Walking In Ansel's Footsteps

The other day I decided to head south from Santa Fe on the Old Las Vegas Highway (Highway 300), which served as a portion of Route 66 until 1937 when the road was rerouted and straightened in several sections to save drivers travel time... About 15 miles down the road this section of Highway 300 came to a dead end - with a church sitting there.  There were no signs or other visible markings that would give me an idea of the church's name, but it appeared to be in fairly good condition, leading me to think that it was still, at least occasionally, used.  Later I did some research and after some digging around on the Internet I found out that: 1) it is referred to - depending on the source - as Nuestra Senora de la Luz in Canoncito (Our Lady of Light in Canoncito) or simply the Apache Canyon Church, and 2) in 1961 Ansel Adams photographed this site (Church and Gate, Canoncito, New Mexico)... Mystery solved, and as a photography geek I thought it was pretty neat that I stopped, unknown to me at the time, to take a few photos where fifty odd years before Ansel Adams had stood... 

A closer shot of the entry...

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 18-55 DX

Upaya Zen Center

Yesterday I visited the Upaya Institute and Zen Center, a Buddhist retreat and meditation center in Santa Fe.  I'd driven by the center several times previously, and was always drawn to the Temple, which can be seen from the road, towering over the surrounding trees...  This time I decided to stop and see if I could take a walk around the center.  It was early in the morning, quiet except for a couple of landscapers working on the grounds.  I was drawn to the Temple, and particularly the Buddhist prayer flags hanging nearby...

After taking a few shots of the Temple I decided to move in closer and crouch down, so I would be looking up, trying to emphasize the flags a little more...

Then I moved in even closer, looking up...

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 18-55 DX

An Old Favorite, And An Update

I thought I'd take a moment and share an recent favorite, and a bit of an update...  This photo was taken at the boat harbor in Seward, Alaska, in April 2012 during an early morning walk...  The bit of news is that I now have a presence on Facebook in addition to G+, as another way to try and connect with people as I share my journey.  So, you can find me here:  https://www.facebook.com/KevinSchafferPhotography

Nikon D40, Nikkor 55-200 DX VR

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Red Cross

I took this shot back in June 2008, shortly after getting my first DSLR, a Nikon D40.  I was walking around downtown Anchorage, taking shots, trying to get used to using my new toy.  I took this shot because I liked the look of the old, rusting newspaper stand.  It was only after I downloaded the photos to my laptop and started looking at them that I realized the red newspaper stand had a red car parked behind it, so the two formed a cross.  Then, looking closer, I noticed that the wire rack in the newspaper stand formed a cross, so there was the image of a cross within a cross...  For quite awhile I wished that I had framed the shot tighter to eliminate the green metal stand on the right (or, I considered cropping it out), but I realized that the red reflection on the glass of the green stand "extended" the cross on another plane, and I ultimately left it as is...  Not the greatest shot ever, but I'm still drawn to some aspects of it, years later...

Nikon D40, Nikkor 55-200 DX VR

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St. Thomas Church

This is a shot of St. Thomas Church in Abiquiu, Georgia O'Keefe country...  I would have liked to have more clouds in the sky, but on the whole I was trying to concentrate on composition, on getting the steeple centered against the sky...       

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 18-55 DX

Some Time, And A Revision

I thought I'd take a break from New Mexico themed photos, and post something a bit different...  I took this photo (or, to be more specific, a previous version of this photo) several years ago at the Denver Botanic Gardens.  I've always "liked" this shot, but been bothered by the fact that it was a tad bit overexposed, washed out.  I was spending the afternoon revisiting some old shots, and I decided to "tweak" it a bit in Lightroom to see if I could "improve" it (the original shot can be found here)...

Nikon D40, Nikkor 55-200 DX VR

Storm Coming

Here's another shot from our recent drive on the Jemez Mountain Trail Scenic Byway.  This was taken a short while before we were pounded by heavy rain, from a thunderstorm that rolled in quickly and stuck around for some time...

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 18-55 DX

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A Pause In The Storm

Yesterday we took a drive along the Jemez Mountain Trail Scenic Byway.  About an hour into the drive a thunderstorm rolled in, with pounding rain and spectacular flashes of lightning in the mountains.  Eventually the storm let up, just as we pulled into the Valles Caldera National Preserve.  I took advantage of the the break in the storm to take a few shots...

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 18-55 DX

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Thunder Rolls In

Yesterday we went on a drive to several places, including the Rio Grande River Gorge near Taos.  I didn't have a goal in mind, other than to try and capture some images that would allow me to practice doing some HDR image processing.  Near the gorge a thunderstorm started to roll in, I took some shots, and this was one of the final results...

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 18-55 DX

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Even Wider

This was taken at the same place I mentioned in the "Dead End" post a couple of days ago.  With this shot I focused a bit closer, to emphasize the clouds, then in post processing I cropped it for a panoramic view to pull out the clouds even more...

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 10-24 DX

White On White

Walking down Canyon Road in Santa Fe this caught my eye.  At first what attracted my attention was the painting as a whole, and how it was framed by a curtain of hanging green vines overhead and on the left side.  I took a few photos utilizing the concept of the green vines framing the red painting, but I wasn't satisfied with what I was coming up with.  I stepped closer, and closer, framing and re-framing, and soon I noticed that the red and white painting mounted on the white wall made for an interesting composition.  I tried several different  composition using that idea, and settled on this one as the one that I liked the most...

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 18-55 DX

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Dead End

On another random road trip outside of Santa Fe, I could see the mountains in the distance, and I decided to drive towards them, to see what kind of view would develop. After a few miles I came to a dead end, took a couple of shots, and went back whence I came...

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 10-24 DX

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Doorway To Ghost Ranch

This was taken at Ghost Ranch, standing in an old building, looking out.  I would like to say that I had a grand plan of capturing a glimpse of the landscape from the doorway, while evoking visions of the old west... But, truth be told, I took one look out the door and immediately thought of the iconic John Ford camera shots in "The Searchers."

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 18-55 DX

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Ghost Wagon

Spent the day driving from Santa Fe to Chama and back, through Georgia O'Keefe country.  This was our second time stopping by Ghost Ranch.  The first time this wagon caught my eye, and I took a few pics with my iPhone, vowing to return.  This is my favorite capture from the day (click on it for a larger version)...

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 18-55 DX

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Roadside Remedies

Yesterday I explored a stretch of Highway 41, south of Santa Fe.  I saw a lot cool looking, old, abandoned buildings during the drive.  Unfortunately, most of them were too far off to be photographed, behind fences and "no trespassing" signs.  In Galisteo I did run across this, and couldn't resist pulling over and taking a few photos...

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 55-300 DX VR

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A Walk Down Canyon Road

I spent the morning walking down Canyon Road in Santa Fe, and some of the neighboring side streets, with the intent of taking photos of doors and windows that I thought would make a good subject.  It was an interesting experience, such as when I became temporarily lost and had to find my way back to Canyon Road, or when I noticed - repeatedly - that what would potentially make an interesting shot was marred by the presence of a "ADT Security" sticker in the window...  Here are two of the better shots from the morning.  I like the top photo, but admittedly I'm still wavering on how much I like the bottom one.  One thing to note - I shot these these in RAW file format, and did the post-processing in Adobe Lightroom, which is mostly uncharted territory for me...

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 18-55 DX

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