Along Route 66
A lovely sunset brings life to an interesting diner along Route 66…
So much goodness on the Mother Road! This was a diner in Albuquerque, which I had previously looked up and hoped to catch in interesting light (or blue hour at least). Luckily I had a lovely sunset in the background which accentuated the neon and colors here.
Along the Mother Road
A vintage-looking restaurant along Route 66 in New Mexico…
I LOVED driving along Route 66! I spent about 10 days driving along Route 66 in Arizona and New Mexico and seriously enjoyed it. It was actually pretty quiet in most places, and of course I love to find all the little interesting bits of Americana history along the way. This restaurant in Santa Rosa, NM really caught my eye!
Abandoned on Route 66
A collection of 4 photographs from Route 66, specifically in New Mexico. Just some abandoned goodness from the Mother Road!
For me, one of the great things about driving (and shooting) along Route 66 is the amount of old, abandoned spots and things that you find. It’s really visually interesting and I find these empty places to be really photogenic. I’ve been along parts of Route 66 several times, but a while back I did a large portion of Route 66 across the Southwestern US - essentially, I drove the entirety of Arizona and New Mexico. While that is far from a comprehensive tour, I do think it represents some of the best parts of the Mother Road and according to what I have read, it contains the most popular ones as well. Here are some abandoned spots that I encountered. Enjoy!
In the middle of nowhere
Sometimes you just have to stop in the middle of the road and take a photo!
Wide open country in New Mexico!
I love when I find myself on a wide open road in the middle of nowhere, which happens about once every 20 years. :-) This one was from last summer, when I was making my way home in the car from our massive summer roadtrip and was stopping along Route 66 to take a lot of photos.
I made some side detours from the Mother Road and on this day found myself literally somewhere on this wide open road in northern New Mexico. It was me, my car, my camera and all these lovely clouds. I literally stopped in the middle of the road and took this picture. No need to worry about oncoming traffic!
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!
Abandoned on the Mother Road
An old gas station in Tucumcari, NM along Route 66...still looks good after all these years!
So much interesting stuff to see along Route 66!
I loved my little adventure down Route 66 back in August. I spent about 2 weeks driving it across all of Arizona and New Mexico - what I consider the prime stretch of it. I had no hotel reservations and no plans. Just my camera and the open road ahead of me.
I meandered, and detoured, and just had fun. I also took a lot of photos. :-)
I came across a number of old gas stations, many of which had fallen into disrepair and were nearly in ruins. I shot those for sure! But I also came across many like this one, which though abandoned, was not in ruins. The paint looked good and it simply looked like they just walked away from it that morning. It's interesting how well-maintained it appeared.
This one was in Tucumcari, NM which is a jewel of a town, photographically speaking. It may have been my favorite stop along Route 66. There is just so much to see and shoot there - I loved it!
The coolest motel in the world
Here's a pair of photos of the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, NM along Route 66, and I also share some insight into shooting this amazing little gem of a town.
Ok, I haven't been to every motel - that's obvious. But can you deny that the Blue Swallow Motel should at least be high on the list?
I love places like this - lots of character, some neon, tons of history, and so much visual interest that you cannot help but take some photos. When I arrived at this hotel in Tucumcari, NM along Route 66, I immediately parked and took some iPhone shots. I then checked in and stayed 1 night in the motel, and thus I spent a copious amount of time taking all sorts of shots here.
The entire town of Tucumcari is very photogenic, in a Route 66 "the best days are behind it" sort of way. That may sound mean, but I mean it as a compliment. It's historic and there are some amazing things to see in this little town, and nearly all of them beg to be photographed. So I obliged. :-)
I drove and walked up and down Route 66 in Tucumcari and shot all sorts of old hotels and motels, so in use like the Blue Swallow and some boarded up and empty. There are multiple old gas stations, also in varying degrees of disrepair. And then all the lovely signs. I spent only about 18-20 hours in town, but boy did I walk away with a lot of great photos!
The 66 Diner
The 66 Diner in Albuquerque, NM is quite the place for photography, though I never tried the food.
On my trip across Arizona and New Mexico along Route 66, I dedicated one evening to Albuquerque, simply so that I could visit the 66 Diner. I had seen photos of it before and it looked interesting enough to stop for. The timing was good for an evening shoot and so once I got a hotel and dropped my bags, I went in search of it.
Thankfully the drive was only a couple of miles, because when I left the hotel I could see that the light was starting to get interesting. As you can see, the sunset ended up being just incredible! I stood here and took many photographs for a long while and am very happy with them. Sadly, I didn't have enough time to run off and find another vantage point for the sunset. That's a problem I have when the light is great - I'm never happy capturing just one place in that light, I always want more!
The Blue Swallow Motel
The Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, NM along Route 66...
I finally made it here and it's awesome!
I have wanted to visit this motel for many years now. I had seen photos online and just knew it was something I had to photograph myself. Well I finally had the chance during my Route 66 trip!
The Blue Swallow Motel is located in Tucumcari, NM along historic Route 66. That town was my destination for a night during my recent Route 66 drive. There were several things on my list for that town, so I knew I wanted to spend the night to make sure I had enough time to see them all.
On the day I was planning to arrive there, I was looking online for hotel rooms nearby and most everything was open, but uninspiring. You know, just boring chain hotels that were all sort of "blah" looking. Then I just happened to look at the website for the Blue Swallow Motel, and called them. They had a room and I took it, so I actually got to spend the night here, too. It was excellent!
I went to an early dinner so I could have plenty of time around sunset and blue hour to shoot here. While I was eating, it started raining. I was really worried that it would rain all night and I would miss my one chance to shoot here. Luckily, it stopped about the time I finished eating, and though the sunset wasn't much the blue hour with all the storm clouds was fantastic. I stood here for about an hour and took countless shots of the motel. I absolutely loved it.
The owners are really nice and you are welcome to photograph it to your hearts content - so I did!
Aurora HDR Workflow video: New Mexico sunset
Finally, a new video! In this one I edit a sunset HDR from New Mexico in Aurora HDR and add a few filters to get it looking just right!
Finally I had time to make another tutorial video! The benefit of being home for a change!
Due to all my recent travels, it's been about 2 months since I last created a video. Two months! And to think I was doing about 1 every week. Well, I am home at least for a little while, and I had some time to make a new video.
Truthfully, I have really missed doing this. It's a lot of fun for me, and I sure hope that yo enjoy seeing them. I have a long list of videos I still want to make, so I hope to get busy doing some of that here pretty soon!
In this one, I take a 3 exposure bracket set and merge it to HDR in Aurora HDR, and then make further adjustments to achieve my vision for the shot. If you want to see my comprehensive HDR tutorial for Aurora, you can find that right here.
Take a look and let me know if you have any questions!
A walk in the woods
A beautiful little waterfall I found while hiking in New Mexico...
I don't do enough walking in the woods. It's refreshing and interesting and I should do more of it. I captured this image a few years back when we were visiting Red River, New Mexico. It's a great little mountain town and one afternoon we hiked up into the mountains for a while. At some point we stopped for lunch and I could hear water running, which is always a good sign in my opinion. So I clambered down into the small ravine nearby and found this beauty. I straddled the stream with my legs and my tripod and fired away for a while. It was awesome!
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.
Visualizing Red River
Today's post is a visual tour of some beautiful spots in Red River, NM. It's a small town but I am rather fond of it. Have a look and enjoy! I'll be back soon with more pics from my current trip in Oregon, and you won't want to miss those!
Here's a little photo tour of some spots in Red River, NM!
I love the little mountain town of Red River, NM. We have visited it for years, as my wife spent many days there in her youth, and we have often returned with the larger family on various vacations. It's tucked high up in the mountains at nearly 9,000 feet and feels like you are a million miles away from things.
And it's beautiful.
It's a small town, but I find plenty to get out and do while there, and luckily a lot of it includes me bringing the camera! The last time we visited, back in August 2014, was another family trip and we got out to enjoy all that Red River has to offer: hikes, mountain views, lakes and streams, waterfalls, and even a little wildlife viewing!
So today's shots are a collection of photos that I wanted to share. Hey I'm only a year behind on these - not bad, Jim! LOL
I am working furiously on a lot of new photos from the current family trip I am on, sitting here in beautiful Oregon. More coming next time, so come back, and thanks for stopping by today!
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!