The term ‘of another world’ really applies to the Bisti Badlands of northern New Mexico.
If you wish to explore this area of New Mexico on your own…. good luck. I tried to photograph the desolate Badlands on my own twice before and was unsuccessful. This time my plan was to spend two weeks there. The first week was to be professionally guided by Muench Photography Workshops and the second week I would be re-exploring some of the same photographic highlights, then branching out to new Bisti locations with a good friend and outdoor adventurer, Shane. Overall, despite life threatening mishaps, after the workshop, the trip was a great success.
Exploring the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico
One should not try to explore the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico on their own, or by themselves. However, it is made easier now with published GPS coordinates which takes a lot of the fun out of discovery on your own. On my first attempts, pre-cell phone and pre-GPS guidance days, I quickly lost sense of direction on those overcast conditions. My car was quickly obscured by tan colored hillsides while I meandered through a maze of desolate landscape. I do not believe I took a single photograph during those first visits.
Being born and raised in New Mexico, I really wished to know more about this unique area. So I signed up with a high end company that leads photography workshops into this area and around the world, Muench Workshops. Better yet, the leader of this workshop was Wayne Suggs. Wayne Suggs Photography It is with great reluctance I give you his website. You can now see how sorely lacking my photography is compared to a true professional who has real and sincere passion for his photography work and teaching others.
I first knew of Wayne in 2014, the year he won the New Mexico Magazine photography contest. I had won the prior year. Harold Hall 2013 Photography Contest Winner . I’m thankful to Wayne for not entering the New Mexico Magazine contest in 2013… Wayne was already a very successful home builder, but winning this contest changed his life, allowing him to lead workshops world wide. As for me and my winning, ah, life went on exactly as before…
But First a Short History of the Area (Sorry)
You can hike for miles and not see a living thing, yet it used to be a rain forest.
The Bisti Badlands is called De-Na-Zin by the local native Americans.
- 70,000,000 years ago this area was a river delta with lush rain forests. Dinosaur bones can be found and much petrified wood logs are found in the area.
- 25,000,000 years ago, tectonics on the Colorado Plateau pushed the area up, exposing sediment layers.
- 11,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, the ice receded and melted, causing much erosion, exposing what was once the bottom of the sea.
- 1,000s of years of melting water and wind have sculpted this area into something that looks like it is from another world.
- 1 year ago, Harold fell and rolled down one of these hillsides, cracking or breaking ribs in the process…
Luxury Camping with Muench Workshops
Each photographer got their own tent or, or you could have a bunk mate. My tent mate was a high powered Google executive.
We were served more food and ate more than we should have. Great appetizers, three hot meals a day and plenty of fancy snacks. We had tents big enough to stand up in and slept on cots. All was quite luxurious until you had to sit on the bucket from Home Depot in the morning…. No photos but it was much like the Bathroom Accomodations on my Grand Canyon trip.
Daily Appetizers
Authentic New Mexico enchiladas in Farmington, served flat with over easy eggs on top, the very best…
Evening Photography
We are likely looking at a section of the old seabed, supported by a pillar caused by millions of years of erosion.
This was one of our first evening shoots. An area called the Pedestal for obvious reasons. Since I was staying an additional week after this workshop to revisit some of these same spots, I wanted to record the unmarked trail to access this exact spot again. Step one in that process is to not leave your phone back in the tent…. A move that will haunt me later as I lay at the bottom of a hill I just tumbled down… (see my next blog)
Interesting to know the big flat rocks are the remains of a sea bed from 70,000,000 years ago.
The purple and blue shades on the horizon is referred to as the earth shadow. The blue is actually the shadow of the earth contrasted against the setting sun in the purple tone.
Dried cracked earth leading to subtle color in the clouds.
Once the harshness of the direct sunlight is gone, colors appear in the cracked sandy dirt. I’m trying to not call it soil…
Night Time Photos
Photographing the sliver of a moon while waiting for the stars to become visible…. hours and hours later. The timing of this trip was based upon virtually no moon to enhance the visibility of the stars. Photos such as this are often two photos blend together. It is not possible to get the distant moon and the nearby silhouette in focus at the same time.
In the photograph below, do you see the Dark Horse Nebula? I never knew about it. Just above the center mound you hopefully see three legs of a horse headed toward the upper left corner. The horse is tilted at about a 45º angle.
Part of the goal of the workshop with Wayne Suggs was to learn a very detailed and professional way to process the images of the night sky. A process necessary if you plan to sell large images or do a lot of astro photography. Not much use for a guy who has since switched to macro photography and crystal photography through a microscope….
very scenic views and the food looked a tad better than some of the places you have visited.
Thank you for sharing.
Lived in Santa Fe for 13 years and never made it to Bisti Badlands. Now I wish we had made the effort. Have you been to Tent Rocks just outside ABQ? Some of the formations remind me of that site. Sounds like an amazing trip, Harold, and as always you captured truly stunning photos. Thanks for sharing.
No I have not made it to Tent Rocks. For years it was closed due to erosion from fires. Then it was closed for years due to covid, Indian land. Now I understand they are not open for sunset nor sunrise, the time photographers would wish to visit. Plus, now I’m moving away from travel and landscapes moving toward macro photography. I’ll be using specialized lenses and microscopes. But I could still visit the unique area. Hope you and Dave are doing OK in your more settled down lifestyle.
Love the enchilada photo!!!
The land really looks so mystical. Great photos!