Category Archives: Seasons

Architecture, buildings, Historic Buildings, Places to Shoot, Summer, Travel, Urbanscape

Washington D.C. ~ Buildings

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For me, Washington D.C. is all about the buildings. In my world of keywording,  buildings also include monuments, bridges, and memorials. Steeped in history, full of stories, iconic, architecture, and design all catch my eye. I couldn’t get enough. Here they are, in no particular order.

The Library of Congress was NOT what I pictured it to be. From what we saw it was much more a museum than a library. Apparently, it is the official research library that serves the United States Congress and is the de facto national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country and is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 470 languages. Who knew?

We stumbled across this building on our way to a March for our Lives rally. Excluding the White House, the Lockkeeper’s House is the oldest building on the National Mall, built in 1837.

The building dates to a period when this area was a  wharf and was the location of a section of the Washington City Canal, which connected the Potomac and Anacostia rivers. Here, an eastward extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal met the Potomac River and the Washington City Canal at a canal lock.

The 350-square-foot house served the canal lock keeper, who collected tolls, recorded commerce, maintained the canal, and managed traffic.

The Vietnam Memorial was powerful. The names on the Wall, originally numbering 57,939 when it was dedicated in 1982, are listed in the chronological order of the casualty dates. It’s interesting how short the wall is from the early days of the war and startling how tall it gets in the middle. Additional names have since been added and as of May 2018, there were 58,320 names. The number of names on the wall is different from the official number of U.S. Vietnam War deaths, which is 58,220 as of May 2018.

Mount Vernon was a beautiful way to spend an afternoon. The main building was under renovation so we wandered the grounds. It became less beautiful as we entered the slave quarters and realized how many people were owned to make these grounds a working farm back in the day. The above image is a room of the restored slave quarters.

The plantation is on the banks of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, Virginia, just south of Washington, D.C.

The Washington family acquired land in the area in 1674. Around 1734, the family embarked on an expansion of its estate that continued under George Washington, who began leasing the estate in 1754 before becoming its sole owner in 1761.

In 1858, the house’s historical importance was recognized and it was saved from ruin by the Mount Vernon Ladies Association; this philanthropic organization acquired it together with part of the Washington property estate. Escaping the damage suffered by many plantation houses during the American Civil War, Mount Vernon was restored.

Mount Vernon was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is still owned and maintained in trust by the Mount Vernon Ladies Association and is open every day of the year. Allowing the public to see the estate is not an innovation, but part of an over 200-year-old tradition started by George Washington himself. In 1794 he wrote: “I have no objection to any sober or orderly person’s gratifying their curiosity in viewing the buildings, Gardens, &ca. about Mount Vernon.”

This is an image of the lower floor of a round barn found on the property. It was invented to have hay laid out on the above floor, have horses walk on it, and ground it up to have it fall through to the bottom floor and be swept up and used. It was cutting-edge technology back then.

The Capital is located on Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall. Though no longer at the geographic center of the federal district, the Capitol forms the origin point for the district’s street-numbering system and the district’s four quadrants.

Central sections of the present building were completed in 1800. These were partly destroyed in the 1814 burning of Washington, then were fully restored within five years. The building was later enlarged by extending the wings for the chambers for the bicameral legislature, the House of Representatives in the south wing, and the Senate in the north wing. The massive dome was completed around 1866 just after the American Civil War.

The Supreme Court Building also referred to as “The Marble Palace,” serves as the official workplace of the Chief Justice of the United States and the eight Associate Justices of the Supreme Court. It is located in the block immediately east of the United States Capitol and north of the Library of Congress. On May 4, 1987, the Supreme Court Building was designated a National Historic Landmark.

The proposal for a separate building for the Supreme Court was suggested in 1912 by President William Howard Taft, who became Chief Justice in 1921. In 1929, Taft successfully argued for the creation of the new building but did not live to see it built. Physical construction began in 1932 and was officially completed in 1935 under the guidance of Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, Taft’s successor.

I don’t remember what this building is but we got out of the car, I looked up and saw this…so I SHOT it.

Beautiful architecture was everywhere, be it churches, office buildings, or homes, it was everywhere.

Walking from one place to another, outside of the National Mall, we would come across random buildings like the Embassy of Kazakstan.

The National Education Association.

The National Geographic Society.

An iPhone picture of the White House. Some days you could get right up to the gate and some days not. Today was a good day.

The Washington Monument’s construction began in 1848 and was halted for a period of 23 years, from 1854 to 1877 due to a lack of funds, a struggle for control over the Washington National Monument Society, and the American Civil War. It was built to commemorate George Washington, once commander-in-chief of the Continental Army (1775–1784) in the American Revolutionary War and the first President of the United States (1789–1797). Located almost due east of the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial, the monument, made of marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss, is both the world’s tallest predominantly stone structure and the world’s tallest obelisk at 555 feet 5+1⁄8 inches (169.294 m) tall, according to the National Park Service (measured 1884). It is the tallest monumental column in the world if all are measured above their pedestrian entrances.  The cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1848; the first stone was laid atop the unfinished stump on August 7, 1880; the capstone was set on December 6, 1884; the completed monument was dedicated on February 21, 1885; and officially opened October 9, 1888.

We never did secure tickets to go up in it. Next time.

The World War II Memorial was stunning. But this plaque was possibly the most important part of the memorial. It is the Freedom Wall. It explains the price of freedom in very real terms. The wall holds 4,048 gold stars you can see behind the sign to the left. Each star represents one hundred American service personnel who died or remain missing in the war. The 405,399 Americans dead and missing from World War II are second only to the loss of more than 620,000 Americans during our Civil War.  And THAT only includes our country. And only service members. Let that sink in for a minute.

This is a super cute little bridge along the waterway of the Jefferson Memorial whose pillars you can see below.

I found this quote on the Southeast wall to be very pertinent to today’s politics: “I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.” I have more to say but I’ll stop there. 😉

 

The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in May 1922. It has always been a major tourist attraction and since the 1930s has sometimes been a symbolic center focused on race relations.

The memorial has been the site of many famous speeches, including Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech delivered on August 28, 1963, during the rally at the end of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

The memorial is open to the public 24 hours a day, and more than 7 million people visit it annually.

Even the Metro station is kinda cool inside.

We went to a Washington Nationals Major League Baseball game with our friends. I even ate a hot dog.

The Smithsonian Institution is legendary. I learned this at an exhibit: “The Smithsonian Institution started with a gift from an 18th-century English scientist named James Smithson who left his fortune to the United States, a country he had never seen. This exhibition looks at the history of the Smithsonian, focusing on its research, museums, and public programs in art, culture, history, and science and the role of the American public in the Smithsonian museums and research.

The Smithsonian is a partnership between its specialist staff and the American people. ”

Walking around old Alexandria we ran into some old buildings.

I’m not sure what this building is but we emerged from the underground Metro to this. Stunning.

This is the National Portrait Gallery which is full of, you guessed it, portraits! Among other art pieces.

We didn’t go into Chinatown but found one of the entrances to it near the portrait gallery. Again, next time.

Here’s Ellen at Union Station, on our way to find the Amtrak train that will take us to New York City.

I hope you enjoyed the small sampling of the buildings we encountered on the D.C. portion of our June adventure.

Until next week, Happy Shooting!!

Animals, Flowers, Nature, Summer, Travel

Washington D.C. ~ Nature

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We arrived home on May 20th from our 50-day camper adventure only to turn around and fly to Washington D.C. on June 8th.

I will begin this blog series where I left off with the last one…Nature. Editing this set of images for this post was WAY more manageable than the previous one. I only had nine days to sort through, not 50!

Let us begin with our airplane journey across the U.S. It was clear skies until we flew into Dallas, Texas where we encountered severe thunderstorms. In fact, we found out we were one of the last planes to fly out of DFW that afternoon due to the storms. Whew! Once we got above the clouds though, it was beautiful.

Our first day in the D.C. area found us on the banks of the Potomac hunting for prehistoric shark teeth.

It was amazing how many we found. It makes one wonder how many are out there because this is a popular activity in the area and most folks find plenty.

While looking for shark teeth down the beach I found this little guy. Definitely a highlight.

Following the morning at the river and a parking lot, and a tailgate picnic our friends dropped us off at Mt. Vernon, home of George Washington. There will be plenty of pictures later in the Buildings blog but I just wanted to point out how cool it was to touch a tree planted by our first president.

In walking along the National Mall and encountering several ponds and lakes, many with duck families merrily swimming about, we learned that the way the ponds were built is a death trap for little ducklings. They can’t get out as they can’t yet fly. So, volunteers, in their infinite wisdom, came up with duck ramps to help the littles get in and out of the water. Brilliant, right?

D.C. is certainly not at a loss of places to photograph flowers. They are everywhere, especially in June. The orange Lillies above are in front of the Smithsonian building while the white rose rests against the Vietnam Memorial.

We stayed on base with our friends and Jake, the family dog, at Fort Belvoir. We had a good soaking one evening.

One day we went to the U.S. Botanic Garden. It is on the grounds of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. The Botanic Garden is supervised by Congress through the Architect of the Capitol, who is responsible for maintaining the grounds of the United States Capitol. The gardens are open every day of the year, and is the oldest continually-operating botanic garden in the United States.

The Conservatory is housed in a Lord & Burnham greenhouse and is divided into separate rooms, each simulating a different habitat. The habitats include The Garden Court, Rare and Endangered Plants, Plant Exploration, Orchid House, Medicinal Plants, Desert, Hawaii, Garden Primeval, Plant Adaptation, Jungle (this is the largest of the rooms, and includes a second-story catwalk so that the jungle canopy may be observed from both below and above), Children’s Garden, and Southern Exposure (courtyard), on the south side of the building, which is surrounded by glass walls, receiving more warmth. It features many plants from the Southeast and Southwest, which would not be able to live in the colder District of Columbia climate if not for the microclimate).

Needless to say, we kept getting lost.

The Washington D.C. area is beautiful. We spent most of our time going to museums and seeing historic buildings. The vegetation in the area is SO different from the desert southwest, so GREEN.

Next week I’ll show you some buildings. Buildings is a HUGE keyword on this trip. Lots of buildings.

Until then, happy shooting!

 

Adventure, Outdoors, Spring, Travel

Coyote Hawk’s Grand Adventure…and keywording

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We’re BACK! After nearly three months of nearly constant travel Ellen and I have found ourselves at home for a whole month and, I think I’m finally ready to settle down and weed through the images of two major trips. I’ll start with our first one, the seven-week epic tour of the southeast – midwest -and then home to Flagstaff.

I say three months because we left home in our rig on April 1 and returned on May 20, 50 days later. Then, on June 8th we flew to Washington D.C., trained up to New York City, and flew home on June 28th. Now we’re home for a month before heading off to California and Washington State. I’m going to go through the driving trip first.

With nearly 3,500 images to sort through and what seems like as many experiences, I’ve decided to break it down for you via keywords. For those of you who don’t know, keywording is a system photographers use to locate needed images in the future. For example,  in this first set, I’ve assigned the keyword “Coyote Hawk” to each of the images. Then, when I need images of our rig for this trip to write about, I go to the metadata search area in Lightroom, click on April and May, go to the next column, click on Coyote Hawk, and presto! images assigned with these words appear. From that, I can choose the ones to export and upload to the blog!

I recently learned a new trick in Lightroom that has been life-changing. They have keyword PRESETS!! Wait, WHAT?!? You mean I don’t have to type the words in EVERY. SINGLE. TIME?? Excellent, I’m IN!

I created a preset called AA-Main Themes. The AA is just so it shows up at the top, in alphabetical order. It allows me to easily access, at a click,  nine words to assign to images to begin the process of keywording. Here are my nine main themes: buildings, art, food, transportation, urban, signs, nature, people, and music. Most images will get one if not two of these words assigned and I don’t have to take the time to type the words repeatedly, it’s a simple click of the mouse.

That was my aha moment in working with these pics so now let’s move on to the stories of this trip.

As I stated earlier, this first set of images will be about our camper and what became our home away from home, literally. We had taken Coyote Hawk out for about a dozen nights between November 30th when we picked her up and April 1 when we left for Portal, Arizona. We were still working Tuesdays-Fridays so our camps were only two to three nights at a time, every few weeks; hardly enough time to get into a real rhythm.

What happened on this trip in regards to our relationship to our home on wheels is nothing either of us expected. We figured we’d be SO ready to be home after seven solid weeks on the road, but we weren’t. Coyote Hawk came to provide us with such feelings of safety and comfort that we actually preferred staying in her rather than moving into the comforts of the homes of friends and family we visited.

What’s funny is that people, bless their hearts, thought they were doing us a favor by offering for us to stay in their homes. What happened on this trip is that our camper BECAME our home. The bed was comfortable, our stuff all had a place, and we created systems and rhythms with each other to make our little space a literal home on wheels.

Our first three nights were spent in Portal, AZ. It’s a little community located in southeastern Arizona not far from the Mexican border. Our good friends have a lovely piece of land there just east of Chiricahua National Monument. It was a great place to land on our first big driving day in Coyote Hawk. Heading out from Flagstaff was mostly downhill so we got crazy good gas mileage; 22 mpg to be exact.

At camp, we generally need two things: a shower and a toilet to go #2 in. We have a small, nighttime toilet we use to pee in and an outdoor shower if we need it. Luckily these guys let us use their toilet.

After three nights and two days with our beautiful friends, we headed to Texas. We crossed New Mexico on Highway 9, drove through El Paso, and ended up in Junction, Texas, and South Llano River State Park.

We LOVED this park. We wished we had brought our bicycles, as there was some riding to be had. This is also where we got to interact with armadillos for the first time. That will be in a later post.

By April 6th we were heading to Padre Island National Seashore.

It turns out that in Texas one can just drive on any beach and camp. Pretty cool. As you can see we were quite a distance from any other camp. But as you can also see, the winds had picked up the afternoon before, blew hard all night, and blew sand all over our mat. It blew so hard that we moved our truck, in the middle of the night, to face the wind and try to reduce some of the rocking from the gusts. Needless to say, with fine sand blowing everywhere and no relief in sight, we called it after one night and headed to Harlingen.

We were supposed to be in Harlingen for two nights, and one day and that one day was to be spent seeking out Ellen’s childhood home and neighborhood. We instead added our Padre Island time and ended up being there for five nights, four days. We were actually in Walasco, TX staying at Magic Valley Park. It was billed as an RV park but this is what we got, a slab of concrete in some grass, surrounded by mobile homes, 95% of whose residents had just left to go back to Canada. It turned out to be a really nice, safe place to camp. We had laundry facilities, a pool, a hot tub, and a shower and bathroom at our disposal.

Coyote Hawk was also our daily drive. Luckily she was easy to maneuver on city streets. Here she is parked on Ellen’s childhood street.

One of the upgrades we decided our rig needed was to tint the truck’s windows. Wow, what a difference it made with the sun and heat.

From Harlingen, we headed to Houston to stay with cousin Dave and his husband Bong. We easily could have camped in the driveway but were invited into an upstairs room and private bath. It was here that I think we began to realize that staying in the camper is easier and just as, if not more, comfortable for us.

Following Houston, we headed south to spend two nights at a KOA on Galveston Island. It was a KOA Holiday property and had a very country club/resort feel. Not exactly our style. But it worked, was close to the beach, and had laundry, shower, and bathroom facilities, so we were good.

Again we were happy to have a smaller RV as we parked on city streets and meandered through cemeteries in Galveston.

After only two nights and a day to explore Galveston, we headed to Lousiana and Fontainebleau State Park. It. Was. Beautiful. We LOVED it there and again, wished we had bicycles. We spent four nights there, and three days.

On all three days we drove the 25-mile-long causeway over Lake Ponchatrain twice into New Orleans, and once to visit the Whitney Plantation.

From NOLA we headed north into Mississippi to see another of Ellen’s childhood homes in Houston, MS We camped at Davis Lake Campground 20 minutes from Houston. We parked at the town square and wandered around a place where Ellen and her family lived in the late 1960s for 18 months.

The next stop was Henry Horton State Park just south of Nashville, TN. This was another park we loved and wished we had bikes to explore with. We didn’t bring the bikes as we didn’t want them hanging off the back, ripe for theft, as we visited the cities on our trip. Stay tuned and you’ll see what we came up with.

We stayed here for two nights and a day. We’ve decided that, when possible, a layover day is a must. It’d be a shame to pull into such a beautiful park in the afternoon only to have to pull up stakes and head out first thing in the morning.

THIS two-night, one-day experience was all about Dollywood! We stayed at The Ridge Resort in Sevierville, Dolly Pardon’s hometown. The RV park had a LOT of concrete, very manicured lawns, twice-daily trash pick-up (I’m serious), and giant bus-sized RVs surrounding us. We felt like we used to after canoe camping at Lake Powell and paddling over to the restaurant for a meal and mixing with all the clean houseboaters. We were a bit out of our league.

Following Tennessee, we headed to our friend’s house in Weaverville, NC, just outside of Asheville, NC. No pics were taken of this camp as we parked in an out-of-town neighbor’s driveway and stayed in our friend’s house. It was a lovely time hanging out with Trish, Paul, and the pooches.

Here we are in Hillsborough, NC at my cousin Wendy’s home. This is her barn and that window on the second floor? that’s our little one-bedroom apartment. It was a lovely private space and we SO appreciated being offered to stay there, which we did, but, as I stated earlier when we visit again, we’ll just stay in the Hawk.

From North Carolina, we went through five states to get to Cincinnati, OH, and visit our beautiful family of Evonne, Rob, and Akacia. We camped 20 minutes away in Winton Woods Campground. It was a wonderful five days, six nights with family.

From Cincinnati, we traveled to Sugar Bottom Campground just outside of Iowa City, IA. We met the most lovely people there but oh my God it was hot and humid. That was a two-night, one-day layover on our way to Nebraska.

In Nebraska, we stayed at the  Puncochar Family Farm. It has been in the same family for over 100 years. Yes, we parked next to a dumpster, but it’s full of building supplies as the house out of sight to the right of the truck is being renovated. We drove to the farm on Thursday, May 12th, stayed Friday, Saturday and  headed to Denver on Sunday.

In Denver, we stayed in the basement of my brother’s home. There was no other option. The above picture reinforces for us how well we chose the size of our rig. We were able to park in downtown Denver without a problem.

This post kicks off the blog series that will tell the stories of all those images posted to Facebook in April and May of our epic spring adventure. Thanks for tuning in and I hope you enjoy revisiting the adventure!

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, Animals, Animals, Nature, Outdoors, Photography, Places to Shoot, Seasons, Travel, Water, Winter

Patagonia Lake State Park, a discovery

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We decided to spend New Year’s Eve camping. We thought we’d usher out the crazy year of 2020 and welcome 2021 in the great outdoors. It was cold where we live and we figured anything south of Flagstaff, Arizona would be warm. Think again.

You are about to join me on a classic scouting trip to Patagonia Lake State Park in southern Arizona. It was an amazing trip and we learned a LOT. We also learned to check the elevation of locations, especially for winter temperatures.

The park is a five-hour drive from our home in Flagstaff, Arizona. We made it even longer by “swinging by” Fountain Hills to visit a dear friend on the way down. When we finally arrived about an hour before sunset, here, to our horror,  is what we found.

This is the sign that greeted us as we entered the park. We missed the rangers so we figured we’d locate our camp site and get our tags the next morning.

We sleep in a rooftop tent. Our bikes hang off the back and still provide us with plenty of room to access our kitchen when the hatch-back is open. We were in spot #104, LITERALLY the worst spot in the whole park. We learned that there is a reason it was the last one available. As we backed in we thought for sure we were doing something wrong as there were tents for site 105 directly behind us. OUR ramada is actually in front of spot #103! WHAT!?!

Luckily we had two parking spots so we could drop the ladder that gets us into our home. The ramada you see with the tall tent? That’s us. The tall tent was our Christmas present to ourselves. We use it as a changing room. It couldn’t have been purchased at a more perfect time.

Another view of our camp.

This is our fire pit, RIGHT next to #103 (who was a very nice family by the way). #103 had a little more space as their fire pit was just outside their tent which gave them some room. On the upside? We had a spectacular sunset and the “tent only” camps were right on the lake.

This body of water is only two and a half miles long and 250 surface acres. A bit of a pond compared to what we’re used to at Lake Powell where we spend our summers canoe camping and paddleboarding.

The next morning was cold, like 24 degrees farenheight cold.  Since we don’t have a heater in the tent, we got up, made coffee and tea, and went exploring.

The large arch of a bridge is the most prominent man-made feature of this park (outside of the lake itself). It spans the inlet to the little marina that has a store, boat launch, and dock full of boats to rent from a canoe to a powerboat.

The arch is as dramatic as it seems. Both ends are quite steep and at the top, you get a pretty nice view of the lake.

Following the bridge adventure, we began to take back our comments of “We’re NEVER coming here again!” of last night and began to see the beauty of the surrounding area. We headed back to the parking lot, reloaded our tea and coffee mugs, and headed off in another direction.

We found the other boat ramp (again, quite small compared to Lake Powell).

We found camp #38, accessible by water and by car. On the downside you would have to lug all your gear down these steps. On the upside, when you get to the bottom, you have the site to yourself. The sign faces the water to alert incoming boats that it is in fact a campground and not a day-use site.

Here’s a funny story. We were in the RoofNest last night and Ellen realized she hadn’t taken out her disposable contacts. She decided to just drop them out of the tent and she’d pick them up off the pavement in the morning. Having forgotten all about them we returned after our morning coffee/tea exploration to change out of our winter layers and low and behold! What’s this on the side of the car?? CONTACTS!!

Our next order of business was to get on our bikes and explore the park. Turns out it’s really not a mountain biking park. Lots of trails but not for bikes. Our goal was to ride up to the ranger station to get our tag and explore the RV section for possible future sites. As we left the ranger station I turned to look at the skulls and jumped as the snake caught my attention. I didn’t have time to reason that snakes aren’t out in these cold temperatures.

The other thing we did was ask about moving sites. One of the ones we liked and had passed on the way would be available the next day. One more day in the ghetto! Then…MOVING DAY!!

After dropping off our tag we were off to explore. We encountered some folks that looked like they were heading off for a lengthy hike so we inquired where they might be going. “Oh, there’s a lovely birding trail at the end of the RV section, you should check it out!” they said. And check it out we did!

On our way to the trailhead we happened across this roadrunner lurking about the RV’s. We stopped to watch him (or her) and apparently we ruffled its feathers! I’d never seen such a thing in a roadrunner. Fellow birders said it’s common and that roadrunners like to hang out with people and demand food. Who knew?

The entrance to the birding trail has a lovely spot with bird feeders that attract all kinds of feathered friends. It was nice to just sit and watch through binoculars and a longish lens (28-300) and try to capture their antics.

In the winter Patagonia Lake State Park is mainly a birding and fishing destination. The ranger said the campground is full year-round but with very different guests. In the summer you get the “escape the heat” crowd with motorboats and lots of swimming at the designated beach. Winter is full but much quieter with folks and their binoculars and fishing rods.

After a brief stop at the bird feeders, we headed off for our “hike”. Turned out to be more of a walk and much shorter than was indicated by some of our new friends.

The trail descended to a gate that led us directly to the edge of the lake. It was very mucky and full of reeds, cattails, and a few ducks.

Our trail was blocked by these two calves. Mama was close by so we gently approached the siblings and continued on our way.

We heard running water and discovered Sonoita Creek which is the drainage that is dammed up to create Patagonia Lake.

In this image, you can see flood debris probably deposited during the monsoon season.

There were random benches along the trail.

The pathway cut through forests of cottonwood and mesquite. However, in one section was a stand of these trees.

Here’s the funny thing about these signs. There is a Lower Loop and an Upper Loop. They are the same loop. One goes to the right, the other to the left. And there is no elevation change to delineate it as upper or lower. Weird.

Cockleburs. These were found on the local cows. Poor things. These guys are no fun for dogs to pick up either.

On our way back we ran into this guy. Holy COW!! or STEER!! or BULL!! He was so big I had to photograph him straight on to show his girth! I thought she was pregnant then realized she was a he.

What would a Vicki Shoot be without some patterns?

It was on this trip that we decided to become birders. We downloaded the Audubon App and began attempting to identify birds. We started with the easy ones.

In some areas the foliage was close to the path and in othere it openedd up. We saw several photographers with 600 mm + lenses and many birders with binoculars at the ready.

The Mesquite tunnel.

Some of the mucky water early in the trail.

We made it back to the bird feeders and sat for a while to see who showed up. I did my best with my 28-300 mm lens but vowed to look into a good birding lens.

Random bow hunters passing us and heading out onto the trail. They said they were hunting deer and javelina.

We also vowed to bring our inflatable paddleboards with us next time.

Party at the table top feeder!!

Given how busy our camp was we didn’t spend much time there. Following our bird walk we stopped by the car, grabbed a quick lunch and headed off again to explore the marina.

As I stated earlier the marina is small.

This sign is at the boat ramp.

More views of the lovely bridge.

This is the path running alongside the marina.

We followed this little ramp only to come upon an area the racoons have deemed their toilet.

The reeds are pretty.

We ran into our #103 neighbor in his rigged out fishing kayak. It seems he grew up coming here from Tucson and is now bringing his wife and own children to his beloved park.

Boat tours? Cool.

There are a LOT of day-use areas. I’m sure in the summer they are used more. Unfortunately, with Covid, day-use is being heavily restricted.

Such a pretty lake. I’m trying to imagine it in the spring or summer when the trees and grasses are green.

MOVING DAY!! This is the site we ended up with. We loved it. However, at 4,000 ft in elevation, the nights and mornings were REALLY cold so, even though the site was spectacualr, we called it a day early, packed up on Sunday instead of Monday and headed home.

But before we did that we went for another walk.

 Same picture, color vs black and white. Do you have a preference?

This is why I need a longer lens! Great bird, blurry shot!!

This fellow greeted us down at teh swimming beach. They seemed pretty tame and especting food.

               

On our way home we went back a different way. The new route took us through the town of Patagonia and on through Sonoita. This building reminded me of the old train station in San Geronimo, Californina located at the Presbytarian church on Sir Francis Drake Blvd.

We grabbed lunch at a local eatery, ate outside on a picnic table and headed back to Flagstaff.

It was a great trip that taught us a lot about the area. We fully intend to return. Next time I hope to have a longer lens to capture the bird life.

Happy shooting!

Arizona Highways PhotoScapes, Flowers, Historic Buildings, Nature, Outdoors, Photo Workshops, Photography, Places to Shoot, Summer, Travel, Uncategorized

Black and White Photography, Flagstaff

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Black and White imagery can be stunning and powerful. In August of 2019 Joel Wolfson, a local Flagstaff photographer, was the instructor on an Arizona Highways PhotoScapes workshop on black and white photography held in Flagstaff. Flagstaff is one of the greatest places to be in the state of Arizona in August. I live here and I love working with Joel so I agreed to volunteer for the workshop. Like night photography, shooting in black and white is not my jam. I tend to turn color photos into black and white as an afterthought.

It was a three-day weekend workshop that began on a Friday with a long classroom session before shooting in the afternoon. It ended on Sunday by 3:30. It included two morning shoots, three afternoon shoots and lots of time in the classroom for critiques and lessons. There is a LOT to learn about black and white photography.

We learned about the zone system created by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer around 1940. The technique is based on late 19th century sensitometry studies. The Zone System provides photographers with a systematic method of precisely defining the relationship between the way they visualize the photographic subject and the final results. Although it originated with black-and-white sheet film, the Zone System is also applicable to roll film, both black-and-white and color, negative and reversal, and to digital photography. Joel taught the process of making this work. It’s going to take some practice.

We photographed in the mountains around Flagstaff…

as well as in town at the Pioneer Musium on Highway 180 and a little downtown.

If you are looking to up your game in the black and white genre this is the workshop for you. I had fun meeting some great participants and photographing in my hometown. It’s funny how little we do that.

Happy Shooting!

AHPS, Arizona Highways PhotoScapes, Cultural, Historic Buildings, Nature, Outdoors, Photo Workshops, Places to Shoot, Summer, Travel, Weather

Chasing Monsoons with Arizona Highways PhotoScapes

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It was a good idea. As long as I can remember, and I’ve lived in Arizona since 1971, the monsoon season has arrived right on schedule. It generally begins when we get a consistent dew point in the 50’s and runs from about mid-July through August, give or take a couple of weeks. As the afternoons heat up the thunderheads begin to build and they can pop up anywhere. It’s not like a storm you can track from California. When I first attended Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff I could set my watch to the daily afternoon showers and thunderstorms. But with climate change, last year’s monsoon season was dubbed a non-soon. Much like 2020.

It was scheduled as a four-day workshop. The idea was that we’d convene at 9:00 in the classroom, learn about weather patterns, how to read weather apps and radar, learn where to go for the storms that just pop up in the hot Arizona afternoons, and be ready to load the vans and head in any direction from Phoenix, located in the center of the state. Thursday wound up being a tough day with a classroom full of excited photographers and nowhere to go.

It was decided that the next day we’d head in the direction of a historically rich corridor of monsoon activity, interstate 10 between Phoenix and Tucson.

We had class from 9-12, lunch from 12-1, then we headed to Tucson. With no storms forming, we photographed the Mission San Xavier del Bac. It’s always a good choice for people with cameras.

It’s crazy to think of the lives, people and stories that have wandered these grounds over the centuries.

To think of the folks who have sat in these pews and prayed.

A storm cell popped up around Benson, south of Tucson. By the time we got there, this was all there was. It had mostly dissipated as quickly as it had formed. We shot until sunset then grabbed some food and headed back to Phoenix. We got back to the classroom at 11:30.

Saturday was a similar situation. We headed south of Phoenix but this time only went as far as Florence. No storms popped up on the radar…ANYWHERE, so we photographed the desert. Again we were out until 11:00.

Sunday we spent half the day in the classroom doing photo critiques with what we DID shoot and dismissed.

Again, the idea was a good one, too bad the weather didn’t cooperate. Highways has since taken this workshop off the schedule, for obvious reasons. Maybe someday, when weather patterns settle down, we can get back to it. I still learned a lot about weather and photographing storms. They can be dangerous for you and your gear so keep a safe distance from lightning and have rain gear for you AND your camera always ready.

Stay safe out there and Happy Shooting!

AHPS, Animals, Animals, Arizona Highways PhotoScapes, Nature, Outdoors, Places to Shoot, Shooting Close to Home, Travel, Uncategorized, Water, Winter

Watson Lake in Winter

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Watson Lake is one of two reservoirs at the Granite Dells, in Prescott, Arizona, that was formed in the early 1900s when the Chino Valley Irrigation District built a dam on Granite Creek. The City of Prescott bought the reservoir and surrounding land in 1997 to preserve it as recreational land. Local rock climbers use the granite cliffs above and adjacent to the lake for top-roping and lead climbing. The lake is also the home of TriCity Prep Rowing Crew, a local high school team and only rowing team in Northern Arizona. Who knew?

Arizona Highways PhotoScapes runs this workshop in January in order to be able to photograph the sunrise. The park opens year-round at 7:00 am. In the summer we would miss the sunrise. And, we get the lake pretty much to ourselves in winter as most visitors take advantage of the lake in warmer months.

It’s a beautiful lake and I’ve paddled on it before. Not in the winter though so I was looking forward to hanging out in Prescott for a couple of days with our photographer Amy Horn and our amazing participants. Even though shooting landscapes isn’t my jam I did manage to find some patterns and scenes that interested and inspired me.

While everyone else was photographing the lake I turned my attention to the nearby grasses.

  Winter hours have the park closing at 6:00 pm which is plenty of time to catch the sunset without having to stay out too late.

Apparently in winter humans come to the lake regularly to feed the waterfowl that live there. This was the highlight of my shoot. It was sheer chaos with Canada Geese, swans, ducks of several sorts and American Coot vying for the feed.

This is a great lake in any season.

Happy shooting!

Celebrations, Cultural, Family, Photography, Shooting at Home, Spring

Easter Eggs

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Easter is coming up in a couple of weeks and it is a fantastic holiday for shooting, especially if you like color as much as I do.

Apparently my household doesn’t color eggs as often as I think we do because I only have two years of examples. But that doesn’t matter. This is a blog about inspiration so YOU get out there and find those eggs and baskets and colors and YOU get some images. 😉

This bowl of eggs was sitting on our kitchen counter. I set up a tripod so I could shoot in low light without camera shake. You could spend an hour just shooting this bowl and changing around the eggs to find the best lines, forms and color combinations.  Of course changing the  angle is also also an option as I did below.

Seriously, this makes me want to color eggs this year just to have a photo session.

One year we got a hold of a box of egg color that had faces and hair in them. That was a fun shoot!

So, this Easter, get with the kids and/or grandkids and color some eggs! Then get out your camera and have some fun. I did!

Happy Shooting!

Celebrations, Cultural, Fall, People, Photography, Shooting Close to Home, Travel

Dia de los Muertos, Tlaquepaque style

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I love Dia de los Muertos. I think celebrating and remembering those who have gone before us in a light hearted whimsical way is fantastic. If you are interested in this latin American tradition you’ll want to put on your calendar for next October to check in with Tlaquepaque, the Spanish village of shops and restaurants in Sedona, to bring your camera andjoin them in their very festive and colorful celebration. It only happens for one afternoon so don’t miss it. Admission is free and the shooting opportunities are endless!!

They bring in high quality face painters…FREE!  These artists don’t mess around. This is a booth worth returning to time and again throughout the afternoon to photograph the amazing art laid out on people’s faces.

Graffiti walls are constructed to encourage visitors to write messages to those who have passed on.

The entertainment was great! There were traditional dancers, musicians, street performers (stilts, jugglers, hula-hoop and silk artists).

 

Beautiful, colorful decorations could be found all over grounds of Tlaquepaque. Every nook and cranny was SOMETHING to look at. This skull was just sitting in a bush.

I found these three characters sitting on a wall fountain.

All of the free standing fountains were immaculately decorated with flowers and skulls.

I found these skulls in the vendor section.  There were all kinds of whimsical skeletons, skulls and trinkets available at these stalls.

These ladies, about 18 inches high, were strategically placed around several of the fountains throughout Tlaquepaque. They were fantastic. I could have spent the day just shooting them and their details

      

Visitors were encouraged to dress up and many completed their costume with the provided face painters.

This couple brought their own masks.

One of the highlights and certainly a foundation of the celebration of Dia de los Muertos are the altars. They are created by families and have many aspects to them. There may be photos of the deceased, food and drink they enjoyed to welcome them back; sugar skulls, water, salt, bread, a comb and candles among other items. Each item has a significant reason for being there. It is said the scent of flowers, Marigolds in particular, help guide the spirit home.

The yellow cross on the ground is made of rose pedals.

And then night came. This was my first time at this event and sadly, I didn’t have my tripod so many the nighttime images are less than sharp but I included them here to share how dramatic and beautiful things turned with candle light.

So, mark your calendars for the end of September to check the Tlaquepaque website and see when their Day of the Dead celebration is scheduled for in 2018. It’s usually the end of October or early November. It’s worth your time.

Happy Shooting!