Hustling to 20 properties in the Socorro County Desert
Typically on rural land real estate shoots for Hemingway Land, it is one property, one evening, starting about 2 hours before actual sunset, making 40 photos of the one property and often a drone video as well. Every now and then they get a bulk purchase and the shooting is very different like on a recent trip to Socorro County, New Mexico. There were 20 properties to shoot, I had to start early in the afternoon in order to finish with enough light, and I only made 3 photos per property. During these bulk shoots I am hustling like crazy from property to property, passing cows and big piles of tires truly out in the middle of nowhere miles from paved road, which in turn is miles from any kind of town. How do these tires get out here??
In the past three years, I have photographed hundreds of rural land real estate properties in New Mexico, and now I have photographed my first in Colorado. This property was a great introduction to Las Animas County and its mountain views and sweeping green pines. This piece of land in particular had a high point hill on it allowing me to get some exceptional views. If you would like to own these views, check out Hemingway Land.
Angel Fire, New Mexico is famous for being a winter destination. However, even at the end of April snow still dusts the mountain peaks adding to the drama of dusk. Staying at an Airbnb (Covid-19 safe) condo with amazing views right off the back patio, even though I had already been shooting for hours that day for a rural land real estate client, I got my camera back out to capture the last twilight light of this spectacular spring sky. Here at Jason Collin Photography, after this spring sky show, Angel Fire became my favorite place in New Mexico.
New Mexico is a desert state, but mostly high desert, not like the sandy dunes most thought of when picturing a desert. Mescalero Sands North Dune, however, outside of Roswell, New Mexico, is a more traditional sand dune desert, surrounded by an ocean of hearty desert flora. As you can see from the many tire tracks in the photos below, these sand dunes are an all terrain vehicle playground. Even for a person on foot, this desert is a special place to explore and experience. I sent the drone up for a 360 panorama photo as well as video and aerial photos, and had my Sony a7R IV with me for still photos as my shoes filled with sand making my way over the dunes.
If you find yourself in Roswell, New Mexico and you want to do some non-alien exploring, nearby Bottomless Lakes State Park is a hidden gem worth seeking out. The lakes are actually sinkholes filled with water, and as always, to my disappointment with such things, not truly bottomless! Some are up to 90 feet deep though, which for the desert, is pretty far down. You can hike all along the ~6 lakes even circumnavigating the rims of each which offer unique views adding even more to the sense of bottomlessness of the water. I had both my camera and drone with me to capture these lakes from all angles. Let me know in the comments if you have been to this state park, or after seeing these images, if you will be planning to visit.
On a recent trip to Angel Fire, New Mexico for a rural land client, I sent my DJI Mavic 2 Prodrone up and was shown a landscape totally different than from where I stood surrounded by tall trees. Going up a hundred feet allows for unique landscape photography. Combining dramatic clouds filling the sky, with the tall pine treetops, and the distant mountains, these drone aerial photos are some of my personal favorites that I have ever made in New Mexico. Here on the Jason Collin Photography blog I always like to show you unique views of known places. Angel Fire is a ski resort town, but I have actually never seen it in snow despite three trips there! So if you have only seen it in snow, from these drone photos, you can see how visiting Angel Fire in the spring after the snow melts reveals it is still a very special place with amazing scenery, especially from the drone’s viewpoint!
Many times I have driven up and down HWY 550 in New Mexico on my way to and from home in Albuquerque to Navajo Dam or Farmington in northern New Mexico. Each time I stared at this mesa, or rather a volcanic plug as Wikipedia describes it, off to the west visible from great distance. This rock formation is named Cabezon Peak, and finally, I had the time to actually drive right up to its base. From this vantage point I sent up my DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone to capture 4K drone video, a 360 panorama drone photo, as well as regular aerial drone photos, before finishing with sone telephoto shots of the peak with my Sony a7 III mirrorless camera. I actually found viewing Cabezon Peak from a little bit of distance to be the more impressive view than standing right before it.
