New Mexico

As you may be aware, horses are one of my favourite subjects to photograph, I am always looking to expand my portfolio. During 2010, I decided to travel in search of the 'Mustang' horse. I flew into Albuquerque and drove to a small town called Chama.

I spent a few days in and around the Murano Mustang sanctuary near Chama and had one day in Jicarilla (Apache Indians) Reservation, near Dulce, New Mexico. It was one of those trips one puts down to being 'exploratory' as the mages I was looking for did not materialise. However, thats the fun of wildlife photography.

Please enjoy a few images of the Mustangs shown below.

Chama is a small town just inside the New Mexico Colorado border. Chama is the terminus for the most delightful scenic railway. Due to a travel commitment, I was not able to travel on the train the following day, although I did manage to secure some pictures of the train pulling in to Chama station at 1600 that day. Chama railway is known as the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad and runs from Chama to Antonio in Colorado, a distance of 63 miles.

Please enjoy the images of the train and engines at Chama station.

Travelling back to Albuquerque we passed through the most amazing rock red sandstone rock formations. This area is associated with the famous artists Georgia O'Keefe, with the 'Ghost Ranch' Abiquiu, where she did a number of her paintings.

After leaving New Mexico we headed up to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts to visit a friend with a number of Marwari horses. (See previous blog with Marwari horses.) We flew in to Boston, hired a car and drove down to Martha's Vineyard via the ferry. It was there we made contact with our friend, Francesca, where we then spent 2 wonderful days exploring Martha's Vineyard. I must show this picture of Francesca with her new vintage Chevrolet Powerglide. The picture is in sepia which best depicts the age and magnificence of the car -and Francesca!

The Marwari horses are stabled on Chappaquiddick, another short ferry ride, so we went off to see them at their summer stables.

We left Martha's vineyard and drove back to Boston. Boston is the centre for whale watching tours and I was determined to capture some pictures of whales. After 2 trips to Canada's west coast, still had not got any suitable whale pictures, third time lucky! Setting off from Boston harbour on the whale watching boat and cruising for an hour to reach the Stellwagon Bank we slowed down and waiting for an appearance. After a few false starts of looking over the boat one side while the whale breached on the other side!! I managed to capture these images, boy was I lucky!