Three Rivers

[Ronny Nilsen]

A stitch of two images taken at the Three Rivers Petroglyph site.

[attachment=6035:attachment]

[cgraham]

Ronny, I know this location well, and live close to the three New Mexico sites you photographed. You have some very nice shots on your website.

Three Rivers Petroglyphs is challenging to photograph because of the usual extreme contrast resulting from deep shadows. You avoided this problem nicely by using late afternoon sun.

There are a couple of things about this particular panoramic composition that are not quite satisfactory to me. The first is that the image opens up to the right and my eye wanders out of the picture. I would have tried to move to the left and used the big foreground rock and the mid-ground hill to close the right side of the frame, and/or cropped closer to the hill.

The other problem I see is that the panorama successfully captures the immensity of the mid-ground plain, but inevitably diminishes the grandeur of the distant mountain range in the right half of the image: it rises to 10,000 feet. (The range on the left is much closer and I estimate is 5,500-6000 feet tall.) I have tried some landscapes of this view, but avoided the panoramic approach because of the loss of proportion that results. Instead, I used a more normal lense to capture striking petroglyphs in the foreground,(adding interest to the rocks) and to emphasize the mountains more fully. Also, by using a lower elevation, I was able to de-emphasize the plain and so emphasize the mountain range, which I though resulted in more powerful images.

Your photographs "Three Rivers Petroglyph" and "Petroglyph and Bush" are more satisfying to me and are close to what I just tried to describe.

Even wide-angle shots are usually disappointing in wide-open country like this, because the camera often does not capture what seems grand to the eye.  

I realize you were probably only there for part of a day, whereas it took me many attempts over the years to create a landscape that satisfied me. You have a great portfolio for a short visit.

Charlie

[Ronny Nilsen]

Thank you! I appreciate your comments, and is certainly something I will have in
mind if I can get back to Three River. As you guessed I had only 2-3 hours at this
site and it was an experience just to be there. The silence, the magnificent
landscape and the petroglyphs make this one of the most fascinating places I have
been to. I would really like a return visit with lots of time to make more images there.

It's one of those places where you can just wander around all the petroglyphs and
think about life in general.

Best regards,
Ronny

[jecxz]

Also Three Rivers:

http://www.jecxz.com/?photograph=into_the_...derek_jecxz.jpg

[Ronny Nilsen]

Also Three Rivers:

http://www.jecxz.com/?photograph=into_the_...derek_jecxz.jpg
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=220559\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

That was an interesting view.    I didn't think you would get snow there, I was
there in the middle of December and it was warm and nice.  

Best regards,
Ronny

[jecxz]

That was an interesting view.    I didn't think you would get snow there, I was
there in the middle of December and it was warm and nice.   

Best regards,
Ronny
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

It was during a snow storm in January 2007. This is another photograph I made just along Three Rivers road:

[a href=\"http://www.jecxz.com/?photograph=snow_dust_by_derek_jecxz.jpg]http://www.jecxz.com/?photograph=snow_dust...derek_jecxz.jpg[/url]

Be well.

[cgraham]

I don't think a discussion of Three Rivers is complete without some photos of the stunning petroglyphs there - and there are finer ones than these. I chose these photos because they reflect what I was thinking when I first responded to Ronnynil.

They were not taken solely with landscape in mind, but they do illustrate my remark about proportion. I revisited the site last week, and was reminded how much the panorama exaggerates the size of the plain, compared to the eye's perception. The highest mountain in the 10,000' range is 12,000' (Sierra Blanca), shown in the photo with the fish (on a platter???)  [attachment=8889:DCP_2346_3River_2s.jpg] [attachment=8895:DCP_2399...ver_1.3s.jpg]

These exposures are looking S, like Ronnynil's and are both segments within his panorama.

My shots are open to critique too.

We occasionally get snow in the area (4300') early in the year, and the taller mountains can have a lot in a good year, although it usually melts off within a few days. I have never been able to get a good shot of the mountains in snow - the distance and the rather level skyline they present makes a good composition difficult.

Drop me an E if you head this way again, Ronny.

Charlie

[Ronny Nilsen]

I don't think a discussion of Three Rivers is complete without some photos of the stunning petroglyphs there - and there are finer ones than these. I chose these photos because they reflect what I was thinking when I first responded to Ronnynil.

They were not taken solely with landscape in mind, but they do illustrate my remark about proportion. I revisited the site last week, and was reminded how much the panorama exaggerates the size of the plain, compared to the eye's perception. The highest mountain in the 10,000' range is 12,000' (Sierra Blanca), shown in the photo with the fish (on a platter???)  [attachment=8889:DCP_2346_3River_2s.jpg] [attachment=8895:DCP_2399...ver_1.3s.jpg]

Sierra Blanca is large, but the plain is so large that even with a short telephoto lens, the size is difficult to grasp,
se the image below.

[attachment=8897:20071209_9613.jpg]


And of course the petroglyphs are stunning, I have an image below that shows one
of them.

[attachment=8898:20071209_9523.jpg]

My shots are open to critique too.

Drop me an E if you head this way again, Ronny.

Charlie

Nice images, looks like you where farther out than I was able to get.

If I get to NM again I'll drop you an Email, I was hoping to get back to the SW next year,
but my wife and I are expecting our second child next spring, so it will probably be a while
before I can take a few weeks off to photograph on my own on the other side of the
planet.  

Best Regards,
Ronny