Week 47 - 2016 in Photographs

Day 323

All my photographs this week are horizontal. I personally find that interesting as I am more of a vertical photographer maybe due to the forests I live in and the canyons I visit. And when I turn my camera for a vertical framing of a scene I turn it to the right. I worked with a photographer on a small local paper who always turned her camera to the left. You?

Day 324

Of course sunsets, above, and sunrises, below, are almost always horizontal but I have taken some vertical ones. 

Day 325

The moon shot below is horizontal because it is at sunset. Generally my snaps of the moon are vertical. It took me a few years to discover I do my best moon shot when they are approaching full. That is partly due to the fact that they rise earlier and there is more available light. Since all photo editing software now come with a moon which can be layered into any photograph I do not go out of my way to take pictures of the moon. But I will stop whatever I am doing to take a picture of dawn or sunset.

Day 326

Day 327

The first photograph and Day 327 are of the same little pond. Because of its small size and high banks I don't take a lot of photographs I like here, but I keep trying. This fall a couple worked.

Day 328

Next week all the photographs will be black and white. Like horizontal it just may be a mood I am in. Photo Day 328 is black and white but Day 329 isn't. It is merely reduced saturation. See the hint of gold in the grass?

I am very fond of this last photograph. And response from those who viewed it on my Binford-Bell Studio page were positive. I am considering four photographs to enlarge and print to hang at Enchanted Circle Brewing in Angel Fire. My photography decorates their walls.

Day 329

The Edge Series

On the Edge
30 x 18 Mixed Media on Artists Canvas
$1350

 On the Edge above is my first painting about the starkness of life. To some degree they are inspired by the canyons of the Colorado Plateau which I paint frequently. But more they were hatched, if you will, from my experience in October 2011 visiting the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Parks.

Some inspiration takes longer to peculate through the subconscious than others. And this series came by way of a visit to the Clayton-Raton Volcanic Field.  That visit resulted in the Fat Grass series of paintings and a departure into green in my palate. But it had the same emptiness and loneliness of the Painted Deserts of the Southwest. And because of volcanic births the same energy.

I took the emptiness I found on the volcanic field of Clayton and Raton and carried it back to the haunting memories of my visit to the canyons of Arizona and came up with On the Edge. Painting number two of the series was Over the edge. And the newest is End of Days which I just finished. This series is my most abstract.

Water or the lack of water still figures as a subtext in these landscapes. The flock of crows is down to a solitary raven somewhere in the sky.

Having just finished The End of Days I find myself already sketching out in my mind the next in this series.

End of Days
16 x 30 Watercolor on Artists Canvas
$1200

Over the Edge
18 x 24 Mixed Media on Artists Canvas
$975

Purple Sage
19 x 36 Mixed Media on Artists Canvas
$1600

Week 46 - 2016 in Photographs

Day 316

 Beginning the posting of daily photographs for week 47 on Binford-Bell Studio, and noticed I had an empty folder. Not that I have not been taking photographs but they have been of deck improvements and painting progress. Just finished my newest End of Days which is part of my edge series. 

Photography is also taking a bend toward illusion. Snow has been delayed in our mountain community surrounding a ski area. We have gone from the stark horror of the election to the grim possibility of a winter without snow. NOAA predicts 50% warmer and 40% drier than normal. So photographs of beautiful snow you do not have to shovel will be more rare. More photographs of pond reflections and bare aspens against the sky.

Given the warmer forecast I will probably spend more days stalking the singular image.

Day 317

Day 318

Day 319

Day 320

Day 321

Day 322

Week 45 - 2016 in Photographs

Day 309

The Indian Summer continues. The days are warm and the snow has not appeared. Great to escape to drama of the US election and get out with my dog and my camera. 

I am without words just now so I will let my photographs speak for me. As long as I can explore the beauty around me there is hope.

Day 310

Day 311

Day 312

Day 313

Day 314

Day 315

Week 44 - 2016 in Photographs

Day 302

The beasts above may be mustangs or a herd of wild horses which were transported to a ranch near me. It was not meant to be a great photograph but an identifying picture to send to a friend more experienced in such matters. His thought based on their coats and stature was they were. 

I don't always aim my camera with the goal of taking a prize winning photo which is good because I don't enter a lot of photographic contests like some of my friends. But I do regard myself as one up from the "I was here" snappers. I use a real camera. But some of my photos are for me just snaps. This week more than most. The photo below was to record the passage of time. The golden aspen leaves are off the treas and decorate the ground. 

Day 303

And my friend the buck was interrupted during his dining on bird seed. The Stellar Jays flew off to the branches. They were not amused.

Day 304

And the photo below is of the riot of color in my studio. Between the orchids and the Crow of Thorns it looks more like summer. My studio plant benches rearrange managed to group all the blooming plants in front of one window. The longer bench on the east facing window holds my experiment in growing greens through the winter.

Day 305

 And the eastern skies decided to make up for the lack of color by creating awesome dawns several days this week. The following are just two.

Day 306

Day 307

The last photograph is a reflection in other greenhouse windows. I was looking for another way to record the aspens in their waning days. And capturing my participation as well.

Day 308

Just snaps sometimes yield really great photographs. And sometimes they just mark time in hopefully artistic ways.