Many visits to Socorro County west of Belen in New Mexico
Socorro County New Mexico, near Belen in particular, is one of the areas I have visited the most in my 5+ years of photographing hundreds of rural land real estate properties. Then even more specifically, this area near the small airport west of Belen, high up on a plain bordered by mountains I return to multiple times each year. It is a peaceful area, and once you go south a bit, you feel like the entire desert is just yours. Walking this land with my two cameras is a peaceful photography work experience. The only noise comes when I send the drone up to get aerial photos of the entire 5 acres.
Spending sunset time in the desert of New Mexico for real estate photography
Lately I’ve been to both Valencia County and Torrence County in New Mexico several times on rural land real estate photography shoots. This is an opportunity to go to an area that is usually pretty remote and quiet and just listen to the desert as the daytime shift gives way to the nighttime shift. Plus, if the clouds are right, the big sky sunsets make for great views.
Before and After Drone Video for Sunland Asphalt in Belen New Mexico
Back flying for Sunland Asphalt, this time in Belen, New Mexico, I made two visits to Vista del Rio for a “before and after” drone video showing the crew at work putting in the new asphalt, and then the after of the fully repaved community. These types of drone flights are always dynamic and I enjoy the challenge of capturing live action with the drone. Thank you to Jeff of Sunland for continuing to choose me as your drone pilot!
Large product photography for Aristech on green screen
Returning client Aristech, located in Belen, New Mexico, this time needed professional product shots of a very large (7 feet tall!) item on a green screen. Regular readers of Jason Collin Photography may recall that last fall I made a wide variety of commercial photos at Aristech of the team producing this type of item. That was a very complicated shoot in terms of moving around the facility. This large product shoot was complicated in its own way due to the size of the item and its highly reflective surface. The overhead lighting could not be adjusted other than being turned completely off. After trying a couple of different lighting setups, I finally settled on one overhead light only on the time. You can check out the BTS shot below showing the entire green screen setup.
My work for Hemingway Land Company takes me to many well off the beaten path places in New Mexico and I share those photos here on Jason Collin Photography regularly.. The town of Belen is itself a small town about 40 minutes south of Albuquerque, but when you add in 8 miles of dirt road, one finds oneself in places only cows usually venture. Thus, on the drive back from a property shoot in this remote area cows were blocking the dirt road. Now there are thousands of acres out there, and maybe the width of the road takes up 0.000001% of it, yet nearly every time I come and go in the spring time in this area, I have to slow down and wait for cows to get out of the road. This time I thought, “ok, if you are going to make me stop, I am going to make you pose for photos!” Then one cow wanted to perhaps come home with me (see the last photo), but I do not think the amount of grass I have in my backyard would sustain a growing calf!
Ideal clouds for rural land real estate photography in New Mexico
On another rural land real estate photography assignment in Socorro County New Mexico for Hemingway Land, the clouds were finally close to ideal! It was a long 8-mile drive down dirt roads to reach this property, which is already in a remote area west of the town of Belen. I actually know this area very, very well having photographed at least 10 properties in this general area before, but never quite this far south. With that much dirt road to reach the property and that far from where I have been previously, it always makes me nervous about what the actual road conditions will be, or if someone will have put up a gate! Fortunately, this was as smooth as a rural land real estate shoot gets and I had time enjoy the views in between getting these fantastic photos for the client, which is my aim for each and every client of Jason Collin Photography.
I traveled down to Belen for a commercial photography shoot at Aristech Surfaces not really knowing what to expect at all. I had a shortlist, but it was filled with terms like “ocean breeze” and “open pour line.” Right away I knew this would be a very different shoot as I had to put on steel toed shoes and a hard hat! (see the BTS photo below). After gearing up both for photography and safety, it was time to do the actual shooting in the plant that was quite noisy and smelled like plastics. I also had safety glasses on that made looking into my Sony a7R IV rather awkward. This is all part of a being a pro photographer, instantly adapting to a totally unexpected shooting environment while wearing weird shoes and glasses. Thank you to new assistant Pam for helping out on this challenging shoot.
