Category Archives: Collections

Collections, Nature, Outdoors, Wood

Trees and their Faces

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You are about to go on an adventure with me. You’ll need your creative imagination. Think back to seeing objects in clouds as a child. Here, I’ll share with you the faces I see in…wood. Most are fallen trees and branches that have had time to build character. Bear with me, I think you’ll enjoy it.

This guy has quite the hair-do and needs to see a dentist.

Most of what I find are profiles. This one, facing left, has the complete package…an eye, mouth, nose, AND horn on top of its head.

This one is a little more vague, peeking out of the grasses. But I DO see an eye, nose hole, and mouth line.

This may be the best one I’ve ever seen. It’s not a profile, it actually has TWO eyes, a nose, and a mouth. In hindsight, I wish I had taken another view of it to show how important the angle is for this one.

This is another rare, two-eyed face. Unfortunately, it got into a fight and seems to have a black eye behind its long nose.

Now that I’ve got you “seeing” what I see…here is a pretty clear one.

Here’s an interesting one. Or is it two? At first glance, it SEEMS like the same piece of wood.

This one is literally screaming and looking at me as it comes out of the wood.

Two similar ones, but the lower one is thirsty.

This one reminds me of the head of a dinosaur.

Again the complete package of eye, nose hole, horns, and mouth.

Skeleton ostrich head?

Eye, mouth, little horn on top.

Some horns come out the side.

Face? or…giant clothespin.

Some definitely require more imagination…lol.

Eye, mouth, and…an ARM?? Crawling out of the tree!

This one, at a different angle, looks like two fighting with their mouths.

Such big eyes you have.

A sleek one with a mushed-up mouth.

Sleeping Beauty.

October is just around the corner and with that…Halloween!

Thank you all for being loyal followers of this blog over the past several years. It is with great sadness that I announce this to be my last post on this website. It has just gotten WAY too expensive. I will be searching for more affordable ways to share my images with you, my loyal fans, so stay tuned! Creativity is IN the AIR!! lol.

Collections, Nature, Outdoors, Wood

Tree Trunks

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My next topic in the theme of trees is tree trunks. These can mostly be broken up into two categories: shapes and patterns. Here are some of the crazy-shaped trunks I’ve encountered.

There are several different types of tree trunks. 1) Single Trunk Trees; 2) Multi-trunk Trees; 3) Clonal Coppices (or trees with sprouts from the base; 4) Clonal Colonies (ie: Aspen trees); 5) Conjoined and Hugging Trees; 6) Fallen Trees;  and 7) Banyan-like trees; to get us started.

I can’t tell if this one has one trunk or several sprouting from the one. Or are they just very large branches…?

This Ponderosa pine was hit by lightning.

I can’t even begin to explain what happened to this tree.

The bark of some of the trees I’ve encountered appears to be shedding paper.

A Banyon type tree.

What the…?!? Several…trunks?

Colorful palm tree trunks.

Yikes! Is this tree OK??

A clever yet natural way to keep things from climbing up this tree.

A tree trunk that seems to have had some trouble heading in the right direction.

Some crazy trunks in San Diego.

Old fallen trunks can be so beautiful. The following images show close-ups of patterns and designs etched into old, fallen tree trunks.

 

Moss of various colors also collects on tree trunks.

   

Some tree trunks close-up have amazing texture, patterns, design, and lines.

This tree was turned into a shrine of sorts in Dubar Square in Kathmandu.

Collections, Nature, Wood

Trees

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I found the keyword trees and figured it would be a pretty straightforward post. I was wrong. As I sifted through the images I saw too many I wanted to share. Thus, this will be a  four-part series throughout September. I’ll begin with trees, move to trunks, roots, and finally the faces I find in trees as I wander.

Trees are truly unique. If you’ve ever read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein you’ll get a glimpse as to how versatile they are.

The structure of a tree is used to keep track of families.

They house wildlife.

They break and land on houses in extreme weather events.

The Ponderosa Pine Trees like to collect snow during a storm and then, as the air warms, drop it in clumps onto the ground or to house roofs with a sometimes alarming thud.

I used this tree as a bike rack.  I locked my bike to it after using it as a shuttle vehicle for a Verde River float.

Palm trees grow randomly on beaches from dropped coconuts.

They can be used as posts for hammocks.

They change color!!

They don’t live forever. But some seem to.

Yosemite National Park has a few Giant Sequoia groves. And by groves I mean maybe 8-10 trees in an area.    Also known as the giant redwood or Sierra redwood can be found naturally only in groves on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California. 

The Giant sequoia grows to an average height of 164–279 ft with trunk diameters ranging from 20–26 ft. Giant sequoias are among the oldest living organisms on Earth. The oldest known giant sequoia is 3,200 years old.

Wood from mature giant sequoias is fibrous and brittle, trees would often shatter after they were felled. The wood was unsuitable for construction and instead used for fence posts or match sticks. The giant sequoia is a very popular ornamental tree in many parts of the world. The species is named in honor of the Cherokee Chief Sequoyah.

I crouched to get through this one that was lying on its side.

There was a sign with a picture of a stagecoach driving through this one.

Most aspens grow in large clonal colonies, derived from a single seedling, and spread by means of root suckers. New stems in the colony may appear from 100–130 ft from the parent tree. Each individual tree can live for 40–150 years above ground, but the root system of the colony is long-lived. In some cases, this is for thousands of years, sending up new trunks as the older trunks die off above ground. There is a colony in Utah that has been estimated to be as old as 80,000 years. Some aspen colonies become very large with time, spreading about 3 ft per year, eventually covering many hectares. They are able to survive forest fires, because the roots are below the heat of the fire, and new sprouts appear after the fire burns out. Given their clonal nature, Aspen groves are believed to be the largest living organism on the planet.

I found these two trees in Yosemite as well. Both growing out of the granite.

It’s just a cool shot. Dead trees, blue sky…

This path through Henry Horton State Park in Tennessee is a beautiful walk among the trees.

 

A banyan is a fig tree that develops accessory trunks from aerial prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. These roots mature into thick, woody trunks, which can become indistinguishable from the primary trunk with age. These aerial roots can become very numerous. The Kolcatta (Calcutta) Banyan, which has been tracked carefully for many years, currently has 2,880 supplementary trunks. Such prop roots can be sixty feet in height. Old trees can spread laterally by using these prop roots to grow over a wide area. In some species, the prop roots develop over a considerable area that resembles a grove of trees, with every trunk connected directly or indirectly to the primary trunk.

I’ll end with snow and ice-encased Ponderosa pine trees on the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff.

Art, Collections, stickers, street, urban, windows

Sticker Collections around the World

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Stickers can come in many different shapes and sizes and also vary widely in color and design. They are often stuck to items such as lunchboxes, signs, lockers, notebooks, walls, cars, or windows, used as name tags, and so on. R. Stanton Avery is credited with creating the first self-adhesive sticker in 1935.

The following is a collection of stickers I have discovered in my travels around the world.

In Chama, New Mexico, while on an Arizona Highways Photo Workshop, I found these motorcycles plastered with stickers from their riding adventures. The riders have spent a LOT of time and miles on these bikes.

In Gatlinburg, Tennessee we ate at a restaurant that seems to have invited folks to share their stickers on their windows. My favorite was the Hopi Radio sticker from right here in Arizona.

 

These two collections were found in New York City last summer.

These two were in Marin County in northern California.

The surf town of Bolinas, CA.

My hometown of Flagstaff, Arizona, and Arizona Snow Bowl.

Snow Bowl

Denver, CO

Morro Bay, CA

Tea houses on our Everest Base Camp Trek in Nepal.

San Diego, CA

And finishing where I started, another cross-continent motorcycle found at the South Rim, Grand Canyon.

bikes, Collections, transportation

Bikes and all their Parts

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One of my favorite photographic collections is bicycles or just bikes. Bicycles imply two wheels and some in my collection have three.

I have three bicycles: a mountain bike, a cyclocross bike (think road bike meets mountain bike), and a folding bike for travel. The following images will show you how unique bicycles can be and how very creative we humans are.

I love bikes because they are so functional,  have so many parts to them that call to my sense of design and pattern, and are just plain fun.

And just to be clear, I haven’t grasped the E-Bike craze yet so the ones you see here are all human-powered.

These two images were taken in New Orleans last year on our epic 50-day road trip East. We happened to be in the city during a Jazz Festival and found live music and artists throughout the Latin Quarter.

Our Christmas tree decorations include several bicycles. We found this one in the Amana Colonies outside of Iowa City on our epic road trip last year. We left it there.

Moving closer to home, these two images were found in the Phoenix area.

While walking the artisan district of Cave Creek, AZ I spotted this beach cruiser acting as a sign for a local gallery.

While at the Phoenix Chinese Festival one spring I found this rig locked up. I’m assuming the owner is of the homeless population and has a nice way to get around.

Moving on to California, we’ll start in Novato, north of San Francisco, and end up in San Diego.

This little tricycle was in the corner of my cousin’s home in Novato. Because there is nothing in the image to show its size it could very well be a real bike for a real kid. But it isn’t. It’s only about 18 inches high and clearly a decoration.

Moving down the coast to the classic beach cruiser, found in the classic beach towns of  Stinson Beach and Bolinas.

A  beach cruiser typically combines balloon tires, an upright seating posture, a single-speed drivetrain, and steel construction with expressive styling. It is common to customize them with accessories including fenders, lights, and saddle bags.

Cruisers were the most popular bicycle in the United States from the early 1930s through the 1950s, and have enjoyed renewed popularity since the late 1990s.

This surfer was heading to the breaks in Morro Bay.

And finally, in San Diego, this cruiser was locked to a post. Note the rusty chain.

The next set of images comes from Kathmandu, Nepal. We were there for a few days both before and after our Everest Base Camp trek in October of 2018.

A local bike shop.

Just…wow. The load, the traffic, the lack of space, yikes.

Rickshaw originally denoted a two- or three-wheeled passenger cart and began as a pulled rickshaw, which is generally pulled by one person carrying one passenger. The first known use of the term was in 1879. Over time, cycle rickshaws (also known as pedicabs or trishaws), auto rickshaws, and electric rickshaws were invented, and have replaced the original pulled rickshaws, with a few exceptions for their use in tourism.

In the market sections of Kathmandu bicycles and tricycles were used extensively.

This bike was found in Dubar Square. Oh, the stories it could tell.

I’ll end this bicycle journey back home, or at least close to my beloved Flagstaff.

These are our folding travel bikes.  They literally fold in half and fit behind the front seat of our truck and camper so as not to be easy prey for bike thieves on our adventures. We call them clown bikes because of the little 20-inch tires. In this picture, they are at Grand Canyon.

The simplicity of bicycles is one thing that draws me to them. This is a solid-colored single-speed parked at the University in Flagstaff.

While on a photo workshop recently, we went to a local nursery to photograph flowers. Viola’s is a local favorite because it focuses on flowers that can survive in Flagstaff. I love it because they use bicycles as decoration throughout the property.

Another beautiful cruiser locked up in downtown Flagstaff with its leather seat and grips.

And last but not least, a cruiser bike casting a shadow at a street fair in Cottonwood.

Bikes, they are everywhere. I hope you enjoyed traveling the world with me and going on a bike hunt.

 

Animals, Animals, Collections, Gear, Nature, Outdoors, Shooting at Home, Spring

New Birding Lens

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I recently purchased a new lens for my Lumix GX-8 micro 4/3 camera body. It’s an Olympus 100-400 mm zoom which translates to a 200-800 mm given the crop sensor on my camera. It. Is. Amazing.

The images are sharp, it’s not too heavy to lug around for 2-3 hours and it hangs nicely on my sling so my hands don’t cramp holding it while not in use.

Here are some recent images from my first outing with it. These were all shot at a local wetland near where I live south of Flagstaff, AZ.

I can now officially consider myself a Bird Nerd! It is SO MUCH FUN collecting images then going home and identifying them with the app Seek. I pull up the app and point my phone camera at the image on my computer and it does a great job of identifying the birds. It works with animals, plants, and insects as well.

I wasn’t sure what this little guy was so I posted it on FaceBook and asked the birding community to identify. They were quick! It’s a vesper sparrow.

Catching them in flight is challenging. I set the camera at 400-800 ISO, in full sunlight which gives me a shutter speed between 2,000 and 6,000.

Perched birds are easier but you still have to be quick. They don’t always hang out for a photo! This is a red-winged blackbird.

Coming in for a landing!!

I’ve seen as many as four ospreys hunting the ponds of these wetlands.

This looks like a shorebird to me. It’s a killdeer. On another day I caught one with a worm in its mouth!

They are so dramatic when they sing!

The first goslings of the season!

This one was tough to capture. It didn’t hang out for long so I had to be quick. Luckily, with the length of the lens, I don’t have to get too close and the birds tend to not skitter away quite as quickly as when I tried to capture images of them with my 28-300 mm lens.

Turns out it’s also a reptile lens!

Set your camera to burst mode, hold down the shutter, and expect to trash a LOT of images. In my first two-hour outing I think I took over 800 images. I tossed probably 700 of them.

Every time I’ve been to the wetlands I see a new bird or capture a bird in a different way. Also, as I get better, I find myself giving permission to toss previous images of the same bird. Don’t forget, pixels are free. Load up those memory cards and only keep the exceptional ones. The first ones may not be exceptional but with practice, they will come!

Happy Shooting!

Adventure, Boating, Collections, Nature, Outdoors, Places to Shoot, Travel

Rocks vs. Rock, on the Colorado River

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  1. To say that we saw rocks in Grand Canyon is an understatement. So I got to thinking…what is the difference between rocks (clearly plural) and just…rock. I looked it up on Dictionary.com and was amused at all the definitions.
noun
    1. a large mass of stone forming a hill, cliff, promontory, or the like.
    2. Geology.
      • mineral matter of variable composition, consolidated or unconsolidated, assembled in masses or considerable quantities in nature, as by the action of heat or water.
      • a particular kind of such matter: igneous rock.
    3. stone in the mass: buildings that stand upon rock.
  2. a stone of any size.
  3. something resembling or suggesting a rock.
  4. a firm foundation or support: The Lord is my rock.
  5. Chiefly British. a kind of hard candy, variously flavored.
  6. rock candy
  7. Often rocks. Slang.
    • a piece of money.
    • a dollar bill.
  8. Slang.
    • a diamond.
    • any gem.
  9. Slang.
    • crack
    • a pellet or lump of crack.
Idioms
  1. between a rock and a hard place, between undesirable alternatives.
  2. get one’s rocks off, Slang: Vulgar. to have an orgasm.
  3. on the rocks,
    • Informal: in or into a state of disaster or ruin: Their marriage is on the rocks.
    • Informal.without funds; destitute; bankrupt.
    • (of a beverage, especially liquor or a cocktail) with, or containing, ice cubes: Scotch on the rocks; a vodka martini on the rocks.
verb 
  1. to move or sway to and fro or from side to side.
  2. to be moved or swayed powerfully with excitement, emotion, etc.
  3. Mining. (of sand or gravel) to be washed in a cradle.
  4. to dance to or play rock music.
  5. (of popular music) to have the driving beat characteristic of rock.
  6. Slang. to be very good, impressive, exciting, or effective: This show really rocks.
  1. to move or sway to and fro or from side to side, especially gently and soothingly: Oh, look! Her big brother is rocking the baby to sleep.
  2. to lull in security, hope, etc.
  3. to affect deeply; stun; move or sway powerfully, as with emotion: Everyone in the courtroom was rocked by the verdict.
  4. to shake or disturb violently: A thunderous explosion rocked the waterfront.
  5. Slang.
    • to stir up; animate: We’re gonna rock this joint tonight!
    • to use, wear, or display in a showy, self-confident manner or to great effect: Only you could rock that hat! The game rocks some amazing new features.
  6. Graphic Arts. to roughen the surface of (a copperplate) with a rocker preparatory to scraping a mezzotint.
  7. Mining
noun
  1. a rocking movement: the gentle rock of the boat.
adjective
  1. rock-n-roll
Idioms
  1. rock the boat, Informal. to disrupt the smooth functioning or routine of something: Don’t rock the boat by demanding special treatment from Amity.

Ok, on that last one I inserted Amity, but what a coincidence that number 17 had to do with a boat!

On this trip, we were, of course, surrounded by rock…AND rocks! Let’s explore some of the different ones we encountered.

At one point on the river Amity, our fearless captain, randomly turned the boat and headed toward a canyon wall. I couldn’t figure out what she was doing until she pointed out these amazing quartz crystals that exposed themselves just above our heads.

Water gets the most publicity for forming Grand Canyon. That, together with wind, uplift and I’m sure other geologic activity created a most amazing place. This rock has this texture to it, and I only saw a few. If it were wood I’d say worms got into it…

This is the famous pink Zoraster Granite that flowed through and cooled inside the Schist…I think. In the inner gorge, it was everywhere.

Landing on beaches and exploring was one of my favorite things to do because A. I love beaches and B. they had GREAT rocks! I have no idea how big this one is, the tip of the iceberg and all, but the color mixture in it was stunning.

The collections of rocks, pebbles and stones near the water’s edge were fantastic. The colors, the shapes, the make-up was so varied. It was cool to be able to focus on such small things in such a massive place.

This rock was found in a side creek, Shinamu I think. It gets a constant scouring with water and it’s colors were beautiful.

The white in this rock looks like a fancy goldfish!

I love this image of pebbles just under the water as it shows the sunlight dancing on the left side of the picture.

This collection of large rocks, small boulders is in Blacktail Canyon. It was shot in the shade which speaks to the subdued lighting of the subject.

Again, boulder-strewn Blacktail Canyon. More on that story next week.

We stopped for the day and it was too hot to set up camp so I went exploring to wait for the sun to go behind the canyon wall. I found this gray rock with amazing red color mixed it.

I’m sure someone just set this rock here or…not. The point being that I found rocks in some crazy places with some crazy colors. No wonder people dedicate their lives to geology and this canyon. I haven’t even scratched the surface of what can be told through the rock and rocks of Grand Canyon.

I encourage you to take your camera to anywhere you like to shoot and begin looking at the rock in the area. Look for color, patterns and texture and…SHOOT! The details of this earth are not to be missed.

Happy shooting!

Boating, Collections, Nature, Outdoors, Travel

Drift Wood on the Colorado River

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This is probably going to be a lifelong passion, obsession, fixation, interest…I don’t know what to call it but, I love wood! There, I said it. I believe I will be spending the rest of my life, however, figuring out how to capture what I see so I can share it with you. Most images I take of wood only show a smidgen of what I saw, much like shooting Grand Canyon itself. Most images cannot do it justice.

I think this is my favorite. I saw the face instantly and had to capture it. Crazy, right?

Here’s another face, but one that is harder to see so I got more of a closeup. The eye is on top, much like a cartoon frog. This creature has an upturned nose and a large upper lip. The lower jaw even appears to have a tooth!

This piece of driftwood caught my attention because it was located high on the beach partially buried right next to this nearly sand covered rock. I want to know its story, how did it get there? How high were the flood waters or did someone drag it up?

The lines and curves and texture around this knot were cool.

There are literally millions of little sticks like this on the beaches. Sometimes they are in piles and sometimes solo among the rocks. They are so smooth and have clearly been involved with the river for a while.

It’s not always about the mystery of the driftwood though. Northern Arizona is filled with twisted and knotted trees that are full of character. I spotted this one not three seconds after getting off the boat for lunch one day. I could have spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the beach and wood like this.

Maybe that’s my answer. I just need to take the time to thoroughly explore my next wooden subject and see if I can get to a point where I can share what I truly see.

Happy Shooting!

Collections, People, Photography

Collections 1 (boots)

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As a kid I was a collector. You name it, I collected it. In hindsight I’m not positive how much the collections were because of things I was interested in or because I inherited them from family members. I also think I collected a couple of things that my mom got me into like dolls from foreign lands and glass blown figurines. These things cost money and required dusting. I look at my minimalist lifestyle now and think YUCK! I also collected postcards, matchbook covers, coins, stamps, and of course rocks. All required management of STUFF.

As I was going through images the other day hoping to be inspired for my next blog post it occurred to me that I still collect. But now I collect images. My taste is eclectic, I’ll shoot anything in front of me. I love people and details but am not lost on grand landscapes.

In my archive diving I discovered I apparently have an affinity for cowboy/girl boots. They are a work of art and as it turns out I’ve acquired quite a collection. The other thing I love about boots is the stories they could tell. They have such character. And the beauty of it all? I don’t have to store them or manage the care of the leather! Ha!

This is a great image of boots with chaps and spurs. I was a trip leader on an Arizona Highways Photo Workshop a couple of years ago in Sedona and we went on a jeep tour into the backcountry. The guides were fully dressed in old western wear.

This pair of boots was line dancing on the floor of a school gymnasium. Boots come in all sizes and these little ones were adorable. I love the scuff marks on the toes.

I captured these boots on a high school senior photo shoot. I love that even the bottoms of the boot are red, white and blue.

On a trip to Santa Fe we found a boot shop where there were walls of boots on shelves much like you’d find books on shelves in a book store. Even brand new they have amazing character.

This example, for me, highlights the fact that the artistry goes beyond the color of the material. That even in black and white the details of the boots shine through.

Maybe some day I’ll narrow my scope down to what I’m truly passionate about shooting but right now…it’s EVERYTHING!

Last summer, just north of Flagstaff, I went to the Babbitt Ranches colt sale. This was a GREAT place to capture “real” cowboy/girl boots that have seen some real action.

Another pair of flag boots and the ones on the right, I love the teal color.

Black and white or color, the boots on the corral fence are a classic.

I never realized how popular the flag pattern is for boots. Who knew?

Checkout the bottom of that right boot, there’s a HOLE in it! I’d love to hear the stories…

On another trip to White Sands National Monument with Arizona Highways Photo Workshops I spent an afternoon in El Paso. These boots were for sale on the street.

So there you go, still collecting. I encourage you to go through your photo archives and see if any “themes” emerge of things you are collecting but maybe never even realized. It’s kinda fun!

Happy Shooting!