Category: Clouds

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Sunrise by 8 Minutes

New Mexico sunrise

Sunrise, Images 8 Minutes Apart

Sunrise is a beautiful phenomenon in New Mexico (as I have said more than once 🙂 ), but the colorful part is not long-lived. If one is not up and looking for it, the color could easily be missed. This morning’s was actually colorful for longer than most, although the peak of the color did not last long. The first image is from 6:43 am. The second image is from 6:51 am. Although the last image is at the peak of color, the color was gone very shortly afterwards.

New Mexico sunrise
06:43 am
New Mexico sunrise
06:51 am

When I first looked out, the sky was quite dark, but a few of the clouds on the horizon were beginning to show a trace of red. That is always a hopeful sign for a colorful beginning to the morning, and I brought my camera into the kitchen, and drank a cup of coffee while I waited and watched to see what transpired (these colors do not always happen 🙂 ). Finally I thought I should give it try. These images eight minutes apart show intense color in parts of the sky that lasted longer than I had expected.

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The Dark Side of the Mountains

mountain
The Dark Side of the Mountains
mountains
The Dark Side of the Mountains

Mountains and light – ever changing and with the interplay being part of the magic of New Mexico, “Land of Enchantment.”

On a glorious day in October of 2014, friends Laurie and Tim, along with my mom, spent a day exploring parts of New Mexico we had not seen in some time. Tim and I were both celebrating a birthday, and the trip itself provided many wonderful birthday surprises.

All day long we saw clouds. Some were big, bright, white puffy clouds against a brilliant blue sky. Some were dark storm clouds. And then there were these clouds that produced some shadows but allowed (and created) rays of light at various points. It was late afternoon, and we were on the east side of these mountains on the journey back to Albuquerque. The mountains from our vantage point would have been in shade, even had there not been clouds.

As we rounded a curve, the rays appeared, ever-so-briefly. We stopped for photographs, and actually had a “rural New Mexico” moment when we met another couple.

Many images from that day had a special meaning to me from the moment they were created. Less than a month later my calm, routine life was shaken by a seismic event that has given some of those images an even more special meaning. This image is one of them.

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Snow on the Sandias

snow sandias
Snow on the Sandias
snow sandias
Snow on the Sandia Mountains, Fog Below, Clouds Above, Lit by the Setting Sun, December 2013

Snow on the Sandia Mountains is predicted in the coming week. Albuquerque itself has the possibility of seeing some snowfall. Precipitation is desperately needed in the Southwest, and hopefully we will indeed see precipitation in some form.

Continuing with yesterday’s theme that sunrises and sunsets here are frequently very beautiful and awe inspiring, but unpredictable in what form they may take, this is from a sunset in December of 2013. This is the only time I can recall seeing the light of a setting sun on the mountains with snow on them not light in some fashion the clouds above, and it is one of the rare times I have seen fog below the mountains.

This image looks east to the mountains. The sunset to the west had the more usual sunset colors of orange, gold, and gray, and was quite beautiful. A memorable sunset in both directions, east and west.

The overall blue effect here, combined with the light of the setting sun on the snow, created an image that I’ll not soon forget.

I hope you enjoy this, more than a year after it appeared.

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Sunrise over the Sandias

sunrise
Sunrise over the Sandias
sunrise
Sunrise over the Sandias, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Sunrise – and sunset – can be a magical time almost anywhere, but reliably so in the high desert country of New Mexico, “Land of Enchantment.” It is very easy to take our beautiful skies for granted, almost, because we have them so often.

One of the truly remarkable things about our skies, though, is that the exact appearance of a sunrise or sunset can never be predicted, nor how long its appearance will last.

This morning was basically overcast, but a light overcast at the time of sunrise. I really was not expecting too much, but I always watch until I am certain a show either never happened or is over. This morning I made ten photographs between 7:18 and 7:24 am. This is the only one of the images with such distinct rays arising over the Sandia Mountains, starting from where the sun was about to appear.

The magic of sunrise – and the sky in general – in New Mexico.

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Abandoned

Abandoned
Abandoned
Abandoned
Abandoned – not adobe! – in the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico

Readers here over the years know that I have had an ongoing project recording adobe structures in New Mexico. This often includes abandoned and decaying structures, as well as some of the beautifully maintained adobe structures. Adobe is the building material one thinks of when considering the traditional construction material of Twentieth Century (and earlier) New Mexico. Those of you who read here also know that I love adobe.

Driving around New Mexico, both in rural and in urban areas, you will see a lot of accumulated “junk,” such as old cars to name but one type.

On a beautiful autumn day in the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico I was photographing a beautiful landscape. These structures were just out of the landscape scene, but I found them interesting. So I photographed them as well. Although they appeared abandoned, I will say I did not want to get much closer, just in case they were being used for something I did not want to know about. After all, this is New Mexico.

The image itself lent itself to some post processing techniques not typical for me. I hope you enjoy the image.

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The Road Less Traveled

road less traveled
The Road Less Traveled – Off the Beaten Path in New Mexico

The Road Less Traveled

“New Mexico, Land of Enchantment.” So true. It is true even if you are in a city such as Albuquerque, or off the beaten path. If you must travel Interstate 40 or Interstate 25, you will see beauty all around: the desert, the mountains, the river valleys, the sky, the clouds… Beauty is everywhere in this state.

But, the road less traveled, whatever that is for any individual, perhaps offers the greatest chance to enjoy the beauty, to be “enchanted.”

road less traveled
Autumn Beauty in New Mexico on the Road Less Traveled

On this particular day in October, my mom, along with our friends Tim and Laurie, were celebrating together Tim’s birthday and my birthday. We do “photographic excursions” periodically, and on this day the only thing we particularly set out to do was see if many sandhill cranes had yet arrived in Rio Grande Valley south of Albuquerque on their annual migration route. We wanted to check at one place in particular, but, other than that, the day was free to go wherever we felt like going. We took Interstate 25 south out of Albuquerque, but soon found ourselves more content on the road less traveled.

I missed a turn right after exiting the interstate, and we found ourselves crossing the Rio Grande and going on a bit. When I turned around to head back to the “other” road less traveled, this was the landscape that greeted us. Tim photographed, Laurie sketched, I photographed, and my mom enjoyed the scenery.

This wonderful landscape with the golden cottonwoods in the Rio Grande Valley, the mountains, the sky, the clouds, and a glimpse of the road less traveled was an auspicious beginning to a day filled with enchantment! Watch for more images from that day on this blog.

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