I first learned about San Lorenzo Canyon around the time I became aware of the Sevilleta Wildlife Refuge. Most of the Refuge was (and still is) off-limits to the public, which of course made me absolutely desperate to see it. Enter San Lorenzo Canyon, which is technically part of the Refuge and open to the public.
You have to drive up a wash to get there, which I remember as a much scarier proposition 10 or 15 years ago. It’s more like an unmaintained dirt road these days. The canyon itself is wide and fairly shallow; you can drive through much of it with a high-clearance vehicle, or even a car.1
Fall routinely inspires me to include sunbursts in my photos. The trick is to mostly block the sun with a rock or a tree branch, or some other solid feature in the scene.2 It’s easier to do that in the fall and winter when the sun is noticeably lower in the sky.
There’s a point where the canyon becomes a bit of a box. The first image in this email shows the beautiful cottonwood that shades the box; the cascade of its leaves, above, was at its narrowest point.
It’s possible, by the way, to go further into the canyon by going up one of the box’s walls. I opted out of that part of the excursion this time around.3
Assuming it hasn’t rained for a while.
The other trick is to use the smallest aperture possible and to expose for the sun. The rest of the scene will be underexposed, but you can deal with that in post-processing. (If none of this makes sense to you, it just means you’re not a photographer.)
As usual, I knew I could get up but wasn’t completely sure I’d be able to get back down.
Absolutely beautiful!