"The priests were riding across high mountain meadows, which in a few weeks would be green, though just now they were slate-coloured. On every side lay ridges covered with blue-green fir trees; above them rose the horny backbones of mountains." - Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop

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The heart of the New Mexican community of Truchas sits atop a ridge at the base of the Sangre de Christo Mountains. Our photography group made its visit in the early afternoon, on a cool day after a mild snowstorm had earlier blanketed the higher reaches of the northern half of the state. The view of the summit of Truchas Peak, 13,100 feet above sea level, was lost to us in the clouds.

Founded in 1754 as a Spanish land grant, Truchas has remained a sleepy Hispanic village for centuries, despite an influx of inhabitants into the surrounding and still predominantly rural landscape. Truchas looks and feels much as it did to me when I first visited the town, more than two decades ago.

The Robert Redford movie, "The Milagro Beanfield War," was filmed in and around Truchas, a few years after my first visit. For my still photograph, I employed the longer end of my zoom lens to compress the foreground against the background, and to convey a sense that the mountains above tower over the landscape below.