New Mexico sunset
A stunning sunset from New Mexico...
Ah, don't you love light like this?
We were renting the house in this photo, which is out in Abiquiu, NM about an hour northwest of Santa Fe. It's essentially in the middle of nowhere, and it was fabulous. The house was beautiful of course, and there is a large lake out behind it as well. We spent a week here and hiked and explored the area. It was incredible.
One evening around sunset I could see the light and clouds coming together, so I ran out with my camera and starting firing away. I can't stand to watch a sunset without capturing it, so I spent a little while out here firing this way and that. A great way to end a day there!
That New Mexico light
Today I share a collection of photographs that I took in New Mexico. I can't believe the light there - I always get such wonderful sunrises and sunsets. Maybe it's due to some factor I am not aware of, but I don't care. It helps me get better photos, so I love it!
Boy is the light ever fabulous in New Mexico!
Being a Texan, I love to visit New Mexico. It's close enough to get to in a day (from Austin to Santa Fe is about a 13 hour drive, so it's not exactly close) and offers up such varied terrain and interesting things to photograph. I love it there. We have visited many times over the years, and I hope that we can return many more.
Whenever I am there, I can pretty much count on getting at least one great sunrise or sunset. I have no idea how or why it happens, but every time I am there I see incredible light, at least once. Perhaps someone can explain why this happens, but I can't. I just know that more often than not, I am rewarded with some amazing light - and as a photographer, that's what I am always in search of.
Today's shots are from Abiquiu, which is about an hour from Santa Fe. It's a tiny little town - more of a hamlet, really - that is famous for being the home of the artist Georgia O'Keeffe in her later years. Her home and studio are there, and she was really drawn in by the varied landscapes, which she expressed so well in her paintings. They draw me in, too.
We stayed outside of Abiquiu, in a rental home on a hill overlooking the big lake there. I got up early every morning for sunrise, and was positioned in the same spots at sunset. So that's what I am sharing here today - just a few snaps from my time there.
These are all single exposures, edited in Aurora HDR Pro. While I love to shoot HDR, I also love to shoot single exposures. Well technically, I usually shoot brackets for everything, it's just that sometimes I choose to just use one of them. Anyways, enjoy the shots and thanks for stopping by!
Exploring Plaza Blanca
Back in March, we spent some time in Abiquiu, New Mexico and one afternoon went out to explore a nearby spot known as the White Place, or Plaza Blanca. It's famous for being the favorite local spot and frequent inspiration of famed artist Georgia O'Keeffe, and it's pretty magnificent. Today's post is a collection of 23 photos I captured while hiking around there one afternoon. It's almost a lunar landscape, and I think you will enjoy this. Have a look!
Have you ever heard of Plaza Blanca?
As a family, we have been to New Mexico too many times to count. In particular, we have spent most of our time in the area of Red River (a little skiing town way up North) and Santa Fe, both of which are just fabulous (and for different reasons).
Santa Fe appeals to us for the cultural vibe of all the artists there, and of course the breakfast at Cafe Pasqual's. OMG. Don't get me started on that. And Red River, being way up in the mountains, is all about the hiking, fishing, and beautiful vistas.
Anyways, it's basically impossible to spend any time in Santa Fe without hearing about or somehow encountering the art of Georgia O'Keeffe. She lived and worked in the Santa Fe area for a while and there is a great museum there showcasing some of her work. It's worth a visit.
But it seems her heart was really always in Abiquiu, NM.
Abiquiu is really just a speck on the map, the sort of town that if you blink you will miss it. It's less than an hour drive from Santa Fe, but feels like you are in another era. Georgia's home and studio are there and that is another tour that is well worth it, assuming you are interested in her work.
Well back in March of this year for Spring Break, we decided to road trip over to New Mexico again, but this time instead of staying in Santa Fe, we opted for a stay in a rental way out in the sticks, in Abiquiu. It was excellent.
We were worlds away from civilization, and right in the middle of the incredible landscapes that Georgia O'Keeffe loved to paint there. In particular, one place that we kept hearing about in relation to her was what she called the "White Place". It was a place where she spent a LOT of her time painting. In fact, many of her famous landscapes were painted of the White Place.
After some investigation, we discovered that the White Place, known also as Plaza Blanca, was just a short drive from where we were staying. It's not a National Park or anything like that, so it was not well marked and in fact we had never seen a sign for it (and technically, still haven't I guess). But with a little help from Google, we did find it and explored it one afternoon.
It was awesome.
It's not like anything I have really seen before. The best word I can think of to describe the landscapes there is "lunar". Clearly I have not been on the moon, but I imagine it would look somewhat like this place. It's very different, and as such, very interesting.
I loved it.
We spent a couple of hours there hiking around on the trails, climbing rocks, and enjoying the park, which we nearly had to ourselves. We saw 2 people the whole time we were there. It threatened to rain on us most of the hike, but didn't, so instead I got some decent skies for shooting, and we all got in some good hiking and rock climbing. You gotta go climb some rocks sometimes, right?
So I hope you enjoy today's photo tour of the White Place, Plaza Blanca. And if you ever get to Santa Fe, see about finding some spare time to make the drive out here and check it out. I think you will be glad that you did.
Thanks for stopping by.
4 weeks, 3 trips, 9000 photos
I have spent the last four weeks on the move, and in that time I fired about 9000 photos. It's been productive, amazing, fabulous, and a little tiring. I drove a long way, and flew even further. I have so much to share here that I fear I am already behind! So today's post is an iPhone summary of these 3 trips and all the fun that I had on them. Enjoy!
The last few weeks have been pretty crazy - in a good way!
As the title of this post implies, I have been a little busy over the last month or so. Ok, more than a little busy. I have been extremely busy. I drove about 1500 miles and flew over 20,000. I have hiked, climbed, walked, ridden in planes, trains and taxis, and generally been a whirlwind of activity. I have been to parks, pubs, museums, libraries, train stations, castles, palaces, 3 foreign countries, 1 vacation home, 5 hotels and more airports than I care to think about.
And I have taken photos. Lots of photos. And it has been great.
In this time, I fired almost 9000 photos with my Olympus mirrorless camera, which I am absolutely loving by the way. It's been about a year now that I have had it, and I have really gotten into a groove with it. It's perfect for where I am with my photography right now. It's becoming very well-traveled, which is good for a camera (especially one so small and light!).
But as I have done for years, I have also fired a LOT with my iPhone. I continue to share my iPhone pics in this set on Flickr, but I just don't really do much sharing of the iPhone goodness here on the blog anymore. I have sort of gotten away from doing iPhone posts here.
So I thought that today I would change that.
On these trips (which I will detail below), I also fired hundreds of iPhone shots and put my faves out there on Flickr. But since I have literally 9000 photos to go process - and knowing it will take me forever to get them ready and published here - I thought it would be fun to do a little recap of my recent travels as seen through my iPhone, and thus share some iPhone pics to illustrate everything I have been doing. Which has been a lot.
One thing to note: I just selected a few pics from each location, because honestly, it would take all day to get all the iPhone pics I have from all these spots into this blog post, and I am way too lazy for that! Plus it was kind of fun to pick a few that sort of summarized what each trip was about. But it's always hard to do that; it's sort of like being asked to pick your favorite child.
So here it goes...(and you can click on each pic to view larger in a lightbox)
Week 1: March 13-20, Abiquiu, NM (1800 photos)
It was Spring Break here in Texas, so as a family we decided it would be fun to head over to New Mexico and see some sights (and this was the driving I refer to above - it's a long way from Austin to New Mexico!). We have been there many times, as it's sort of the closest place to go if you want to see mountains and other interesting landscapes. But since most of the past trips have been to Santa Fe (which I do love), instead for this trip we decided to rent a house in the little town of Abiquiu, NM which is about an hour northwest of Santa Fe. It's best known as the former home of the famous American painter Georgia O'Keeffe, and the landscapes there are just incredible. Interesting, strange, beautiful - and incredible. So we hung out and relaxed, and hiked, and explored, and just had a great time. And I took a few pics (ahem). We even saw a few animal carcasses - fun!
Week 2: March 22-29, Copenhagen, Denmark (3200 photos)
Ah yes, lovely Copenhagen! I returned home from New Mexico, spent a day washing clothes and repacking my bags, and then hopped on a plane to lovely Denmark! Copenhagen is a beautiful city, and this was my 3rd visit there. I really do enjoy the place. It's just awesome. This was a business trip, but even so, I was able to squeeze in plenty of photo time in my off hours. I truly saw so much here that it is almost hard to remember. I shot all around Nyhavn, their historic harborfront area, and of course all through the city center too, with lots of architecture and street scenes and churches and palaces (all high on my list of things I love to shoot!). But I also made a visit out to the little town of HIllerod, where I spent the afternoon wandering around and shooting at Fredericksborg Castle, which was awesome. So plenty of great pics coming from this trip.
Week 3: March 30 -April 5 - home for a week of rest and to see the family! Yay! (0 photos)
Sleep. Must get sleep. Oh yeah, and the Easter Bunny came to town too! I devoured some Peeps. Yum.
Week 4: April 6-14 - Dublin, Ireland (1800 photos) and Glasgow, Scotland (2000 photos)
After a week at home (and some much needed rest), I was off again, back to Europe (oh darn). This was another business trip, and it started in Dublin, which is a place that is absolutely near and dear to me. I love that dang town! The Irish people are just wonderful and the Guinness honestly tastes better there. It's true! Ask anyone who's been, and they will tell you the same. So in my off hours in Dublin, I hit all the sights I intended to hit: churches, the University, lots of street scenes, a few pubs (you get thirsty with all that walking!) and even a little trip out to the seaside village of Howth, where I walked on high cliffs next to the Irish sea. Good times!
And so after about 5 nights in lovely Dublin, it was off to Glasgow for the last leg of this business trip (and the end of this crazy 4 week period). I arrived here on the Saturday, which gave me the full weekend to get out and shoot this awesome Scottish city. I also had the good fortune of meeting up with my good friend Mike Murphy, who came up from London for the weekend. We shot like crazy here, and it was excellent. On Saturday we hit a bunch of spots in the city, dodging a little rain here and there. On Sunday we headed out to the nearby town of Falkirk, where Mike's old friend Steve met us, and the 3 of us spent the day firing like crazy at the Falkirk Wheel and The Kelpies. This was a great day, both because of the company and the sights. You just don't get to see stuff this interesting very often. And it'a always nice to wrap up a good day of shooting by stopping in a pub for a couple of pints.
Mike took off back to London on Sunday evening, and I was left to my own devices that evening and Monday evening, and so both nights I hit the streets around dusk and blue hour with my favorite little toy, the Panasonic Leica Summilux 15mm f1.7 prime lens. It's great to walk around and fire that thing in low light - without a tripod, mind you - and get great results. I only wish I had a prime lens years ago! Where was I when that memo went out??
In fact, I went without using a tripod ON ALL 3 TRIPS. I actually brought it with me to New Mexico and Copenhagen, but never even got it out. So when I was packing for Dublin and Glasgow, I decided I may as well leave it at home. And guess what? I never missed it! (Though I will say, I do love my tripod, and have no plans to get rid of it.) Obviously there are some things you prevent yourself from being able to do without a tripod on hand, but I have found that for much of what I do, it isn't necessary. I may write up a future blog post about that, as I continue to evolve my style of shooting. It sure is great to travel light. I actually only had the camera and two lenses the whole time, so that all fit in a small backpack. It felt great!
And speaking of future blog posts, since I now have this collection of 9000 photos to process and share (really, isn't that a few years worth of work??), I also have a huge (or, huger than before) backlog of blog posts to write up. In fact, I was going through my folders for the images from these trips, and have counted - no exaggeration here - about 40 different blog posts that I want to do, covering different sites on these various trips. And yes, each post would contain a good 10-20 photos. So yeah, I have my work cut out for me, don't I?
Well, that's a little summary of the last few weeks of my life. It's been great, and it's been fun, and it's been productive. But it is nice to be back at home with the family, and I hope to find some time to process a lot of these photos, and to share them here. In fact, you'll see the first one in a few days, so please come back!
Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoyed this post!
Sunrise in Abiquiu
I absolutely love to get up and shoot the sunrise, and even if it isn't that great, I always feel good getting some creative time first thing in the morning. But on a recent trip to New Mexico, I planned to sleep in, but I guess Mother Nature had a different idea, because I woke up in time to shoot an absolutely amazing and colorful sunrise. Here are 12 photos that will give you a good sense of just how beautiful it was!
Wow - I got some color that morning!
I mentioned a couple of weeks back that I was in Abiquiu, NM with the family for a Spring Break trip during the middle of March. It was a great trip and we had an awesome time there. But I also mentioned that on the first morning there, I caught a great sunrise, and I promised to get the pics up here as soon as I could.
Well, here they are!
That first morning, I woke up somewhat early and there seemed to be so much light coming into the house that I just assumed I had slept in late and everyone else was up and had the lights on.
Wrong.
You see, the house has a full wall of windows across the back, giving you a view over the distant lake and mountains - it's all quite beautiful. And the light from this fabulous sunrise was literally pouring into the living room and illuminating everything. The entire house was awash in light. It was incredible to witness.
So once I was able to wake up somewhat - and look out through the windows to see this sunrise - I literally grabbed the camera, threw on some clothes (it was 35 or 40 degrees each morning) and ran out the back door to stand there and shoot. And smile. You have to smile when you get this stuff, right?
The interesting thing about this sunrise was that it just lasted and lasted and lasted. At first, I was frantically shooting because wonderful light is usually so fleeting. Normally it feels like you have about 10-15 good minutes to get your shots, then the show is over. But after a while, I could see this one was going to take it's time (fine by me!) and that I could slow down, catch my breath, and just enjoy it.
Well, enjoy it I did my friends!
I must have been outside for about an hour, shooting, staring and just enjoying this wonderful light show that Mother Nature graced me with. I hope you enjoy the pics as much as I enjoyed standing there taking it all in!
And just to let you know, I barely even touched these photos in post. I made some slight contrast adjustments primarily, and that was it. The color was just so intense!
Sunset in Abiquiu (and some travel updates!)
My family and I spent a recent week in Abiquiu, NM - in this wonderful casita perched high on a hill with a commanding view of the surrounding countryside. It was beautiful, and of course I took a lot of photos. Today's post has 14 pics that I took on the evening we arrived, so dive on in and enjoy the sunset and the pics!
The last 2 weeks have been crazy - in a good way! I have been traveling and shooting (and shooting some more).
The family and I went over to New Mexico for Spring Break back on March 13, returning on March 20. I then frantically washed clothes, charged batteries and then repacked, leaving March 22 to Copenhagen, Denmark. I just got back from there on Sunday afternoon this last weekend. So needless to say, I have been taking a LOT of photos over the last two weeks - in fact, I took over 5000 photos total on these two trips. Fun!
Oh yeah, and a bunch of iPhone shots too, in case you want a preview. You can find them all on Flickr here. I've been sharing a lot of them there. Go have a look. I put everything on Flickr now - and I mean everything. Even stuff that I don't put on the blog here. Flickr has become my "holding spot" for lack of a better word (because "dumping ground" doesn't sound good, and gives the wrong connotation). It's a great way to get my work on the web, quickly, easily, and in a well-organized fashion. You can follow me on Flickr here.
And in case it isn't obvious - taking that many photos in two weeks times is quite AWESOME, and it inspires me to do even more. I love this stuff. It's so much fun.
I have so many photos to process and share from these two trips (not to mention the incredible backlog of stuff in the library), and so many individual parts of each trip to write about, that these two things will likely keep me busy for a while. And part of the fun is that they are just SO different. New Mexico was about hiking and hanging out enjoying the landscapes and exploring, while Copenhagen was about castles and palaces and all that wonderful European culture and beautiful sights. Cool stuff. I can't wait to share all these pics.
However, I have more travels arriving soon so it will be a while before I can sit down and really process a lot. Sorry for the tease. :-) But I do promise to share some wonderful stuff here from these trips. And in the meantime, I do have some great photo posts planned, so you won't be totally bored. :-)
In fact, I have barely even reviewed my shots from Copenhagen, but I know for sure there are some real winners there. I mean, I can feel it, because I stood in some great places and pointed the camera at some amazing things. Assuming I didn't totally screw up the settings, we should be all set! :-) Anyways, more on that later. This post is about the first night we spent in New Mexico on that recent family trip. So, onto that!
We rented a wonderful house out in Abiquiu, which is about an hour drive northwest of Santa Fe. It's best known as the little town where Georgia O'Keeffe, the great American artist, lived and worked for many years. In fact, you can take a tour of her home and studio. It's pretty awesome and quite interesting as well.
Mostly what we did that week was hang out around the house, perched high on a hill overlooking the lake, and hike (and well, I took some photos - and processed quite a few as well). It was wonderful, and relaxing, and the area is very beautiful to my eyes. I had a great time. I caught sunset and sunrise every day. That just never happens at home - there isn't time for it. That's the beauty of a holiday I guess. You get to change your routines and aim them at your goals. It's refreshing.
Out here it's a rugged sort of beauty, with wonderful colors in the earth and mountains visible in the distance. I love it there. Being a resident of Austin, I don't get to see this "Southwest" sort of stuff very often, so it was quite fun to shoot there. Some folks that haven't been to Austin may think of us as "Southwest" but we aren't even close to that look or feel here. It's vastly different.
It was probably around 5pm when we arrived on that first day, and after we unpacked and got settled, I could see the light starting to fade, which is code for GET THE CAMERA JIM. The great thing about this place was that I literally just walked out the door and could point the camera in ANY direction, and find something I wanted to shoot.
So these pics show you the view, the house, and some of the "decorations" that dotted the yard (that would be the animal bones I am referring to, which I found really interesting - and again, something I never get to see or shoot). I will be back as soon as I can with more - and believe me, you will want to see more of this area!
We also headed out to a few very cool spots nearby - and I caught an AMAZING sunrise the first morning - so I will be back with many more photos and things to share from this trip. Be on the lookout!
Thanks for stopping by and come back soon for more!
The open road
There's just something about the open road out West - it just pulls you in. Wide open spaces, mountains in the distance, and nice puffy clouds floating by...click.
I took this shot out the car window while driving on a back road outside of Abiquiu, New Mexico. We were heading to the Christ in the Desert Monastery. It was something like 13 miles down this road. Though the monastery was interesting, I don't think I would go back - unless I just wanted more road shots!
Clouds over Ghost Ranch
Sometimes, I ignore all the rules on composition and just aim my camera at something interesting. The clouds out in New Mexico are just so fabulous!
Ghost Ranch
Day 3 of Santa Fe week: The amazing landscapes of Ghost Ranch!
Ghost Ranch is out in Abiquiu, NM and is about 1 hour sorta northwest of Santa Fe. Yep, 1 hour in the car - but the amazing landscapes are well worth it. Ghost Ranch is an inn and conference center, mostly centered around the arts. It's well known as the place where the artist Georgia O'Keeffe spent a lot of her time, painting so many of the masterpieces she is best know for. When you see the landscapes around here, you will know why she was so inspired to paint the land. It's incredible.
There are several different trails to hike on here, and you can literally spend a full day there if you have that much energy. But if you are looking for some good hiking and great photography, take the trail to Chimney Rock (photo above). It's only a fairly strenuous hike, you can get it done in around an hour and a half or so (well, that depends on how many photos you are taking, though) and the scenery is fantastic.
This next shot is an easy one to get - no hiking required. Just get out of your car, and turn around. Easy!!
Red earth
The family is busy gearing up for a holiday over in Santa Fe, NM real soon. We are pretty excited to get back to that lovely town. Despite it's fairly small size, there is a whole lot to see and do there, and thankfully we have seen and done a lot of it before. I am thankful because that means we get to relax quite a bit, and not hurry around trying to get to everything. It also means we have already "test-driven" the various sites and have our favorites picked out for a return visit. We'll be there for around a week, which will be our longest visit there to date. Should be awesome. Oh yeah, and I'm bringing the camera. :)
I shot this on our visit there last summer. We were out at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, which is where Georgia O'Keeffe spent so much of her time, painting and documenting the beauty of the landscape. It's a special place - you can tell when you get there. It's about a 45 minute drive outside of Santa Fe. I'm not totally sure I will make it there this year, but if I do you can bet I will return with a photo or two!
Landscapes and dreams
There is just something about a Southwest landscape that just captures me. They are fabulous. Colorful, rugged, and beautiful. I caught this one at the Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico. It's well known as the place where Georgia O'Keeffe spent much of her time painting. It's pretty easy to see why she loved it so!
This is a short post, but please come back tomorrow. I have a 2011 summary post I will be sharing, and talking about my plans for 2012. I hope you can stop by!
Blue sky, red earth
What is your favorite photographic subject? I love lots of things, but I think I have to give the nod to landscapes. Something about beautiful scenery just calls my name, I guess!
This is one of many shots I snapped while on a quick visit to the Georgia O'Keeffe Ghost Ranch outside of Abiquiu, NM. The entire area is a photographic paradise. I was in heaven with my Nikon. In other words, I have plenty more of these shots to share! Thanks so much for stopping by today!
The wide open West
Are you on Google+? It's quickly become my go-to site for social media. I am spending the majority of my "social time" there these days, and have really enjoyed the engagement of the community. You can click the "Add to Circles" button on the right side of the blog if you would like to add me to your circles. Here's a screenshot of my profile page on G+:
DAILY PHOTO...
What are your preferences when it comes to landscapes: Forests? Mountains? Deserts? Beaches?
I think there is something about the landscapes of the Western US that speak to all of us photographers, and probably at a deeper level to us as members of the human race. There are obvious preferences that people have when it comes to landscapes, for example some only like heavily treed and forested mountains and rushing rivers, while others prefer the drier, wide open grandeur of a desert. Regardless of your preference, it is hard to ignore the basic, raw beauty of a land like this, which stretches out for as far as the eye can see. I was literally having jaw-dropping moments at every turn. It was wonderful. Oh, by the way, this was taken in Abiquiu, New Mexico, just outside the Ghost Ranch area.
Holiday road
Do you now have the “Holiday Road” song from National Lampoon’s Vacation stuck in your head? I do! (oh, and sorry about that hehe) Well, I was on holiday, and this was a road, so...
I got this shot while we were leaving the Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico and heading down to Santa Fe for the next few days. It was one of those times when you see something and yell out “stop the car”! I still had my camera in my lap from all the goodness I was snapping at the Ghost Ranch, and it was all very fresh in my mind. Well, it was fresh in my vision too, since it was less than a mile behind me. :)
Anyways, I was just completely taken by the stunning landscapes out here in this part of New Mexico. Despite all my travels, I have never spent much time in the desert Southwest and therefore this was all new material for me. It is a rugged beauty, like something from a movie. I could spend days exploring and photographing it, but alas I had to move on. Fortunately, I have plenty of pictures to remind me of this place (and lots more photos to share too)!
On the edge
It's a crazy week for me. I arrived in San Diego Sunday night, all work (no photos) then home to Austin Wed evening late, only to turn around and fly to Seattle Friday! We'll be in the San Juan Islands this weekend and I'll have my camera with me though, so it's all good! Thanks for stopping by!
Here is my second image that I have posted from Ghost Ranch, in Abiquiu, New Mexico. It is a beautiful place, with striking landscapes. Though I err on the side of being a fan of green mountains, I was really taken by the vivid colors and stark beauty of this rugged southwest landscape.