A recent visit to Colorado did not go exactly as planned, but we were still able to take in some views on the famed Million Dollar Highway that is north of Silverton. What a fantastic driving road with views that go on for miles. At least in the summer, there are no lack of amazing mountain towns to visit in a sports car to take advantage of all the sweepers, hairpins, and twisties on the roads in between all nestled in stunning setting after stunning setting.
If you are a mountain biker in New Mexico, the trail name Dragon’s Back is probably known to you. It is my single favorite trail to ride in the state that I’ve found so far. If you just like to explore hidden gems and hike, this is also one of the most incredible landscapes in the world, not just New Mexico. Check out the range in topography and geological features the aerial drone photos reveal for this area. It truly is an alien or martian landscape. Is it hard to hike this trail? Not at all. After a bit of a steep incline from parking lot to trailhead, the tail is mostly a rolling trail that even a beginner hiker could do an out and back on. Pack for a longer hike and do the full loop to see the other side. This was also my first time flying my brand new DJI Mavic 3 Cine drone! It was really windy, but you could not tell that from the drone footage. I would like to come back with the drone and better light, and more practice flying it, to really show you what the Dragon’s Back Trail is like and how it definitely is a New Mexico True experience.
Thank you for all your support of my local small business in ABQ
Well, I bet for pretty much everyone 2020 did not go even as remotely as planned. I feel incredibly lucky to be the type of photographer that was only minimally impacted. Photographing events & conferences was only about 15% of my business in 2019. Much of my work is rural land real estate which is out in the middle of nowhere and drone work of course does not require getting close to people or being in an enclosed space. In fact, thanks to all my great repeat clients, and fantastic new clients in 2020, I feel very fortunate indeed. Thank you everyone for supporting a local small business owner, and know my philosophy remains as always to try and top the last shoot I did, the last drone flight I did, to continue to bring better and better photos and drone video to my clients in a Covid-19 safe way. I look forward to seeing my business networking friends sometime soon in 2021!
It was not at all like how I thought my first home buying experience would be, but after a 3-month long ordeal, I am now a first time homeowner! We had been renting this house for a year and agreed to sign another 1-year lease. Well, just before we could do that the owner decides to sell the house! So it is either buy the house, or move! And that is how I became a home owner. No being courted by real estate agents, no discovering your dream home, no holding a sold sign, just kind of happened out of necessity. It’s a great house, in a fantastic location in Albuquerque, and will continue to be the home of Jason Collin Photography for the near future. Too bad we cannot even have a house warming party due to Covid-19!
For those with enough adventurous spirit, and the right vehicle, and the in the desert with not-so-accurate-GPS navigating skills, somewhere far south of Bloomfield, New Mexico, some 18 miles down dirt roads, you can find Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Area and its amazing hoodoos. What are hoodoos? They are a rock formation that look like toadstool mushrooms. This was actually my second hoodoos rock formation site to visit (check out the first). What an alien landscape this was to explore with the hoodoos forming on the banks of an arroyo, very, very far from any civilization. This is a fantastic New Mexico True site to visit. There is a map at the bottom of this blog post, and be sure and watch the video below I made right in the middle of the hoodoos!
Cold Winter Sunrise at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon
The first day in the Grand Canyon was mostly covered in clouds overhead and fog within the canyon. Up early the next day for the sunrise I was worried it would be for nought, but the canyon was clear of fog and the clouds opened up to let some light in to highlight this natural wonder. It was very, very cold standing on the snow of the South Rime despite sunset coming relatively late after 7am on December 28th. I could not see the actual sunrise directly from this point on the South Rim, but I was still pleased to have several vantage points of the canyon and the opportunity to use foreground tree framing and clear shots into the canyon itself.
I adopted Kiki when she was just 10 weeks old and 11 pounds. She has now turned 11 years old and in all that time we have never even spent one night apart. I cannot say that for any human being in my life. She is the one constant in a life of great change. Whether it was on the beaches of Florida, the capital stairs of Des Moines, or the desert in New Mexico, Kiki has always been by my side.
