Week 47 - 2015 in Photographs

Day 323
Ice house door

 New Mexico weather is fickle even in the high mountains. My father used to say about the weather here, "Wait ten minutes or drive ten miles and it will change."

The week these were taken Hurricane Patricia hit the western coast of Mexico and funneled tropical moisture into the mountains. It was met by a polar jet stream and became snow. As I write this it it is raining thanks to moisture from Hurricane Sandra. It is melting the last of this snow in these pictures before changing to snow late tonight.

I like the early snows. I know they will leave. And they are new. They cover, sometimes just briefly, the dried grasses of fall. And it must be said, they bring moisture. But for a photographer it is even more important that they bring new views to capture. I am especially fond of the ponds which seem to linger between ice and liquid, turning themselves into highly polished mirrors at times.

Day 324

No photo manipulation required for the reflection above. And the pond is mostly iced over but very, very thinly. A slight wind resulted in the frozen mosaic look. Only the half circle in the upper left is unfrozen. That unfrozen part and the grasses to its right will be featured in another photo. The same pond, on the same day, is the subject of the next two photographs also.

Day 325

 Standing in almost the exact same spot on the pond but looking to my right I captured this reflection. It had begun to snow again and I hoped the flakes would snow up against the dark trees. I generally do not flip reflections but snowed in later I was in a playful mood. I used a brush stroke filter, intensified the color just a bit and flipped. Monet.

Day 326

And Day 326 is the pool of unfrozen water from another angle. Closer it reveals another strip of unfrozen water along the shore. The highly reflective ice captures the rows of tall grasses in the snow. And what series of snow photographs is complete without a black and white of aspen trunks.

Day 327

Day 328

 Summer and fall are often too busy to play a lot with my photographs. But a cold winter morning is perfect to sit before the computer with hot coffee and a lap robe and play. Day 328 is a detail of a sculpture in a greenhouse. I was trying, and again failing at minimalism. In fact, I finally reached the conclusion that I just do not fit with that group so quit. My attempts, however, did give me some different perspectives on familiar territory. And it seemed to have sparked a certain sense of rebellion in me. I had posted Day 326 in the group on Facebook and was found wanting. Day 328 passed through my computer as a black and white with blurred edges and then got trashed for this rather over the top treatment.

The minimalism version of Day 329 fell to the same fate. Heavy brush stroke filter and tweaking the saturation and a Cezanne.

Day 329

I like black and white. Day 323 and Day 327 are naturals for black and white. But bold black and white. I am just not a minimalist.