One year ago I fell into the role of committee member for the college scholarship program for the North American Nature Photography Association. For the past year five other committee members and I have promoted this program and eventually selected 12 college students from across to country to come to NANPA's annual summit in Albuquerque, N. M., to meet the best photographers in the county. We cater to their every need: food, lodging, advice, inspiration, portfolio reviews, networking – everything. Yesterday we traveled to the nearby Ojito Wilderness, and the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park, to  photograph in the field. We photographed landscapes in the Ojito and captive owls at the nature center.

Colored sandstone in the Ojito Wilderness. We started the day off in brisk, cold weather. The sky was blue and clear, but the bitting wind blew mercilessly. 

I looked for texture the light created as it scraped over bare rock. No place is more accentuated by low angle side light than the desert. 

Following a college student to keep track of his whereabouts, a series of pinnacles distracted me and lured me into their recesses. I became engrossed in the landscape and the student went missing for a half hour! He eventually returned to the bus as I roamed the desert yelling his name. 

One view of a mushroom rock.

The opposite view of the same mushroom rock.

This tiny adult flammulated owl is only about six inches tall.

The larger, more intimidating great horned owl.

Fei Lian, a college student scholarship winner.

Yu Jiang Tham photographs a cholla cactus just after sunrise. 

 Courtland Hathaway in the New Mexico desert.

A diffuser and a reflector help maximize the photographic opportunities of a captive great horned owl.  The owl had been "rolled" (not hit) by a truck, where it was caught in the turck's draft and its wing broken. Now it's used for educational purposes.