fleeting beauty

Every time we watched the news this week, our hearts sank.  It would be easy to use this blog as a political forum, and at times like these, it seems that would be a more significant and helpful use of cyber space.  The last thing I want to do is be a purveyor of fluff.  But perhaps there is also a desire for beauty, however fleeting.  Thus, the day's blog features beauty that presented itself during the past few days.

I could say the dog ate my homework and that is why the blog is a bit late this morning.  But in actuality, I was chasing the most perfect specimen of swallowtail butterfly I have ever seen around the garden.  Flying from one flower to another, the swallowtail made it challenging for me to photograph the full wing span using my 70-200 mm lens.

With the recent rains, the cushion cacti have exploded into bloom on the mesa.  The blooms only last  a day and I found I had to train my eyes to look across the landscape to see them.  They are everywhere.

In bright sunshine, the blooms are almost like fuchsia on fire.

May every single person on our fragile and endangered planet be able to catch a bit of beauty this week, fleeting or otherwise.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

following the bloom

There is so much happening in the garden and landscape right now that I hope you will indulge me in one more blog featuring flowers.  Despite the year's relative lack of precipitation, which to date is just above three inches, some of it fell at the perfect time for wildflowers to take note and make a grand appearance.  Along with the blue flax, gaillardia seeds were part of a wildflower mix used to recover areas along New Mexico highways.

The gaillardia are making quite the splash and butterflies have taken notice.

The spits and spats of rain that have fallen also helped the garden flowers, such as this bloom on a clematis vine.

Although the blue flax is on the wane, there are still some jewels in the mix.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

one Earth

There are so many things indicating we live in a closed planetary system, on one Earth.  Frequently people on one side of the planet will feel the effects of something happening thousands of miles away.  One spring several years ago, it was constantly dusty all over New Mexico and much of the brown dense dust was from western Africa.  On some moister than normal mornings, we frequently catch smells from large urban areas such as Houston or Los Angeles, depending on the direction of the wind. Last night, we smelled smoke.  Looking west, there was obviously a fire burning somewhere.  It is in the Four Corners area, near Assayii Lake and the community of Crystal on the Navajo Nation.

Wind is the key, isn't it?  I am uncertain as to whether scientists and researchers have the complete picture as to why, when, and where winds behave in the way they do, but they are getting close.  The springs winds that are almost constant in New Mexico contribute to the turnover of layers in any given lake, rejuvenating and mixing nutrients.

Why we are having winds into the heart of June is a question for the meteorologists, but the fact that cold fronts similar to those occurring in winter, are still effecting our weather in New Mexico.  And thus the wind is with us.  Normally, it is fairly calm in summer, with the exception of winds associated with thunderstorms.  I think it is safe to say that what we think of as "normal" is rapidly changing.  Into what, is the question.

This self-portrait shows how I both looked and felt on a similar windy day at Great Sand Dunes.

The horizantal grasses below are much more flexible than I am, holding on to their own in a much different way.

until next week,

DB

a passion for the image

gentle

For much of the United States (and the world for that matter) last week was a wild ride, not only politically, but when it comes to weather.  Some areas had soaking and flooding rains as well as tornadoes and waterspouts, while others had scorching heat and relentless dust.  We had spits and spurts of rain, lightning and thunder.  The wind was our constant friend.  Despite it all, the lettuce and spinach in the raised beds are content and growing, and the tomatoes are doing their best, even with the low of 37 degrees Fahrenheit this morning.

This morning's blog is a reflection of the need to seek gentleness in nature.  I find these three images particularly easy on the eyes and soul.  The first is a shot of columbines near Taos Ski Valley.

I never tire of viewing grass collecting dew.

water lily at Sunrise Springs, south of Santa Fe

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

return to the dance floor

This morning, I return to the dance floor at Old Martina's Hall in Ranchos de Taos where I photographed beautiful Paloma Villa Lobos in April.  Her focus and enjoyment of Argentine tango are evident in these photographs.  She has a look that cannot be duplicated.  The first image is of Paloma with her father, Steve.

Paloma is dancing with my husband, Fred, in this shot.  The walls and interiors at Old Martina's are perfect backdrops, and courtesy of east, west, and south windows, the light is always interesting and almost perfect.

E. M. Malixi of Taos Tango, takes his turn with Paloma at the milonga or tango dance.

Thanks Paloma, Steve, Fred, and Mike!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

layers

12 May 2014.   The calendar on the wall displays a photograph of lush, green lady ferns beside a stream in Banning State Park, Minnesota.  But here on the mesa, there is snow on the windows and the sky is bleak.  Snow in May is not without precedent.  Friends of ours from Colorado claim that the most terrifying drive of their 70+ years was when they left our house some years ago, again in May, making their way over U. S. Highway 64 from Tres Piedras to Tierra Amarilla.  The road is narrow, and drop offs occasionally are not for the faint of heart.  In blinding snow, hold on for dear life.  As they did.  The good news about snow in May and fire season, is that moisture of any kind is welcome, and the high winds have diminished, even if temporarily.

Given that backdrop, I turn to photographs in bright sunshine - layers of earth.  Not being a geologist, I cannot tell you the depths nor the ages of the layers, but instead use the photographs as a demonstration of visual beauty and interest.

The first is of a series of dunes at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Reserve in southern Colorado.  The light and dunes constantly change, providing endless photographic possibilities.  I love the way clouds alter the look of the dunes.

Echo Amphitheatre near Abiquiu has distinct geological layers that are stunning in color and shape.

Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument contains passageways through the layers of sandstone, waiting to be discovered.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

Kings of Bling

The first of May - May Day - was Thursday.  In many parts of the world it is considered Labor Day or International Workers' Day, a day celebrating the value of workers, their contributions, and the memories of those who have perished on the job.  There were parades but also riots and far too many deaths from the African continent to the broader Middle East and the Ukraine.

Nature somehow overcomes human violence and destruction in any way it can.  And thus, spring continued to emerge this week in the northern hemisphere.  In addition to two different types of hummingbirds that have already arrived here - the black chinned and broadtail - the evening and black-headed grosbeaks revealed their presence almost like clockwork.  And the King of Bling of the mesa - the western tanager - made his seasonal debut.  Such a stunning color combination is almost like a painter's palette.  If I am very good, patient, and diligent, some photographs of these flamboyant and wonderful dressers may appear in a future blog.

Until then, the painter's palette and the weaver's yarn will need to suffice.  Here is painter Steve Baumann's, ready to be applied to one of his most recent pieces of the Grand Canyon.

This is a selection of churro wool, dyed by Connie Taylor, Bayeta Classic Sheep and Wool, for use in rugs by weaver Fred Black.

It is hard to beat the color of this poppy courtesy of nature.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

in honor of...

...photographers, collectors, historians and writers.  This week, the work is not mine, but that of many who came before today's photographers and photo documentarians contained in a newly released beautiful book titled Lens on the Texas Frontier by Lawrence T. Jones III.  Published by Texas A&M University Press, this volume features historical photographs extensively researched, and blends them in context with enough background and scholarly information to provide a wonderful read.  It reiterates how complicated and tenuous photography was in the 19th century for the intrepid photographers who came to Texas and set up shops, or did itinerant work, traveling from farms to small towns and cities making daguerreotypes, then ambrotypes and tintypes before film came to make the art much less precarious and more extensive.  As it was, the number of photographers drifting from town to town or establishing studios was impressive.  I cannot imagine hauling a wagon full of silver-coated copper, tin, lead, or glass plates, and trying to keep them clean and out of the light before exposure.  These early artists had to be tenacious.  This tenacity coupled with ample passion for historic photography was also given to the collection process by Larry Jones over a 30+ year period.

Lens on the Texas Frontier by Lawrence T. Jones III and Rug # 228 by Fred Black

The book is divided into sections - first documenting Texas history and early Texas photography from 1843-1900 - followed by photographs in the collection now housed at the DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University.  A chronology that begins with Cased Images including daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes proceeds into Cartes de Visite, stereographs, cabinet cards, and large format photographs providing insight into frontier life as it was across the state.

Preceeding the list of formerly unlisted photographers (those not included in three previous sources  featuring Texas photographers), and the appendix of Carte de Visite photographic imprints (the photographers identifying marks or trademarks on the reverse of the cards, some of which were quite elaborate), there is a wonderful chapter titled "On Collectors and Collecting."

In Jones' words:

"As one becomes more experienced as a collector, one should keep in mind that there always will be something fresh and new coming in your direction.  How many times have I heard another collector make the statement 'There is no end to it?'  Yet, truer words were never spoken when it comes to collecting antiquities of any kind, including vintage photography.

It would be a terrible mistake for a fledgling collector to look at this book and think that all of the great vintage Texas photographs have been collected.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Real Texas photographic treasures remain to be found, and the best of them come directly from families whose members still possess the precious daguerreotypes and ambrotypes of their ancestors."

Thanks to Larry and Lens on the Frontier, I now know that my husband and I are in possession of a great number of Carte de Visite family photographs.  My hope is that with the publication of this book and research done through the collection at the DeGolyer Libary, some of the photographs (the subjects and photographers of which are not identified) will now be identified by a new generation of family members or collectors and historians.

Congratulations, Larry!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

electrical pasta

From time to time, "progress" requires change in the technical parts of a home or business.  I recall great (and sometimes justified) trauma while working for the state and city when computers systems or software changed.  There have been massive improvements made, but change stirs that limbo feeling in most, leaving one just a bit unsettled until normalcy returns. Thus, this email will be quick and dirty while a technician changes and updates our internet service, another part of spring cleaning.  The phoebes, broad-tailed and black chinned hummingbirds, and the blue birds will really feel it as we poke around in their nesting areas.

So here's to all the men and women out in the field who enable us to use some of the wonderful technology available these days!  Below is a photograph I took while capturing many of the individuals who built the Farmington Public Library between roughly 2003 and 2005.  Fred Cessna has an amazing face!  For the majority of the project, I used a Mamiya 1 3/4 x 2 1/4 format camera loaded with Ilford 400 HP5 Plus black and white film.  This image was scanned from a print I made on Ilford paper.

Also this week, I want to mention a wonderful workshop that will be offered in Taos by an incredible artist of many media, Gail Goodwin.  Check the Great Stuff This Week sidebar for information.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

celebrations

Passover, Easter, spring, birthdays, snow, births, passings.  All things that we humans celebrate.  Nature opens and gives us gifts with which to commemorate, such as these narcissus.

In the first photograph, snow is apparent in the lower right hand corner, a welcome sight on the dry mesa.

As a photographer, I have always appreciated even overcast for shooting environmental portraits, but that same sky is also excellent for flower closeups, providing a most interesting backdrop.

Thanks to Ingrid and Robert for these lovely spring surprises!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

signs of spring

To many, spring begins with flowering bulbs and fruit trees bubbling with blossoms.  I have been known to photograph these things with an indescribable joy in my heart.  But as is typical in northern New Mexico, more often than not, the fruit trees bloom, and just when they are poised for the first stages of fruit production, a late frost lays over the land, dashing the hopes of fruit ranchers and enthusiastic foodies alike.

But besides flowers and taxes, a sure sign of spring is really interesting weather, and we in United States, have certainly had our share this week.  For weather geeks, the thin and powerful whips of thunderstorm lines reaching from southern Mexico almost to the Canadian border, is definitely a signal that spring is here in earnest.  The radar-indicated colors range from green and yellow, to orange, bright red, and even magenta.  One must hope that most people under the magenta pools are in their basements or safe rooms because there is a powerful brew in the sky ready to stir the pot.  Although not as dramatic as some we have seen in other locales, these cumulonimbus mammatus or "mama" clouds graced us with their drama, but fortunately not a violent result.

I love the understated caution included in the Wikipedia description of these types of cloud formations.

"Due to the intensely sheared environment in which mammatus form, aviators are strongly cautioned to avoid cumulonimbus with mammatus."  Keep safe!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

ghosts of the dance

An immensely talented, delightful young Argentine couple have been in Taos for the last two weeks, dancing mind-boggling performances, and presenting workshops.  The core of every single participant feels like it has been given a world-class workout!  Although they are now headed to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico for a tango festival, Marina Kenny and Guillermo Cerneaz left our community with wonderful memories.

During a milonga (tango dance) at Old Martina's Hall in Ranchos de Taos on Saturday evening, Guillermo and Marina were like hovercraft, flowing over the floor with astonishing cleanness and ease.  Using my smaller Nikon, I was playing around with flash and without flash.  These "ghost images" are obviously made without the assistance of flash, which produced some interesting blurs and day-glo colors from the assorted types of lights in the room.

Thanks to Carrie Field and Mike Malixi of Taos Tango for bringing them here and cultivating the tango community in Taos.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the images

Rio Grande abstractions

Fellow photographer Steve Immel and I spent a morning photographing in and around the Rio Grande Gorge this week.  The sky was a little murky, as if smoke had drifted into New Mexico from a wildfire somewhere.  Rather than attempt to tweak out good photographs under those conditions, we photographed the river itself.  And the good old Rio, although not full, has a lot of runoff in it, enough to make it very cantankerous and noisy.  It was, in a word, mesmerizing.  I could have stood photographing it in detail all day.  Here are some abstracts.  Clicking on each image makes it slightly larger and reveals more detail.

The thrashing and foaming of the water as it crashes into volcanic boulders is wondrous, and emphasizes the sheer power of water.  The pattern of bubbles on the center rock is like a delicate suit of armor, each bubble neatly linked to the next but ready to self-destruct at any moment.

When I look at this photograph, I can almost hear and smell El Rio Grande, New Mexico's life line.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

hanging on

Many people around the world feel that winter has taken them on a most unwanted roller coaster ride - whether the conditions include snow, ice, rain, flooding, more flooding, drought, wind, or a combination - the winter of extremes has hit hard.  And the hits keep coming.  It has left some hanging on for dear life, wondering what is coming next.

These trees reflect the extreme conditions in which they have existed for probably hundreds of years.  They hang on because that is in their nature.  It is the way of nature.

The first survivor in the group is a bristlecone pine in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.  The image was made using Kodachrome 25 slide/transparency film, one of my favorites, and scanned.

A digital image of a Ponderosa pine in El Malpais National Monument

Finally, another slide made with Fujichrome Velvia film, of a Monterey cypress near Carmel, California. 

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

Valentine's Day, part deux

You know me well enough by now that you also are aware of the fact that almost anything you give me will often be photographed in some fashion, and that some of those photographs will appear on my Monday blog.  So this morning, I lift my glass to Cristina and Ben who brought a lovely flower arrangement when they came for brunch last week.

Despite their size and perhaps because of it, the Gerber daisies are the most delicate, and I knew they would need to be photographed first.  Here they are in all their glory.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

playing with my food

It all started this week while my head was still pondering historic family photographs.  That project will appear in my blog periodically, but other photographic work pops up out of the shadows like gophers on a warm day in winter.

For example, we drove to Arroyo Seco to see the current location of Weaving Southwest and deliver two of Fred's rugs.  Talking with owner Teresa Loveless about product photography lead to a discussion about color and achieving close to true color without the benefit of studio lighting and backdrops.  Which naturally lead to my shooting several shades of purple and blue fiber under different conditions and using available backdrops.  Which, believe it or not, lead to playing with my food.  Because, photography is all about the light, whether the subject is wool or cauliflower.

Digital cameras have numerous settings for the wide variety of artificial light available today but using a particular setting assumes that only one type of bulb is being used.  Otherwise, you pretty much have to experiment and take lots of test shots, or make a wild-eyed, hairy-rumped guess and deal with the consequences later.

Back to cauliflower.  It was a fun ride photographing the humble vegetable, in all its alien weirdness.  The head looks like a brain with phantom leaves protruding from it, and the cross section has the appearance of some creature from the depths of the ocean or what we think of as deep space.

The image below was made outside with the benefit of southern, eastern, and northern light, and computer filtered.

This is the sort of thing used to frighten small children in haunted houses and during monster movies!

But the finished product - a curried cauliflower soup -  is divine!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

  

history

It is a new year, packed with potential.  Opportunities abound, and, if you are like me, you want to dive right into the pool of possibilities.  Given the substance of my I Ching prediction for the year, I will first do some serious photographic housekeeping.

Fred and I brought a tub full of genealogy material and photographs from his family back from our October trip. Dating from the late 1700s to the 1980s, the material is endlessly fascinating, holding revelations and mysteries.  Some of the photographs are unmarked, short of the trademarks from the photography studios in Edinburgh, Scotland, where they were made.  Given the myriad of studio names, there must have been one on every street corner.  In all the photographs, I have found only two that were made in the same studio.  Even more intriguing is that fact that some of these same studios remain in operation today, being run by a fourth generation!

Many of the prints, despite being over one hundred years old and not kept under ideal conditions, are remarkably well preserved.  Yellow, yes, but the originals probably contained lots of silver and were very well fixed in the darkroom.  The image below is one of the oldest of the group, and was also one that was without identification.  We now know these were great, great grandparents.

Great aunt Kate

Great grandfather Andrew

None of these people were wealthy - char women, coachmen, cabinet makers - but to a person, they dressed in their best, and purchased the services of a studio photographer to document who they were at the time.  Pondering all of this, it must have been a true cultural revolution, bringing photographs to the masses who were theretofore unable to have professional oils painted or drawings made.  Today, smart phones have replaced the corner photo studio, which is wonderful.  But therein also lies a problem.  Data is collected and shed with the click of a button, leaving people as a series of 0s and 1s, and worse yet, unidentified.  Metadata is grand but will the format be readable after the next technological evolution?

Thus, I open the year with a reminder to myself and everyone that digital images should be made into prints on archival paper with archival inks, the prints given clear identification to include full name, place and date it was made, and placed in archival sleeves.  Perhaps not all, but many in future generations will seek information about who they are from their past.  Will it be there?

My thanks to Larry Jones, photographic historian and collector, and Donna Coates, archivist, for giving me a swift kick to begin the process of identifying and organizing photographs -  historic and recent. 

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