Three Boulders

Three boulders on the edge of the Llano Estacado.

Driving across eastern New Mexico one will come across the western escarpment of the flat topped Llano Estacado. There the flat suddenly drops off 200-300' to the plains below.

Just the sort of place to make an image and when I saw these three I knew it was a great place to stop to capture the open country and the dramatic edge.

On the High Plains

The Texas panhandle is the southern reaches of the High Plains. It can be rolling or totally flat. Neither tend to draw photographers but there is a certain something about the flatlands that really interests me.

The farms, the grain elevators, the small towns, and the endless sky. It is even better when the sky is stormy and over cast.

While driving to Amarillo I passed by this field and turned around so I could stop and photograph it.

The green grass, the flat, the remains of a fence line and the thick clouds. I thought it was something. Out came the 4x5 and the 75mm wide angle lens. I photographed this in color for the green and in b+w for the stormy quality. Here is the scene.

Check out my Wilderness Photographer Blog linked to the right for the snapshot that I was looking at.

Open Range-Tarrant County

The open range of Tarrant County. Not too far outside the city limits but still in Tarrant County one can find ranches, creeks, and a landscape much like a hundred years ago.

I have been driving the roads west of town a lot this summer and have made several stops at this location on the side of the road.

I like the open range view.

Here is the setup one clear morning-actually the same morning we missed the eclipse.

To see what the best image of this area looked like check out my WildernessPhotographer travels blog linked to the right.

Too Late

A few weeks ago there was a lunar eclipse. I had marked the time as being right around sunrise and I decided to meet several friends with the hope of photographing it.

We had a suitable location planned with a great clear western view where we hoped the eclipsed moon would be close to the horizon.

That Saturday dawned mostly clear and we thought we were in for a treat. We arrived at our location early enough but only saw the moon sinking into a cloud on the horizon.

Drat. We missed it.

Well never one to let that spoil a morning we stayed until sunrise and managed to make a few images of the dawn. Here is one with rolling hills and grasslands. It was not the preplanned image but still turned out to be a nice little morning. So I guess being too late sometimes aint so bad.

Double Time

Photographing on the open range of southern New Mexico is fun. It is also a lonely, empty, and dusty place.

As I mentioned in prior posts it is a difficult place to capture in one image. So in addition to trying to put it on a single sheet of film I was working with the DSLR too. The hope was to be able to stitch several images into a long pano that can begin to capture the size of the land here. Stitching is one are that I just cannot make work like I want it with film. I think the scanner is the weak link. But even with all else being same on the exposure and processing I still play havoc getting scanned images to stitch right. On the other hand it is a quick and easy process with a digital capture. A couple of clicks in PS and you have an image.

So my plan this day was to work with the DSLR for panoramas and to work a scene for one image with the view camera.

It meant two ways to think and kept me busy working two tripods. It was a double time day.

Out on the Range

Here is an image of me out photographing Alamo Mountain on the wild Otero Mesa of New Mexico.

A string of several individual peaks that make up the Cornudas Range straddle the state line between Texas and New Mexico.

They also mark the southern end of the Otero Mesa grasslands. Well kinda. The grass continues into Texas but the Texas side is all private property. The New Mexico side is mostly public land.

This view shows the westernmost mountain of the range-Alamo.

On The Open Range

This last fall I made my first solo trip out on the Otero Mesa on southern New Mexico.

It is an area I had seen from afar for several years and that I had spent a couple of days out on at different times. This was my first chance at a longer trip and I devoted three days and two nights to seeing it.

This is an amazing place with some 1.2 million acres of open range. You see more information about the mesa on my Wilderness Photographer Blog as The Lost Mesa.

This is one tough location to photograph, even with a big camera as it is so hard to capture the vastness of the range in any one image. Long lenses slice it and even wides are not wide enough. Maybe a 6x17 could do it justice, but none of the sheets I got back did.

This view of the camera overlooking this great wide expanse of open range land can only hint at the vastness here.

Plains and Mountains

A closing view from my El Paso trip. I had spent the day up in New Mexico and in the afternoon as I was driving back to Texas I kept watching these mountains. The tall horn peak with snow on it drew my attention. I knew it had to be photographed-the vast open grasslands with that peak beyond were a great image right out of a hundred years ago.

I found a turnout and made an image. Later I found a windmill that I was also able to work into an image with the mountain(posted before).

So I make this my parting image for this trip.

New Mexico Open Range at Dawn

Another image from a morning in New Mexico. This was taken somewhere along the road north of Deming.

The hint of the road in the image makes me think of being on the open road. In the middle of a hot August the high plains sounds mighty nice, but it is still a few weeks until Labor Day and my next road trip west.

So I'll just look at the road and the open range and let my mind wander.

Rock House Ruin

A rock ruin east of El Paso. I saw this ruin from the road and had to stop. It is literally in the middle of no-where. There is nothing around it either naturally or man-made except a modern blacktop road. But this structure looks older than the road. Or at least it looks from the early days of automobile travel.

I am not even sure what the building was. The two rooms look too small to be much of anything. It is such a long way to EL Paso or Van Horn that I wonder what it could have been.

For me on this day though, I liked the view it had toward the distant Guadalupe Mountains. I lined up an image where I could frame the house and the distant Guadalupes into the frame. Made a couple of images to be sure to get the exposure right and not have hot spots on the rocks.

Then it was back on the road looking for that next location.

Alamo Mountain

East of El Paso, where the Hueco Mountains fade off into grasslands is a place of big views. One can easily see the Guadalupes which are 75+ miles away. One also sees several volcanic peaks that dot the open range.

One of those has a flat top, that is Alamo Mountain. This peak is actually in New Mexico and is part of the Cornudas Range which straddles both side of the state line. It is a range that keeps drawing my interest on any trip to El Paso or the Guadalupes. It is a place I plan to visit to explore soon.

This image is late the the afternoon. there is a little haze in the air and the sky is clear. I made a couple of images of Alamo Mountain and then watched the sunset while thinking about a new destination.

New Mexico Moonset

The full moon hanging over the open plains of New Mexico.

On a mostly clear morning north of Deming I could see the early light in the east and the moon in the west. As the morning got closer the sky in the west took on a pink glow. I set up an image where I could look across the open range and see the moon too.

The simplicity of the open grasslands colorful band in the sky and moon hanging above it all made a nice view and one to be put on film.

I went with a moderate wide lens. Not to wide but not too long, showing the scene closer to "normal" seemed right.

And who says you cannot make a nice image on a clear day?

Windmill on the New Mexico Plains

After a morning with nice light on the grassy plains, I drove into Silver City for a plate of Huevos Rancheros. Mighty good.

Then it was off to explore the sights to be found in the area. The big open quality of the open range country kept drawing my interest. As the road got close to some of the mountains, I began to look for ways to work them into the image. This one tall peak stood out, snow clung to it's side. I wanted to get that mountain into an image. I made several compositions that had different elements of grass or fences or roads, but I still had not found it. Then I saw this windmill and tank and knew I had my image. Blue sky, mid-day, and all-this had potential. I thought this might even work in black and white.

Then it was back on the road. There were miles to go.

New Mexico High Plains

I awoke early on a late winter weekend in El Paso and decided to drive north into New Mexico. Having spent the previous day east of El Paso, I decided to strike out into new territory and make for Silver City and maybe even the Gila National Forest.

I was well north of Deming as the light began to rise in the east. Wide open grasslands stretched out in all directions with distant mountains beyond. Since I did not have a specific destination for sunrise, I decided the open grasslands would be perfect. I turned onto a small side road until I found a nice view with some hills and clouds. Then I went to work to set up the tripod. The view here was nice and there were images to be made. Getting on the road early got me out this far in time for dawn and this is looking like a perfect location. I guess there is some truth to the fact you make your own luck.

I watched the stars fade as the sky turned blue. The clouds picked up some pink light. The grass took on a reddish hue from the light in the clouds. The light kept getting brighter. The clouds turned white. Finally the sun rose and the grass glowed in the early sunlight. I made image after image from the near dark of night to the glory of the first sunlight of the day.

The light filled the sky and I looked around again. Yes, this was a great place. File a note to self to make it back here too. After taking it all in I consulted the map and decided to make for City of Rocks State Park. It was close and rocks in the early light sounded promising.

Open Country

I could not get enough of that big view so after photographing the distant Guadalupes, I turned slightly to pick up the volcanic peaks of the Cornudas Range.

They rise out of the grassy open range country east of El Paso. It is a very different look from the the other ranges out here. Instead of a ridge or spine of peaks, it is individual mountains that have popped out of the grasslands.

It is a series of mountains that draw my eye and my interest. The open range and the individual mountains have limitless possibilities for a photograph.

Of course, this was a severe clear day but as the sun started to set, the light got angular, and the shadows got longer the area began to take on a new life. The light dancing across the tops of the grass and the distant peaks were the image I went for.

I know I'll be back here in search of a sky full of clouds and a big west Texas sunset.

Marty Robbins Country

I have always liked the Marty Robbins classic “ El Paso ”. It sums up the open spaces of the west as a lonely place where you ride for miles. A place where the view goes on forever.

As I was heading west toward El Paso across the open grasslands, I kept stopping what seemed every half mile. Stop. Look. Take pictures. Drive. Stop again. .

This is a big open country. After many miles the road starts to climb the first hills that rise up and become the Hueco Mountains. There I stop yet again.

From this first rise the view stretches back almost 100 miles. The volcanic peaks of the Cornudas Range, the Black Mountains, the Sierra Tinaja Pinta, and even the distant Guadalupes are visible. A big view of a wide, open, empty land. Certainly the kind of place Marty Robbins might sing about.

I walk along the grass and look at the yuccas, the sky, and the distant peaks. The clear blue sky is not a photographers favorite, but you work with what you have. Besides, it enhances the open feeling of the place.

The view is empty- I cannot see a house or town or structure. What a place this would be to have a horse.

I set up the camera and decide to wait here for the sunset. This view is too big and too nice to not be here. I already know that I will be back to this spot.-the view here is perfect west Texas.

And that view could inspire a song.

High Lonesome

The high lonesome grasslands found east of El Paso are some of my favorite country on the open road. The sky is big and the land is empty. The roads are long and often empty too.

The road to Sierra Blanca is one of those lonely ones. It runs almost due south from US 180 through high dry grasslands. This is an area of big open rangeland. Lots of grass. Lots of sky. Sometimes a yucca. Occasionally you will find a “forest” of yucca. Mountain ranges rise in every direction. Some are big, others small. Sometimes they are just a couple of peaks. All one sees are grass, yucca, mountains, and sky.

The road runs west of the Black Mountains , I can see them and the Sierra Diablo to my east. The volcanic rock of the Cornudas range are behind me to the north. To the west I can make out the rise that is the Hueco Mountains . Ahead of me is the bigger mountain that is Sierra Blanca. In the distance I can see the Guadalupes and even make out the snow on them, even though they are over 50 miles away.

This is ranch land. This is big ranch land. Over a 45 mile stretch on highway 1111 you only pass a few different ranches. The range is mostly open too. The pampas colored grasses seem to go on and on. Pronghorn dash across this land. I see several herds of them on the drive and count at least sixty.

I drive for miles and do not see any sign of civilization- no people, no houses, not even a windmill. Nothing but this high lonesome grassland and an occasional animal. I do not even pass another vehicle.

As I pass through one of the yucca forests I see a lone bull in the grass. It is a scene that really grabs my mind as telling a story about this land, so I stop and set up the camera. I can see the yuccas, the bull, the Black Mountains and the Guadalupes in the distance beyond them. Even with my longest lens, I still have a pretty big view of the land and sky. I add the polarizer to help bring out the sky and snap a couple of images. I like it. I wish there maybe were better clouds, but I really like this view.

Then I am back in the car heading south into town. Sierra Blanca is a small town that is on I-10 and the seat of Hudspeth County . I top off the gas tank and drive around to the south for a few miles looking south toward the Big Bend country and Mexico . Part of me wants to keep going that way, but I decide to save that direction for another time. I turn around and head north again.

The open lonely range is calling and so I drive back out into the high lonesome.