on the road

One of the things that living in a rural area does for you is heighten your senses, including hearing.  Last week, we could tell that August had arrived.  It is a time during which many people with children decide to take a last trip or jaunt along the highways and byways before the beginning of school.  The highway noise confirmed that.  In a way, it is friendly.  Americans relish the freedom to hop in an automobile and take a road trip, and many of you may be doing just that as summer transitions into the commercially rendered "back to school" season.

In late 1999, a group of five or six friends took a road trip along the old Route 66 through New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma.  We stopped at nearly every crazy tourist spot.  I found this gas station/early era convenience store of particular visual interest.  At that point I thought, "I will remember where I took this" and did not bother to mark the transparency image below, one of the deadly sins photographers can commit.  I suspect it is in the Texas panhandle.

This is a lineup of classic Chevrolet sedans, circa 1955/56 and a Chevy Nomad, transporting a wedding party to the reception.  I was shooting out the window of another vehicle.  Thanks to Earle Williams and his staff at Williams Classic Chassis Works for the detail and body work on the vehicles.  Added bonus - check out the 2003 gas prices in the Pomona, California area.

  

Naturally, I could not neglect the desire to hop on a motorcycle and hit the road.

Wherever the road takes you this week, enjoy the ride!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

the yellow season

The second clutch of Say's phoebes have fledged and are busy bulking up for their flight south, the hummingbird numbers peaked at 315 this year, and a group of at least one hundred nighthawks circled, gathering insects before an approaching storm.  It was a week of subtle but noticeable changes in the weather.  Yellow began to dot the landscape, in the form of both cultivated flowers and native plants, and I want to share some of the lovely shades with you.

When I was photographing the day lilies, I realized that the inside structure looks decidedly like some of the sandstone slot canyons of the west.  Perhaps a stretch of my imagination but fascinating.

Strange that I never noticed the crenulation of three of the petals prior to this year.  That happens when you pull out the camera and really look.

Growing along the highways of northern New Mexico is a wide variety of wildflowers at this point, including the sunflower.  I love this particular tangle accompanied by some sky drama.

The group below seemed particularly friendly.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image