Taking the more scenic route back from Tucson, Arizona led to the discovery of the Salt River Canyon Bridge in southeast Arizona. This is a fantastic place to stop, take a break, and enjoy some very nice views. You can even stroll out over the Salt River on a pedestrian bridge while getting a close up view of the bridge you’ll eventually drive on to climb out of the canyon. If you have the time and do not mind a bit of a hike, you can go down to the river itself. Have you been here before?
The drive to Cloudcroft, New Mexico from Alamogordo is one of the best drives in the entire state. Winding up a canyon through tiny villages, the final sight to see before Cloudcroft is the Mexican Canyon Trestle, a bridge built in 1899. There is a pull out to stop and observe this old wooden structure from a time when this area had a very different life. I finally happened to pass it by at sunset time, and with my new Sony 12-24mm f/2.8 G Master lens, that ultra wide 12mm focal length was just enough to get most of the trestle and the sunset in the shot. There are many reasons why Cloudcroft is one of my favorite places in New Mexico, and the Mexican Canyon Trestle is one of them. For more info, check out the Wikipedia page for this trestle.
Back out on another aerial drone photography flight for WSP involving a bridge, this time in the very small town of Endee, New Mexico. This bridge spans I-40 just before the border with Texas. This is the furthest I have traveled for WSP after several bridge drone photo shoots around Albuquerque, like these all along Tramway Blvd. After the flight I checked out the amazing Rt 66 car museum in the Russells Truck & Travel Center. This is possibly the best ever gas/convenience store/truck stop I have ever been to. I highly recommend stopping by to see the museum and get a snack!
Back out on another commercial drone photography shoot for WSP in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this time getting aerial drone photos of all four pedestrian bridges that cross Tramway Blvd at the foot of the Sandia Mountains. This is the second time (see Rio Bravo Blvd Bridge) I have photographed bridges to help WSP get contracts. I have also made headshots of their entire team too! Here at Jason Collin Photography, we really, really appreciate our repeat clients. There is not better compliment than for a client to choose us again!
Back out on another project for WSP, this time flying my drone over the Rio Bravo Blvd bridge over the Rio Gande River. This was quite a change from the urban area in central Albuquerque for the first project. Surprisingly there were more flying restrictions in this more remote area than in the city. I had to for the first time use a DJI custom unlock request to even be able to launch the drone here. Once up in the air, the views were quite stunning with some color in the trees stills and the Sandia Mountains providing the background and the Rio Grande River the foreground.
Me and Jessica and the dogs had some free time on a rural land shoot weekend in Navajo Dam, New Mexico, and saw that Durango, Colorado was not that far away. We took the Jeep Renegade Trailhawk up a scenic highway, and kept on going right through Durango finding first a natural hot spring, and then later a crowd gathered around this small bridge. Not until you get up on the bridge do you have any idea the amazing views of the Animas River from it, and you really get a better look at the beauty of this area from the drone’s eye view! The crowd there, however, were mostly to watch people jump off the cliff bank 30+ feet into the Animas River below! It was tricky to time out and capture with the drone, but in the video you can see two people making the plunge!
When I first got my DJI Mavic Pro drone in November 2017, the first place I really flew it was in Taos, New Mexico. Driving there I had no idea there was a mini-Grand Canyon just on the edge of the town, so to my great surprise was the Rio Grande Gorge revealed to me! I thought the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge would be a great place to fly the drone, but having such little flying experience and with it being so windy when I visited the bridge, the drone stayed in its case that time. Fast forward to the present, with dozens of flights of experience, having already flown under the Bixby Bridge, with the weather at near ideal conditions I did not hesitate to fly over the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge this time!
