Angel needed a headshot for her job asap. Being a full-time professional photographer in Albuquerque, New Mexico means I have the flexibility in my schedule to fit in a last minute headshot, right before I had one scheduled late in the afternoon on a Friday. I had everything ready at the JCP Home Studio for when Angel arrived to make a creative headshot for her, but also having it be an efficient shoot so I could still have time to edit the photos before the deadline she needed the photos for her job. The convenience of the JCP Home Studio is being able to look at her photos on my 27” 4K monitor right after the shoot for quick selection of the shots she liked best. She chose one black background and one white background for maximum flexibility using it online.
Back out on another UberEats food photography shoot, this time at Rude Boy Cookies near UNM in central Albuquerque, New Mexico. As the name might imply, this was a much sweeter than usual food photography shoot in ABQ! They make cookies, of course, but also ice cream, shakes, gold bars, and even a flavor shot with milk! If photographing this food was not fun enough, the owner said I could take whatever I wanted home! I took it all save for the glass of milk. Thank you Rude Boy Cookies and thanks also to Jessica for assisting on this shoot.
Traveling all over the state of New Mexico for rural land photography work allows me to explore some off the beaten path places in between shoots. The latest was Spring Canyon State Park, which is really part of Rockhound State Park, and this particular canyon is Lover’s Leap Canyon. That’s complicated! All without mentioning these parks are made up of the Florida Mountains! The trail up Lover’s Leap Canyon is allegedly only 0.9 miles, but it takes over 30 minutes due to how steep and rocky it is. The view just keeps getting better and better as the trail gets higher. Once at the top, take off your backpack, get out a snack, and enjoy the fruit of one’s hiking labors! This is another hidden gem in New Mexico.
Noah Starer is a regular art photography client based in Santa Fe. He is a very original ceramic artist. This time he brought to the JCP Home Studio these eye catching wall ceramic art pieces. I think they look like the ocean and the Earth with their respective swirling color blends. Imagine one of these pieces across from your desk giving your eyes and mind a creative break seeing something different in the piece every time it is looked at.
In bookend visits to Monument Valley in Utah, I made a lot of photos being there for sunset one evening, then sunrise the next morning. I had time during these two forays into this stunning environment to look for other shots besides sweeping landscape photos, like this one with a twisted tree. There was so much movement and texture in this gnarled tree that I wanted to find a way to photograph it that really made it come through the frame. I set my camera on my tripod at its lowest leg extension for a below standing eye level perspective. This eerie tree composed this way as to obscure the beauty of the mesas creating a contrast in visuals.
This was a most unusual photo shoot. I was contacted to photograph tableware for a contest. I am always up for a different kind of photo shoot so I took my camera bag to a restaurant where I worked with one of the biggest teams to make these photos happen. Before this I was always hired to photograph the actual food. This time, the forks, knives, and plates! That’s why in these photos you will see the food mostly out of focus, but a fork in focus. The chef’s creations were the background for these photos. He didn’t seem to mind at all! Being a commercial photographer in Albuquerque, New Mexico allows for a wide variety in photo shoots!
I have now had my Jeep Renegade Trailhawk for one year. It has become as integral a part of my photography business as anything in my camera bag. I put almost exactly 20,000 miles on it in that year’s time! I regularly travel to all corners of New Mexico for photography work, often with the last few miles of each of those trips being off road. Switching from a compact sedan to a Jeep has allowed me to do more photo work without having to rush to get a rental vehicle back so when I am at these remote places, I can add on a visit to places like City of Rocks. In this past year the Jeep has also taken me through Monument Valley, Durango, Colorado, Phoenix, Arizona, and more! No matter where I have driven it, and what I have driven it over and through, the Renegade has not let me down!
