New Mexico

by Philip Greenspun; created 1997

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Chili Peppers in Chimayo, New Mexico New Mexico is more quietly beautiful than some Western states. It isn't "one National Park after another" like Utah or California. It doesn't have one spectacular spot like Yellowstone. You might have to spend an entire year in this vast state to hit your photographic stride. But if you do hit that stride, you'll be in good company with the artists and photographers who've been attracted to the light for over a century.

Things Made by People

There are three cultures co-existing in New Mexico (if you read the middle third of my Summer 1994 travelogue then you might question the extent to which these actually co-exist). The Indians created interesting pueblos. The Spanish some impressive churches. The Anglos ... mostly some houses that look like they could have been imported from Cleveland.

Canyon Road. Santa Fe, New Mexico. There are awe-inspiring Anasazi houses dating from 1200 A.D. or so. The most famous of these are in Mesa Verde National Park, just over the border into Colorado from northwest New Mexico. For photography, I personally think that Chaco Culture National Historic Park is the most interesting ancient spot. It is also possible to photograph at current occupied pueblos in Taos and Acoma.

Virgin Mary. New Mexico. As far as Spanish adobe churches, the most famous is in Ranchos de Taos, 90 minutes north of Santa Fe. The back of this church has been done by every major Western photographer. The entire area from Santa Fe to Taos is rich with interesting churches.

I really can't say that I've taken too many good photos of any New Mexican thing built by Anglos. There are a lot of huge adobe hotels and such in Santa Fe that are impressive for scale. Los Alamos National Lab is important historically. But I didn't spend enough time in the state to find good Anglo subjects.

Santa Fe, New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico

Things Made by Nature

New Mexico has high snow-covered mountains, dry plateaus, pine forests, aspen forests, and canyons. There are also some animals but, unless you are especially fond of deer, these will be difficult to photograph.


Chaco Culture National Historic Park

I'll leave most of the cultural description to the official National Park Service site. Suffice it to say that Chaco is about a 4-hour drive from the ABQ airport, one hour of which is along a semi-rough dirt road (regular rental car is fine). Bring everything that you will need except water. Pitch a tent in the campground and feel envious of the people in their nice RVs.

Chaco was the center of a trading society with an extensive road network and far-flung settlements. There are all kinds of impressive ruins, notably Pueblo Bonito, which once contained 600 rooms and 75 kivas.

Chaco Canyon, New Mexico Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Chaco Canyon, New Mexico Chaco Canyon, New Mexico Chaco Canyon, New Mexico Sunset. Chaco Canyon, New Mexico Sunset. Chaco Canyon, New Mexico Sunset. Chaco Canyon, New Mexico Sunset. Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

Between Chaco and Mesa Verde...

Bisti Badlands ... there are some interesting places to visit, not least of which is Aztec Ruins National Monument. This area was built up by people from Chaco around 1100 A.D. and then occupied by people from Mesa Verde around 1200 A.D. There is a ruined pueblo the size of a football field and a reconstructed Great Kiva.

Painter. Aztec Ruins National Monument. Great Kiva. Aztec Ruins National Monument. Kids. Great Kiva. Aztec Ruins National Monument

Mesa Verde

Cliff House. Mesa Verde, Colorado. Strictly speaking, Mesa Verde is not in New Mexico but rather just over the NW border into Colorado. However, it is spiritually and physically quite close to Chaco and deserves to be included in any tour of New Mexico.

Here's what I wrote to my brother back in 1994:

I'm very glad I got to Mesa Verde last weekend. The Park Service is going to close all the ruins to tours in a couple of years, according to one ranger. One could see why. They've instituted a ticket system for Cliff Palance and Balcony House, two of the the largest ruins. The (free) tix sold out at 11:30 and 1 on Saturday so I went only to Balcony House on Sunday (there is plenty more to see in the park). About 50 people went on the tour and there was really no way for them to all stay off the ruin walls. A really interesting anthropologist gave the tour and explained the Anasazi movement from pit houses on the mesa top (600 AD) to above-ground housing (1000 AD) to cliff housing (1200 AD) in terms of better food preservation technology to support a growing population. (They bugged out entirely in around 1300 to become the Hopi and the rest of the Pueblo Indians, presumably in response to a drought, deforestation, and exhaustion of the local resources.)


Mesa Verde, Colorado. A National Park Service tour. Mesa Verde, Colorado. Mesa Verde, Colorado.

Mesa Verde, Colorado. Kiva. Mesa Verde, Colorado.

Mesa Verde, Colorado. Overview. Mesa Verde, Colorado. Grinding Flour. Mesa Verde, Colorado.

As long as you're in Colorado...

... you might as well drive east from Mesa Verde until you get to Great Sand Dunes National Monument.

Great Sand Dunes National Monument. Mosca, Colorado. Great Sand Dunes National Monument. Mosca, Colorado. Great Sand Dunes National Monument. Mosca, Colorado. Great Sand Dunes National Monument. Mosca, Colorado. Great Sand Dunes National Monument. Mosca, Colorado.

Phil and Rosa. Great Sand Dunes National Monument. Mosca, Colorado. Great Sand Dunes National Monument. Mosca, Colorado.

The most obvious photographic tip here is to plan your trip to include at least one sunset and at least one sunrise; the dunes aren't so interesting in the flat light of midday. There is a campground within the park and you'll be able to get plenty of rest because there isn't much nightlife inside Great Sand Dunes National Monument.

Try to avoid changing film out in the Dunes, especially if it is windy. Sand inside your camera will scratch the negatives and only hours and hours of painful work in PhotoShop will restore them. Sand can also get into lens focusing helicals so you might not want to take those $3,000 Hasselblad lenses out onto the Dunes if the wind is high.

Taos

The most interesting thing in Taos is the Pueblo.

Taos Pueblo, New Mexico. Taos Pueblo, New Mexico. Taos Pueblo, New Mexico. Horses at the Taos Pueblo, New Mexico. Cemetery Gate. Taos Pueblo, New Mexico. Cemetery. Taos Pueblo, New Mexico.

[By the way, unless you are an expert skier, do not even think about skiing in Taos. It is one of the toughest mountains in the US and basically does not have beginner slopes. The nearby Angel Fire resort apparently caters to wimps to some extent, though I've never been there.]

Ranchos de Taos

Just a few miles south of Taos, this little town is world-famous for its church. Nobody seems to want to photograph the front of the church or the environs ...

New Mexico Rancho de Taos. New Mexico.

Everyone wants to photograph the back of the church (which faces West). But I was there in March when it wasn't the right time of day for the light:

Rancho de Taos. New Mexico. Rancho de Taos. New Mexico.

I returned in August and got better results:

The famous back of the adobe church in Ranchos de Taos. New Mexico The famous back of the adobe church in Ranchos de Taos. New Mexico

Between Taos and Santa Fe

Along the low (fast) road...

Cross marking a highway death on the low road to Taos, New Mexico. Rio Grande. Low road to Taos, New Mexico.

Chimayo, along the beautiful high road to Taos from Santa Fe, is famous for its church.

Exterior of the church in Chimayo, New Mexico Interior of the church in Chimayo, New Mexico Chili Peppers in Chimayo, New Mexico Jesus. Chimayo, New Mexico.

Exterior of the church in Chimayo, New Mexico Lowrider. Chimayo, New Mexico. Lowrider bike. Chimayo, New Mexico.

Santa Fe

By law, structures in the center of Santa Fe must be built from adobe.

Adboe house and snow. Santa Fe, New Mexico Adboe house and snow. Santa Fe, New Mexico

Yuppies meet Woolworth on the Plaza. Santa Fe, New Mexico Governor's Palace. Santa Fe, New Mexico. Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe, New Mexico. Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Art, however, can be built out of anything, including Cheese Doodles:

Cheese Doodle sculpture. Lapides Gallery. Santa Fe, New Mexico. Courtyard. Lapides Gallery. Santa Fe, New Mexico.

One weekend in August, Santa Fe goes crazy with "Indian Market", where hundreds of Native American artists converge on the plaza to sell their wares. How expensive are some of these? Suffice it to say that all of the cash machines in town are empty by Sunday afternoon.

Indian Market. Santa Fe, New Mexico. Siberian Husky at Indian Market. Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Wherever I am, I like to take photos of dogs.

Dog under table. Santa Fe, New Mexico. Puppy. Santa Fe, New Mexico. Poodle. Santa Fe, New Mexico. Spaniel. Santa Fe, New Mexico. Dog #37. Santa Fe, New Mexico. Rottweiler. Santa Fe, New Mexico. Small Dog. Santa Fe, New Mexico.

It would also seem that, wherever I am, I managed to get a photo of a Gay Parade, though Santa Fe's isn't as big as New York's.

Gay Parade. Santa Fe, New Mexico. Gay Parade. Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Salinas Pueblo National Monument

Drive south from Santa Fe along the Turquoise Trail through Madrid, an officially charming artists' community. After you cross I-40, you'll eventually come to Salinas Pueblo National Monument, a collection of ruins. Here are my snapshots from the area:

Rio Grande, New Mexico, not far from Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument Gran Quivira, Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, New Mexico

White Sands National Monument

White Sands National Monument, New Mexico Fifteen miles southwest of Alamogordo ("home of the Big One"), White Sands National Monument's pure gypsum sands are presumably beautiful at sunrise. I wouldn't know because it was closed when I got there at 7 am, the official opening time. The military was testing missiles at the nearby White Sands Missile Range. By the time the monument opened for tourists, it was too late to get any decent photos. To distract you from the fact that I couldn't stay an extra day to cover the 275 square miles of dunes at sunset and sunrise, I'll throw in some random facts. Uh... actually I can't think of any random facts. You drive in 8 miles. You drive back out 8 miles. You get out of the car sometimes to walk around a bit with your camera. You get back into the car.

Oh well, here are some of my photos (taken around 10 am) just to let you know what White Sands looks like:

White Sands National Monument, New Mexico White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico Deep in southern New Mexico, Carlsbad Caverns National Park is impressively huge (one room is the size of 14 football fields). It is a tough place to photograph artistically. Electronic flash will ruin the mood. The National Park Service is against lurid light shows and mostly has the interior lit with subdued lights in just a few hues. Still, it is worth a walk-through with a tripod. There is a cafeteria down at the bottom if you should get hungry.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico

If you're going down as far south as Carlsbad, you should consider visiting Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas and Juarez, Mexico (across the border from El Paso).

Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas US/Mexico border at El Paso/Juarez Spankys. Juarez, Mexico (across the border from El Paso, Texas) Geronimo Springs Museum, New Mexico Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

Very Large Array

Very Large Array radio telescope, Socorro, New Mexico Officially in Socorro, the Very Large Array is actually 50 miles west on a high deserted plateau. Countless movie crews have been attracted to this spooky complex of huge parabolic antennae on railroad tracks. There are 27 dishes, each 81 feet in diameter. They can be spread out in a Y pattern 22 miles across. The basic idea is that the VLA can work like an antenna that actually is 22 miles across. The larger the antenna, the smaller angle over which it transmits or receives. So the VLA dishes can be pulled in tight when radio astronomers want to scan a broad area of the sky or spread out wide when investigating a small region. Anyway, at this point I'm exhausting what I remember from freshman physics at MIT, so you probably should check the National Radio Astronomy Observatory server for more info.

Very Large Array radio telescope, Socorro, New Mexico Very Large Array radio telescope, Socorro, New Mexico Very Large Array radio telescope, Socorro, New Mexico Very Large Array radio telescope, Socorro, New Mexico Very Large Array radio telescope, Socorro, New Mexico

Acoma

On your way back from the VLA to the Albuquerque airport, consider stopping at the Acoma Pueblo, continuously occupied since 600 A.D.

Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico Dogs wrestling at the Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico

Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico

Albuquerque

The only thing that I can really recommend in ABQ is the National Atomic Museum

National Atomic Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico National Atomic Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Just the Weather

Clouds. Los Alamos, New Mexico Clouds. Los Alamos, New Mexico Rainbow from the Santa Fe Opera House.

A Reasonable Plan

Red Rocks. Back road to Los Alamos, New Mexico. You might find this map helpful.

Checklist

Car. Glorieta, New Mexico.

Guidebooks

The New Mexico Handbook (Stephen Metzger; Moon) is my favorite guidebook to the state.



Most of these images were taken in March of 1994 with a Nikon system (F4, 24, 50/1.8, 105 macro, 80-200/2.8) or in the summer of 1994 with a Canon EOS system (14, 20-35/2.8L, 50/1.0, 35-350L). Film was either Fuji Velvia, Fuji Sensia. In almost all cases, a tripod was employed. The exceptions are some pictures taken with a Yashica T4 point & shoot camera and Fuji ISO 400 color negative film. In all cases, the images were scanned to Kodak PhotoCD and then run through the batch conversion tools that I give away in my image library presentation tutorial.

Text and photos copyright 1994-1997 Philip Greenspun


philg@mit.edu