Santa Fe and Taos - New Mexico at its best!

[texxter]

My wife and I took the children to Santa Fe and Taos this Thanksgiving weekend to enjoy the beauty of New Mexico, and avoid eating and shopping too much. We spent three days in the area, and we had a wonderful time.

I tried to capture with the images below what I like the most about New Mexico:

• The Pre-Columbian Pueblo heritage (#1, #2, #3)
• The beautiful landscapes (#4, #5)
• The high sierras and the snow (#6)
• The Spanish influences (#7, #8)

Photo 1 - Taos Pueblo at the end of the day - the last tourists are seen leaving the pueblo.


Photo 2 - Taos Pueblo at the end of the day


Photo 3 - Descendant of the Anasazi people selling turquoise jewelry at the Santa Fe square


Photo 4 - Aspen trees on the road to Santa Fe Ski Area.


Photo 5 - View of Northeast New Mexico from the summit of the Capulin Volcano.


Photo 6 - View of the Taos Ski Resort slopes from inside a chalet.


Photo 7 - Santa Fe Cathedral with statue of St. Francis in front of it.


Photo 8 - Lobby of the motel we stayed at in Santa Fe

[RKEnnis]

What an extraordinary series! The one with the trees is my favorite - I love the perspective.

Thanks for posting them!

[texxter]

Thank you, Randy, glad you enjoyed them. I am a people photographer mostly, but it's hard not to capture beautiful images in this land - it's truly enchanted. It felt good to give my wide angle lenses a good work out! The trees were done with the 14-24mm lens, which is spectacular.

[SCHMEGGA]

I really think that #1 would have been spectacular as an HDR image!

[lhdvies]

Very nice!! Love that area, thks for the post!

[smoothassilk]

Very Nice Photos
I like the second shot, the different color doors and the use of the shadows. the shadow on the lady in the market works well also. Nice to sit back and see the perspective of how others see things. Thanks for sharing.

Mark

[jfoureyes]

This is an outstanding series thanks for posting them! It is on my list of places to visit with my little camera.

[ronocnikral]

ugh...skiing already?! i guess they are open everywhere. sad....i'm stuck in houston.

nice work! thanks for sharing.

[texxter]

Thank you for all the comments - yes, Red River and Taos were open, but Santa Fe Ski Area and Angel Fire were not.

[CallMeAl]

Paco...you make me sick. Green with envy actually! You have an eye for things that always amaze me. I appreciate the way you explain your shots and the planning that went into them. My favorites on this series are the Aspens and the hotel lobby. It really captures New Mexico to me. I hope that you intend on teaching a class some time...I'd love to attend it. Great work as always!

[texxter]

Craig, thanks for the kind comment. Please keep in mind that many of my pictures look quite pedestrian, and every once in a while a get one worth keeping. Nevertheless, the ability to see is something we photographers develop all the time. One of the enablers is the realization that the eye and the camera see the world differently. In some cases the eye sees a magnificent scene, and we photograph it, but when we look at the picture it's disappointing. Sometimes we look at a picture that's magical, like #1 above, and the place disappoint us, as the image seems so much more beautiful than reality. This is an ongoing process of learning to be aware. For example, dynamic range of light is something I now see quickly; I now know how a 14mm lens "sees" and can transform trees into a pattern that seems to reach the sky... The more we do, the better we get. And one more tip on seeing - in order to "see" we need to look - and active looking means putting the camera to the eye and moving around. The Park Inn motel in Santa Fe is a nice, little budget motel with a pretty lobby - but if you walk in he lobby with a camera and point it to the fireplace you'll get a disappointing picture - there is probably only one or two spots in there you can shoot from and get a pretty image that's not cluttered with a lot of stuff - chairs, windows and doors, brochure stands, etc. The picture above was a 6 sec exposure on a tripod, so it was most definitely not a "grab shot". We see the potential of a place or situation, and then apply our experience and ability to look in order to see the picture. The looking also involves paying attention to light and choosing our lens and camera setting.

I did teach a workshop on lighting for portraiture a few weeks ago, and I'll probably do another one after the Dec holidays.

[Joe_Lorenzini]

Hey Paco,

Would you consider Taos ski resort a family-type resort? We were thinking about trying it for the first time this year but don't know anyone that's been...

Great shots!

Thanks!

Joe

[CallMeAl]

I'll be looking forward to the workshop. I think what strikes me most about your photos and posts, especially in relation to my work, is the thought process and planning that goes into the shot. I need to plan my shots and work my plan more than I do. I'm glad you're back posting!

[JohnT]

Thanks for sharing, Paco. I could spend a whole year in NM shooting all four seasons. It has so much to offer.

[texxter]

Joe, I saw lots of families in Taos and also Red River, both seem family oriented.