Sierra Diablo Wildlife Management Area
This ridge is located just south of the northern border of Texas, north of Van Horn, in the Sierra Diablo Wildlife Management Area and is the protected home to the largest flock of bighorn sheep in Texas. It is wide open and dry rugged country heading north to New Mexico. Shown here as a 9-shot panorama. Shot at f/ll @ 1/320 sec @ ISO 64 @ 55mm.
Natural Entrance to Carlsbad Caverns
Carlsbad Caverns has the largest natural underground chamber, The Big Room, estimated to be around 600,000 square feet with a loop trail around it that is over a mile long and all this is about 800 feet underground. There is an elevator but I walked down the Natural Entrance Trail into the cavern. It is a fascinating place and well worth a visit! I did take the elevator out… Shot at f/6.3 @ 1/400 sec @ ISO 4000 at 12mm.
Painted Grotto, Carlsbad Caverns
The Painted Grotto is one of the many, many features, and one of the more colorful features, in Carlsbad Caverns. The very thin stalactites shown are called “soda straws.” It is just off The Big Room. Shot a f/11 @ ¼ sec @ ISO 2500 @ 23mm.
Evening Soaptree Yucca
My first shoot in White Sands National Park was before the sun set. The Park is 275 square miles of the southern part of a white sand dune field made of gypsum crystals in the Tularosa Basin. Areas like it are rare and this is the largest such area in the world. Adjacent to Holloman Air Force Base, everything you do is watched by the military and your cell phone may not work (mine didn’t). Shown here is a soaptree yucca plant near sunset on top of a dune. Shot at f/2.8 @ 1/1600 sec @ ISO 64 @62mm.
Loggerhead Shrike On A Yucca
While I wasn’t looking, a loggerhead shrike landed on a yucca plant behind me. After I saw him he was relaxed enough to stay for several shots. Shot at f/11 @ 1/200 sec @ ISO 64 at 400mm.
Evening Shadows
The white sands cast a very gentle light as the evening sun sets and the shadows get longer across the ripples. Shot at f/22 @ 1/60 sec @ ISO 800 @ 40mm.
Mexican Canyon Railroad Trestle
A pre-dawn side trip took me and a friend from the relative warmth of Alamogordo into the below freezing mountains at Cloudcroft and the Mexican Canyon Railroad Trestle, one of the last remnants of a logging and tourism railroad from the first half of the 20th century. This is a detail of the trestle which stands 52 feet above the canyon. Shot at f/8.0 @ 1/80 sec @ ISO 250 @ 195mm.
Dune Footprints
A very informative talk from a Park ranger taught us that it is much better to walk on the dunes than on the hard lines shown here. These are the “footprints” of where dunes used to be, shown just after sunrise. The dunes are always moving and shifting, sometimes revealing old unexploded ordinance from the neighbor, and these lines show where they were. Shot at f/11 @ 1/160 @ ISO 64 @.
Vistor Traces At Sunrise
Footprints from an animal visitor during the night on a dune at sunrise, looking like an abstract painting. The dunes have very delicate shading, especially against the pure blue of the New Mexico sky. Shot at f/11 @ 1/200 sec @ ISO 64 @ 46mm.
Soaptree Yucca Near Sunset
A soaptree yucca just as the shadows got very long. A few wispy evening clouds wash across the evening sky. Sound does not carry very well in the dunes so it is a very spare and silent place. Shot at f/9 @ 1/200 @ ISO 64 @ 12mm.
White Sands After Dark
Digital cameras do very well even after the sun sets. The white dunes help in this case and contrast the ring of mountains below the clouds, the moon, and the stars. Shot at f/9 @ 15 seconds @ ISO 1600.
j166 MorningTree2 010820
Walking up over the top of a dune I saw the early sunrise lighting up a dead tree set against a dune. White Sands is an austere but beautiful place. Shot at f/5.6 @ 1/640 sec @ ISO 64.
Morning Shadows
It can be quite warm in the middle of the day, even in early January, so it is important to shoot early in the day or late because of the highly reflective quality of the dunes. Overnight it went down to or below freezing when we were there so dressing in layers was essential. A small clump of grass casts a long shadow shortly after sunrise. Shot at f/22 @ 1/125 sec @ ISO 64.
