Mike Quist Kautz hiking the Greenleaf Trail on Mount Lafayette in Franconia Notch, New Hampshire.

It took 2700 miles of driving, but I’m back in Jackson, New Hampshire after spending the winter in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Being a photographer, spending a winter in Santa Fe wouldn’t be complete without some continuing education at the Santa Fe Workshops. I took a portrait lighting class with Los Angeles based photographer Josh Sanseri. It was a great experience and I’m looking forward to incorporating the lighting techniques into my photography. We spent about half the time in studio and half on location (where most of my interest lies). The last day of class was reserved for an assignment of photographing a stranger. I chose to go on location and picked High Desert Guitars. I thought this shop would be an interesting location and thanks go to Steve, the owner, for letting me set up equipment and lights around $$$ guitars.

This backcountry skiing experience entailed a hearty approach of 7 miles, 3000′ of vertical, and decent sized packs (did I really need to bring the tripod?). Not to mention, we left Santa Fe at 5am and drove for 6 hours before starting the ski. We arrived at the hut just before dark and promptly passed out. The Ben Eiseman hut sits a bit above 11,000′ and is part of the 10th Mountain Division Hut System. I was really impressed by the hut and it’s a really comfortable place to spend a few nights. Exploring the morning after arriving:

Dusk:

Alana takes a turn behind the camera:

Alana skinning back towards the hut:

The snow was a bit crusty when we arrived due to a recent warm spell, but a snowstorm provided some decent powder towards the end of the trip. Good snow or bad, a trip to the hut is a great experience.

Took a quick trip to Bandelier National Monument in early March. Bandelier is near White Rock and Los Alamos, New Mexico. This image is from within the kiva at the Ceremonial Cave.