The Recent Views in Black and White

Naked Aspen

 Been a while since I posted on this blog. Sorry. Mind has been elsewhere. I have taken pictures and most began in color but there is something about January, and February, which begs for black and white treatments.

I will not bore you with too many words. I will let the photographs speak for themselves.

Geranium 

Shadows across a snowy drive

Peeling paint 

Buds

Shadows across the snow

Light through delicate flowers

Studio Fence Guardian

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 33 - 2014 in Images

Day 225

The photograph before is not dawn. It is a sunset looking east. West was in reds and the clouds behind me were in pastel hues. One of those rules I try to follow is always look behind me. You can get to focused on the view before you in photography and miss so much. I think I will start always making a full slow turn when out with my camera.

Day 226

I finally have two flourishing hollyhock plants. I have loved hollyhocks since I was a kid when I and my friends used to make hollyhock dolls with toothpicks and float them on the pond. They are wonderful with water sprinkled on them. So when it had not rained I sprinkled them with the hose and then took the picture.

Day 227

My geraniums have not done well outside this year so the largest geranium I left inside the studio. It has gotten very large and bloomed all summer long. The pot contains three different colors of geraniums but the pink is one of my favorite especially with the early morning light coming through the studio windows. Photographing flowers inside means no worry about wind changing the focus.

Day 228

True dawn. But the clarity of the trees silhouetted against the glowing clouds is what I like about this photo. I usually have my wide angle on when taking dawn or sunset pictures but on this particular morning I had on my 55-300 mm and knew the light would change too much if I stopped to change lenses. I was surprised at how close the trees were on this distant hill with the 300. And I remembered to back off just a hair to ensure all in focus.

Day 229

Duck eggs are grey. I found that out with a purchase of them at the farmer's market. And the artist in me could not eat them until I had photographed them. They looked perfect in this silver serving tray. Had not done an arranged still life for a while.

Day 230

Hummingbirds are the opposite of still. But in the evening after a long rain they are so hungry and metabolism down they will sit on my garden fence and wait for an open spot at the feeders. After a summer of me feeding them they have gotten quite used to my presence and the camera so this little one just sat while I took a photograph with my long lens. I get good macros with this particular zoom. And it very nicely puts the distance out of focus on the right setting.

Day 231

My closing scene is looking south as the sun moves toward setting in the west. It was taken on the same day as the first photo. I was turning around to go back inside when I caught the quality of light in the south. No photo to the north. That is where the house sits blocking my view. But I did turn to check if the light of the setting sun was doing anything fabulous on it.

Week 19 of 2014 One Photo A Day

Day 127

No, it is not spring here yet. This geranium was in a green house right after watering. I like flowers with drops of water on them.

Day 128
Somewhere west and south of Raton, New Mexico

There is something about the eastern plans of New Mexico which makes me want to do photos I take there in black and white or sepia. Maybe it is the drought which seems to have robbed the area of color the last few years. Or maybe it is the call of history. This group of trees is not far from the ruts of the Santa Fe Trail. Or maybe in spite of the color of the first photo I was sort of in a monochromatic mood.

Day 129

 The aspens in this photo will be green soon but for the moment they are leafless. The structure of the branches can be seen clearly. And the reflection highlights the trunks.

Day 130

The glass door was mono was of all clear glass with textures. But the textures picked up the colors beyond the door and turned it into "stained glass."

Day 131
Early Morning Light

The world gets color from bands of light and what is reflected and what is absorbed. In the early mountain dawn it seems to be almost glowing. The spiderweb of electrical lines through the frosty forest was too spectacular to pass up.

Day 132

The same enchantment with muted, almost monochromatic tones, attracted me to this little pot on a marble counter with the morning light coming in window.

But I had to end the week the way I began it with vivid color. This time of an orchid.

Day 133

Today it snowed and I had a wonderful time with my dogs and camera. No doubt some of those photos will be in the next weeks photos. BTW snow pictures are also monochromatic.

Sneak Peek of Photos to Come

Week 38 - 365 Day Photography Challenge

Day 260 - Common Sage

Very busy week and I almost discontinued the challenge before the year was up. One of my on line friends who joined us in this challenge got bored and stopped. And there just seemed to be too much to do besides photography. But then it occurred to me that one of the reasons I do this is because of that boredom. If you want to get to Carnegie Hall you have to practice. And my schedule has not allowed painting much. But in the end days of summer the landscape garden has allowed opportunities.

Day 261 - Favorite Geranium

This year's experiment with potted geraniums under the studio window was less than highly successful but as cold weather approached I found there were a couple I really wanted to bring into the studio and winter over. Love the color of this one.

Day 262 - Fall Sunrise

And there is something about fall weather that has really inspired me to frantically try to remember where it was I put the camera. This sunrise after a rainy night was spectacular. And then there was the somewhat futil attempt to capture the full Harvest moon. Clouds got in the way but the sunset was to die for. The photo below was not featured in the challenge this week officially but I feel I must give it a place here.

Sunset over Moreno Valley

By the time my photography buddy, Jessica Duke, and I had set up our tripods on the shores of Eagle Nest Lake the sunset above had faded. Photography in fading light is one of those areas I need to practice and one of the reasons I am doing this challenge for the second year. It gets me out with the camera trying things I am not that comfortable with - like all the adjustments on my tripod.

Day 263 - Thunder cloud over Eagle Nest

And the fading light has a whole other set of issues like where all the adjustments on your camera are. And how does this lens manually focus once you find the little lever for manual focus. And trying to not rush the exposure. Kept hoping for lightning while the aperture was open but no such luck.

Day 264 - Harvest Moon?

And all that preparation and setting up the tripod, etc. did not yield a photo of the Harvest moon. Clouds got the way. But then NASA has taken plenty of pictures of full moons. I like this one of the moonlight edging the clouds with gold as well as illuminating the foliage in front of my camera. This was definitely an experiment. I widened the focus on my wide angle lens in an attempt to get a more honest light reading. You can always crop I told myself, and then did not want to.

Day 265 - Foggy Morning

Rainy nights make for foggy mornings. There is something about a foggy morning that seems to demand a black and white treatment for me. Perhaps I should make myself try something else.

Day 266 - Dance of the Flowers

And as the week drew to a close I was bemoaning that I had no more pictures to post. I grabbed the camera and was doing my routine preflight check of battery level and exposures left and was surprised to find there were images on the camera. It had been so absolutely busy I forgot my exploration of a friend's green house. I really do love orchids. There are more of them in the folder for this next week. And today I am off to Raton. That once long and boring drive has become a must for the camera.