The past two weeks I have made three trips down to Belen, New Mexico in Valencia County, about 40 minutes south of Albuquerque for rural land photography shoots. The landscape and conditions out there changed dramatically in one week. Two weeks ago I could not even reach the property I made the top photo from. There was too much snow on the dirt road, so much I could not even see it and even my Jeep Renegade Trailhawk was starting to sink in it too much. I could not risk getting stuck some 4 miles off road with no help around. One week later the snow on the road was gone and the mud had dried up and I drove right to the property no problem.
For me, the phrase joshua tree has always been associated with the famous U2 album from 1987 and its iconic cover art. There is actually no joshua tree in the photo. I finally got a chance to visit Joshua Tree National Park and soon realized that the eponymous trees are not the stars of the park by a long shot. The real attraction are the rock formations. Some tower, some are piles, they are all sitting there challenging you to climb them. This photo story presents a set of black and white photos of a lone climber on a rock face and a series of color photos one of which is made up of silhouettes of me, Jessica, Kiki and Artie!
I traveled down to Belen, New Mexico with my photography gear and Kiki for a rural land photography shoot. I have been to this exact area of Belen twice before, and know it so well I knew where to look for a cow skeleton, which was still there even though I have not been to this area for over a year! I got my daylight shots, then had time to walk around with Kiki in total silence save for the blowing wind. Then we settled in a spot and I setup my Nikon D750 on my Indoor carbon fiber tripod and waited for the sun to get into position. I decided to make the shot just as the sun peaked below the cloud cover while still above the distant mountain. Since the land itself was just desolate, I composed to show more of the spectacular clouds. I got paid to enjoy this view. Sometimes, being a photographer is not too bad, sometimes.
This photo of a red shouldered hawk perched on a dead tree limb was made after doing a rural land shoot in Torrance County, New Mexico. One of my photography philosophies is that a real photographer always makes the effort to get a photo they see. I was tired, had just been outside for 90 minutes in the desert, had another 45 minutes to drive back home, but I pulled over, got out my camera, and made the effort to get this shot of the hawk because as a photographer you just cannot pass up opportunities to get a shot. For me, especially one of a large bird as they are very hard to get in New Mexico. Back when I lived in Florida, photographing large birds was easy, they were all over the place. Birds and animals are rare to see in New Mexico, even in the remote places I often travel too.
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!
Lordsburg, New Mexico is about 4.5 hours southwest of Albuquerque and was the location for my lasted multi-day rural land photo and drone shoot for Hemingway Land Company. I had never been to this area of New Mexico before so I did not know what to expect. The skies cooperated providing clouds for a spectacular sunset each night, with mountains in the background each time too. In fact, pictured above are the aptly named Pyramid Mountains. This is a very peaceful and quiet area, where nothing happens in a hurry. Lordsburg itself feels that way. This is a place to come for low-stress living, but where can you buy an iPod??
