieve the ideal shutter speed to frame rate ratio of 2:1 for my Mavic Pro drone recording 4K video at 24fps. I used my new Garuda LUTs from Looks and Luts to color grade the video in Final Cut Pro X to get the most out of the scenery.
