On a recent trip to Angel Fire, New Mexico for a rural land client, I sent my DJI Mavic 2 Prodrone up and was shown a landscape totally different than from where I stood surrounded by tall trees. Going up a hundred feet allows for unique landscape photography. Combining dramatic clouds filling the sky, with the tall pine treetops, and the distant mountains, these drone aerial photos are some of my personal favorites that I have ever made in New Mexico. Here on the Jason Collin Photography blog I always like to show you unique views of known places. Angel Fire is a ski resort town, but I have actually never seen it in snow despite three trips there! So if you have only seen it in snow, from these drone photos, you can see how visiting Angel Fire in the spring after the snow melts reveals it is still a very special place with amazing scenery, especially from the drone’s viewpoint!
Many times I have driven up and down HWY 550 in New Mexico on my way to and from home in Albuquerque to Navajo Dam or Farmington in northern New Mexico. Each time I stared at this mesa, or rather a volcanic plug as Wikipedia describes it, off to the west visible from great distance. This rock formation is named Cabezon Peak, and finally, I had the time to actually drive right up to its base. From this vantage point I sent up my DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone to capture 4K drone video, a 360 panorama drone photo, as well as regular aerial drone photos, before finishing with sone telephoto shots of the peak with my Sony a7 III mirrorless camera. I actually found viewing Cabezon Peak from a little bit of distance to be the more impressive view than standing right before it.
For those with enough adventurous spirit, and the right vehicle, and the in the desert with not-so-accurate-GPS navigating skills, somewhere far south of Bloomfield, New Mexico, some 18 miles down dirt roads, you can find Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Area and its amazing hoodoos. What are hoodoos? They are a rock formation that look like toadstool mushrooms. This was actually my second hoodoos rock formation site to visit (check out the first). What an alien landscape this was to explore with the hoodoos forming on the banks of an arroyo, very, very far from any civilization. This is a fantastic New Mexico True site to visit. There is a map at the bottom of this blog post, and be sure and watch the video below I made right in the middle of the hoodoos!
Wall of rock home to hawks in Cimarron Canyon State Park
If you blink while driving past Palisades Sill along HWY 64 in Cimarron Canyon State Park, you are likely to not even notice it was there. How can that be when you look at the drone video above and see the 100 foot wall of rock? That is because the canyon is very narrow, with tall timber along the road, that twists and requires the driver to keep a keen eye. However, if you do stop, you will be treated to a hidden gem of a rock formation that hawks swoop down from and has the Cimarron River gently gurgling at its foot.
On a rural land real estate photography shoot for a new client, Three Rings Property Solutions, the skies in Valencia County that evening were very dramatic, making for rural land photos with impact. As regular readers of Jason Collin Photography will know, I am the most prolific rural land real estate photographer in the entire state of New Mexico. I am always glad when a new land buyer chooses me as their photographer, thanks Mike! The clouds made for a lot of drama to add to the high desert scenery with distant mountain views. This trio of properties were captured by both my Sony mirrorless camera and by drone in aerial photos and 4K drone video too. Including drone video really helps to show off rural land real estate in a maximum attention grabbing way to potential buyers.
Small, but beautiful, Monte Verde Lake in Angel Fire, New Mexico greets you as you arrive from the south. Surrounded by a walking path that points you to various mountain views and tall timber, it is a small haven for those looking for a Nature escape. I share all forms of media of Monte Verde Lake: 4K drone video, 360 drone panorama photo, high resolution mirrorless still photos, and aerial drone photos. Which is your favorite media of the lake?
Three visits to photograph just two rural land properties
It had been a long time since I was last in San Miguel County New Mexico on a rural land real estate photography shoot for Hemingway Land. This time it was a double property shoot going between both pieces of land to get sunset shots of each. This is a science of sort staying at one property as long as possible to get the best sunset shots of it, while still leaving time to get to the last property for its sunset shots before the sun dips below the horizon. As you can see though, I was also at these properties during the day time to capture the best clouds possible per the client’s request. I actually went back to the property a third time the next day because just as I arrived all the clouds disappeared from the sky on that first, very carefully planned and timed visit for clouds! That is the level of commitment I bring to delivering the best quality rural land photos I can to my clients.
