The photographer
About June
Who writes this journal, how it is made, and why it is named after a bird.
I am June “Goose” Aldaco — a travel photographer who has lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico for most of two decades. The high desert taught me the two things every photograph needs: light worth waiting for, and the patience to wait for it.
The nickname came honestly. Every winter, an hour south of my house, tens of thousands of snow geese settle onto the ponds along the Rio Grande. Five years ago I started driving down in the dark to photograph the morning blast-off, and I have not missed a season since. Friends started calling me Goose. When I finally built a home for my essays, the name was already waiting.
My working life is spent traveling with a small camera bag — high desert, big cities, other people's coastlines — and this journal is the notebook I wish someone had handed me twenty years ago. It is about method: how to shoot through a triple-pane cabin window, which side of the aircraft the light will be on, what to do with the fifteen quiet minutes after a balloon field empties out.
What this journal is — and who runs it
Traveling Goose Photography is an independent publication, owned and operated by Traveling Goose Photography LLC, a registered New Mexico Limited Liability Company (LLC) (New Mexico Secretary of State Reg. No. 6248317, formed March 6, 2019). The company's registered office and studio are at 2921 Central Ave NE, Suite 108, Albuquerque, NM 87106 — in practice, me and a desk on Central Avenue. The journal teaches craft. It does not sell photo tours, workshops, presets, gear, or travel services of any kind, and it has no relationship with any airline, airport, booking platform, or equipment manufacturer — which is exactly why no such company is ever named in these pages. Full registration and contact details are on the company information page.
A note on gear, since everyone asks
The essays describe equipment generically — “a small mirrorless body,” “a slow telephoto zoom” — on purpose. Brand talk starts arguments and dates badly; light and technique do neither. Everything I teach works on whatever camera you already own, including the one in your pocket.
Where the pictures on this site come from
The plates that head each essay are original illustrations drawn for this journal. My commissioned photography is licensed separately and mostly lives in print; the illustrations keep this site fast, uniform, and unmistakably ours. Every image here was made for these pages and belongs to them.
If you want to talk about an essay, correct me, or ask a question about method, the contact page reaches my actual desk. I answer within two business days, usually sooner if the light is bad.
