Postcard from the Palisades

There is an interesting back road that runs from near Wenatchee, WA to Ephrata, WA, my old home town for 16 years. This road is called the Palisades Road and runs through Palisades Canyon, hence its name. It was a nice way to get to Ephrata, although much of the road is unimproved and very rough. There is a tiny little town on that road, also called Palisades.

Near the town is a graveyard of old trucks and cars, backed up to a granite cliff. I think someone in Palisades is a collector as all the vehicles there are quite unique and fun to see. All are in bad shape, but that is part of their charm.

Now, I have a passion for photographing and even painting old, abandoned vehicles, especially the ones that have become quite colorful in their old age, usually with the help of Mother Nature. This truck falls right my wheelhouse as a photographable, even paintable, image. I had quite forgotten about it, but came across it today while looking for a suitable image for this blog.

For those of my readers who live in Central Washington who might be looking to see something different, take a drive on this road and enjoy what you find.

Postcard from Organ Pipe

I decided to show you a couple more photos I took last week at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. These photos could be subtitled: Mountains, Clouds, Cactus, and Wildflowers.” In the first photos I showed you last time, I concentrated on the wildflowers. In this edition, I wanted to show you all the amazing elements that make up the beauty of this place, and how they all contribute to a lovely photograph.

The array of colors in these photos is pretty good, if I do say so myself. Having a rainstorm clearing at sunset really helps with the composition and color arrays.

Actually, even without the wildflowers, these are pretty good photos. But having them here just makes them so much better. Last year there were no wildflowers on this hillside because of lack of rain. Well, we got the rain this year and these are the results.

I may never bitch about it raining ever again.

Postcard from Organ Pipe – Wildflowers and Cactus

Yesterday started out with rain and wind. But my photographer friend Dave Forester from Wenatchee and I checked out the forecast and saw it may clear up about 3:00 PM with 50% clouds in the sky. So we took a chance and headed southwest to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

Now if you don’t remember my past blogs about Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, let me refresh your memory. This National Monument lies right on the Mexican Border and is home to a very special large species of cactus known as Organ Pipe cactus. When you look at these photos, you can easily pick out which of the cactus bear that name. About 98% of all Organ Pipe cactus in the U.S. are located inside the park boundaries.

It is a 2 1/2 hour journey at best, but we ran into some heavy rains along the way, so it took a bit longer. Eventually made it to the Visitor Center and asked if they knew where there might be a concentration of wildflowers and Organ Pipe cactus. She showed us a point on an unpaved 21 mile loop road called the Ajo Road. As the start of the road was just right across the highway from the Visitor Center, we headed out.

After bouncing and jiggling our way across the desert, we found the exact spot the ranger pointed out…a hillside cover with Mexican Poppies and Lupine, and of course, featuring the Organ Pipe cactus and some Saguaro cactus as well. Sadly, the sun was still behind the clouds. But by 4:30, it broke free and it played peek-a-boo with us for the next 2 hours. We did a lot of standing around waiting for the next ray of sunshine to snap our shutters, but it was worth it.

Here are just two samples of the photos I took yesterday. More will eventually follow. In the second photo, the mountains you see way off in the distance are in Mexico.

It was a good day on the side of that mountain, and I am glad we went, even though we had another long journey to get back home to Tucson. The wildflower season is only still beginning here in the Sonoran Desert, but it is spectacular.

Postcard from Prescott – The Infrared View

A couple of weeks ago I published a photo from Prescott, AZ of two roses complete with honey bees. Well, here is another view of the same rose bush, but this time I applied an infrared filter to give it a different look.

Shooting with infrared film in a film camera can yield some interesting results. The film sees only infrared light bouncing off the subject. It does not see the usual red, green and blue light, thus the images can be quite different and still interesting.

Here, I used infrared filters that I added to Photoshop on a digital image. It too yielded some interesting results…perhaps not true infrared, but interesting non-the-less. As you know, I love to play around with digital special effects, always looking for something different. I think you have to agree that this is different.

Enjoy (I hope).

Postcard from Tucson – The First Wildflowers

One year ago, there were almost no wildflowers to be seen in our part of the Sonoran Desert. This year, it will be just the opposite…because this year we had lots of rain at the right time. The ground was saturated and the weather has warmed up. It’s wildflower time!

Truthfully, it is still a few days early…except for this one place I found yesterday. There is a web site specifically designed for wildflower reports and someone graciously reported a carpet of wildflowers be seen on Picture Rocks Road just on the west side of the pass.

When I read that, I didn’t have a clue where that was. Turns out it is only about 10 miles North from here. So, around 4:00 PM, I gathered up my camera equipment and headed out.

On the way there, I found absolutely no wildflowers blooming even on the eastern side of Picture Rock Road. It is beautiful desert country and I was surprised there was not a wildflower in site. I continued up over the pass, and lo and behold, found myself in the northwest corner of Saguaro National Park West. As I came around a bend in the road, there they were…beautiful carpets of golden poppies amidst the desert flora. Also mixed in were a few purple flowers that I cannot identify…but mostly it was poppies.

They covered the hillside and the flat ground below it. It was a magnificent site for the eyes, and here are the first photos. After snapping my shutter numerous times, I continued west on the road and found no additional wildflowers. This small area was the only place where they could be found…and in such abundance. It was strange, but, as I said, it is early days yet.

After my friend Dave finishes up his art show, we will be heading out on a photo expedition looking for more wildflowers But, for now, enjoy these first fruits of my labors.

Postcard from Tucson - Baseball

Spent yesterday out at Tucson Electric Field with my friend and fellow photographer Dave Forester from Wenatchee, WA. We lucked out with excellent seats, three rows from the field, right behind the first base dugout, so we both took our good cameras.

It was a beautiful day, about 75 degrees, with the sun mostly at our backs. The game was between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Cincinnati Reds. Of course, being a spring training game, it doesn’t count for much of anything except allowing regular players to tune up for the upcoming season, and letting new players show their stuff.

Now, I don’t follow major league baseball anymore, except for an occasional glance at the standings. But, being Arizona and Colorado both train in my adopted home town, I just have to go watch some games. I still love the game of baseball.

And, of course, this is the last year that these two teams will train here. Spring Training has been an integral part of Tucson life since 1947…but it all ends this year. Next year, all the teams training in Arizona will be located in and around Phoenix. I am a little sad about that.

Ironically, the first major league team to train here in ‘47 was the Cleveland Indians, who we will see today vs. Colorado.

But yesterday’s game was great fun, with the Reds winning 13-7. Both Dave and I had our own fun playing sports photographers. And I think we were both pleased our results.

The first picture shows an Arizona player being hit in the back by a pitched ball. I know these blog images are a bit small, but if you look closely, or double-click on the photo, you can see I captured the ball as it bounced off the player’s body. The second photo shows an unsuccessful pick-off play at first base. The secret of photographing baseball is to shoot lots of photos and maybe you will get lucky with a couple of good ones.

It was a great day at the ball park, perfect weather and some enjoyable photography. I will miss baseball when it leaves here.

By the way, Dave is down here for the Spring 4th Ave. Festival and Art Show. He has a booth and is showing some of his incredible nature photographs. If you are in the area, look him up. As for me, while I will miss the Spring Training games coming to Tucson, I don’t miss doing art shows on the road anymore like Dave is doing. I am happily retired.

Postcard from Ellensburg – Autumn Surprise

Yes, I know…we are approaching Spring now and no one welcomes it more than myself. However, I came across some Autumn photos that I took a few years ago and couldn’t resist the challenge posed by this image.

It is of a country road just south of Ellensburg, WA, a place I always made a point of visiting in Autumn when I lived in the Northwest. Long time readers may remember a photo I took of this same road a few years prior to this one…when the road was covered with leaves. It was used on a music CD album cover.

There was a delicious ground fog this day, and I wanted to create an image of gloom, even though the fog was beginning to lift about the time I took this photo. You can see a bit of the fog in the background. To create a “gloom and doom” feeling, I had to take some outrageous liberties in Photoshop…but, I was in a playful mood anyway.

Although it has the qualities of a painting in some respects, I still consider it a photo. I did take a single pass with a Dry Brush Filter that comes with Photoshop, but most of this image was enhanced with photographic filters…taken a little to the extreme perhaps…but I hope you will forgive me for having a little creative fun.

Postcard from Olympic National Park

This photo was taken high on a cliff above the Pacific Ocean, but still inside the boundaries of the Olympic National Park. While the Washington State coastline doesn’t match the shear overall beauty of the Oregon coastline, it does have its special places.

I wasn’t sure how this photo would look when I took it, but I think it turned out rather well. You could almost rate it as one of those peaceful places one finds when out and about in nature. It’s a simple image with much beauty to offer the viewer.

Note: Postcard blogs might be fewer in number in March. It is a busy time for me with lectures, concerts, major league baseball spring training games, UofA sports, and a couple of planned photo expeditions. But, don’t go away as I will stay in touch and things will return to normal as the weather gets hotter down here and I am forced inside. The joys of being retired.

Postcard from Prescott – Double Bees

It’s March…it’s almost Spring. I can’t help think of the beautiful flowers soon to be gracing all our landscapes. So I am jumping the gun a little bit and showing you this double rose complete with two bees.

I photographed this last summer up in Prescott, Arizona. I say up as Prescott sits at 5,300 feet, 95 miles northwest of Phoenix. It is a beautiful mountain city with all the amenities as is often visited by Phoenix residents who want to escape the lower desert’s heat.

This photo was shot in a city park in downtown Prescott. It features a beautiful rose garden. As you might imagine, I took several pictures. I like this one because of the color of the rose and, of course, the two bees. Enjoy.

Postcard from the Grand Canyon – First Painting

While wandering through the gift store at the Grand Canyon, I came across several book collections of paintings of the Grand Canyon by many artists. They covered a long period of time and thus several different artistic styles.

I knew when I paged through the books, I would make an attempt at a painting from one of my many photographs. So, here is my very first attempt.

I chose to use an impressionistic approach, making sure that the canyon itself stood out from the rest of the objects in the painting. I have let it sit for a few days, as I usually do, just to see if I really like it…and actually I still do. I am throwing it out here on the wall (so to speak) and see if it sticks.

This image is from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and is one of the many side canyons in the Park. It is near Bright Angel Point and is actually the first part of the canyon you see when approaching the North Rim. Sorry it is so small, but that is all the space I am allowed. If you double click on it you will a larger version.