Category Archives: USA 2012
Capturing the Setting Sun

I’ve been catching up with some of the outstanding shots from our USA trip in 2012. One of the most successful days of the whole trip in photographic terms started in the fascinating Bisti Badlands, and ended on a short … Continue reading
USA 2012 – Technical Review
Or, “What Worked and What Didn’t” As usual, I tried to take a few notes regarding the more “technical” aspects of our holiday, which may be useful to others planning a similar trip. One spectacular success was having Laurent Matres’ … Continue reading
Bye, Bye, Albuquerque

Day 15 Cold night. Perfect storm of badly fitted hotel windows, unusably noisy heater and no spare blanket. I haven’t been that cold since a night in the lodge at the top of the Tioga Pass. The Best Western Rio … Continue reading
Up, Up and Away!
Day 13 4.30 start for the Balloon Fiesta! Sleep punctuated by police sirens (understandable in a large city) and train whistles (nope). We’d just got settled at the park, and Albuquerque had the most dramatic thunderstorm. Balloons and wind don’t … Continue reading
Back to Albuquerque

Day 12 Looking for hairdryer in Taos hotel found secret stash of MORE pillows!!! After a couple of hours browsing in Taos we set off for Santa Fe via the famous “High Road to Taos”. First stop, the church of … Continue reading
The Road to Taos

Day 11 Up at dawn to try and get golden hour light on the dunes – they are in shadow themselves in the evening. Lodge has world’s most powerful tap in world’s smallest basin. Oh well… Irish contingent dressed in … Continue reading
… And Sand Dunes!

Day 10 Drove East from Durango through the Rockies. Another almost 11,000 ft pass, but roads not as interesting as yesterday . At coffee stop we were almost forced to purchase two enormous slices of pie, of which more later. … Continue reading
Master, Master, Give Us A Sign

Apparently this goes back to the notorious spare poultry dumping incident of ’06… 😀 Continue reading
The “Aztec Highland Games”

Day 8 Spent the morning wandering around Durango, then set off for Aztec, 30 miles south, which hosts what must be the world’s most unlikely Highland games. Spent the afternoon watching very large Americans with some Celtic heritage throwing tree … Continue reading
Another Shot of Mesa Verde

Just in case you can’t picture Mesa Verde, here’s a more traditional shot of Cliff Palace, with Frances behind the lens this time! Continue reading
Mesa Verde

Day 6 We started today with a visit to Shiprock, basically a big lump of rock jutting up out of the plain. This is sacred to the Navajo, and can look very dramatic in the right light, but was a … Continue reading