One thing I love to do when exploring a new place is to take photographs. Never having been to Santa Fe or the surrounding areas, I wasn’t sure where to find the best spots for pictures. And, if I was driving, it would be hard to stay on the road and look at scenery at the same time. Then, on TripAdvisor, I found a solution: a photography day tour with Mark Schumann.
Mark suggested taking the High Road to Taos with stops at Nambe, Chimayo, Santa Cruz “Lake,” Truchas, Trampas, Rancho de Taos, downtown Taos, the Gorge Bridge, the earth ships, the Taos Pueblo, another location or two along the Rio Grande, as well as a sunset spot on the way back to Santa Fe. Whew!
Mark picked me up at 10:00 am. We were joined by Chihiro, an avid photographer who lives in the Austin area. Chihiro is much more knowledgable about photography, camera settings, etc. than I am. Basically, I use my camera as “point and shoot.” With Mark’s guidance, I began to understand some of my camera’s settings, how to “frame” a landscape for depth of field and more. But, I did “go rogue” some of the time and shot what grabbed my attention instead of what Mark was pointing out.
Nambe
We stopped to take photos of Sacred Heart Church and the cemetery. Some of the gravesites were simple but more were elaborate with plastic flowers, solar lights, photos, and toys.
- Sacred Heart Church
- Memorabilia on a gravesite. Wonder if this person was a barber
- George was in a movie
- Mini version of the church. Notice the solar lights. Many of the gravesites had solar lights.
- Grave sites were decorated with all sorts of memorabilia
- Simple and effective gravesite
- OMG … way over the top.
- A wooden cross and framed remembrance
- Wildflowers
On The Road
Great opportunity to learn about landscape photography: include some close shrubbery for perspective; focus on the middle ground. But, most important: clean your lens before you start taking pictures.
- Beginning to learn
- Still learning
- Still learning
- Rogue pic .. can’t ignore the bird
- Oh yeah … another bird pic
- Gotta snap fast to catch the bird
- Actually not a bad pic with bird and perspective
- Gotta remember to clean the lens … so embarrassing.
- Little lone cactus
- Getting there
- Totally wrong: big blog of rock with no perspective
- By jove .. I think I got it!
El Santuario de Chimayo
Chimayo, a little adobe church in the foothills of the Sangre de Christo Mountains in northern New Mexico, is sometimes called the Lourdes of North America. Like that famous shrine in France, it attracts those who are seeking healing of body, mind, or spirit. Read the entire article here.
- People left these on the fence
- Door of Sanctuary
- Love the wagon wheel built into stone wall
- Bell Tower
- Statue
- Stone mosaic cross
- Row of stone mosaic crosses
- A bit too “hot” on the roses
Pictures coming soon!
Somewhere in the high altitude
I’ll have to send a note to Mark and ask him exactly where this is. It’s high in the mountains and is a small picturesque spot. The church was open and has wonderfully detailed murals.
- Gate to courtyard in front of church
- Bell tower
- Portion of mural
- Portion of mural
- Portion of mural
- Prayer station
- “Rogue” pic of propane tanks and dog house
Las Trampas
Las Trampas Historic District is a National Historic Landmark District and is home to the San José de Gracia Church National Historic Landmark. The district and its church are located in Las Trampas, off Route 76, roughly 30 miles south of Taos, NM. We visited the church and, fortunately, it was open. The inside is beautiful with rough-hewn wood, tall ceilings, a wood burning stove. But, unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take photos of the inside.
- Information sign
- View through the gate
- Upper balcony
- Showing its age
- Looking straight up the bell tower
- Twin towers
- Small gravesite
Scenic Overlook
High up in the mountains is a scenic overlook where you can see for miles. Mark said it was unusual to see the cloud banks. Usually, the sky is a crystal clear blue. The clouds gave additional definition to the field of depth.
- Memorial at highway junction
- Mountains and clouds
- Great mountains and clouds
- Too much big tree
Lunch Break!
No pictures; I was too busy eating and guzzling water. Believe it or not, we ate at a Vietnamese open air restaurant. Yes, Vietnamese!! It was surprisingly good and affordable and plentiful. We also visited the gallery where Mark sells some of his prints. Take a look. This is just a small selection of what’s available.
Taos Pueblo
Then it was on to the Taos Pueblo, the only living Native American community designated both a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and a National Historic Landmark. It was larger than I expected with some ancient building and some relatively new buildings. Again, we weren’t allowed to take photos of the inside of the church with it’s shrine to the Madonna. It’s traditional to dress the Madonna in robes for the season. Well, this was hot pink Barbie season. The entire altar display was bright pink.
- War memorial
- War memorial
- Shop
- Portion of pueblo
- Old church bell tower
- Bell tower and grave yard
- Bell tower and grave yard
- Bell tower and grave yard
- Pueblo
- Pueblo
- Shop
- Shop
- Oven
- Oven
- Roof of patio
- Stream
- Stream
- Chapel
- Chapel
Rio Grand Gorge Bridge
The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, the second highest bridge on the U.S. Highway System, is a three-span steel continuous-deck-truss structure with a concrete-filled steel-grid deck. It was called the “bridge to nowhere” while it was being built because the funding did not exist to continue the road on the other side.
At 650 feet (200 m) above the Rio Grande, it is the fifth highest bridge in the United States. The span is 1,280 feet; two 300-foot-long approach spans with a 600-foot-long main center span. The bridge was dedicated on September 10, 1965 and is a part of U.S. Route 64, a major east-west road.
- Rio Grande
- Rio Grande
- Amazing!
- Bridge
- Bridge
- Rough terrain
Earthship
An Earthship is a type of passive solar house that is made of both natural and upcycled materials such as earth-packed tires, pioneered by architect Michael Reynolds. Earthship structures are intended to be “off-the-grid-ready” homes, with minimal reliance on public utilities and fossil fuels. They are constructed to use available natural resources, especially energy from the sun and rain water. More information … nightly rentals
It was strange to see these upcycled homes in the middle of the desert. Notice that some have satellite dishes and some have solar panels. We could only take photos of a few of them because the main community was roped off and inaccessible.
- Not really OPEN
- Solar panels
- Work in progress?
- Interesting yard art
- Lots of recycled bottles
Red & White Rock Formations
As we travelled along, the landscape changed from semi-flat with scrubby brush to semi-flat with scrubby brush and large rock formations. We stopped at several locations to take photos.
- Rio Chama
- Rio Chama – Mark said that, in the fall, the trees near the river turn a brilliant yellow.
- Fence post for perspective
- Lengthening shadows: getting later in the day
- Scrubby brush and red/white formations
- Scrubby brush and red/white formations
- Tree
- More scrubby brush and red/white formations
- Light side
- Rugged rocks
- Dark side
Sunset and Moonrise
We made a quick stop at Bode’s General Store and drove past Georgia O’Keeffe’s home but had to hurry on over to Ghost Ranch to wait for Sunset and Moonrise. We did have time to take a few pics at Ghost Ranch and then waited and waited and waited. It seemed the sun would never set. But, once it did, the sunset was spectacular. Moonrise happened before sunset so we had a two-for-one photo op.
- Wagon at crossroads of Ghost Ranch
- Cabin at Ghost Ranch. Built for “City Slickers” movie starring Billy Crystal
- Sunset looks like angel wings
- Even better angel wings
- Moonrise with gnarly tree
- A few steps changes the perspective of the tree & moon
- Moonrise
- Rogue pic … with tiny bird
- Moon framed in branches
- Mark said that the sunset intensifies colors on things behind you
- Intense red/white rocks
- Abiquiu resevoir
End of a Long Day
After the sun set and the moon rose, we headed back to Santa Fe. Thank goodness for Mark and his stamina. I was beat and very quiet (possibly dozing) on the way back.