Last week I invested in getting a macro lens, the new Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro SP. For those of you with really good memories, you will have realized this is my third Tamron lens in the past 9 months. Tamron is just simply producing the best lenses available for Nikon right now. I had the Nikon 105mm VR Micro (they use micro not macro in the name) lens from 2009 until about 2013 and loved it. It was such a fun lens to shoot with, as making macro shots always had a sense of wonder at showing a hidden world the naked eye cannot see. It had very creamy bokeh and was very, very sharp. I also loved it for portraits and just as my walking around lens.
An oasis in the central southern desert area of New Mexico, Elephant Butte Lake is in the town of Elephant Butte itself. The lake is surprisingly large with small islands, many peninsulas and beaches, a dam and a marina! I flew my DJI Mavic Prodrone further than ever before, as far as I dared, which is why did not circle Elephant Butte from very low. I did not want to risk losing connection between the drone and the remote with a large, elephant shaped butte blocking the way! Look closely in the drone photos for me and Jessica and the dogs in one of them! If you eat to see ground level photos of Elephant Butte Lake, check out this photo gallery.
On the way to Las Cruces, New Mexico for a rural land photography shoot, I got to make my second visit to Elephant Butte Lake. This was actually the very first non-Albuquerque place I visited when I first moved to New Mexico in February 2017. Therefore, this is my only "old memory" of New Mexico (technically, in 2000 I visited Roswell and Carlsbad Caverns and Bandelier National Monument too, but that's a whole other lifetime).
Revisiting the photographs I made at Echo Amphitheater in Abiquiu, New Mexico I found some more that I wanted to edit and offer as fine art prints and commercial license usage for businesses that want to display a unique view of New Mexico natural wonder in their home or office for friends and clients to enjoy as well. Standing in the base of the curved rock formation that produces the echoes the place is named for, I found the shape of the rock wall to be fascinating and photographed it from multiple angles. If you have received a business card from me you have already seen my favorite angle of it (check it out here), but I like these for their partial views of the upper edge as well.
This 4K drone video made in New Mexico features a remote area of desert and mountain in Valencia County, about one hour south of Albuquerque. I drove my Jeep Renegade Trailhawk down 7 miles of unmaintained dirt road to reach this location for a rural land client. While waiting for the sun to go down to make the last of the photos I needed to, I flew my DJI Mavic Pro drone over the desert and toward the mountains. The wind was strong, giving high wind warnings on the drone's remote control, so I dared not go higher nor closer to the mountains.
I had the chance to go west for a rural land property shoot in Grants, New Mexico this week. I most often go north or east of Albuquerque. This was a completely new area for me. This property was not that far from the city of Grants itself, but it rested high up in the shadows of a black mesa over looking an interstate, train tracks and an airport! I also usually only shoot very flat land properties, where this one was nearly completely rolling foothills allowing for more creative sunset landscape composition.
I visited Deer Canyon Preserve near Mountainair, New Mexico two times in four days on rural land photography assignments. This video is a compilation of flying my DJI Mavic Prodrone both evenings. This is a private, gated community that has its own hiking and horse trails.
