The Picture Book From New Mexico
Amidst the wild splendour of New Mexico’s untamed landscapes, I found myself in a geologist’s utopia and a photographer’s dream—the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness.
The earth here narrates a tale of transformation, bearing witness to three million years beneath the Western Interior Seaway.
This terrain is a rich tapestry of natural history, with layers upon layers of sediments from the Laramide orogeny, comprising sandstone, shale, and coal. The climate experienced extremes, the land shifting from a marshy delta to a flooded plain, to a parched seabed—where once forests stood, now lie petrified stumps. The relentless forces of nature—rain, snow, and wind—have sculpted and ground down these fossilised relics to specks of violet, alabaster, and daffodil hues. I would occasionally stumble upon half-intact tree trunks, now stone-like evidence to their ancient existence.
The sombre strata of coal create a stark contrast against the unexpectedly vibrant yellow and red tiers, which upon closer examination, reveal themselves as the remnants of ancient vegetation.
Venturing off the conventional trails, I walked upon earth that transformed with each step, peppered with rocks of otherworldly shapes. Just when I believed myself adrift in the wilderness’s vastness, the terrain would open up to reveal deep valleys guarded by monolithic shales, delicately balanced atop slender columns of mud.
In a flight of fancy, I christened these hoodoo formations, echoing the sentiment that beauty truly resides in the eye of the beer holder.
These pictures were taken within the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah, De-Na-Zin, and Bisti Badlands—a trifecta of geological wonder. The wild, wild southwest has indeed cast its spell over me, affirming its reputation as an enchanted land.
Oliver
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