When it snows here, it is quite a spectacle. First of all, a really heavy snowfall is fairly unusual. But for this particular event, it started snowing in the afternoon and kept on for a couple of days. We only ended up with a couple of feet, but it looked like Antarctica the whole time. I stayed inside because I had no choice, and baked cookies…the perfect activity on days like that.
Goats intrigue me. Out here where I live people use them for weed control. That’s a nice symbiotic relationship. But watch out for the Pyrenees dogs who guard them. Honestly, I’ve never had an experience quite like that with a dog. Those dogs have a “bead” on you when you’re 40 yards out. Move in closer and the entire body language changes and you will know in no uncertain terms that you should turn back, now! Immediately! Well, Mr. Dog Guard, lets see what you can do with a 700mm lens.
I often walk past this area because I like the textures, light and structure of these older dwellings. And look what I found here one time. It reminds me of a close-up of a micro chip or a transistor, or something like that. This is also another style that I’ve found before. I wish they would sign these. But I guess what would defeat the whole idea of “stealthy art”.
Plaintiff spirit? This little guy, or those similar to him show up from time to time. There’s a similarity in style, so it’s probably the same tagger. People do stop to check these out. I always wonder what they are thinking! The city lets these stay around for quite a while before steam-blasting them off. The place would be covered if they didn’t. And maybe that’s part of their charm. Here today. Gone tomorrow.
This is a style of graffitized fun that I’ve seen in several places. Sometimes it’s really small, hidden in a corner somewhere.
This city is full of interesting graffiti, signs and murals. Sometimes I can’t really say which is which. They are usually creative and show up in the oddest places, usually overnight, like crop circles. I’ve gotten to recognize certain styles and figure that it must be the same artist creating them. Others are one-offs. Signage is pretty straightforward, but it too can cross the line between mural and sign.
Anyway, what I’m getting at with this long ramble, is:
I’m fascinated by them.
There was something poignant about this image. And I found it shortly after reading about an Avant Garde performance which had taken place at the White House, or nearby. What was so Avant Garde about it? An enormous, fully decorated, live Christmas tree was exploded, set on fire and burned to the ground as sophisticated guests and diplomats applauded and cheered with glee. Morons all. Excuse me, but I fail to see the artistic merit of it, or the free speech aspect of it, since the artist was from China. You don’t have to be religious to object.
Sometimes I think that I’m the only one who thinks this way. Desecration of a culture or cultural icons of any ethnic group should be a giant Thou Shall Not. And I’m one of the least religious people out there.
Thanks for the comment and the out-of-this-world great recipes on your website. Creative, artistic and a ball to visit. More please.
The Railyard in Santa Fe is a place rich with photographic potential. But it’s much more than just a railyard. Interesting shops and bistros are also a lovely feature of this area. But I always end up getting up close with the rail cars. There are some vintage cars as well that are still in operation. This is the first time that I’m cropping an image. We’ll see where that leads.
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.
Architectural detail is one of my favorite subjects. There is always a lot of geometry embedded there, pattern and texture, all of which I find endlessly alluring.
I packed up the van back in the Spring to visit Pecos National Monument. And even though it’s only about an hour from my home, I’d never been. There is an eery silence about the place. It’s remote, isolated and full of Native American and Spanish history, none of it good. This image shows a Spanish church from the late 1500’s if memory serves. It was partly destroyed during one of the Indian Revolts. Spanish rule sought to completely upend traditions that had been in place for thousands of years. The phrase, “Clash of civilizations” doesn’t do justice to what occurred throughout the American Southwest for more than a hundred years.
Something a little different has snuck into my workflow. There is always a story that is an integral part of every photograph I have here. I don’t know how it happened, but I started writing over and through the images and I liked it. So there. Here it is. Because they’re so different from everything else up to now, I’ve decided to gather them all together into a separate page. They seemed to want a home of their own. This has just started, so there are only the two of them. But I have a hunch that more will follow. But I’ll continue to post new ones into the Blog as well.
The official name for New Mexico is “Land of Enchantment”. It’s even on our license plates. That name is probably due to the ancient civilizations that lived, and still live, here. In addition there’s that incredible light, dramatic always-new skies and craggy-spiney landscape. So I had some fun with interpreting that here. The last photo of Pegasus, is typical of what you might find on any rural road in this state. Well, truth be told, most of the roads are rural. But people here like to make their own art and then proudly display it. That’s great for me because I like to proudly view it and photograph it.
Happy Trails Everyone.
A couple of days ago, we packed up the Winnebago van and headed up to Bandelier National Monument. I’m still getting used to the Nikon P950, and in a place like this, it was a great choice. This is big country with distances that seem to stretch out to eternity.
This was once a thriving community. As one of the visitors noted, at the time that Chaucer was writing The Canterbury Tales, this culture was at its peak; and they were trading with other cultures many hundreds of miles away. In case it isn’t obvious, I couldn’t get enough of this place. It is calm, ethereal and inspiring. Words can’t quite describe it, but maybe some of these photos will, at least a bit.
The light was flat with lots of glare, but still, I think for a small sensor camera, the P950 made a good showing of what it’s capable of….especially when trying to take some photos of the mule-eared deer, which were clearly used to visitors.
Happy Trails Everyone.
This camera has been tempting me for quite some time. I realize that it’s only a small sensor, but that zoom has been enticing. I finally got a chance to try it out and I am impressed. These are the first shots.
It’s the size of a large DSLR, but because it’s mostly composite, I found it to be rather lightweight. I could easily carry it all day. I had tried the Lumix version of this, not nearly the same focal length, but still in the same category of SuperZoom. What can I say? I just didn’t like the User Interface of the Lumix. It felt clumsy and I always ended up distracted and annoyed by it. It did take great pictures though. This P950, however, operates like a dream. Everything seems to be in the right place and well thought out.
I haven’t tried any JPEGs because I’m rarely satisfied with those results. Plus, I enjoy “Post” too much. So these two images were RAW at 100 ISO. That equals an optimum setup for this camera, or any small sensor. Of course what you see here has been crushed and re-purposed to fit on the web. But in the original, I could easily get a gorgeous 8×10 print out of it and you’d be hard pressed to guess what camera, or what sensor size, produced it.
I like the snap-back feature which will quickly give me a wider view when I’m at extreme telephoto range. I can reframe, let go of that button, and presto, I’m focused exactly on the spot I wanted.
This crow photo was amazing to me. I could hardly see a black dot in the top of a pine tree that turned out to be this bird. This shot is at maximum zoom or very close to. Stabilization is rated at 5+ stops. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration although a monopod would be helpful.
Living out here in the land of petroglyphs and rock formations, I think I’ll have a great time using this camera. There is a place for it. Will it replace the Nikon Z50? Of course not.
Happy Trails Everyone.
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