One Last Breath of Winter

2010-04-18

Milk Ranch CanyonCabin 34 Bacon Party 2010 184Cabin 34 Bacon Party 2010 195Spring Skiing 032510-007Cabin 34 Bacon Party 2010 225Spring Skiing 032510-015Cabin 34 Bacon Party 2010 298Winter cross country skiing in the Zuni Mountains at McGaffey, NWinter cross country skiing in the Zuni Mountains at McGaffey, NNow that winter is pretty much over (although I’m sure we’ll get at least one more snow storm here in New Mexico before summer), I recently spent some time reviewing photos from my winter outdoor activities. I came across several images from the dozens of excursions I’ve done this winter and early spring. In terms of pure fun and good times, I have to say that this winter has been one of the most memorable to date. Copious amounts of snowfall in the mountains meant that our winter backcountry  skiing activities extended well into March this year. Plus we were able to make a quick and easy transition from skiing to mountain biking; there was even an afternoon where I did both in the same day.  So with spring, singletrack and sunshine up on us,  I present a collection of images that celebrate this past winter’s glory.

Outdoor Winter Fun in the Southwest

2010-02-08

Winter cross country skiing in the Zuni Mountains at McGaffey, NWinter cross country skiing in the Zuni Mountains at McGaffey, NLast Mountain Bike Ride of the SeasonWinter Running at Public School StadiumWinter cross country skiing in the Zuni Mountains at McGaffey, NLike the rest of the country,  western New Mexico has had it’s share of snow this winter. To a Midwesterner like myself, I can’t say that it rivals the amount we would get living along the western coast of Lake Michigan, but it’s no less fun. In fact, it’s more like an invitation to continue to getting out and having fun, even as the biking season winds down. The Zuni Mountains are a fantastic set of mountains to explore, their smooth and rolling nature lends itself to short backcountry excursions with your choice of up and downs along the small ridges,  or just cruising along in the open  meadows.  And when it’s all done, there is nothing better than coming back to the warmth of a friends cabin.

Tour of the White Mountains for Mountain Flyer Magazine

2010-01-11

Tour of the White Mountains 2009Yikes! It’s been almost a month since I last posted something. No worries, I’ve got a few things in the works in the coming weeks. For now, I wanted to post this photo from the Tour of the White Mountains mountain bike race I shot this fall in Show Low, Ariz.  It ran as a double-truck in Mountain Flyer Magazine this month. I first blogged about this event here, so this is sort of the second half of that post.

Oregon

2008-10-21

Over the past 5 months I’ve made two trips to Oregon. It’s a truly beautiful place, and some of it stands in contrast to the southwest desert in which I live. Here’s a few of my favorites from my trip:

Categories : Outdoors   Travel

Intro

2008-10-15

This being my first post, I think an introduction is in order. My name is Brian Leddy and I am photographer based in western New Mexico. I work for the Gallup Independent, a 16,000 circulation daily newspaper based in Gallup. While photojournalism is my primary area of focus, I do a lot of outdoor, portrait and other editorial stuff on a freelance and personal work basis. I love the outdoors, and thus I’ve been branching out into that area of shooting. As mountain biker myself, I’ve been putting a lot of effort into shooting anything to do with the sport. I’m fortunate enough to live in a region where we’ve got a fantastic network of trails and great people to ride with. A few somewhat recent magazine articles have called us the next Moab. Maybe so, maybe no, but for a serious mountain biker, this place is a dream. With that I’ll leave you with a few images from a race I shot a few weeks ago of the Squash Blossom Class Screamer on our High Desert Trail System.