Week 25 - 365 Day Challenge 2013

Day 169 - Door and Windows

The week began normal enough. I was still reviewing photographs taken in the previous couple of weeks. The trips to Trinidad, Colorado and Val Vidal, New Mexico had certainly provided a wealth of photographic ore to mine. The camera was going out with me every day but not being used that much or that productively. Nothing seemed quite as inspiring as the photos already taken.

Day 170 - Old postcard

But I was getting a bit bored as indicated by the Old Postcard above. But the post processing of this cliff face seemed to cry for a 1950's era postcard treatment. Nobody promised that every photo posted in the 365 day challenge would be a gem. But it did inspire me to more actively take photographs.

Day 171 - Old Barrow

The Old Barrow stands against my fence to the left of my gate. I debate back and forth what to do with the old wheel barrow abandoned by the contractor from hell. It needs a new tire but I have a much newer barrow that also needs a new tire. I think from time to time it would make a neat planter for something. The jury is still out but it did make for a neat picture.

Day 172 - Black Shells

And a friend is vacationing on Amelia Island off the upper coast of Florida. The black shells in this still life I had collected there decades ago not because they were spectacular sea shells but because they were black. I understand from my friend there are now no shells. So was this the result of whatever made my shells black? BTW there is a story behind my vacation on Amelia Island and I have promised my friend to pen it.

Day 173 - Corpse on the Hill

And then it occurred to me I was missing the color in my portfolio. Another friend had remarked my palette of late had changed. Artists can ignore such remarks even from other artists but when I was post processing the aspens on the hill, which have appeared before in glorious fall colors, it occurred to me he might just be right. So I abandoned my attempt to make them black and white.

Day 174- Proud Mary

Or Proud Mary black and white. Title? Yes, sort of strange. Where my mind had taken me. The inverted V was reminding me of a boat prow and the upward slant of pride. Which reminded me of the poem "When I am Old I will Wear Purple. I was back. With more pond scum. But the week ahead will be glorious.

Day 175

Week 23 - 365 Day Challenge 2013

Day 155 - Stairway to Heaven at 224?

On June 1st I took another photographer and friend back to Trinidad to explore what I missed. Photographers are always sure they have missed something. We are already planning another trip because in addition to thinking we have missed something we are also sure we can get a better picture if only the light were different or we had the bed of the pickup to stand in. Frankly I think this picture, which I missed the first time, is best from the lower angle. Maybe next time I will back up just a hair and kneel.

Day 156 - the Grand Opera House

Really disappointed that I missed this one my first visit. But Jessica and I walked a couple blocks further down West Main and discovered lots of things. But his edifice is just to wonderful. And on the next trip to Trinidad, Colorado I must explore more of the building.

Day 157 - Now there are two

Followers of my blogs and my photos will remember my picture of this alien sign from my previous trip across the border. My photography partner was trying to get a picture of the moon through the opening and I was bored and walked a few steps down to be out of her way and find out what business it advertised. It is oddly enough a photography gallery. And the windows provided me with this great reflection and duplication.

Day 158 - No Sales today

I confess I took this image on my first trip to Trinidad but I have been playing with a new processing trick I discovered in the dry darkroom of the second trip photos and revisited trip number one photos. I understand this building is haunted. It certainly has haunted me.

Day 159 - Devastation

Thursday I was lured away from my studio and computer to revisit the Val Vidal. This comes under the heading of familiarity would lead to better photos classification of photographer rationalizations. And to some degree they are right. It will. I would rather not say how many photos I have taken of this burn scar from a forest fire of several years ago. I was trying to capture the feel of it. On this trip the clouds cooperated and with a bit of post processing looked alarmingly like smoke.

Day 160 - Set in brick

Back to trip one to Trinidad. Another photo which benefited from learning at a later date. A good reason to not totally cull all the photos out of a file. 

Day 161 

I took this photo on trip two to Trinidad for a friend I thought would appreciate it. And she did. And so did I. I have six different post processing versions of this one. And for my photoshopping friends, I did not use layering. This is the photo as taken with no cropping and just a reduction of hue and saturation. All else is reflection off of glass and shiny floors of stain glass windows and light. Sometimes you just get lucky.

Playing Around with the Landscape

Val Vidal Waiting for Rain by J. Binford-Bell

The first time you visit an area with a camera you pay it sort of straight especially in a landscape as spectacular as the Val Vidal and the Vermejo Park Ranch. The second or third or forth time you visit you are more familiar with the views and you find yourself setting up various pictures. Or standing in one place like the photo below and waiting till just the right moment to take the picture.

Light and Shadow by J. Binford-Bell

The clouds were adding extra dimensions to the view especially when they cast shadows over one ridge or bank of trees or another. Photographers already get to play with the framing of the photo with zoom lenses or switching to another lens. And their are filters. I broke my polarizing filter the second picture I took yesterday and so switched to a warm filter I had and love the results. Not that back in the dry darkroom of my computer I could not change anything I wanted. Like the picture below?

Fire by J. Binford-Bell

 I have been trying to take the definitive picture of a forest devastated by fire for some years now. Yesterday the thunderclouds jumped in with an assist. If you have lived in a forest for any length of time you will know there is always a doubt when the fire danger is high as to whether it is smoke or a cloud. This was a cloud but I was able to play with the colors and make it look like smoke especially as a back drop to the blackened spars of an old fire on the Val Vidal. So this may be the picture. Not that I will stop trying to top it.

Post Card from Not Kansas

Clouds change the atmosphere and ergo the photograph. As does the time of day and the shadows cast. And your mood when you post process also effects the results. Loved the post card look of the photo above and may do the same thing with the photo below.

Gully Waiting for Rain

I found myself depressed by the drought in an area which can be so beautiful in a wet year. I found myself opting for old fashioned treatments of the subjects as if I could push the drought into history and wake up tomorrow to rain and lush grass. I am sure the buffalo below wishes the same. No doubt the VPR feeds their charges. He looks motley only because it is shedding season and a bit disgruntled because we and he never found the females of the herd.

Buffalo looking for something to eat