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.
I spent a bookend of twilight and dawn in Monument Valley in Utah. During the dawn, I met these wild horses, some of whom were just standing staring listlessly with their ribs and hip joints jutting out. Others equally as bony grazed on thorny brush. They seemed to not care about my presence, maybe too hungry? After the horse above had finished munching on that bush, I went and touched it and it hurt my hand even with a gentle touch. How that horse could chew on and eat it is beyond me. Even though it was sad to see them so skinny, it was still special to share the quiet dawn in Monument Valley with them, unexpected friends.
While I was in Cloudcroft, New Mexico on a rural land photography assignment, I took notice of these very unusual flowers that I thought looked like rocket popsicles that a hummingbird was having breakfast at. I had my excellent new Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro SP lens on my Nikon D750. There was no way to track this fast moving bird through the air. How to get this shot then? Pre-focus on a flower you hope the hummingbird will land on, and wait. I studied the bird's flying patterns a bit, noticing it kept coming back to this particular flower. I approached slowly, very slowly, and then froze waiting for the hummingbird to return. The focus point is not perfect, and I wish the hummingbird had chosen a prettier flower to drink nectar from, but I like the bokeh enough to share this photo with you.
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.
I met this new friend in the Valley of Fires. It was hanging out on a metal grill by a picnic table (see photo below). I only now learned it is a New Mexico whiptail lizard. Let's just say the lizard was female for convenience sake. She was on the aforementioned metal grill first, which is not the best backdrop to photograph a wild creature on. I got a few quick shots though because I wanted to fly my drone over the lava fields. When I was done flying, the lizard had moved onto to some twigs -- a much better background! I was using my new Tamron 90mm f/2.8 SP Macro lens for the latter shots, which can focus less than a foot away from a subject. I just kept getting closer and closer to the lizard, and she did not move at all! Thank you friendly whiptail for hanging out and letting me make your portrait!
Return to the San Juan River in northern New Mexico
The very green and beautiful San Juan River flows for miles through New Mexico. This portion of the river is near Navajo Dam, an area I first visited in February. I only had time for a quick drone flight over the dam area itself, but on this trip I was able to fly over a large stretch of the river! I was out on another rural land property assignment, but now since I have my own off road capable vehicle (Jeep Renegade Trailhawk), I no longer have to rush back to Albuquerque to return the rental truck to Enterprise so I can stay in places like this with Jessica and the dogs at our leisure!
