this time of year

November is a limbo month.  A time when autumn is quickly becoming memory, snow is falling in the mountains, and dry leaves cover the river banks.  Below 8,000 feet, it can be wonderfully sublime or completely mad.  This year, it has been stunning, with high temperatures in the 40s and 50s fahrenheit and lows in the 20s.  The complete absence of significant wind during periods between storms is extraordinary, leaving me enchanted but warily curious as to what the winter will bring.

Coastal California, naturally, doesn't really have winter, so harvests there and in the Central Valley continue.  Our friends Sara and Chuck in Santa Barbara, sent us home with avocados and pomegranates from their yard.  Yes, from their yard!  Naturally, I had to photograph the pomegranates, one of my favorite subjects.

Back on the mesa, the strawberries, happily housed in their cold frame, are becoming comfortable in their fall fashions.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

early autumn abstract

Anyone who uses a camera knows the feeling.  You are on a road trip - a weekend outing or an extended jaunt - with the camera close by, thinking "This is such a gorgeous day, I want to capture it to enhance my memory."  Perhaps you have a specific shot in mind, such as aspen or oak wearing their Sunday best, and your plan is to achieve that single shot reliving how beautiful the mountains are in autumn.

I have written about intentional luck here before and when I shoot, I try to think about specific places that "work" for me, look for a few more, or return to see how different the light and conditions are on any particular day.  Such was the case on a return trip from Tierra Wools in Los Ojos near Chama.  Highway 64 on the Tierra Amarilla (west) side of the pass has a small, almost hidden pond or catchment I find fascinating, despite the fact that I have been unable to photograph it the way my mind sees it.  That changed a couple of weeks ago when all elements aligned to create a near impressionistic image.  The time of day wasn't even "proper" according to the rule about shooting between 10 a. m. and 2 p.m.  But the breeze was gentle, creating a design-packed reflection of the still green aspen on at the pond's edge.

Click once on the image to enlarge and see the details nature left.  I can get lost in this image and hope you find some surprises as well!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

Colors of autumn

Blogs sometimes are delayed when the writer/photographer is in drift mode, taking photographs.  I have been shooting the autumn, which in our end of the Rocky Mountains this year is spectacular.  So my duty for today is to lay color at eye level for your viewing.

Bizarre as it may seem, this little creature caught my eye near Taos Ski Valley.  Insects are absolutely not my area of expertise, but this one has distinctive identifiers called "lashes".  As far as I can tell, it is the caterpillar stage of a tussock moth of some sort.

No identifier on this one.  Just a splash of color.

And what would autumn in the Rockies be without an aspen or two?

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

on fire

Nature on fire.  That is autumn in the Pacific Northwest, where hundreds of different species of Japanese and vine maples scream, sweet gums shout, and gingkos glow.  All strutting their costumes before taking a well-earned rest until spring.  They are very difficult to ignore and next to impossible not to photograph.  Thus, you are getting another dose of the extended season.

There were so many red leaves on the earth and in the water, that the leaf right in the middle of a water lilly was not a complete surprise but nonetheless, a visual treat.

And what can I say about this tree except "Bravo!"

Who knows?  Next week's blog may be filled with black and white, straight white, and tan images.  but...

until next Monday

DB

a passion for the image

a shameless post script.  Thanks to Visual Server from the Photo Eye Gallery and Bookstore in Santa Fe,  my new http://www.blackscrossing.com

website is up and running.  

There is still some work to do (involving more expletives on my part, no doubt) but I present it for your perusal.

ode to autumn

I can see snow in the mountains above Taos and on the Truchas Peaks today. Most of the veins of high country gold are now flowing into the lower elevation river valleys. The cottonwood - both Fremont and Narrow Leaf - are putting on quite a show.

To catch this photograph of the cottonwood trees along the Rio Ojo Caliente, I stood outside a fence and shot through two strands of barbed wire with the ISO at 100, shutter speed at 1/500 second at f8 on my Konica Minolta digital camera.

Cottonwood trees along the Rio Ojo Caliente

The shot of the narrow leaf cottonwoods was taken with my very first digital camera - a Canon Power Shot A10 that my sister and brother-in-law gave me. The image was made before I was taken kicking and screaming from the darkroom into digital photography.

Narrow leaf cottonwoods

Finally, another still life.  These red pears very clearly announce autumn, the harvest, and the coming holiday season.

  

Pears

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

ode to autumn

The first frost settled over the high mesa last Friday evening, and the cool, crystalline days of autumn have begun in earnest.  Days when the finest cello and oboe music combine in my head with the sound of leaves  hitting the ground around my feet.  Then there are the smells.  Much has to be left to the imagination but a few photographs say it all.  This is one of my favorites.  Hitting the high country after a dusting of snow a had melted and subsequent light rain had left what I call rain shadows on the aspen.

Aspen rain shadows

The aspen family demonstrates the pure delight and melancholy that is autumn.  Soon the gold will be gone, the trees will be at rest, and the trunks will reflect winter.

The shot below I categorize "just for fun".  This was part of a wedding portfolio I made a year ago in Taos.  It was in the middle of October and the day could not have been better for the event.

                                                                

                                                                            

                                                                             Dip into autumn

Last but not least, a detail of aspen near Hopewell Lake.  There is something about the soil here that, regardless of rainfall, drought, or disease, produces the most wonderful reds, oranges, and yellows in leaves.

Aspen detail, Hopewell Lake, New Mexico

Breathe deeply

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image