As you descend the western flanks of the peaks of Kit Carson National Forest in Northern New Mexico, dropping down between the 10,000’+ summits of Peñasco Amarillo and Cerro Saragate and into the watershed of Rio Chama (Chama River), you enter a fairyland of gambel oak forests, where in May the temperature and moisture patterns can conspire to bloom into sudden snow squalls. The remnants of last year’s oak-leaf foliage and the snow driving at severe angles, in conjunction with the emergent grasses, can create an almost surreal beauty. Standing with an umbrella to protect my gear, I was mesmerized by the scene before me: the wispy black trunks with leaves on the ground and still clinging to the lowest branches, the whiteness of the snow, the green of the undulating grasses, and the gray storm clouds. I could not freeze the fast-moving flakes, which were more like pellets than anything else; so I decided to express them as streaks of white. A focal length of 66mm, normal for all practical purposes, gave me the angle of view I wanted. An aperture of f/14 gave depth-of-field, and combined with a shutter speed of 1/30th second at ISO 100, gave an overall slightly darker than medium exposure. A smaller aperture would have necessitated a longer shutter speed, which would have turned the streaks into an indiscernible blur.
I love the color and clarity in the foreground with the almost impressionistic painting feel of the distance created by the snow. Beautiful!
I had to do a double take — photograph or painting? Your focal length and exposure choices successfully convey the “almost surreal beauty” that you saw there, creating an almost impressionistic (Nancy K., I agree) appearance.
I used to live near here, lucky me, and this conveys the often surreal feeling of being there.
Hi Nancy K, Don, and Nancy Y. Thank you all for joining me. I have come to love the mountains and high deserts of northern New Mexico and this one image can’t even begin to explain the diversity of lifeforms and landforms one can encounter there. Nancy K, you have described almost exactly the words in my mind as I described this Image to myself: color, foreground clarity, and impressionistic background (indeed created by the streaking snow. The Chama River watershed seems like a place in which I want to spend much more time than I have up to now. And Don, I appreciate your comments for the same reasons. I’m excited about being there again in October. The amazing thing is that these conditions did not last longer than about 15-20 minutes, and then it was something completely different. Nancy Y, I’m going to be very excited to talk to you about your time in this area. Surreal: it must be why they call New Mexico the “Land of Enchantment.” Thank you all, again. I know I’ll be seeing Don and Nancy Y before the summer is complete. Nancy K, I’m still hoping you can join us in Brevard.