Out on assignment for Hemingway Land in Las Cruces, New Mexico, miles of dirt road took me to an isolated, but beautiful rural desert real estate property with great views of the Organ Mountains. In fact mountains highlighted the views to the west and the north as well. I was actually right in this same remote section of desert in May for another even harder to reach property. I was relieved to discover the washed out road with deep ruts was now mostly filled in with chalky dirt that covered myself and my Jeep nearly entirely. I had to be extra careful to keep my cameras and my drone clean!
A recent drone flight job took me to the far southeast of Albuquerque, New Mexico with the main purpose of making 4K drone video for the client, but while my drone was up in the air, I thought I’d get some still photos as well too as I had never flown in this area before. There is nothing like a drone’s eye view photo to show the grid-like layout of Albuquerque, and the Sandia Mountains looming on the eastern border. Can you see your house in these photos??
On my fourth trip to Navajo Dam New Mexicojust this year, I was treated to both a great sunset for this rural land real estate drone video, but also a chorus of what sounded like marbles being clanked around in a bag! This cicada looking insect was out in mass singing away not caring I needed to concentrate on flying! At least the stuck to hiding on bush and tree branches and were no threat to the drone in the air!
On a recent multi-day drone flight I got work alongside videographer Nate Sorenson while flying over cranes and utility trucks. He was recording from the ground and me from the air. Nate also wanted to get some footage of me actually flying, and in the clip above, landing the DJI Mavic Pro drone. Soon after first learning to fly the drone, I switched to doing mid-air hand landings because I was often flying out in the desert and it made things much easier to land without aiming for a small helipad that I use to launch from. Thanks Nate for capturing this!
It is rare I get to go to a new place in New Mexico already haven criss-crossed the state dozens of times in just over 2 years for the rural land real estate photography and drone video work I do. So it was very welcome to make my way to Artesia, New Mexico for my latest shoot. I drove east out of Cloudcroft down a beautiful country road through tall timber along a canyon for miles. This is very unusual scenery for southern New Mexico which is mostly empty desert.
Almost exactly one year ago I first flew my drone over Elephant Butte Lake in New Mexico, over the aforementioned butte itself. This time, I flew over the marina at sunset (in very strong winds). The video shows how you can just pull up your RV trailer right to the lake’s edge and camp there! The boat ramp to the lake is the most massive and steep one I have ever seen! Lastly, you can see all the mesas and mountains surrounding the lake that would make it a beautiful place for a sunset cruise.
Navajo Dam Lake is probably my favorite area of New Mexico. This is my third trip to the area just this year and fifth overall. I have seen it in all seasons now. This trip was quite different however. I still went up to photograph and fly over a rural land real estate property. However, there was extra time and Jessica’s parents were on their way back from Monument Valley so we all met up at Abe’s Motel & Fly Shop (home of the best French toast in New Mexico) then rented a boat at the marina right on Navajo Dam Lake. I brought my drone with me out onto the boat and quickly realized flying from the actual moving object you are recording is quite a challenge! I would let the drone hover so I can frame the shot, but the boat kept moving, so you see me in the above video often looking at the control screen to make sure I am keeping the boat in frame and at the same time actually try and make the video a bit cinematic, even though this was just a fun video for family memories.
