In bookend visits to Monument Valley in Utah, I made a lot of photos being there for sunset one evening, then sunrise the next morning. I had time during these two forays into this stunning environment to look for other shots besides sweeping landscape photos, like this one with a twisted tree. There was so much movement and texture in this gnarled tree that I wanted to find a way to photograph it that really made it come through the frame. I set my camera on my tripod at its lowest leg extension for a below standing eye level perspective. This eerie tree composed this way as to obscure the beauty of the mesas creating a contrast in visuals.
I am often out in remote Rio Rancho on weekday evenings in the midst of a 55+ property rural land real estate photography assignment for Hemingway Land Company. On a recent shoot clouds were heavy on the horizon and I was counting on the sun dropping below them, just above the horizon, and allowing me to get some of my signature HDRsunset photos. The sun did in fact reveal itself, but with a fiery wrath!
I am in the midst of a major rural land real estate photo series of shoots for potentially over 45 properties in northwest Rio Rancho, New Mexico mostly off of Southern Blvd. Hemingway Land is keeping me busy visiting this area each weekday evening the weather is good. As you can see from the photos, there have been some spectacular skies to feature in the showcase sunset HDR photo I make for each property I shoot. These shots are punctuated by using the new Aurora HDR 2019 for processing them, an improvement on the already very good 2018 version I had been using. I recommend upgrading if you have not yet already!
I get to travel all over the state of New Mexico for my rural land photography work, which means I also get to stop and see places I would very likely not have seen otherwise, like El Morro National Monument. It is far from any highway, in a remote area of New Mexico and you can blink and miss it for sure. This is the second oldest national monument in the country and definitely worth the effort to visit this historical and natural wonder. Plus, it is very dog friendly!
The rural land photography and drone video work I do takes me all over the state of New Mexico, and I mean all over! Just during the late summer time of August and only half of September, I have been to Angel Fire twice, Taos, Farmington, Belen twice and Socorro. This is a selection of sunset photos I made at those places. If you would like any of these photos as fine art prints to put in your home or office, use the buttons below. Prints are less than you might think. Ask me about getting a 30”x40” canvas in particular!
Ceramic artist Noah Starer, now Santa Fe based, brought his latest collection of ceramic art to the JCP Home Studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico for photos to be made of 25 new pieces. I have photographed a lot of Noah's art in the past, and was glad to be able to attend his opening weekend exhibition of his work, titled Naked Clay, at Santa Fe Clay earlier this summer! I am glad to have seen his art career journey from Las Lunes now to Santa Fe and all the success he is deservedly having now. He is also teaching classes at Santa Fe Clay so check for when his next classes are to learn how to create your own naked clay!
I have been to many places around the world, some considered wonders of the world, like Angkor Wat in Cambodia, some hard to reach, like the jungles in Borneo, as well as famous wonders in the U.S. like the Grand Canyon and Yosemite. Monument Valley in Utah ranks up there with the most wondrous places I have seen. I bookended my time at Monument Valley first with a sunset visit, then the next morning at 6am with a sunrise explore. The photos you see here are all from that very early even-pre-sunset time in Monument Valley. So early, no one was at the gate to even pay to enter! No one else had yet driven into the valley that morning. I had the view of the two Mittens and Merrick Butte all to myself for awhile.
