In a way I feel like the area east of the Sandia Mountains is kind of like the dark side of the moon -- it is a place not many ever see, yet it is right there. Cedar Crest, New Mexico is on the dark side of the moon, or rather east of the Sandia Mountains and has that feeling of being quite removed from the hustle and bustle of Albuquerque, but it is really close by. It's just tucked behind the mountains for safe keeping! This rural land property is available via Hemingway Land Company.
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!
This was my first drone video assignment for DroneHive which took me up to Waterflow, New Mexico, which is just west of Farmington. Things only got finalized less than 24 hours before I was supposed to fly, which was at 6:30am in the morning! From Monday afternoon I had to quickly find a hotel, get my gear packed up, then drive the 3.5 hours to Farmington, get to sleep asap, then before I knew it I was awake at 5:15am to drive to the construction site! I also did not really know what kind of flying I would be doing, or if I would be even flying my own drone! I am realizing just like being a professional photographer, being a certified drone pilot means having maximum flexibility with the need to produce results with very little, if any, prep time!
I had been to Taos before for rural land real estate photography and drone video work, but this was my first time to Angel Fire, New Mexico. Even though they are quite close to each other, Angel Fire feels very different from both Taos and everywhere else in New Mexico. The scenery was sweeping and wide open, but green and mountainous. The architecture and design of many buildings was that of a ski lodge. Even in the middle of August, there was a chill in the air! It was fantastic to escape the hot Albuquerque summer even just for a few days and get paid to watch a great sunset through my Nikon on the ground and my DJI Mavic Pro in the air.
Earlier this year I drove through Phoenix and the amazing saguaro cactus desertscape and kept thinking, around the next corner I will stop and get some photos. The next corner turned into the next corner and then at the next corner, the saguaro cactus were all gone. I had missed my chance. On a recent return to Phoenix I made sure to be ready to stop on the approach to the city, find a dirt road, pull off, and both get still photos with my Nikon and 4K video with my DJI Mavic Prodrone.
All my brief time in New Mexico I heard of something called, Shiprock. I heard many things about it. "It is a spiritual place." "It is very hard to drive to." "You have to go there." I can now say all of those statements are true. After several wrong turns, accompanied by Jessica, our dogs, and two friends visiting from Florida, I pointed my Jeep Renegade Trailhawk down the correct dirt road and rolled slowly toward this towering rock formation that the day before was visible from 30+ miles away in Arizona. Twilight was already arriving as we arrived. The rain held off and provided dramatic clouds for the background of the photographs I took from the surface with my Nikon, and the drone photos and video I took from the air.
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.
