Greetings from San Cristobal. This week the Snow Moon is rising over the mountains of Taos.
In the first image, I watched the moon rise behind the peak of Vallecito Mountain. It’s a favorite location of mine, as you may have seen from past posts. The sun was setting as the moon rose. The light on the landscape was balanced nicely, with the moon perfectly exposed.
Snow moon rising over Vallecito Mountain.
Fifteen minutes later the sun had set leaving the mountain and sky with a soft lighted glow.
After sunset, the moon rises higher over Vallecito Mountain.
Three miles south and much closer to Pueblo Peak (Taos Mountain) I was able to catch the moon in a good poistion.
Pueblo peak, Taos mountain Snow Moon rise.
Generally speaking, on an outing to photograph the moon rise, I begin looking for a view point further west and then drive east, getting closer to the mountains, stopping to make more images as the moon emegeres from behind the different parks. If you want to join me on a full-moon photography adventure, please get in touch, it will be a lot of fun!
Bird of the week, the tenacious Rock Wren in the Rio Grande Gorge, Pilar, NM.
Greetings from San Cristobal. This week, mountain snow in the highcountry of New Mexico. Snow fell on the mountain peaks, accompanied by soft winter light. It was enough to find the clouds lifting and a single moment of this pink light on the mountains. Sometimes all it takes to make my day is a simple “ah!” moment like this. The same magenta glow infused the landscape and air around me.
In this area, the Rockies are called the Sangre de Cristos. This wasn’t quite a full-on Sangre sunset color but rather more of a rosé blush. Click here to see what I’m referring to.
Mountain Snow, Taos NM
Here is a close-up of my favorite mountain in this range of peaks, Vallecito Mountain. After a brief moment of this light, it was gone. Then home to Pami, a nice single malt, and a warm fire. Some days it just doesn’t get any better.
Fresh snowfall on Vallecito Mountain, Taos New Mexico.
Flashback. An image I shot on a Saturday morning at the Taos farmer’s market in August 2008. Enjoy.
A little shopper at Taos farmer’s market.
As always, thank you for looking, and for all the comments, and compliments. G
Greetings from San Cristobal Valley. Winter is beginning to settle in, with temperatures dropping to single digits and a decent amount of snow. Not at all the amount we are used to, but we’ll take it.
Last week, on my way home, I just had to pull over to watch the shadows move through our valley. Ten years ago, I shot this same scene. It became the centerpiece in our galley and home and has been a best seller since then. I don’t think I could ever top it though I keep trying. As you can see, the foreground is overgrown, with the meadow obscured.
That cottonwood and willows in Arroyo Hondo, I can’t seem to pass this spot without making an image.
Arroyo Hondo cottonwood and willows.
Early one morning this week I went south to the adobe mission church of Saint Francis in Ranchos de Taos. This iconic buildingalways looks good with accents of snow and a dramatic sky. One important feature of this image… I arrived in time to get a photo before the parking area filled with cars.
Saint Francis church, Ranchos de Taos, NM.
Below is an image from December 2010 on the road that connects the villages of Arroyo Hondo and Arroyo Seco. When I had my gallery in Arroyo Seco I drove this route most days. It’s a sweet country road with close-up views of the surrounding mountains. It is an especially beautiful, and magical drive when the hoar frost covers the trees and landscape.
Arroyo Hondo, Arroyo Seco Road, New Mexico
If you plan to visit New Mexico this year and have a desire to improve your photographic skills, and see locations off the beaten track, look me up and consider a photography tour/workshop. I’ll look forward to meeting and working with you in some of my favorite places in the area.
Last week, on January 5, 2023, was the 99 percent full wolf moon. I spent a fabulous full-day photo tour with Richard. When we departed Taos, we had high expectations of catching the January “wolf moon” rising over the peaks of the Sangre de Cristo mountains in southern Colorado. We did not expect the vast cloud cover that occurred midday.
As is often the case in the west, the weather changes rapidly and dramatically. There is a saying, ‘if you don’t like the weather wait five minutes”. On this day, following six hours of intermittent cloud cover everywhere except the mountains, where the sky remained full of clouds, they finally dissipated to reveal the Sangres in all their glory! Click on images to enlarge.
Wolf Moon rising over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Colorado.
In the images below, you can see what the rest of the day brought for us. The first is the Rio Grande looking north upstream to Blanca Peak.
Ice on the Rio Grande with the Blanca Peak Massif.
Standing on the Lobatos Bridge bridge to get this image, we could hear the ice cracking around the bridge pillars and along the cliffs. Some of the sounds were like thunderclaps deep down below. Other sounds were like the far of moaning of a person in pain.
I’m not usually one to show both versions of a shot, but I like both equally for different reasons. The black-and-white image has a more dramatic impact. The color of the grasses sprouting up amongst the volcanic rocks in the second version is pleasing and captures the softness of nature and light I experienced there.
Lobatos bridge in black and white.
Lobatos bridge with Blanca Peak and the Rio Grande.
Rio Grande Ice, Colorado
Below, the cactus thrives in this lava rock environment.
Cactus, lava rocks Rio Grande, Colorado.
General Store, San Luis, Colorado.
I first saw the Eastdale post office many years ago when the plaque with the zip code and roof was intact. Alas, things change, and vandals continue to pilfer whatever and from wherever they can.
Eastdale, Colorado US Post Office.
A few days earlier in San Cristobal, the waxing moon rose, followed by the sunset on our local peaks in the Columbine Hondo Wilderness.
Moon rise, from San Cristobal, NM.
Sunset, the last light on the mountains from San Cristobal, NM.
Greetings to all my friends in California. Stay safe!
Greetings from San Cristobal. I had a lovely time shooting in the San Luis Valley, Colorado, which always makes me smile, followed by some random images around the area this holiday season. You may recognize this scene. I visit it often on photo tours and workshops in southern Colorado.
Blanca Peak with wild horses in the San Luis Valley, Colorado.
Wild Horses and crows.
Corraled by the creek, and then the escape. I opened the car door to get out, and the horses, surprised, jumped the fence. I missed that! The payoff came in the following two images.
One mild morning last week, my son Dylan and I walked through the Fred Baca Park Wetlands and Rio Fernando Park. There wasn’t a lot going on, which was very nice. I did take a camera and caught a shot of a Townsend’s Solitaire being solitary in a bare tree. A peaceful walk surrounded the muted colors of winter.
Seeing out the New Year, we were watching a sunset cloud from the deck.
Sunset Cloud over Taos Mountain, from San Cristobal.
Lastly, a flashback to Spring 1987, on a trip I made with four friends, Martin, Frank, Ken, and Dave. Frank and I got set up each morning and evening at our primitive campsite to capture the sunrise, or in this instance, waiting on the sunset. I took this shot of our two Rollei’s, Franks Deerdorf, and my Nikon F3.
Cameras set up at the Mittens, Monument Valley.
As always, Thank you for looking. Happy New Year. G
Taos Mountain (Pueblo Peak) has many moods. I’ve had the honor and the great pleasure of being a witness to some of the best of the mountain’s moments. Moments that thrill us all in this place we call home.
Take a look at the many moods of Taos Mountain. Click to enlarge.
Taos Valley with sunset on .the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
The Wright Contemporary – Taos
Join me this Friday December 2, 2022 – Opening at The Wright Contemporary Gallery.
“Photography in B&W”
Cerro Shadows, Cerro NM – 6.5″ x 6.5″ framed, one of ten images in the show.
December 2, 2022–January 15, 2022
Opening Friday 5-7pm at Wright Contemporary Taos, I’ll be participating in a group show titled “Photography in B&W”
I’m booking dates from now through the end of next year for private one to one photo tours and workshops. Join me here in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado and beyond. I look for to showing you around this corner of our beautiful planet.
Photographers on location in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.
GIFT CERTIFICATES
Gift certificates can be applied to photo tour/workshops, prints, and editing tuition.
Greetings from San Cristobal and beyond to Mounument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.
This week I was digging in the archive, searching for stock images and a selection for a local photography exhibition. I got distracted and went down the rabbit hole. An image of the shadow event in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park last spring drew me deeper down the hole. Revisiting a photo, I tend to reminisce and then often edit it to represent more of what I felt than what I initially saw.
Click on an image to enlarge.
Shadow event last spring in Mounument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.
Monument Valley and southeast Utah are one of my all-time favorite areas. I’ve been there many, many times since my first trip in 1985. It did me a world of good to revisit there, although virtually this week.
Secondly, a picture of Taos Mountain from a few years ago, bathed in the last light before the sun set. I wanted to edit it again, bringing out the details in the little creek in the foreground.
Pueblo Peak/Taos Mountain winter.
A few days ago, Pami and I made a short drive to a favorite spot in the San Luis Valley, you know which one. First, we enjoyed the scene of hay trucks hauling half-ton bales down the narrow roads to one of the many pole barns scattered throughout the valley. A lot of the fields, and some equipment, were put to bed for winter. The pivot irrigator languished on its side wheels up, either for repair or ready to be dismantled and stored. It reminded me of a turtle on its back with legs in the air.
Pivot irrigator, San Luis Valley, CO.
Roadside tree with hay bales, San Luis, Valley CO.
The tree above is home to nesting raptors. I’ve often photographed them in this tree in this area. Of course, no trip to the valley would be complete without a visit to the old homestead.
Greetings from San Cristobal and beyond. This week I got up to watch the lunar eclipse. I hadn’t intended to photograph it. I’ve shot it so many times before. When I looked out the window I couldn’t resist. The sky was crystal clear, and the stars were genuinely twinkling. The “cold-hearted orb” wasn’t. It warmed up the night sky and I felt it. I got the camera set up in the front doorway, out of the cold and wind, and began shooting. The most significant impact it had on Pami and me was how three-dimensional it appeared suspended amongst the stars. It was another wonderful, lunar eclipse-watching night. I can honestly say that I will continue to get up to watch future eclipses from now on.
Click on images to enlarge and view individually.
Lunar eclipse, totality, from our front door, San Cristobal, NM
The day before the eclipse our moon rose unblemished in clear skies, visible out the dining room window, although I did go outside for this shot.
Almost full moon rising, San Cristobal.
New snow in our mountains last week.
Snowfall on Pueblo Peak, Taos Mountain in El Prado, Taos, NM
Snowfall on Pueblo Peak, Taos Mountain shot on iPhone 13 Pro Max
I had originally considered driving south to the Taos tipis for a shot. I thought of a composite instead. This is what I came up with. Here’s the image with the tipis and lunar eclipse from April 2015
Greetings from the beautiful San Cristobal Valley, Arroyo Hondo and Taos. The valleys are currently adorned with the colors of cottonwoods, and multiple hues of reds and golds.
Last weekend, we had rain that made the colors pop against the dark rain-laden clouds over Pueblo Peak, (Taos Mountain).
Last weekend, we had lots of rain that made the colors pop against the dark, rain-laden clouds over Pueblo Peak (Taos Mountain). This first image is from El Prado (the meadows), one of my favorite views of Pueblo Peak with a dramatic sky overhead. The cottonwoods here are more silver of bare branches interspersed with swatches of yellow and gold.
After a trip to the grocery store, this was the scene that caused me to pull over. The sky and the shadows moving swiftly across the meadows brought the place to life following a day of grey, overcast skies.
Pueblo Peak, (Taos Mountain) with cottonwoods in the late afternoon light.
The second image is of my favorite cottonwood in Arroyo Hondo. I was on a photo tour with Bob and Anne. We captured this view as the sun broke from behind a cloud. Within a few minutes, it was shrouded in shadow again. It made a fitting end to a great day with my guests.
Arroyo Hondo cottonwood is spotlighted by evening sunlight.
It’s fall and temperatures are dropping as New Mexico takes a magic carpet ride into the throes of winter. The aspens and cottonwoods shroud the landscape in a cape of gold, glowing against the blue skies in the pristine light. At this time of year, the night skies are crystal clear. The moon, constellations, galaxies, and milky way light up the night sky like few other places on earth. Join me on a photo tour or private workshop of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.
Continuing Exhibit.
“Those who came before” at Bareiss Gallery Taos – 40″x38″ Sold
My solo exhibition at Bareiss Gallery here in Taos continues through October 31, 2022. The gallery will be open 9 – 2 pm on weekdays. I’ll be there on Saturday, October 22, and Saturday, October 29, or by appointment. Come and visit. It will be great to meet you. G
Bareiss Gallery is located at: 15 State Rd 150 Taos, NM 575-776-2284
A flashback photo you may remember from a rainy day in the high country of northern New Mexico.
Colors of Autumn in the high country, NM
Taos Artist Combo II Exhibit/Sale 11 Taos Artists/ 3 Days Stables Gallery/Taos: Sept. 23-25, 11-5 pm Photography, pastels, prints, and paintings, direct from the artists
*Frederick Aragon *Bill Davis *Audrey Davis *Gene Gray *Sara Jean Gray *Celesa Lucien *Rob Nightingale *Margery Readin *George Schaub *Geraint Smith *Doug Yeager
Opening Reception: Friday, September 23, 4-7 pm The Stables Gallery is located at: 133 Paseo del Pueblo Norte Taos, NM 87571
If you are fortunate to be in Taos during the above dates, I hope you will stop by the Stables Gallery to see all the work and say hello! I’ll look forward to seeing and meeting you.
