Range in Winter

I usually visit the open range country of the Otero Mesa in the high season of summer.  That also happens to be the rainy season here in the desert and September is when the area is its most lush and green.  Much of the rest of the year is very dry.  Winter is not much of an exception.  The snow event has left several inches of snow that will melt into the ground providing some moisture that will hopefully help when spring arrives.

For me the snow has added a whole new depth to the photographic possibilities here on the Lost Mesa.  Seeing the snow on this big empty landscape really inspires me as a photographer.  Looking across the open range the snow and lonely mountains is like stepping into another epoch.  If a mammoth walked into view, it would not seem surprising at all.

I captured those views in the ever changing light  of the day.  Mountains, open range, snow, and distant views.  From the cold dark of twilight through the sunrise and into a cloudy day that rapidly started to clear (as they always seem to do in the desert).  Each change presented new opportunities and different light to interpret the scene.

Each  view becomes something different, unique, and fleeting.  It is one of those days I want to both stay in one place and yet be everywhere at once.