Infinite Sand for Infinite Photographs at White Sands
There are some natural wonders that a photographer could live at and basically photograph for the rest of their life. Places like the Grand Canyon are obvious. For New Mexico, there may not be an immediate obvious choice, but to me. the obvious choice is White Sands. I have been there three times and each visit I found something the same, but different to photograph. Then there is the unique, open world construct of White Sands. There are no set paths you have to walk on, no established iconic photo of White Sands, which frees a photographer to wander and find their own iconic view of this expanse of white sand desert, distant mountains, and endless sky.
When light and sky and clouds come together for rural land photography
In the past 4 years I have photographed hundreds and hundreds of rural land real estate properties all over New Mexico. Every now and then the light and the sky make for an exceptional background to what in reality is just an empty piece of high desert. Such was the case for this property in Torrance County New Mexico, near Moriarty. The land had just one bush on it, and otherwise just foot high grass. However, thanks to an infinite sky filled with soft sunlight and painted with just the right amount of clouds, these rural land photos stand out. This does not happen by accident, as I waited over 2 weeks for just the right day for this client, even driving halfway out there (50 miles round trip!) only to turn around as it became too cloudy. This is the experience and professionalism I offer real estate clients. No one has photographed and flown over more rural land properties than I have. If you are interested in this land in particular, check out Hemingway Land for more info.
In December I had two opportunities to visit White Sands National Monument, and they could not have been more different. The first was on a weekday late morning, and the desert was empty, the sand was pure free of footprints, and there was not a cloud in the sky. On the second visit it was near sunset time, the sands were covered in footprints as it was very crowded there (well for White Sands at least), and clouds added to the landscape story. Clouds and low sunset light shadows definitely add drama to photos of White Sands. However, there is nothing more mesmerizing to me than the footprint-free ridges of the sand dunes at White Sands for producing landscape photos. What set of photos do you prefer: these black and white footprints, or the stark white and blue footprint free dunes photos?
Clouds like coral over the Sandia Mountains in New Mexico
Having been to remote northwest Rio Rancho, New Mexico at least a hundred times over the past 3+ years for rural land real estate photography, I have made hundreds and hundreds of photos of the Sandia Mountains using a 70-200mm lens, with this shot being made by the amazing Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master lens. One might not think a telephoto lens is good for landscape photography, but if what you want to photograph is very far away, it will just get lost in a wide angle lens. On this particular afternoon, the clouds above the mountains rivaled the mountains themselves for drama. To me they look like undersea coral? What do you think?
Telephoto lens for mesa landscape photography in New Mexico
At the end of a rural land real estate shoot in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, near Abiquiu Lake, I noticed some mesas in the distance. I did not need to get photographs of them for the client, but one of my axioms is a real photographer always stops to get a photo if he/she sees an opportunity. So I got out my Sony a7 III with Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master lens attached to get these shots, as the mesas were quite far away and they would look tiny in a wide angle lens one might normally think to use for landscape photography. The sun was going down, and there were good clouds in the sky, a recipe for near ideal landscape photography conditions.
At the end of a rural land photography shoot in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, I turned from the west after getting the required sunset shots to see the moon rising over the Sandia Mountains. I would come to learn that in a few days this would be a very rare full (blue) moon on Halloween night. To get unique views one must go to unique places, and not many go miles off road in the desert northwest of Rio Rancho wit a camera.
Clouds making for stunning rural land real estate photos in New Mexico
As the best and most prolific rural land real estate photographer in the state of New Mexico, I am constantly looking at weather reports for trying to get the best possible skies for client shoots. On a day like this in Taos, New Mexico, the clouds were absolutely dramatically stunning and the results were over 50 photos from around the Carson Estates area near Taos, New Mexico that delivered exactly what my client, Hemingway Land Company, wanted for grabbing the attention of land buying customers who will likely be buying sight unseen. I covered dozens of miles off road and hours of getting in and out of my Jeep from noon to sunset to create this collection of rural land real estate photographs that will help my client sell the land faster.
