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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.
There are three cultures co-existing in New Mexico. 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. 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. 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 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 ATM machines in town are empty by Sunday afternoon. 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. 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. |
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