R. Doug Wicker's Blog, page 170
July 22, 2015
The Williams Tour Part 6 — Cloudcroft, Mexican Canyon, and back to El Paso
Burro Street Exchange, Cloudcroft
On Monday I gave you a little of the Lincoln-area history, with an emphasis on the infamous — Billy the Kid. Today we’ll take a look at history more closely associated with Cloudcroft. At 8,668 feet/2,642 meters above sea level, Cloudcroft is one of the highest villages in the United States. As with many Old West towns, the railroad is what built Cloudcroft and it’s the timber that brought the railroad to this lofty locale. In the late 1890s the El Paso and N...
July 20, 2015
The Williams Tour Part 5 — Cloudcroft, New Mexico
Cloudcroft, New Mexico
What do you do after a hot visit to White Sands? You cool off in the mountains, is what. And since El Paso’s Franklin Mountains are also desert mountains, that means other mountains.
Elephant Rock, South Franklin Peak, El Paso
Just two hours’ drive from El Paso is the mountain community of Cloudcroft, New Mexico. From White Sands that means climbing from an altitude of 4,235 feet/1,291 meters to a rather tall 8,668 feet/2,642 meters above sea level. If you’re not used t...
July 17, 2015
Fun Photo Friday — David Williams at White Sands
The Face
Photographing the dazzling white gypsum crystals of White Sands is not simply a case of point-and-shoot. That intense white will confuse your camera’s light sensor. Unless you make adjustments for that, your “white” dunes will come out looking dingy gray from underexposure. Approach photography at White Sands as you would approach bright daylight photography of snow — think “Exposure Compensation.”
Lonely Dune Climber
The vast majority of the photographs I’ve posted this week were ta...
July 15, 2015
The Williams Tour Part 4 — Still at White Sands
White Sands National Monument
So, what is there to do here amongst the gypsum dunes of White Sands? Ride them, of course. You did bring your saucer and wax, right? We did.
Selfie & Slide
Just climb to the top of a particularly tall and steep dune — the easiest way is to approach from a gradually sloping side rather than head-on — and sit atop your freshly waxed saucer. Getting started may be a bit of a struggle, but once you’re over the crest down you go!
Headin’ down
Don’t worry. You won’t p...
July 13, 2015
The Williams Tour Part 3 — David Williams at White Sands National Monument
The Star of this Series — David Williams
As you’ll recall from last week my good college buddy and best man at our wedding — Mr. David Williams — decided to pay Ursula and I a visit. We of course decided to take him on the grand tour of the El Paso area, including one of David’s favorite locations, the White Sands National Monument.
Ursula Holds her Hat
Despite the name and contrary to appearances, there is very little sand here. That fine, powdery white stuff you see everywhere is gypsum cry...
July 10, 2015
Fun Photo Friday — David Williams in Old Mesilla
The Blue-Framed Window
Here are my favorites from the David Williams tour of Old Mesilla, New Mexico:
By the way, if you’re reading this and other material authored by me on The Destinary website, this post was not “Posted on (fill in the date) | By destinary” as they’ve been erroneously claiming; this material was in fact reposted. The Destinary have also been claiming the right to do so, without links back to the original and without full attribution (“by RDoug” and a nonworking link i...
July 8, 2015
The Williams Tour Part 2 — Still in Old Mesilla
San Albino Basilica
On Monday I mentioned the dining venues in Old Mesilla. Here is one such spot famous for its green chile cheeseburgers and green chili cheese wontons with pineapple jalapeño salsa, it’s called Pepper’s Cafe, which is co-located with the jointly owned Double Eagle steak house:
Pepper’s Courtyard
Speaking of the Double Eagle, this place is home to the 30-foot/9.1-meter hand-carved oak Imperial Bar. This alone is worth the trip just to see it.
The Double Eagle Imperial Bar
An...
July 6, 2015
The Williams Tour Part 1 — Old Mesilla
Old Mesilla Plaza
My very good friend from college, and best man at our wedding, decided to pay us a visit out here in the Wild and Wooly West. His name is David Williams, he attended Clemson University, and he loves the Great Desert Southwest. So when he comes out this way, we like to clear our schedule and give him a tour of the surrounding area. This time it would be Old Mesilla, White Sands National Monument, the Franklin Mountains here in El Paso, Cloudcroft, Mission Valley, and a place...
July 4, 2015
Holiday Repeat — How to Photograph July 4th Fireworks
Fireworks
It’s that time of year again, and here’s that perennial favorite on how to photograph July 4th fireworks:
I more and more frequently find myself using a simple point-and-shoot for much of my photographic needs, but occasionally I simply have to get out the more sophisticated equipment to get the most out of certain subjects. For these shots I used my trusty, tried-and-true Canon EOS 5D. The great thing about the 5D is that it was the first “affordable” digital single lens reflex (DS...
July 3, 2015
Fun Photo Friday — Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Daytime photograph is easy, but . . .
There are some tricks to capturing a sporting event, and it gets really iffy in nighttime, artificial lighting situations.
. . . nighttime? Not so much.
You have to balance your camera’s sensor limitations against the need to freeze the action. Remember, the smaller the sensor the noisier the image at higher ISO settings. This night I was using a Panasonic FZ1000 with a 1″ sensor because I needed the longer telephoto reach over my 1.5″ Canon G1 X, but tha...
