Best Landscapes of 2016

On the Road to Raton

I picked 366 photographs out of the thousands I took to feature on daily posts on Binford-Bell Studio Facebook page and in the 52 weeks of 2016 posts here. To then run through those 366 photographs and pick the seven best of any subject is being rather egotistic. 

Perhaps it is better to say these are my seven favorite landscapes of the year. And maybe they are only my favorite because they strike some inner cord in my photographic mind. Or they capture some here to fore allusive aspect as in the lead photograph. Or just a mood or memory.

I have driven the road to Raton a lot of times. Even written blogs about revealed truth on the road to Raton which appear in Side Tracked Charley. Truth seems easier to find than the vastness of these high plains which spread between the mountains and our county seat. The clouds and the shadows they created helped define the distance and emptiness I was always trying to capture.

Light through the Aspens

And what western photographer is not trying to capture the ultimate fall aspen photograph. For me it was not so much about the crowning glory of these golden trees but their transition from green to gold and they way they seem to capture the very light and use it as their own. The colors in this photo belong to the earth and not a photo editing program.

Monte Verde Lake Reflections

I pass this little resort lake often. During tourist season in the summer it will be filled with paddle boats and fishing families along the shore. And because of its location it rarely seems still enough to offer up a reflection. I captured this one because I had the camera in the truck.

The photograph below was on a trip to the Valle Vidal shortly after I got my new camera. I was running it through its paces by clicking the shutter at everything. I took a lot of Shuree Pond reflections that day. The depth of the reflection accented by the algae bloom on the surface makes this one of my favorites. And obviously reflections are a favorite as three out of four of my favorite landscapes are pondscapes.

Deep in Shuree Ponds

On the Road to Ojo

Light is what photography is about. I am constantly on the lookout for just the right lighting on the landscapes as I drive. I like the empty roads of the back country of New Mexico because I won't create a traffic accident pulling over to try to capture the fleeting light. The landscape above was taken on a hill overlooking my favorite Spa, Ojo Caliente. I was down for a day to meet up with another photographer friend and we were killing time before dinner so had driven to the top of the hill. So this may be my favorite because not only the light but the company.

And the last of my choices is a still lake; no ripples, no company. And what makes this a favorite is the silence. A silence which is translated into a digital medium.

Week 16 - 2016 in Photographs

Day 108

 April is oddly enough one of my favorite months in the mountains of New Mexico for a number of reasons. Number one may be that all the tourists are gone. It becomes the state of my youth with vast open spaces and very little population. Even some of the locals leave to take vacations while the getting is good. And I stay because they leave their pets in my care. My day job is pet sitting. Rough making a living as an artist these days but it is always great to be an artist in New Mexico. So much inspiration.

One of the elements this week's photographs have in common is clouds which brings me to reason number two about why April is one of my favorites. It is where the skies transition from winter to spring, and whether they are bringing spring snow or rain the clouds are no longer the low clouds of winter. The clouds themselves become an art form.

Day 109

The skies become noisy. I like the use of that term with New Mexico clouds. I first read it in a photography article about what makes a good black and white landscape photograph. He meant busy or complicated but clouds this time of the year also begin to become noisy in a very real way because we can get thunder snow or thunder showers.

Day 106

And the building of towering thunderheads become an afternoon event. I probably spent too much time watching clouds. But they do make a landscape and it is always good to know where the landscape will most likely produce great towering stacks of clouds to digitally record. Fortunately one of the best spots is the hill across from my house. The clouds are leaving the volcanic plateau of Taos and being thrust high enough to clear the mountain range between there and here.

Day 107

Day 112

New Mexico has an alarming amount of clear blue skies but they are largely boring. Clouds make the mountain range because of the shadows the cast on the peaks and fields of snow.

Day 110

 Frequent readers of this blog and fans of my photography on Binford-Bell Studio Facebook page are familiar with my favorite places, but the photographs above and below are from a new spot. One which usually has tourists everywhere, Monte Verde Lake at Angel Fire Resort. But in April it is free of most visitors except for the newly arrived Canadian Geese. Don't bother looking. On the morning I took these two shots they were not there.

Day 111

But the clouds were.