Cheers!

The wind is howling and filled with powdery snow flakes landing only fleetingly on the window as I write.  Thus far, winter has provided an enormous variety of opportunities and canvas for art.  The latest was the previous week's snowfall, some of which is amazingly still cradled in the pinon and juniper branches and needles.

The two photographs below, however, feature snow and frost on aspen trees.  There was dense fog in the area when these were made, and thus, the backgrounds are almost monochromatic.

Many of you are or will be on the road or in the air, to join family or friends for the holidays.  May your days be joyous, safe, and warm.  Merry Christmas.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

Winter sunsets

The Lighting of Ledoux Street in Taos is a great street party, officially opening the holiday season.  It is an event where friends and strangers gather in the snow and cold and move from gallery to shop to gallery, catching up and breathing in the crisp air.

These shots were made just as the sun was setting, at the opening of the official lighting festivities three years ago.  The elm tree below was saturated in the last minutes of daylight.

The next two photographs are of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church near Ledoux Street.  The farolitos (sometimes called luminarias) can be seen on the roof parapets.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

Hello, Winter!

Timing is everything, and the weather forecasters had a devil of a time predicting the latest winter storm to arrive in New Mexico.  Since its arrival on Saturday, some nice winter portraits have presented themselves.  I wanted to share a few with you.

Despite the fact that their pollen gives many in the Southwest heck several times of year, junipers have some of the most photogenic bark during any season.

On Sunday morning, branches not only held snow but the most amazing hoar frost.  Instead of being lacy, it attached itself in chunks, like rock salt, on the pinon needles.

The closer I got, the more interesting the details became.

Despite the cold, winter is a great season for photography.  Bundle up.  Tuck the old camera inside your jacket to keep the batteries warm, and head out to shoot!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

Pear play

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thinking about the abundance of culinary delights we sampled over the last week led me to a photographic contemplation of the humble pear.  In many ways, so simple and beautiful, and yet a complicated fruit.  Add to that the concept of perspective, and I had my hands full with camera and instruction manual (yes, I do consult it frequently since I have not memorized it).   My inability to comprehend geometry made the process more than challenging.  All part of a photographer's education.

So here is a shot that although it was made from just slightly above the jar and pear, is definitely listing.

In the next shot, I placed the camera on the table surface and made the photograph from the same level as the honey and pear.

The next two shots involve perspective, which I indicated earlier is much clearer now.  My husband, an architect and weaver, did a series of sketches that helped me understand what was happening between the level of the camera and the relative position of the pears.

Pear in a box.  Almost got it.

Thanks to Andrea for inadvertently supplying material for the photograph - her magical A's Bees honey!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

Brush strokes

One of the elements I love in oil paintings other than the subject matter and the use of color is the brush stroke.  Last week, nature painted our windows with a frost featuring some of the most interesting strokes I have seen.  At first glance, as in the image below, it seems that the frost was composed of connected dots.

But closer examination shows that the dots were actually feathers.

And this is where it really gets good.  These are the original brush strokes - details from middle of the first photograph.  What a painting!

By double clicking on the photographs, you can see even more  detail.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

I

Ab work

Despite the fact that in 1998, I had a photography exhibit at El Gancho Fitness, Swim, and Racquet Club in Santa Fe entitled Strong People: A Face of New Mexico exhibit, this week's blog shows no abs.  The images below, however, required better abdominal muscles than I have, and sent me back to the floor for more crunches.  Some of the most interesting details in nature frequently requires me, as a photographer, to be on the ground, either on my stomach or back.

For the photograph below, I was on my back but had to lift my head, neck, and upper back roughly sixty degrees off the ground, which made my mid-section quiver like mad.  That does not help when one is trying to keep a camera steady!  My apologies, but not being a mycologist, I won't label this lovely.

This shot was made on my stomach, which is considerably easier.

Lichen and moss on trees are complicated and make equally complex studies.

While exploring our world, I do my best to take in the whole picture - at eye level, above me, and below me - and then look for the details.  It doesn't always work, but my eyes are always busy.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

tango lag

New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez proclaimed 29 October through 5 November as New Mexico Tango Week.  Activities included live performances by the tango orchestra Q Tango and dancers at the Kimo Theatre in Albuquerque, as well as the Albuquerque Tango Festival held this weekend.  Having participated in the festival - taking eight classes and dancing in five milongas (tango dances) - I am feeling very happy and content this morning, but a bit tango lagged!  It was such a wonderful weekend that I had to, once again, share some tango photographs with you.

Details of tango stylings by Carrie Field and Mike Malixi, who were part of the For the Love of Tango presentation at the Kimo Theatre in Albuquerque.

It would not be New Mexico without tango on a pickup!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

sent across the pond

Our friend, Victoria, emailed photographs from a friend she had recently visited in Scotland.  So I thought I would bounce a few back to him in this morning's blog.

These were shot during two different trips, one in February when all the inn keepers to a person asked why we were visiting during February, and one in April five years later.  The one thing that may be obvious from these images is the fact that the light is very low.  In a latitude that far north (between 56 and 58 degrees), the sun doesn't rise until 8:30 or so and sets around 3:30 in February, so I had to make the best of those hours.  These were scanned from Fujichrome Velvia slides.

Below is the Glenfinnan Bay of Loch Shiel, in western Scotland, where a monument to Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) was built in 1815.

The light was extraordinary when I took this photograph of the Glenfinnan Viaduct.  I don't recall this but apparently film of the Viaduct was used liberally in the early Harry Potter films.

Low sun is again apparent below in an image made on the Isle of Mull in west central Scotland.

Here's to you and your friends, Peter!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

Backgrounds

In my life-long quest to become a better and more dynamic photographer, I not only have an insatiable appetite for looking at and reading about photography, but I frequently experiment with different elements in order to learn by doing.  The process or the journey helps me really focus on the whole image rather than being a quick draw photographer.

This week, I was pondering backgrounds and how the colors and textures of the backgrounds, as well as the light falling on them, add to the final image.  Pulling out different fabrics, plants, and food items and shooting a small seed head from a Western salsify, also known as goatsbeard (tragopogon dubius), I realized again how much blue is in basic black, how much yellow can be in what my eye perceives as white, and how all the surrounding surfaces add hues to the final product.  This is particularly true in color photography but as you can see in the photographs below, it is also true when the images are layered with a tone.

The backdrop here is a charcoal grey wool vest, and the way the tangle of fibers pop is astonishing.

The backdrop here is a batch of warm, dark roasted coffee beans.  You can see, even with tone applied, that there is a lot of yellow present.

And this was the most lovely accident.  I was preparing other back drops and noticed the light and reflection of the goatsbeard I had just placed on a granite tabletop.  The photograph also makes an interesting study when the image is turned ninety degrees to create a vertical.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

Indian summer

After the rain, snow, and frost that laid its hands on the Rockies earlier this month, I feared all the autumn color would be brought to the ground.  But there are still veins of it, waiting to be explored.  We are experiencing Indian summer at its best.  


According to that great online source of knowledge, Wikipedia, "an Indian summer is a meteorological phenomenon that occurs in the autumn. It refers to a period of considerably above normal temperatures, accompanied by dry and hazy conditions, usually after there has been a killing frost. Depending on latitude and elevation, the phenomenon can occur in the Northern Hemisphere between late September and mid November."  There is also extensive etymology about this dual-word phrase, but the above definition suits the weather we have been experiencing quite nicely.  It is breath taking!


So I must celebrate it with one more blog and another group of photographs.

just a sampling of the excitement still lurking during this Indian Summer!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

    

color of chaos

Even with a dictionary and Thesaurus full of superlatives with which I could describe the colors in the mountains this autumn, I find myself incredibly tongue-tied.  The mountains are full of reds, salmons, corals, yellows, and golds in a chaotic and gaudy tangle of color, contrasted with forest primeval mystery and Maxfield Parrish fantasies.  Quite frankly, I cannot remember an autumn this spectacular, and with luck, all of you were able to witness it.  If not, here are a few shots to let you sample the flavors.  Because many of the hues are so rich and bold, I will add a photographer's note.  NONE of the colors in any of these images has been enhanced!

This photograph includes multiple layers of color, within stands of aspen and the oaks surrounding them, including bare aspen in the background which fell prey to and were stripped by caterpillars.  These failed to produce new leaves during the season.

By clicking on the image below, you can enlarge it enough to see the red scrub oak in the background.  They are really putting on a show this year!

A small forest of scrub oak trees doing their best to make me suck air at high altitude...

...followed by a weekend surprise at our house!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

larkspur dance

During a summer such as the one we just experienced, when the weather is anything but "normal", odd things happen.  Animals don't have enough to eat and drift with the mission of finding food and water.  Migrating birds arrive and depart before their normal food sources appear on the scene.  And sometimes, we get a wondrous extension of the blooming and growing season.

Normally, the larkspurs pictured below would have long ago finished their final bloom.  But I can't complain.  This year, they just keep blooming, with one of the true blues in the flower world.  Photographically, blue is really tough.  Thus far, the best way I have found to shoot it is in deep shade or filtered, evenly distributed light.

flower buds

Autumn arrived officially on Friday.  Although - like the animals and flowers - trees in the high country haven't quite begun their transition, there is plenty of shooting to be done.  With luck, I might meet some of you out there with cameras in hand.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

volunteers

Transition is upon us.  Farmers and gardeners in northern New Mexico are deep into harvest season, and thanks to a wide variety of birds and animals. there are always lots of volunteers in and around the gardens and fields.  Arugula, lettuce, and spinach are popping up all over this year and in the oddest places, including the road.  It depends on your outlook whether these are considered weeds or simply volunteers.

I am fairly certain a bird of some sort is responsible for the beauties below.  The first is millet that pops up freely from a Santa Fe bird seed mix we use.  The other is a sunflower, that most likely is also part of the mix.

and so the cycle of life continues

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

Yin and Yang or Pup Pup and the Dark Side

Nothing like cool, rainy weather to bring creatures together, at least for a bit.  These two coyote puppies that are rapidly becoming teenagers and acting like it, have been regular visitors during the past several weeks.  One, by virtue of the wretched human (and our) propensity to anthropomorphize animals, we called Gigi.  We have since discovered he had slightly different equipment hidden under all the puppy fur. Thus, Gigi has become Pup Pup.  He is quite obviously not the alpha male.  We call the other puppy "The Dark Side".  The Dark Side seems to be a bully, or he could just be a perfect example of Darwin's survival of the fittest.  Regardless, when the two of them want to keep warm, they resort to each other's company.

getting settled

nap time

always on the alert

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

  

secrets of the garden

Nurseries in New Mexico carry massive numbers of sunny side up and drought-tolerant plants, and rightly so.  They are the ones that have the most success in this land of little rain.  But occasionally, one needs vegetation for the shady areas created by the north side of a house which blocks the sun for certain portions of the day.  In that cool shade are lovely garden secrets.

Cosmos leaves

Grass against adobe

Wisteria vine

Because the light is isolated and being reflected from a number of different sources, as might be the case using multiple soft boxes, the effect can be quite luscious.  Poke around your garden with camera in hand.  It is quite rewarding!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

memories

While exploring a natural or human-made landscape, I often wonder how it looked years, decades, or centuries in the past.  What was there?  Was it appreciably different than it is today?  Frequently, one comes upon objects or buildings from the human past and they make me wonder what memories are instilled therein.  It is fairly easy to create your own script but what really happened?  Adventures, love, broken dreams, or lives vigorously lived?  Below are more shots from the recent photo fellow photographer, Steve Immel (some of his work appears in a group show at the Taos Inn as part of a group show "Photographs of Light Landscape and Legend" running from 1 September and throughout October) and I took in northern New Mexico.

Jeep near Tres Piedras

Adobe house near Mogote, Colorado

Church facade after fire, Las Mesitas Catholic Cemetery, Colorado

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image