First snow of the season

We really weren't ready for snow before the end of October. I mean, really weren't. Between that and some work related frustrations, got a bit bummed out. But, we took ourselves into town and could not help but notice the beautiful views along the way. It will likely warm up again before too long, and we will have the on again/ off again winter like we had last year when we arrived.

Truck and Barn

Can't very well pass up a classic view like this one now can I ? It took a lot more to get this shot than you might think. A lot of post processing, sometimes it comes easily, this time it didn't.

Controlled Burn

Controlled burn is the title of this photo. I'm pretty sure that nobody will buy this one to hang on the wall. Not that I didn't spend a lot of time and effort getting the colors and tones the way that I wanted. It's a successful piece and I'm proud of it. But I don't expect to be told how "pretty" it is. Being stuck out in the desert is something of a "controlled burn" for Sheryl and I. It hurt the counseling practice, it took me out of an "easy shooting" environment, coastal Santa Cruz, California where I could get good scenic shots every day if I half tried. But the "burn" has brought about a lot of change and positive results too. We basically live at an artist's and writer's retreat-- every day, all the time. If there is something good to come of it it comes from us. There is good to come of it.

Cleared for grazing.

I've been wanting to get a shot of this field for a long time. All the juniper trees have been cleared long ago, torn out by the roots and left lying there. It's a shame, and a practice which I think is no longer utilized out here, but the view remains. So we were driving by around sunset with the strange cloud formation above it and I stopped to set up the camera. Oh yeah, and there was a line of smoke across the whole horizon, so the lighting conditions were strange and HDR photography tends to heighten that effect.

Backyard

Shot this photo in Taylor the other day. Worked on it for quite awhile getting the tones and colors the way that I wanted them.

More photos from New Mexico

Oh but this one (above ) is local to Arizona. Just a night shot where I used a 30 second exposure. Moonless night but just after sunset so there was still some light in the sky. This is unretouched and I think I shot it at about F7. Not a serious art piece, just goofing around. The strangest part about this shot is not visible within the frame; that Sheryl asked me, just for kicks, what if she walked through the shot, real slow. She did, very slowly and even stopped over by the stairs near the middle light. Nothing, she's completely invisible.

This one is in New Mexico as is the one below. I took a previous shot of this on a different day from a different angle. I really like it. It's available for sale but we're coming to the conclusion that showcasing these photos at 600 pixels or 650 pixels across just does not cut it. Since I've been a victim of photo theft, I'm leery of showing larger works online. I hate doing watermarks.
I am not be above using the invisible kind which track the file all over the Internet, wherever it may wander. I'm also not finding Imagekind to be a successful venue for selling my work. We hear that the print quality is great.

This here symbol, it's a sun symbol, was one of few things we saw in Albuquerque with any visual appeal. It's our fault though, because we did not even see the downtown. ALBQ is big, real big, sprawls all over the place. We really prefer Santa Fe, or Taos, or Madrid, and some other smaller towns whose names I do not remember. At least if we were in Taos there are high quality and very competitive print shops there. Many options.

Mini Review of the film "Wild Things"

I think it will be interesting to see how the critics treat it. Overall I wasn't crazy about the film, and had only a vague memory of the book. The special effects/dialogue facial expressions of the creatures are amazingly well done. The voice actors are excellent. The colors are intentionally dark, drab and a bit cold. I didn't like the music at all. The "Shaky Cam" technique is employed throughout the film and gets annoying. They absolutely nailed some aspects of childhood. That being said, a lot of the kids in the theater seemed bored except during action sequences. Probably missed the theme altogether. I think it may have missed the mark in that it's neither a kid's film nor an adult's. But that's just my opinion. Parts of it were really great and very true. The main actor who played Max did a good job. I expect the critics may be really split on it and I don't think it will be a wild runaway hit either. A lot of big names put a lot into this film, and it is original amongst whatever genre that it may fit (?) and that's a rare thing.

Chance of rain

I took this photo on the way to New Mexico a while back. I love the look of these huge thunderhead clouds. Hopefully the tiny buildings underneath give a sense of scale.

New images from the down the road.

Got these just down the road in one of the bigger "washes" . We've only seen it as a dry creekbed, but clearly things are happening there.

Out Ridin' Fences

Fence Sunset by Paul Hood

You can click on the photo to see it in my gallery.

Sheryl Karas, Queen of the Desert

Just in case there was a possibility of finding Fall colors around here we've started looking. I don't know what kind of trees these are. The junipers are evergreen. That's Sheryl in the foreground, who has informed that no, this is not the same as visiting New England. The Queen has spoken. God save the Queen. We mean it, man.

Fall Shack

We're keeping an eye out for the Autumn colors which we might otherwise miss out in the desert among the Juniper trees and sage-grass. So, in town you need to be willing to stop and take the shot when you see it. Barely got this one as the sun was dropping rapidly. I probably should have gone back in to town this afternoon, as there are some huge old oak trees going through their cycle.

Americana

I don't know, I think that this one kind of speaks for itself.

Another shot from the road in New Mexico

Most of the time we were so busy traveling that I had to resort to shooting out the windows, or hanging the camera outside and shooting blind like I did in this shot.

Another photo from Taos, New Mexico, Kit Carson's House

Yes indeed, this is actually Kit Carson's old house-- part of it anyway. Obviously I found the cloud formation and the different appearance of the two doors pretty intriguing.

Hay Bales, Mean Trees, Landscapes

A friend of mine, Bob Jenkins, thinks of this as "mean trees" so that's what I'm titling it.

No sooner did I create the mean trees, but that i wanted to do a re-take with more muted color.

In real life, the hay bales scene was "nice" but the light wasn't all that great and the colors were a bit pale. It took a lot to turn it into an interesting photo. I've been avoiding showing my photos large online because theft of images is so prevalent. It's too bad. They all look better when you can really see them. You can click on these photos to se them a bit larger, but sorry, not really big enough to see the details well enough.

I thought that this cloud formation looked like a huge hand. Later on I spotted a strange face in the clouds. This was shot up at Greer, a tiny resort town above Springerville, AZ.

Another shot out the window landscape photo, this one on the way to Springerville, Arizona. Really beautiful country up there.

This one is called "Face Over Taos" and I thought I had already posted it, but maybe not.

Did I mention that I lost my hat at the "Pie-O-Neer" in Pie Town, New Mexico ? Nice place, great pie, really friendly and genuine people. I want to go back. Maybe that's why I left my hat.

Git this one a little while ago near where we currently live. I only recently put it through my post processing and I do like the results.

A puff ball from way back which Sheryl wanted me to take out of the moth balls for one of her projects.