I had the chance to go west for a rural land property shoot in Grants, New Mexico this week. I most often go north or east of Albuquerque. This was a completely new area for me. This property was not that far from the city of Grants itself, but it rested high up in the shadows of a black mesa over looking an interstate, train tracks and an airport! I also usually only shoot very flat land properties, where this one was nearly completely rolling foothills allowing for more creative sunset landscape composition.
I visited Deer Canyon Preserve near Mountainair, New Mexico two times in four days on rural land photography assignments. This video is a compilation of flying my DJI Mavic Prodrone both evenings. This is a private, gated community that has its own hiking and horse trails.
Going through my recent rural land photography archives while out in remote places in New Mexico, I was reminded of being brushed by a strong thunderstorm. It does not rain often in the winter in the greater Albuquerque area of New Mexico, much less a thunderstorm. Thus, my surprise at having to stay close to my Jeep Renegade Trailhawk in case a deluge broke from the sky or lightning started striking the ground.
Yet another week started out with time in the high desert of central New Mexico out on a rural land photography assignment for Hemingway Land Company in remote, northwest Rio Rancho. This area off of Northern Blvd was a little more to the southeast than I had been to before. It was sandier with less brush covering everything. It's rare to see sandy desert in this area of New Mexico. It caught my eye to make a photograph featuring the sand itself, as seen above.
Back in Torrance County New Mexico on a rural land photography shoot for Hemingway Land Company, at a property much more covered in trees than I typically encounter. The last time I had hardly any open space to make photos with a view from. This time there was a good swatch of open land that allowed me to make landscape and sunset shots to help the client sell this rural land property fast! How fast? Well, read the Google review about how much my photographs and drone video help sell his New Mexico rural land properties.
Ever since I first drove into Albuquerque, New Mexico in January 2017 and saw the Sandia Mountains, I knew I had to summit them at one point. Over 14 months later I finally had the opportunity to hike to the summit, my first summit since having ACL knee surgery 3 years ago. Hiking to the almost 3000 meter summit was a physical and mental test, not just for me, but also for Jessica who came with me and our dogs Kiki and Artie.
I only got to spend a very brief time in Malibu, California. Fortunately, it was spent at the stunning Leo Carrillo State Park, which I just happened to pick out on a map to visit! You have seen my bird's eye view drone photos of this park, now you can see the view from my DJI Mavic Pro drone!
