Greetings from San Cristobal. This week, my favorite cottonwood tree in all the state, and random black and whites on the road in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.
I think the colors on this cottonwood peaked this morning. I never tire of seeing it whenever I commute to or from Taos, in all seasons.
It’s that time of year when shadows return and traverse the adobe walls of the Saint Francis Church in Ranchos de Taos.
The church of San Jose de Gracia in Las Trampas is one of my favorite stops on the High Road to Taos. I’ve made many trips there over the years. Last week I watched a number tourists pull over, wind down their windows and take a glance or a quick cellphone photo and immediately drive off. Sometimes I wonder what it’s like being a tourist snap-glancing their way around the planet?
In the following image I cut out any distractions. Unlike this image where the moon completed the shot.
A few days ago I was on the road in another favorite location, on the state line in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.
Click on the image to expand.
As always thank you for looking and all the comments and compliments. G
Greetings from San Cristobal, New Mexico. Autumn! It’s time to get out and make trips around the block.
The phrase “around the block” refers to day-long road trips we frequently take. A journey that will ultimately bring us back to where we started, and perhaps, because of the sights we’ve seen, we have been reminded of the home that is within us, wherever we go.
This week a few pictures from past trips around the long block in Colorado and a reminder of the upcoming autumn colors that are gradually manifesting here in northern New Mexico. My October schedule for private workshops and tours is almost full. I have a few days still open if you are going to be in the area and want to sign up.
Maybe I’ll see you out and about or going… “around the block”.
As always, thank you for looking. Have a great week. G.
Greetings from San Cristobal, NM. This week the Super, Blue Moon Rise from the deck at home in San Cristobal. I said I would share the moon rise if the skies were clear. They cooperated fully, with the thin veil of clouds adding an air of mystery.
I’ll begin with the first glow I saw about five minutes before the moon appeared. It gave me time to adjust my settings and anticipate the next few shots.
Of course, every moon rise is a sight to see. I am always excited as the moon clears the mountains where we live. Also, there is nothing like having a bright moon that you can drive with your headlights off and see the driveway ahead and the whole valley beyond lit up. The upside is that it’s like daylight in the house, so no nightlights are needed. The downside, sleep may be elusive on such a night.
Greetings from San Cristobal, NM, and beyond. To the moon and Jupiter.
It was 3 am this morning when I awoke. I went straight back to sleep! 4:20 am came and I was dressed in the dining room opening the window to view the crescent moon and Jupiter. I planned on getting up early to observe this celestial event but I’d gotten a tetanus shot yesterday and felt groggy most of the afternoon. I was going to set the alarm, but I fell asleep around 9:30 pm. Fortunately for my plans, all was well when I awoke. I was alert and ready to watch as the moon and Jupiter rose over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, visible from our home. The tripod was absent without leave! Buried in the back of the car, I think. It was getting brighter by the minute so I took a pass on finding the tripod deciding to handhold the camera, bracing myself against the window frame. Fortunately, I’ve had experience with a missing tripod before, so I proceeded as I’ve done in the past and the image below came out just as I expected.
Looking through the viewfinder and the telephoto lens I was able to make out two faint moons of Jupiter. There are 95 known moons of the massive planet. I braced myself against the window frame again and shot a long exposure for the image below.
The silence before dawn is palpable. There’s a quiet hush that permeates everything. No dogs, sheep, roosters, or birds. At the stroke of some silent alarm, that only critters can hear, the whole valley woke up twenty minutes later. I now know who owns the barking mad dog!
A tree is still a tree, dead or alive. This tree has now gone. It vanished in a housing development. Goodbye tree.
Greetings from San Cristobal and beyond. Western Tanagers have frequented our garden every year in the past. I have never seen so many all at once as I have this year. Yesterday I had to cut them off from the suet. The Western Tanagers frenzy feeding, and flying around erratically bumping into the windows bringing to mind images of drunken sailors. During a respite, I spotted this little guy after he’d wiped his beak clean of the suet on the bark of the flowering pear tree.
Here’s a list of birds in the garden over three days this week.
Birds 05-20/21/22-2023
Cassin’s Finch Spotted Towhee Pine Siskin Black-headed Grosbeak European Starling Evening Grosbeak Common Raven Pinyon Jay Black-billed Magpie Eurasian Collared Dove American Robin Western Tanager White-breasted Nuthatch Broad-tailed Hummingbird American Crow House Sparrow Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay Canyon Towhee Bullock’s Oriole House Finch Rose-breasted Grosbeak (the app ID’d it three times but not confirmed). Common Grackle. (Could be the crow with a sore throat).
Onward!
Pueblo Peak (Taos Mountain) has been and always will be my muse. It is what has kept me drawn to the area I call home. My other muse is my version of “Monet’s Haystacks Series”… the cottonwood tree and red willows growing along an acequia in Arroyo Hondo, a hamlet just south of San Cristobal.
I shot this image a few days ago on May 21, 2023. The second image was taken on May 21, 2022
As you can see in the second picture the greening up of the willows was about a week more advanced this time last year. The cottonwood is more or less similar in both years.
Continue scrolling to see more images from this series in previous seasons.
This year I’ll be working on a shot of the tree, willows, and valley in summer’s full glory.
There are other images of this scene in my archive. A search will reveal more.
Thank you for all the wonderful comments and compliments, and as always. thank you for looking. G
Greetings from San Cristobal. This week some images from northern New Mexico, Scotland, and England.
I shot the dramatic image of sunset clouds from a friend’s land near the village of Tres Piedras, just off US Highway 64, the other mother road. I took the moonset out of the bedroom window. I shot it ten years ago, but this is how it looked when the full moon set last Saturday morning. We have spectacular views where we live across the volcanic plateau to the west. The clouds at sunset appear to roll over the landscape and beyond over the mountains.
I threw a virtual dart at one of my hard drives again, and this image of a bighorn sheep ram popped up. I don’t know much about their nature, but, I do know, they own the canyons and rocks.
An early morning shot on a photo tour at the iconic Saint Francis Church.
I came across this image when scanning slides a couple of weeks ago. I collaborated with a writer in 1989 on a story on the churches on the high road to Taos. The story was not published, but we had a good time, made many images, and learned a lot about the history, people, and culture of northern New Mexico.
Rock stackers are everywhere. I shot this image in Scotland a few years ago. It doesn’t work for me in wilderness areas. Besides, cairns make less obvious trails on the mountains and moors and are essential to finding one’s way. What you see in this photo, is a place just beyond the road where bus tours and cars stop to admire the view. What do you think?
I love that nature will thrive wherever and however, it will. This tenacious tree seems to be doing quite well.
I’m up and fully mobile again. I’m walking up to 2+ miles a day. Some days less, some days more. Thank you so much to all my friends and family who checked in on me. Immeasurably thanks and gratitude to my lovely wife, Pami, for taking care and putting up with me!
What started with a picture of sunset clouds took me, once again, down the hard drive rabbit hole.
I look forward to seeing you in New Mexico if it’s on your travel plans this year.
Greetings from San Cristobal. This week, a trip down memory lane, a visual flashback of images from my first few trips and early years in New Mexico.
Looking back it’s hard to visualize almost 40 years since I took the first photograph below in November 1984. The images are in no particular order and captioned with the place and year.
Traveling down memory lane has inspired me to start scanning what will ultimately be a few thousand transparencies. All images are scans of Kodachrome 64 slide film. I hope you enjoy the visit.
I’ve photographed the church of San José de Gracia in Las Trampas more times than I can count. Below is my very first shot during my first time visiting New Mexico. I have other shots from the trip but I like this one because of the dog sitting casually, minding its own business. Nowadays tourists are the ones getting in my shots.
The sign at the Taos Inn is still welcoming visitors to Taos. No more curios that I know of. Some local characters may pass for curios.
I’d appreciate someone letting me know what vehicles these are. I’m pretty certain the car on the right is a Ford. Currently, the Ford and Adobe are still there.
Traveling during August in New Mexico 1985 many small scale purveyors of local havests, their roadside stands festooned with the red and the green chiles were in abundance and a treat to photograph.
I shot the image below shortly after Dennis Hopper finished filming a murder scene in this old adobe building in the movie Backtrack with Jodie Foster. The adobe home was demolished this year.
Flashback to the Ranchos de Taos Plaza when the Magic Sky Gallery (coral colored building) was open with a boardwalk and planters.
Currently, the Stewart House” formerly a BandB buildings are no longer visible from this location, as many homes now occupy the foreground. Vallecito Peak in the background has become a favorite subject for my work. Change, is the only constant, along with death and taxes.
Plenty of snow my first winter in New Mexico. That’s my 1958 Volkswagen Beetle buried there in front of the house.
Here’s a picture of my friend and artist, Harry Vedoe when we skied from Talpa and way beyond into the hills. Later in the day we had a wonderful run down and soak in the Ponce de Leon hot springs before heading home. In the winter of February 1989, we had a lot of snow. We were able to cross-country ski out the door on many occasions.
This tree has been featured in my work for many years. After thriving for many years it has finally succumbed to neglect and lack of moisture. It’s still standing, for now.
A drive to Sandia Crest revealed a trail worthy of an afternoon stroll in the fresh snowfall, with views to the west of Albuquerque.
The bison below escaped from the herd at Taos Pueblo. I happened to be driving along and took some shots before it was caught and returned to the Pueblo.
As always, thanks for looking. Have a great week. G
Greetings from San Cristobal, NM. This week the Rio Grande and surrounding views.
I’m sitting here with my foot elevated, looking out the window on our valley. The snow is blowing in high winds and chilling the air dramatically. The wind is breaching the gaps wherever it can.
Things are healing nicely with the surgery on my foot. Thank you for all the well wishes. They are welcomed and greatly appreciated.
Throwing a virtual dart at the archives this week, I came across the first image of the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge shrouded in a rare, early morning fog. I decided to pull a few more pictures from that folder and add them below.
I won’t be going very far for the next few weeks. I hope to make it to the Monte Vista NWR for the return of the sandhill cranes in mid-march. Until then, I hope you’ll enjoy my revisiting the archives with me.
The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge carries US Highway 64 across the canyon and river 600 feet below. Highway 64, the other mother road, has one terminus in the Outer Banks, NC and the other at Teec Nos Pos, Arizona. I’ve driven this section of the road, many times, to its western terminus. It passes through scenic areas with many opportunities for image making. In my humble opinion, unless you like abandoned motels, gas stations, and 1960’s era neon signs (all great subjects in their own right), on Route 66, take US 64 for the more scenic route.
Lastly, a view acros the gorge to Taos mountain. A gorge bush!
As always, thank you for looking, and thank you again for all the well wishes. 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.
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.
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.
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.
Greetings from San Cristobal and beyond. The colors last week on the Rio Chama and Abiquiu were stunning. This is a short post this week with an image of the fall colors in Abiquiu and a flashback of two tipis this week in the San Cristobal Valley in 2012.
Thank you to all who came out to see my exhibit, it has been an exciting and successful show. A very big thank you to those who purchased a work of art! Thank you!
Stay tuned for more info on my next group show in Taos.