Greetings from San Cristobal, NM. This week, some scenes of winter weather, two new book covers, and snow. It’s been a cold week, but it’s warming up again. The heaters are cleaned and running, and the sun is shining. I hope it’s beautiful where you are.
Winter weather, Ranchos Valley.
Last week we took a drive during the snowfall here. Little did we know that the 12 to 15 inches we received in San Cristobal amounted to about an inch in downtown Taos as you can see from the image of the little chapel on La Loma Plaza in Taos. We have been fortunate to get hit by lots of moisture this year in our village north of Taos.
Snow, La Loma Plaza Chapel Taos.
St Clare’s statue was huddled under a cloak of snow before it slid off.
Saint Clare’s statue at the Saint Francis church, Ranchos de Taos.
Sunflower seed pods wearing snow cap crowns.
Sunflower seed pods.
The following are two of my images used on the covers of recently published books. I’m honored to share these publications with you.
Ranchitos Road, Taos, mirror image.
Lise Goett’s book of poetry, “The Radiant”
Lise Goett’s book cover “The Radiant”
The second cover is from J.M. Mitchell’s Novel “Migrations of Butterflies and Lies”, Check it out here on Amazon
J.M. Mitchell’s Novel “Migrations of Butterflies and Lies”
And the cover…
Book Cover.
You can also purchase a copy of J.M. Mitchell’s book “Migrations of Butterflies and Lies.” at Barnes and Noble.
If you are writing a book and would like to use an image of mine on the cover or inside, please get in touch. All proceeds go to a local Taos non-profit for kids.
And finally an autumn leaf on a winter pond.
Leaf floating on a pond.
As always, thanks for looking. Have a great week. G
Greetings from San Cristobal, (Taos), NM. This week, New Mexico Treasures 2025 Engagement Calendar. Again, I’m pleased to have my work in this long-running cultural calendar published by the State of New Mexico Cultural Affairs Department and produced by the Museum of New Mexico Press, which reprinted and distributed my book, Rio Grande del Norte: An Intimate Portrait.
Greetings from San Cristobal, (Taos), NM. This week an upcoming September Show, Taos Artist Combo 3.
Back by popular demand with some familiar names and new artists joining us this year. If you are fortunate enough to be in Taos next month, seeing you at the historic Stables Gallery downtown Taos would be great. The Stables Galley is located at: 133 Paseo del Pueblo Norte, Taos, NM 87571
September Show, Taos Artist Combo 3 at the Stables Gallery Taos.
I will be showing many favorite and iconic images with an added inventory of new images created over the last two years. I hope you can make it and I look forward to seeing you there.
Saint Francis Church white crosses, Ranchos de Taos.
Banana plant droplet.
Buffalo (Bison) eye.
Ute Mountain Horses.
Mountain Storm.
Early Snow, Taos.
Aspens.
Shrine.
Powwow Dancer.
I hope you’ll visit, see beautiful art, and maybe add a piece to your collection.
Greetings from Taos, NM. This week views across the Taos Plateau Volcanic Field. I gathered some images for another project and thought I’d share them here. I hope you enjoy them.
Taos Plateau Volcanic Field from north of Taos.
Three weather systems were forming.
Storm across the Taos Plateau Volcanic Field
Through the mist and rain.
Across the Plateau to the mountains.
Walking Rain.
Evening on the plateau.
Sunset rain.
Walking rain.
View to Abiquiu from Taos.
Rainbows and the Taos Mountains, on the edge of the Plateau.
Greetings from San Cristobal, NM. This week a gallery of random abstraction in and around the block. I have many more of these taken on personal trips, photo tours, and neighborhood walks so future posts may occur. Mostly shot on an iPhone, I am constantly reminded of what a wonderful and spontaneous piece of equipment it is.
Click on an image to expand and click off it to go back. Enjoy!
As always, Thank you for looking. My thoughts are with friends experiencing the wildfires in New Mexico and California. Have a great week where you are. G
Greetings from San Cristobal, NM, and beyond. This week a hike up Guadalupe Mountain in the Wild Rivers area of the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. Last week we went down to the river. This week we hiked up to a vantage point that gave us views of the gorge and the Blanca massif in Colorado, a great view to accompany lunch. Unfortunately a smoky haze somewhat obscured the distant 14,000 + ft peaks. So instead we looked down, watching where we stepped for the morning emergence of rattlesnakes and bouquets of wildflowers.
Guadalupe Mountain, Wild Rivers Overlook, and Ute Mountain.
Indian Paintbrush were in abundance at the trailhead, individuals, and clusters.
Indian Paintbrush.
Indian Paintbrush, cluster.
At about 8500 ft above sea level the Indian Canyon Fleabane took over the nooks and crannies in the boulder fields to the summit overlook.
Indian Canyon Fleabane.
That was yesterday. Today I took a quick jaunt up a watery trail in the Hondo Canyon to check out the creek crossings. I didn’t get far. I left my hiking poles in the car. Below is a solitary wild Columbine. There were many more. I liked this single bloom glowing against the rock.
Wild Columbine, Italianos trail, Hondo Canyon.
A leafy green plant, Rowan I think, of which there were many.
Rowan plant on the Italianos Trail.
A spot on the creek running alongside the trail, not one of the crossing points, but a picturesque little falls.
Italianos Creek.
Lastly the Cottonwood in Arroyo Hondo, you know the one, in a sleet and hail storm last week. I got pelted and had to dive back into the car.
Cottonwood and Acequia (irrigation ditch), Arroyo Hondo, NM.
As always. Thank you for looking. Have a great week. G
Greetings from San Cristobal, NM. This week features the day of April 17th from ten years of my archives.
I hope everyone had a good week. April has been beautiful in northern New Mexico,,, so far. I know I said I wouldn’t say anymore regarding my feet but I’m averaging 2-3 miles a day and getting 4-6 mile hikes in. I’m so happy with my two new feet.
Over the last month, my friend, David, and I have been hiking stretches of the road through the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument that traverses the gorge rim and skirts around the base of Ute Mountain. We have hiked a different section each week with the mountain always present, beckoning. All being well, this summer will culminate in an accent of Ute Mountain.
Back to the present that began in the past, here are pictures from April 17th taken from my photo of the day archive from 2006 to 2016.
Beginning in 2016 and working back to 2006. This day we had snow and I made this image. It makes a beautiful print. A couple of hours after taking this photo, the snow was all gone.
Willow tree lane, Arroyo Seco, April 2016.
A roadside Descanso, San Ildefonso, 2015. The internet says “Descansos are deeply rooted in Southwestern Hispanic culture. The word means “resting place” and is believed to refer to the days when coffins were transported by horse and cart or carried by hand over many miles for burial in a camposanto.”
Roadside Descanso, San Ildefonso, NM.
Some vistas around Taos have since been transformed… developed. 2014
Taos Mountain from El Prado, NM.
Here’s a shot of mine and Pami’s shadow in Arroyo Hondo on the drive home from Taos back in 2013.
Arroyo Hondo evening shadows, 2013.
Here’s a former living plant that grew out of a crack in a rock in the Orilla Verde Recreation Area of the now Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, 2012.
Rock brush, Orilla Verde, NM, 2012.
A ubiquitous Taos Raven. They are known to perch in ones or twos. This raven was probably calling for or waiting on its better half. 2011
Raven in a bare tree, Taos, 2011.
I’m still searching for the original high resolution file of this picture of Garetto Rivas, so I’ve added a higher resolution second image from the same day below this one. I’ve forgotten the name of his gorgeous blond horse. The second horse in tow and in training is named “Beauty”.
Garetto Rivas, a Taos Cowboy, 2010.
Garetto Rivas, Taos Cowboy, 2010.
The image below was scanned from a Kodachrome 64, transparency shot in the mid 1990’s and published on my website’s photo of the day archive on April 17, 2009.
Indian paintbrush, 2009.
Just around the corner from my former gallery in Arroyo Seco was a yoga studio festooned in Tibetan prayer flags. I recall shooting this one out of my car window in 2008.
Prayer flags in Arroyo Seco, NM. 2008.
I shot the image below in 1990 and published it on my website in 2007. It has since been published in a couple of local magazines.
Saint Francis church reflecting in my 1958 Volkswagen Beetle wing mirror, 2007.
On April 17, 2006 I paid a visit to the National Cemetery in Santa Fe NM. It’s the only time I’ve been there. Since then I usually post this image on social media on Memorial Day.
The National Cemetery in Santa Fe, NM. 2006
As always, thank you for looking. I hope you enjoyed the trip down memory lane. You can see more from my photo of the day archive here.
Greetings from San Cristobal, NM. This week blue and white, another sky over Taos Mountain and one man’s fence.
We’ve had a lot of days recently with blue skies like this. The old adobe buildings especially, and this church, lend themselves to photography on blue-sky days.
Blue and white at the Saint Francis church, Ranchos de Taos, NM.
Perhaps you prefer the black and white below.
Saint Francis Church in black and white.
Driving to Taos a few days ago I saw this sight. I think that these were dispersed contrails from a couple of passing jets. It took three wide-angle shots stitched together to get this much of the scene. I didn’t get it all in as it continued and terminated on the horizon to the west over my shoulder. See below.
Clouds over Taos Mountain, Pueblo Peak.
Here’s a cellphone shot out the car window looking west to the horizon. Highways in the sky.
Clouds or contrails?
Robert Frost wrote, “Good fences make good neighbors” in his poem Mending Wall. Below are abstract shots of one man’s fence in Arroyo Hondo, NM. In order of appearance along the roadside, from west to east.
Chainlink fence #1, Arroyo Hondo, NM.
Chainlink fence #2.
Chainlink fence #3.
Chainlink fence #4.
Chainlink fence #5.
I’ve driven by this window many times but never noticed the thoughtful pattern of the blue and green window panes. There’s always a first time for everything.
Church window and wall in Arroyo Hondo, NM.
As always, thank you for looking. Have a great week. G
Greetings from San Cristobal in the beautiful mountains of northern New Mexico.
I threw virtual darts at the archives this week, and the following images popped up. Northern New Mexico has continued to excite me for forty years. Here’s to many more.
The first two shots were taken during drives around the extended neighborhood, with the first on an evening photo shoot with friends from Kansas City.
Reflections in a large snow melt puddle, Arroyo Seco, New Mexico.
Nearby is a more expansive view across the meadow to the mountains with winter colors.
Des Montes and the mountains of Taos.
I did a one-day shoot for AAA New Mexico Journeys Magazine eight years ago in Bandelier National Monument. The Alcove House pictured was accessible with an exciting climb up numerous, 30′ ladders. It was well worth the ascent with a backpack and tripod.
Alcove House, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico.
The Quarai Ruins at the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument yielded this image on my third visit to the site. I created this image with three shots stitched vertically, in effect, a vertical panorama. This location isn’t technically northern New Mexico, more like central NM but I like it.
Quarai Ruins, Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument.
Refrain from stacking stones in Chaco Culture National Historical Park. I heard the Park Service tore it down shortly after I shot it. I know it wasn’t there on my next visit.
Cairn, Chaco Culture National Historical Park, NM.
I enjoy a nice glass of wine when reading a book. Reading “House of Rain”, in the landscape it depicts was a perfect pairing. Thanks to Craig Childs for the many virtual adventures.
Reading “House of Rain” by Craig Childs, and drinking wine.
One of the first panoramic shots I made of our mountains has been hanging in the waiting room at our local hospital ever since.
Taos Mountains sunset shot from across the plateau.
Below is the full moon shot in the Rio Grande Gorge. I love that I can stand on top of the highest point (Wheeler Peak) in New Mexico in the morning and spend the evening deep in the Rio Grande Gorge, watching the full moon grace the ridge cradled by a bare piñon tree.
Moonrise over the Rio Grande Gorge in Pilar, New Mexico.
As I become more mobile I’m looking forward to working with a number of new and repeat photographer/clients. Join me this spring, summer, and fall on a photo trek around some of the best photo locations northern New Mexico has to offer.
On location in…
As always, thank you for looking. Enjoy your week. 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.
