New Blog

Hi ~

Please visit my new blog - www.studio39designs.blogspot.com.  It's where all my latest photography and mixed media collage art can be found!

Snowy Mountain Sunrise

Yesterday morning when I woke up, I raised up the shades and saw a snowy winter storm!  Except for the snow, not much else was visible.  Certainly, not the mountains!  What a difference a day makes - this morning, we have a lovely sunrise highlighting snowy mountains.  I figured I better get these images now, as snow tends to melt quickly here.  The image above is somewhat pastel and soft, don't you think?  A gentle start to the day.

Here, the sun is a bit stronger and is really highlighting the San Pedro Mountains which are just to the north of us.  If you look closely, at the bottom of the image, you can see the runway that runs just out from our home!

I shifted my view a bit here, focusing on what I think of as "our mountain", South Mountain.  This is one of my favorite views from our back patio, as it takes in our mountain as well as the horse corral of our friends & neighbors, Ed & Teri.  Too bad Patches and/or Jazz weren't at this end of the corral.  Would have made the image even more perfect!

I just loved the warm look of the sunrise as it seems to rest on and highlight South Mountain, coupled with the coolness of the sky & shape of the clouds above it.  It just seems so peaceful and majestic.  No wonder we love living here!

Enjoy!

Yesterdays in Black & White

Here are a couple of other images that I shot on Saturday.  I processed these as black & white images, which really seemed to speak to the time and place and sense of history they inspire.

Enjoy!

Yesterdays

On Saturday, I  took a drive along Old Route 66 right here in town.  I had seen an old car next to an equally old gas pump several times, and decided to photograph it.  The above photo is an HDR enhanced photo of it, accentuating the coloring of the rusty spots on both the car and the pump.  The tires on the truck are completely disintegrated and look like threads hanging onto the tire rim.

A little further down the road, I noticed the front of an old barn or shack of some sort that's in the process of falling completely over, but is sort of propped up by the debris from the other 3 walls.  Again, I used HDR to enhance the image and make it appear to be somewhat like a painting.  It seems ironic that now that I've photographed it, this barn/shack has somewhat of a legacy, and will continue to exist even after it totally collapses, while the people who once used or lived there are long gone.

Not far from the barn/shack, walking down the same dirt road, I noticed the nice lines created by the barbed wire fence, the dirt road I was walking down, and, off in the upper left corner, the lines created by the highway built to replace Old Route 66.  This image just speaks to the nostalgia of yesterday and today.

Enjoy!

A Few Things to be Thankful For

Just a few things to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving.......brilliant sunsets......

 

...pastel sunsets.....

 

...breath-taking sunrises....

 

.....sunrises from bed.....

 

 

Enjoy!

First Dusting

This morning we woke up to our first dusting of snow!  As you can see from the above photo, it truly was a dusting - nothing to really stick for any period of time, and it didn't even cover the entire ground.  Also, if you check out the mountain tops, you can see it was just a little dusting!

Closer to home, here's an image of our yucca and other bushes growing in our front garden.  Good thing I took this photo when I first woke up.  Within a couple of hours, the snow was pretty much gone!

On a whimsical note, here's our pilot themed yard art.  Our little flying kitties have also had a dusting!!

Enjoy!

Late Fall Colors on Sandia Crest Woodsy Trail

There was another path along the Sandia Crest Trail, a more woodsy trail off the actual crest of the mountain.  I like the way the sun seems to glisten off the remaining leaves of the wild grass fronds.  There's a delicate feel to these leaves - yet they are still on the branches of the stems, so how delicate can they be?  I sort of feel like it's speaking to the strength each one of us possesses.

Here's another photo of some of the remaining leaves still on the stem.  It just spoke to me as a lovely profile photo of late fall.  Again, I love the way the sun reflects off the leaves, and they way the background plays with the leaves in the foreground, in terms of the overall pattern of the photo.

I don't generally take photos of dandelions gone to seed, but for some reason, this particular "flower" appealed to me.  Again, I guess it's the inconsistency between the delicacy of the "fuzz" of the dandelion, and the strength it takes to still be hanging on!  I think the blank space on the left of the photo creates a nice balance.  Also, it would make a great spot for a quote - I have to look for an appropriate one!

And, finally, as I walked along the woodsy trail and looked down, I saw the last piece of fall color, this red leaf laying among rocks and other brown leaves.  A gentle good-bye of the season, and a promise to return next year.

Enjoy!