After numerous years, the tree and Swainson’s Hawk’s nest near Ute Mountain on the plateau has finally succumbed to the elements. The nest, were it not for the fact that it is now three feet above the ground and within reach of predators, would have lasted for many more generations of raptors. The structure of the nest is bound together with an armature of barbed and bailing wire. I expect to see the tree disintegrate around it while the nest remains a reminder of what once was.
Crossing arroyos at this time of year in the Taos Volcanic Field, one encounters slick rock formations where flash flood water collects in fissures and ice forms. The erosion cycle continues, expanding and contracting. Many forms of geology catch my attention in this place. I slow my pace, and line up some compositions. Secretly I enjoy a moment to breathe and fill my lungs, under the guise of image making. Sometimes that is what it takes.
Little white chapel in the Española valley on the road to Chimayo, NM. On an annual photo tour on black Friday with clients form San Juan Capistrano, CA. Their family spend Thanksgiving in Santa Fe every year, it’s a pleasure to go photographing with them and show them some more of the beauty in northern NM. Beats the mall!
Waiting and watching, a photographer susses out a potential image as the shadow of the belfry cross, silently traverses the vestry wall at the St. Francis de Asis Church, Ranchos de Taos.
In Plaza Blanca on a warm fall day, the narrowing slot canyon walls are alternating zones of cool, noticeably moist, air and radiating warm dry air. As one proceeds, the canyon closes in, the growing feeling of solitude embellishes the senses and grounds the body in the womb of the earth. All the while, white cliffs languishing in the sun, under an intense blue sky, draws ones gaze upward.
In the meadows flanking Taos Mountain and girding the Taos Pueblo, the sunsets create a fiery glow on the red willows, warming up the cold, early winter evenings.
Fog lifting from the Rio Grande Gorge. The Rio Grande Rift, is an extraordinary feature of the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, in northern New Mexico.
When the full “Super Moon” was rising last week over the Sangre de Cristos, this scene was at my back. Always remembering to look behind me it felt like I’d gotten a bonus.
Geraint 
