By Scott Shephard

I could use this space to ponder the reason the mountains, the road and the town the road leads to are all named after the former Secretary of War who later led a revolt agains the United State of America.* But instead let’s talk about the landscape and the technique.

It was the Golden Hour yesterday morning when I launched my drone over this stretch of the Jeff Davis Highway. One thing I have learned about drone photography is that aerial photos typically flatten most features. But if you shoot minutes after the sun rises or before it sets, contours are much more obvious.

This time of day is also known as “the golden hour” for obvious reasons. And the warm sunlight cast on the mid-February brown terrain turns everything deep gold.

I’m a sucker for roads in shots like this. They can be useful to create leading lines - one way photographers manipulate the viewer. I don’t know that it works in this photo. But I tried.

We have our F150 on our trip to Texas but I can’t help wondering what it would be like to drive a sporty, fast car through this valley and up the snaking mountain road. Forgive me for telling you this but I miss our Mustang Mach-E electric car. It would be a perfect match for the Jeff Davis Highway.

*I think they were named before The War of Northern Aggression, as some in these parts call it.

Mavic 2 Pro 1/400 sec f/10 ISO 100 (5 frame HDR)