I didn’t expect to be shooting that day. I was just walking around, having decided that what I wanted more than anything, was a cup of hot coffee. Just around the corner down there is a nice little coffee shop and that’s where I was headed. With this image I decided to NOT have the type sweep over the entire image. That’s something I’ll play around with. I tried it both ways and I like it both ways. But this is new, so experimentation is the name of this game, so far.
Every time I head downtown, I make it a point to stop in at The Monroe Gallery of Photography. There you’ll see the originals of great photographers, both contemporary and past. I stopped in there a few days ago and asked the director if I could take some photos at a discreet distance, of course. She was so glad that I had asked and immediately said, “Sure you may.” I told her that I would be posting them on my website and she was fine with that too.
But what I didn’t say to her, because it didn’t occur to me at the time, was that in “post” it might occur to me to play “make believe” or “make pretend” and insert one or two of my photos into these magnificent gallery displays. Wishful thinking maybe. I am NOT in this Gallery by a long shot. They don’t even know who I am. This is just me having some, I hope, innocent fun. I am NOT in any gallery anywhere. So there. Full disclosure on that score. Just a little photographic prankster-ism.
P.S. If there are any lawyers out there who know of any law I might be breaking, do let me know. I think I’ve given pretty blunt full disclosure.
I was going downtown anyway to pick up some great olive oil at my favorite shop. I had already ordered it over the phone earlier in the day and they were holding it for me. So of course I just had to take advantage of another photo-op downtown. I had the “heavy-hitter” Sony AR7II with me, all hooked up with my favorite “nifty fifty” f 1.8 lens. Ready to rock-and-roll as the saying goes, but for one thing: mea culpa…I made a real beginner’s error and had not checked the battery before leaving. I must have been too preoccupied dreaming about all the interesting things that I could cook, bake or stir-fry with the oil I was picking up. So yeah, I got off one shot before seeing: “Battery Exhausted” flash onto the rear screen. That gets to happen once.
But, to the rescue, and always in my handbag, was the much-discussed Sony HX-99 with its tiny sensor, but huge zoom. Long story, but here are those photos. True, you don’t get the detail and dynamic range out of the smaller sensor, but somehow, for street shots, I don’t care. I almost prefer the softer image. So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
As usual, we got all packed up (me with camera gear) and headed downtown to see the lights and half of Santa Fe as they strolled up and down Canyon Road. Even the adults don’t tire of seeing the whole place lit up so prettily for Christmas. We had dinner at a lovely restaurant nearby and then walked from there. It was raining as we got started! It was supposed to snow. At least the rain stopped and it was a great evening. We love Christmas and so does this city. I took way too many photographs and have probably posted too many as well. But it sure was fun. A happy and safe 2022 to all who read this. (Sorry for slow download speeds. I’ve crunched these photos way down, but there are a lot of them.)
This really is a case where “If Looks Could Kill”, I might not be here. I really don’t think this person was annoyed with me for the photograph. I was pretty discrete, just looking down at the camera. OK, I’ll admit it was stealthy, but the camera was NOT pointed in her face. (Such is the advantage of the flip-up screen on the A6500 as opposed to the swing-out variety.) So that leaves me with the conclusion that here we have a portrait of a human being having a bad day. She and her friend were wearing the same amulet. It appeared to be something from ancient Egypt. She could definitely use a little more of the Sun God in her life!
It was raining (finally) in Santa Fe, yesterday. I love to take photos in the rain and generally in inclement weather, so off I went to see what fortune had in store for me.
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In Egyptian mythology, Ra was the god of the sun. He was the most important god in Ancient Egypt. He had many names, such as Amun-Ra, and Ra-Horakhty. It was said he was born each morning in the East, and died each night in the West.
These pictures were taken at a very rural train station called Lamy. The two people dancing were part of a celebration that took place out there in July. The old train would leave from downtown Santa Fe and chug along until we arrived in Lamy. I had the Fisheye with me at that time. It can be a fun lens once in a while and I think these shots made the most of it.
There is ALWAYS something artistic or theatrical going on in this town. We’re a quite small city with a very large art scene! I think there’s something for everyone. I happen to appreciate both modern dance and traditional. Our philharmonic is wonderful as are our choral groups which famously perform every Christmas Eve. Of course they perform throughout the year as well.
Shooting in low light is a challenge in itself. Modern cameras have become much better at this. In the “old” days we had to “push-process” the negatives to pull every bit of information from them. Now, we have cameras with ISOs (ASA in Old Speak) of 100,000. And we thought Tri-X was good with an ASA of 400. Those pictures with the really long shadows (which totally entranced me) were shot with a SONY NEX-5r. I guess that’s considered a dinosaur by today’s standards, but I still enjoy it for its good image quality and small-enough-to-fit-anywhere characteristics. Also, every image on this site, and all sites, have been crunched and crushed to the limit. So you are never seeing the full quality of the original. If it looks OK here, it looks a lot better “in person”. With the NEX, I was using the much maligned “kit” lens, that 16-50mm. All lenses have their limits, but the idea is to find the optimal combinations for each lens. I love that lens for its petite-ness.
Well, enough tech-talk for today!
This is my favorite photographic “haunt”—city streets. Most of these were taken in my home town of Santa Fe, New Mexico. But the two of them with the long shadows were taken in Telluride, Colorado. Telluride has EPIC skiing and is a wonderful village as well. The restaurants are also excellent.
santafeandme.photos 
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