Hot hot hot
I've been back from the desert for a week now and I think I have had time to fully recover from the trip. While it was a work trip, I was able to explore all over southern New Mexico on my off days. On this trip, I visited a few ghost towns about 90 minutes from Las Cruces (my home base for the trip), the zoo in Alamogordo, lots of backroads around the Organ mountains, and finally I was able to visit White Sands National Park.
Right off the bat, it was hot there. Well over 100 degrees every day, with lows not dipping below 75. Northern Alabama is hot and humid from essentially May to the end of September, so I am used to it, but I have never really experienced summer in the desert. It felt like a furnace, radiant heat coming at me from all directions. Then at White Sands, the white sand reflected all of that heat. It was the hottest place I'd ever experienced.
Anyway, the heat was challenging for my camera too. I took my R5, my 14-35, 24-105, and my RF 100-400 with me, and with each lens I experienced a phenomenon called heat haze. Most every photo I took outside wasn't sharp, it was muddy in parts of it. Perfect for small screens and social media, or even a small print such as a calendar, but nothing I would print bigger than 8x10. Disappointed for sure, but I had experienced this a bit in Alaska when taking some photos on roadways. There are still some photos to finish editing, but here are a few favorites from the trip.
