Nature & Wildlife
Cibola County is one of my favorite places in New Mexico. Much of the county has no cell signal, especially in the El Morro, Ramah, and Fence Lake areas. Being in this off the grid area gives me a peaceful feeling that nowhere else in the state does. However, this was all shockingly disrupted by . . . an alpaca!
Read MoreHiking in Cloudcroft, New Mexico I came across a fallen tree on the side of a steep bank. It appeared hollowed out at the bottom, but to my surprise, stooping over I could see light at the end of the tunnel. The tree is a hole in one hollow all the way up. I have no idea how this happens to a poor tree. It was interesting to imagine going up all the way through the tree and who knows what dimension I might come out on the other side! I thought black and white processing added to the mystery.
Read MoreThis was a return to Valley of Fires walking through a different area than three years ago (check out those photos and drone video). This time I observed how the flora of the desert struggled even more to live around and actually on the vast lava field. To highlight this struggle I converted the images to black and white for impact. On the side of a long empty, desert road, I think Valley of Fires definitely qualifies as a hidden gem of New Mexico. It offers exploring for all levels from just observing from afar and up top the vast expanse of this lava field, to walking as far as you want right through the jagged lava formations. If you really like Valley of Fires, you can even camp there. Check out the map below to visit this hidden gem of miles of lava in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico.
Read MoreWhite Sands National Park outside of Alamogordo, New Mexico is easily the most photographed natural wonder for me in the state. I have had the opportunity to visit this amazing place three times in the past seven months alone. Each time I go the views and the sands are different. This time I did not have the chance to wonder very far to some little trod on area, but I made the best of this near parking lot location by looking even more for the dance between shadow and light and the sunset. As it has been since I got it last year, the Sony 12-24mm f/2.8 G Master lens is an absolute rock star at White Sands. Which of these views is your favorite this time?
Read MoreMy first visit to Carlsbad Caverns was all the way back in 2000 during my first attempt to move to California. I have two standout memories from that visit. The first was that it was on a weekday in March with no school groups and the caverns were virtually empty and it was doubly amazing to have them essentially all to myself. The second memory was dropping my (film) camera into the toilet in the visitor center! Fast forward to 2021 and the caverns were filled with few people using the recommended whisper voice, and my camera was digital and mirrorless, and I did not even dare take it into the restroom!
Read MoreThis is another instance of how my prolific rural land real estate work takes me to new and amazing places, like Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. The client actually wanted pictures of the sand dunes, so I was being paid to be there to make these photographs. I thought I was wasting my time making the long drive from Alamosa (45 minutes away) to the sand dunes because cloud cover was very heavy and the sun was nowhere to be seen. However, in my experience, the skies do open up just in time, and that was very much the case this time. The risk was worth it and paid off spectacularly as I was able to make dramatic sunset images of the sand dunes, and I even stopped later once the sun was gone from the main park itself, for telephoto shots of the dunes from afar, which I will share in another blog post. My advice is, it is always worth it to take the risk to potentially get the photos you want. At most you will waste time, but imagine if I had stayed at the hotel and saw this sunset from the hotel window instead of on the dunes themselves?
Read MoreWhile in White Signal, New Mexico on a rural land real estate photography shoot near midday, I saw in one photo a part of the sky that looked darker than it should. I had accidentally captured part of the sun ring. So I went to a clear spot on the property and pointed my the lens of my Sony a7R IV straight up and made the photo you see above. This was the first time I ever got to see such a large sun ring because of the sun being nearly directly overhead.
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