water crisis

There is good news and bad news from the western United States this morning.  For American football fans, particularly those following the Broncos and the Seahawks, the Superbowl will feature two teams from the west.  Not being a fan myself, I don't know how long it has been since that has happened, but surely there is much joy in both Denver and Seattle today.  While all the celebrations and recaps continue, the water situation in most parts of the west is becoming increasingly dire.  Several friends made trips to California in the past month and they have never seen it that brown and dry.  For coastal parts of the state, this is the time of year when the landscape could be described as looking like Ireland, filled with Kelly green grass and lovely, lush oaks dotting the hills.  Although you cannot convince climate change naysayers, particularly those in the midwest and East who have just been through an extremely wet and very cold period, that the conditions are part of climate change, but they are.  Governor Jerry Brown declared a water emergency this week, and aerial photographs of the snowpack and normal conditions speak the truth.  This is going to be a tough year.  Am I the only one thinking about moving water from extremely wet areas to the dry areas?  Oil and natural gas are shipped by pipeline, why not water?  Of course, that really is not the answer.

The irony and good news in all of this is that one part of California is not in drought - the Mojave Desert.  Of course, all things are relative and it is a desert, but landscape photographers may want to have their cameras in hand for photographing the deserts of California and Arizona because 2014 may well be a stellar year for wildflowers.  It is a guessing game, but here are a few shots from years past to whet your appetites!  They are third generation - from slides to prints to scan - but still provide some visual warmth and juice.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

gifts

Commercialism has made the Christmas season a time of unbridled gift giving, particularly in America.  But gifts comes in all shapes and sizes.  Like children playing with the box in which a particular gift came, adults revel in time spent with family and friends, and cooking, creating, and growing things for later presentation. I, personally, love it all - giving and receiving - and as you know, spend time photographing these special gifts.

Nearly thirty years ago, a friend gave us some delectable morsels called bourbon balls.  In the years since, I have adjusted the recipe in a number of ways, and quadruple the recipe in order to make multiple batches.  Here are early rum balls in progress.

This year, my sister gave the gift of challenge and imagination to my husband with the adult version of Legos.  One of Lego's architectural artists Rok Zgalin Kobe brought architect Frank Lloyd Wright's blueprint of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo to life.  I just noticed on the website that it took a 14 year old six hours to build it.  It took my resident architect ten hours to complete, which I (totally lacking the geometry part of the brain) thought was excellent.  He says "The next time you need a problem solved, call your local 14 year old!"

Big Al had a bumper crop of fruit and brought some to New Mexico from his home in the Palm Springs, California area.  I can't tell you how refreshing it is to see and eat grapefruit and lemons grown in someone's yard and brought directly to northern New Mexico.  It is a little like receiving gardening catalogs at this time of year.  Aren't they beauties?  

I cannot end 2013 without thanking each and every one of you for reading my blog, and commenting throughout the year.  May 2014 be filled with good health, creativity, joy, and love! 

until next Monday (and next year)

DB

a passion of the image

California rhythm

A family wedding is a good reason for a creative driving, photography, and food procurement trip.  Last week, we crossed the great Mojave Desert and central California on our way to Los Gatos and did all of the above.  I find it impossible to get over the fact that California must be producing a huge part of the world's food supply.  Rows of crops and trees creating what could be called California rhythm go on for hundreds of miles up the central valley, yielding to wine grapes along the coast and both west and east of the Pacific Coast range.  Cabbage, brussel sprouts, assorted lettuce, artichokes, tomatoes, and other things that we were unable to identify as part of fast moving traffic, are being harvested now.  The grapes have already been harvested, but that doesn't diminish the graceful rows of vines.  The nets which protect the grapes from bird predation are rolled on top and the length of the vines.  These vines and the wine tanks below are at Eberle Vineyards near Paso Robles.

Vina Robles wine rack

How do I photograph wedding flowers?  Let me count the ways for next week's blog.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

 

fantasy in green

What turns an every day object or scene into a fantasy?  The human imagination can run wild with almost anything.  The grass at Point Reyes National Seashore in these photographs is heavy with moisture.  The clarity and transparency of the water beads can take you on a journey of their own.
  

But what is beyond the blades of green, in the shadows?  What surprises are hidden?  Do we dare part the grass?  Or is it just a fantasy?

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

Happy Anniversary, Golden Gate!

Memorial Day was established after the American Civil War, and originally honored only Union soldiers, but it eventually was extended to all fallen soldiers.  I am pleased that more attention is being given to these soldiers and their families.

What I had neither read nor heard about until yesterday, due to the general "east of the Mississippi" news slant, is that this is also the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge spanning the "Golden Gate"- the entry to San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean.  Ansel Adams took many photographs of the Golden Gate before bridge construction began in 1933, during construction, and after the icon was complete.  My guess would be that billions of photographs have featured the "international orange" mass of steel, which continues to be awe-inspiring and photogenic.

Although I have photographed the bridge a number of times from different angles, and at different times of day and year, it is always a thrilling experience of which I never tire.

This series of photographs were made with Fujichrome Velvia positive film and scanned. The first image is of the bridge wearing its fog and patriotic garb, shot from Fort Point.

Bridge tower shot from the pedestrian walkway

Bridge truss work at sunset, shot from Fort Point

In the 1950s, banks and other financial institutions published books on local scenery and culture.  With luck through my husband's family, I have a copy of a comb-bound, 11" x 14" 1954 publication from the American Trust Company of San Francisco titled The Pageant of History in Northern California by Ansel Adams with text by Nancy Newhall.   It features black and white photographs of the state - everything from the Golden Gate Bridge to vineyards, oaks, factories, and churches- and is one of the reasons why photography is important.  The image captures a moment in time that will never be duplicated.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image 

Doors

As we slowly shift seasons from winter to spring, with the change that is constant in life, I think of doors and the allegories they represent.

Doors of some sort have been used by humans (and other animals) to keep the cold and heat in or out, to protect food and material goods, and to keep predators from entering.  Doors hold mystery and uncertainty, as in reality, one does not know what lies beyond a strange door.  In movies, protagonists are locking doors behind them, but frequently leave doors open, which invariably allows the villain to enter.  In modern society, one of the most common references or sayings is "one door closes and another opens."   So doors also represent excitement and possibilities.

Every time I photograph a door, a story unfolds in my mind and I want to enter.  The first two are from beautiful Brugge or Bruges (Dutch and French spellings), in Belgium.

I was really mystified by the door below on the Greek island of Crete.  

The door at the Japanese Tea Gardens in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park and the doorway in Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico are incredible demonstrations of modern and ancient form and function.

A wooden doorway at Fort Ross State Historic Park in northern California, opens to a magnificent view of the Pacific Ocean.

What stories doors hold!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image