White Sands - Sun

Didn't even look into the viewfinder for this one, for obvious reasons...

White Sands - Dunes

...and these are the sand dunes. This is one shot where a haze filter would have come in handy, as quite a bit had to be done to the mountains in the background to make it look halfway normal.

At first I considered not taking any photos at all, fearful that the blowing sand would ruin the camera. Couldn't resist, though, making it my routine to hold the Big Cahoona high above my head when climbing up the sides of the dunes. I was confident that it was built ruggedly enough to protect the insides.

Even so, the fine, fine white gypsum powder became a part of the rubber grip on the back, which is there to this day. It also worked its way into the crease of the chip door, but not all the way inside, thank goodness.

White Sands Cabins

These are cabins you can rent if you're going to stay at White Sands. Might be good to use as a base, but honestly, how much time can you spend playing on sand dunes?

White Sands Visitor's Center

Took a trek over to White Sands - this is of the Visitor's Center.

Carlsbad Caverns #2

This was on the way out of the caverns, from the porch of the visitor's center...

Carlsbad Caverns #1

This is the only shot that I really liked coming out of Carlsbad Caverns...the lens on the Big Cahoona is far too slow to to get a clear hand-held picture in the dark and gloom of the cave.

Guadalupe Hike - Contrail Curiosity

This was taken toward the end of the hike. Don't know what caused this contrail to make those hash marks, but felt it was worth capturing.

The trees and hillside were still visible in the diminishing light, so used the black dropper tool in Levels to make them into a silhouette. This deepened the blue of the sky at the same time.

Guadalupe Hike - Pond Leaves

Guadalupe Hike - Fall Colors

This being the "mountains" at Guadalupe, there were ample vistas and landscapes to shoot, but anyone who has followed this blog knows that I generally stay away from those. Wherever you are there is lots of beauty closer up...dis- covering and extracting that beauty is what I love about photography.

We were pleasantly surprised as we made our way into the back-end of this hike, among the ravines and culverts not seen from the road. The overhanging trees and vegetation - plus the fact that the sun was rapidly setting - made it dark enough to be a challenge to the mix of a slow lens and aging arms. However, I found enough support and enough light in places to capture shots like this.

Guadalupe Hike - Sky Cactus

Lots of cactus, some of which was dead. Discovered that the Glowing Edges filter in Elements looks pretty good with these guys, hence the posting at bottom...

Guadalupe Hike - Pond

The hike that we took in Guadalupe was short - not much more than a mile - but was surprisingly varied in the topography and fauna encountered. To look at the landscape from our starting point, we had no idea of the treats that lay ahead...this being the first.

Guadalupe Hike - Dead Tree

Just as at Enchanted Rock, due to the drought there was ample opportunity to take pictures of dead branches in Guadalupe Park. A friend said that these make good black-and-whites, so tried it in the bottom photo. In Elements 7 it was converted to black and white using the landscape setting...

Guadalupe Hike - Wasp

Our family went on a nice little trip to New Mexico during Thanksgiving with some friends. We drove (always loved a long road trip) and paid visits to the Guadalupe mountains, Carlsbad Caverns, and White Sands. The Big Cahoona behaved beautifully.

This guy came from a very cropped-in shot on a hike in the Guadalupe park, just within the Texas side. Keeping the exposure compensation down 2/3 of a stop worked fairly well on this excursion. The near-instant focusing capabilities on the D300s served me well in getting shots that otherwise would have been difficult...

Renaissance Revisited - Sunlit Leaves

Received several comments on this one, so decided to post it. Also captured as we were departing, near the exit to the park...

Renaissance Revisited - Jester

Capture on our way out...had to considerably brighten the eyes on this jester to get them to show up behind the mask.

This is the last "people shot" of the 2011 season at the Renaissance Festival. Generally it was a little more productive than last year, as I'm getting used to hauling around a rig like the Big Cahoona, and there seems to be a little more skill and a little less luck involved in getting results. Not to discount luck though - in my case there was still a bit of that!

Renaissance Revisited - Prelude Band

Imagine that groups like these and the violin lady from earlier postings would be the only music that one heard during the Renaissance - no radio, etc. This ensemble was stationed in the Bell Guy's area, playing a little pre-show music...