It's been a while since I was out with my camera and tripod. Since Santa Fe, in fact, at the end of March. I took this image of Chimney Rock at Ghost Ranch, which is located near Taos and north of Santa Fe.
The rock formations here are beautiful and composed of a combination of red sandstone and limestone. This is artist Georgia O'Keefe's old place. Ansel Adams visited her here several times during his life, and I've seen some of the images he shot here. I never did see one of this formation by him, though. It certainly doesn't mean he didn't take any, but I'm curious as to why I've seen other images he shot at Ghost Ranch but not any of this very prominent formation.
This perspective required a bit of an uphill hike along a trail. I could have gone farther up this trail, but I sensed that the perspective and vantage point would be better from a side trail that went off the main trail to a ridge that afforded this view.
With this vantage point, the late afternoon sun was coming in from my left and behind me. If I had continued the hike, I was concerned I'd be facing into the sun, making any shot challenging if not impossible until the sun had set on the horizon. It was also extremely windy on this ridge.
Fortunately, only the clump of grass in the foreground was affected by the wind. My camera was securely anchored on a Gitzo tripod. This was my favorite shot of the visit to Ghost Ranch. I am planning a trip to the Columbia River Gorge in mid-May. Hopefully, I will get out to shoot before then.
Stay tuned,
Stu