snow puzzles

It has been quite the weather week all over the United States, not to mention Scotland, Germany, and Denmark.  Snow, ice, wind, hard freezes in the valleys of California (which comprise a large part of our nation's grocery carts), combined to keep people talking about the weather in not so positive terms.  Technically, winter has yet to arrive.  But try saying that to people in Texas who were without electricity due to ice storms, or those in more temperate climates with heat pumps that are not quite working as prescribed.

As a photographer, it is always tempting to tease and show images of tropical islands or lush gardens during this time of year in the northern hemisphere.  But there were some fascinating designs were created on the mesa this weekend from the effects of wind on snow and graupel.  I call them "snow puzzles" because the slight changes in elevations which make the surface look more three dimensional look like pieces of a puzzle.  If you click on the photographs, you will see a larger image as well as some of the details.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

complexity

Some years ago, I photographed scientists at the Santa Fe Institute and many, if not all of them, regardless of discipline, worked on chaos and complexity in natural and human-produced systems.  Nature is extremely complex and I love it when I stumble upon and am able to photograph "in your face" examples of it.

Although it is one of those pesky imports and invasive species, the many types of eucalyptus trees never cease to enchant me.  This particular tree near Morro Bay is a huge puzzle and portrait of life as the tree lives it.

Human made complexity is everywhere.  Barbed wire was created out of necessity to keep cattle enclosed in a small or large areas.  According to Wikipedia, Lucien B. Smith of Kent, Ohio, invented what many open rangers viewed as the bane of their existence in 1867.  To the uninitiated, the wire produces a powerful bite and lasting scars if encountered at the wrong angle (almost any).  It seems benign coiled in the snow, but it will be very interesting getting it untangled after the thaw.

Embrace the complex nature of life.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

studies in monochrome

Winter storm Boreas brought the Southwest a nearly unprecedented period of overcast, featuring grey skies, fog, and snow.  The feeling and look seemed deeply monochromatic, which of course, is false given the meaning of the word.  The Oxford English Dictionary definition is: "containing or using only one colour" or "...light or other radiation of a single wavelength."  Monochrome is defined as "reproduction in black and white or in varying tones of only one color" and is closer, but perhaps it is the human brain and eye teaming together to give the landscape uniformity when an overcast sky combines with the snow-covered earth.

I will be out shooting later after the temperature warms above 20 degrees fahrenheit, but for the time being, the photographs here are, in my mind's eye, monochromatic.

No wonder the best-selling "novel" features multiple shades of grey.  They are everywhere.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image 

A new year

A pot of pinto beans is simmering, snow is falling, and a new year is poised to open. What represents the new, rebirth, life, or opportunity more than water, in whatever form it takes.  It is unmatched in  persistent strength and unerring dedication to its course.

The acequia system in northern New Mexico is centuries old but is alive and well, providing the life blood for farmers both large and small.  A branch of this system runs through Casa Gallina in Taos.  Owner Richard Spera says that regardless how much ice builds on the surface during the winter, the acequia water always flows beneath it. Double clicking will enable you to see the ice detail.

Even icicles eventually change form and release waster to the earth.

So as the curtain is raised on 2013, may the water of life nourish and inspire us to respect, cherish, and nurture all that is Planet Earth.

until next year,

DB

a passion for the image

Winter white

To the joy of just about everyone, winter finally arrived in New Mexico this week, with either snow or rain falling statewide.  A great thing, indeed, for a parched landscape.  This Friday, 21 December, is the Solstice and official opening of the season.

I offer a toast, then, to winter, Solstice, and the gradual lengthening of days on Earth, assuming the Maya simply ran out of room on their calendar.

Nature graced us with an incredible hoar frost this morning, the crystals of which were quite profound and stunning.  To make the images larger, click twice on each one.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

remnant abstracts

Although the politicians and other powers that be in these United States of America desperately try to avoid the words "global climate change" or "global weather instability", and some still are quick to make jokes about "global warming", meteorologists ventured into muddy waters.  Quite a number dared to say that over 4,000 high temperature records were broken, in the quietest of ways indicating that something is amiss.  The record high temperature for March 21st in the town of Pellston, Minnesota, was shattered this week by 32 degrees fahrenheit.  In the high country of New Mexico, temperatures in the 70s made everyone feel that spring had indeed arrived.  We were enjoying it but feeling oddly uneasy.

Spring is always an unsettled season in New Mexico.  We had nearly the full bag of conditions this week - warm days, nights still be low freezing, spits of rain and snow, and naturally, wind and dust.  Despite the fact that mountain snow is melting quickly, there are still remnants of the winter season past.

These abstracts reflect all the weather of the first week of spring.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

Winter remnants

The human brain is an amazing thing.  At some point during the summer, when the night breeze moves lightly over our faces, I will barely be able to recall the depths of winter.  But at present, it is not quite ready to vacate the mesa.

The elk seem to be very active right now.  A herd of about fifty animals, all cows and only one bull, were literally thundering over the land just before sunrise last week, kicking up the newly fallen snow.

I call this image "Snow Nude" because of the graceful way the snow fell and folded over itself in a drift.

And a sign that the snow does melt to nourish the land for the growing season.  

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

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

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

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

silence of snow

Carl Sandburg wrote "The fog comes on little cat feet."  As does snow.  It finally arrived softly on our parched landscape this week.  Some of you are having far too much of it or far too many buckets of rain.

Moisture alters the land and our beings.

as we make our way through the Solstice, and the sun sets over the snowy landscape,  I wish you all a good night!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

 

Studying white

Perhaps because snow has been so much a part of life in much of the country this week or possibly because things become somewhat monochromatic during winter, I have been pondering white.  Anyone who has painted a room "white" knows that there are thousands of variations on the theme of white and it can drive a person mad deciding which is best.

The adjective white is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as "of the color of milk or fresh snow, due to the reflection of all visible rays of light."  Further explanation from Wikipedia continues "White light is the effect of combining the visible colors of light in suitable proportions (the same present in solar light)."  "Since the impression of white is obtained by three summations of light intensity across the visible spectrum, the number of combinations of light wavelengths that produce the sensation of white is practically infinite."

In the past, there was debate about whether white was the absence of color but in actuality (thanks to Newton), we now know it is comprised of all the colors in the spectrum in varying amounts.  Because of the reflective power of white, of minerals and other naturally occurring materials, "pure"white (except light) is difficult to find in nature.

The photograph below captures a white created by humans and painted on a stucco wall.

New Mexico's White Sands - the world's largest gypsum dune field - is another tone of white.  But if you are lucky enough to see snow at White Sand's you will see how much bluer in tone the snow is than the sand which at first glance is startlingly white.  I have yet to see that event.

This snow detail also shows not only a slightly cooler tone of white but its own reflective power.

I tend to think of shells as being white compared to their ocean and beach surroundings.  Below is a shell photographed on a cool white copy paper.  If I digitally desaturate the shell, removing the natural pigments, the paper and shell become uniform in color.

  

The study of white as a color, with its endless variants, is as important a subject to a photographer as is light.  Once again, I wish I had taken physics in college.  Now it is catch up time!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image