Box Canyon, NM

For our first vacation in what feels like forever (yay - Bataan is done!) we drove north to Socorro, NM. The winds were ripping, but that didn't stop us.

This little canyon will get a visit early tomorrow morning to see the Milky Way core, assuming the clouds cooperate. For today, Leah and I hiked up from the arroyo floor. Catherine and Ian walked down the arroyo - we found them from our perch up high.

Afterwards, Leah and I went to explore a cave on the opposite wall of the canyon. Along the way, we found this weird tree made out of rocks - at least, we think it looks like a tree.

We got snowed on shortly after this photo. It was still 50 or so where we were, it was just cold enough at altitude to give us some snow. New Mexico really is a strange (enchanting?) place.

Cheers,

Marc

Milky Way Over Organ Mountains

I got up pretty early this morning to photograph the Milky Way core coming up over the Organ Mountains.

I have a new lens that I tried out; I found a couple of areas that I need to improve my technique on, but am otherwise pretty happy with how this turned out.

Cheers,

Marc

New Mexican mornings

I've said it before and I'll say it again - we are so blessed with sunrises and sunsets here in New Mexico. Yesterday morning we had this beautiful orange-pink sunrise that lasted just a few minutes before clouds on the horizon snuffed out the light.

We had some snow last night, everyone got worked up and schools/work are on a 2-hour delay today. I can walk to work, and am a creature of habit, so I was up at my normal time. The clouds are hanging low over the mountains, I can't wait to see the new snowfall later today.

I was struck by the color difference in the two photos. So warm on the top photo, so cold on the bottom one. While the top photo is a bit more zoomed in, they were taken from the same spot pointed in the same direction.

Cheers,

Marc

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)

Go check out this comet in the early morning - it is a bit under the handle (closer to the horizon) of the Big Dipper to the north, getting closer to the North Star every day. If the weather cooperates, I will try to photograph it again next week. I have some new software that I am learning, not to mention that you need binoculars to see it (makes it really hard to center in the viewfinder = lots of trial and error!).

Cheers,

Marc

Happy New Year!

Happy New Years everyone - here is to a happy, healthy, and blessed 2023!

Marc

End of Year

I had an idea for some photos - it has some promise, but it was a bit too cold and windy outside to really make this work well. I know what I need to do for the next time, though!

In the meantime, enjoy some photos of my favorite people.

Cheers!

Marc

Moonshot

I hope this one turns out for the blog. I found out that the moon was going to occult Mars tonight. After Leah took me for a drive around the Range, I got the camera out and got to watch the moon block Mars from view.

In this photo, some clouds had just passed, blocking the moon. You can just barely see Mars to the bottom left of the moon. This was taken just minutes before more clouds blocked the moon which blocked Mars from view. Weird.

Cheers!

Marc