Week Ten - 2016 in Photographs

Day 64

It is a hodgepodge this week. And all about jump starting an interest in what is around me. It is that part of winter where it all just seems so the same. Cameras have a way of letting (or making) the photographer see the world in a different frame of reference. I used photography for years as a tool to spark paintings. Then when I gave up painting for a couple of years it became my way of expressing my creativity. Now it plays a dual role.

I carry my camera everywhere with me but sometimes I am just in a mind set that even with it right beside me on the bench seat of the pickup I will not take a single photo. Then I have to make myself do that. To pick it up and point at something which may not even be a good photo.

And sometimes I surprise myself when it turns out to be acceptable or even extraordinary.

Day 65

The photos this week are all just there. Just things I saw all week as I went about my day jobs. I have always had a day job of sorts. I think even if tomorrow I was declared the current Ansel Adams I would keep day jobs. They open a world to view and record which I might not see if I was just at home in the studio or in front of the computer.  My current day jobs are pet sitting, green house care, and refinishing window sills.

All this week's photos are taken at or on the way to one of my day jobs. Picking up the camera from off of the bench seat of my pickup and aiming it at the ordinary in my daily routine this last week yielded these photos.

Day 66

Clearly Day 66 was tending to the plants in a green house. My studio was suppose to originally be a green house. My plants there still think it is. But in a world which provided all the money I wanted there would be more than one green house. And one of my day jobs furnishes me with more than one green house.

Day 67

Day 67 was taken arriving for work on window sills. The day before I had removed all the window blinds and drapes and prepped the wood work for staining by applying blue masking tape. The obsessive/compulsive side of my perfectionism enjoys the taping. But I had never taken a picture of it from outside. The blue made me go a bit crazy about colors when processing. And with no blinds or drapes it was possible to look through two sets of windows.

Day 68

Day 68 through 70 were taken trying to find a chuckhole free route to Casper and Pinky's house. They are two of my favorite purr kid clients. I have several clients which live in the same section of town. And obviously I have to pass a lake to get there. I pass it so often I confess I don't notice it. It is often filled with fishermen and boaters, but on this particular day it was a bevy of activity of the feathered sort. The ice had begun to melt early and the Canadian Geese, which all of us think are early this year, were enjoying the snow free shores and spots of open water.

But I was surprised to find so were the crows.

Day 69

Technically this is a murder of crows. Or a venue as they are meeting on the ice. They are normally very skittish so I shot them from my pickup. 

Day 70

One of the photos I took which did not make the cut shows the geese and crows enjoying the same spot on the ice. The high country version of National Geographic shots of animals around the waterholes in Africa.

And that was my week. How was yours?

Week 35 - 365 Day Photography Challenge

Day 239

Most of the photography I did this week was actually about I was working on for the paper. That's good and bad news: I had the camera in hand but my focus was more mundane most times. The artistic shots just got sandwiched in the middle of things. Or pulled out of previous photo trip files. The latter is true of Day 239 and 240. Some of my frequent readers will recognize Trinidad, Colorado, increasingly one of my favorite camera haunts. The balance of the week photos are the random shots sandwich between pictures of Arts About Town and Eagle Nest Lake.

Day 240

Day 241

Day 241 was a quick snap to record the colors being painted on a wall covering up other colors. It was a reference shot that turned into pleasing abstract once on my computer. And the hollyhocks below caught my eye while on one of my other odd jobs - pet sitting. Artists in this economy certainly cannot quit their day job(s). For me there is freelance writing, pet sitting and odd jobs because of my long experience in construction which is a totally other blog. But the sale of photographs and paintings has picked up this last week too. That is emotionally rewarding for an artist.

Day 242

Another source of inspiration for photography are the daily dog walks. They will tell you when I am overly busy they get short changed, and I have no doubt that is what they are discussing on the morning walk below.

Day 243

Morning walks are where photos like the two below come from. Why else would I be out of the house that early? But early mornings are when you catch the long shadows like in the photo above or the just beginning to lift valley fogs like in the photo below. Yes, you can get long shadows in the evening but rarely the mists.

Day 244

And early morning gives you the oblique light through the soft petals of a flower. If you are serious about photography you have to either be out and about shortly after dawn or right around sunset. Your choice.

Day 245

News photography is seldom at either time. It is in the middle of the day or inside at a council meeting at night. Still, every once in a while, covering a story can generate a nice photo. I thought I might post a couple here just to show you what else a week with my camera generated.

Eagle Nest Lake at half capacity

All the sandy shore up to the green was once under water. And hopefully will be again. Launching boats has become an issue with the low water and the raven below sits a warning sign as if waiting for someone to die trying.

Extended Dock

There are a couple more pictures taken while on a story which will be featured in next week's blog for 365 days. You can catch the odd great shot while just recording the mundane.