Postcard from Tempe

Harmonious Walkways

Spinning across our vision, images gyrate and coalesce in
our mind's imagination and creative eyes.

Revolving naturally forever, along walkways of courtyards
made for us alone to find our ways back to peace and
harmony within ourselves.

RoseAnn V. Shawiak

___________________________

Photograph by J.R. Corkrum

“Lighting the Way”

(To see a larger version of this image, just click on it)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page.

Postcard from the Arches

The Arches National Park in Southeastern Utah is one of my favorite National Parks.  This is Skyline Arch, a beautiful arch located near the end of the road deep into the park. I walked off the road a ways to get this photo under it. On the other side of this arch is the campground where I stayed for a few days. Hardy climbers can get up to the arch from the campground side. 

I remember this day well…it was one of those days where amazing clouds ruled the landscape.  When you have a beautiful day in a beautiful place such as this, one cannot stop shooting. If you have followed this blog for a long time, you have already seen some of the images from this day. This is the first one I have posted in a while.

As Ansel Adams once said about a day like this:

“Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter.”

That was this day for me in the Arches. The clouds and the light were beyond belief! I considered myself one of the luckiest men with a camera on the planet that day.

Definitely make The Arches National Park one of your destinations in the future. PS: The Island in the Sky portion of Canyonlands National Park is only a few miles up the road from the Arches. How handy is that?

(To see a larger version of this image, just click on it)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page.

Postcard from Morro Bay

This is a photo of one of those unique architectural features I love to shoot when I find them. This is an old movie theater that was recently restored, but still remains empty. Sadly, it was the most interesting object in Morro Bay to photograph. Even the beaches there are boring, photographically speaking.

I believe the design of this building would labeled “Art Deco.” Whatever its name, it is certainly unique. Wikipedia describes this style as “…an eclectic style that combines traditional craft motifs with Machine Age imagery and materials. The style is often characterized by rich colors, bold geometric shapes, and lavish ornamentation.”

That sounds about right to me. I don’t know what else to say about it except it certainly stands out among all the other buildings in boring Morrow Bay.

(To see a larger version of this image, just click on it)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page.

Postcard from the Oregon Coast

This is one of my more abstract sketches…I found these trees along a small road near the Oregon Coast. I got carried away with my sketching techniques and out popped this black and white abstract sketch. I didn’t think anyone would like it, but it turned out to be quite popular when I was doing art shows.

Once, for the wedding of a family friend, I offered the bride the choice of any of my art works for a wedding present. She was a big fan of my work and I was quite surprised when she chose this sketch. As an artist, one never knows what people will like. This one sure surprised me.

PS: the title of this one is “Trees.”

With that title, I could not resist bringing out this most famous poem with the same name…written in 1913 by Joyce Kilmer.

 

Trees

By Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

 

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

 

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

 

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

 

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

 

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

 

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To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page.

Postcard from Downtown Phoenix

A few weeks ago, my son Eric treated me to a weekend in Phoenix. We stayed at a luxury downtown hotel and after checking in we walked to Chase Field and had dinner before the Dodgers/Diamondback game. There is a TGI Fridays located in the upper deck of the left field corner. The food is reasonably good and well priced considering it is inside a ball park where prices tend to be a bit high.

Anyway, it was a lovely evening, not very warm, so they rolled the stadium roof back just before the game started. We had good seats and rooted hard for the hometown team to win…not because we like the D’Backs, but because we are both SF Giants fans..and our second favorite team is anyone playing the Dodgers. Alas, it was not to be as the Dodger’s rolled over the local boys. They really are not very good this year.

Of course, the real point of this weekend was not baseball or luxury hotels…it was to be with my son and bond once again while we did some of our favorite things together. Eric and I are very close as I raised him by myself from age 9 on. Probably it is more accurate to say that we raised each other.

From the game, we walked back to our hotel. On the way I took this photo of the Phoenix Convention Center all lit up at night. I can easily recommend downtown Phoenix as a beautiful and enjoyable destination, especially at night.

After getting back to our hotel, we got out of the elevator on the wrong floor…and discovered a beautiful outdoor pool and patio area with great views of Phoenix. We then went up to our room and made a batch of Manhattans…our beverage of choice for the evening (two parts high quality Rye Whisky to one part high quality Sweet Vermouth with a dash of bitters and topped off with a maraschino cherry). I brought all the fixin’s from home.

With drinks in hand we went back to the pool/patio area and sat and talked the rest of the evening away. I did have to go back upstairs once to make another batch as we were having a great time…all the while looking at Phoenix all lit up at night. What was really great was we had the entire place to ourselves and the weather was perfect. Magical moments like this don’t come around very often.

Around midnight we headed downstairs to the bar to sample a different beverage or two and some midnight snack food. From there, it was back upstairs to our room to crash.

In the morning we decided against the $18 pancakes the hotel was offering and found a great little bakery across the street that made simple breakfasts for a reasonable price. Sadly, from there, we had to part ways as Eric had to get back to Yuma to prepare his very best dress uniform for an important visitor from Washington DC the next day. I don’t know if I ever mentioned here that Eric is in the Border Patrol Intelligence Division.

I don’t know if I can ever put into words how great this weekend was. Bonding with my son while enjoying some of the best scenery that Phoenix has to offer. It was magical and the memories will stay with me as long as I live. A special time with a special guy.

Postcard from Tucson

Daisy Time

By Marjorie Pickthall

See, the grass is full of stars,

Fallen in their brightness;

Hearts they have of shining gold,

Rays of shining whiteness.

 

Buttercups have honeyed hearts,

Bees they love the clover,

But I love the daisies' dance

All the meadow over.

 

Blow, O blow, you happy winds,

Singing summer's praises,

Up the field and down the field

A-dancing with the daisies.

Postcard from Tempe

This is one of the first buildings I saw when I drove into Tempe and on to the campus of Arizona State University. I mean, how could one miss this multi-story structure with a bunch of X’s all the way around it? Of course, I have an eye for architectural oddities, or perhaps I should say unique architectural elements.

And this is a very unique building and I am only sorry I couldn’t capture all of it. It is three-sided instead of the usual four. Each side has a curve on it as you can see from the image. In fact, I call this photo, “Where the X’s Start to Curve.”

Of course, I see the sides as X’s…but they could easily be seen as rows of V’s or W’s, or even diamond shapes. My eye and brain saw them as X’s. I am not sure what that says about me. Is this some sort of architectural Rorschach Test?

Anyway it makes a wonderful addition to my collection of architectural images. There are a few more images to come from my day on two ASU campuses.

PS: Sorry about no blogs last week. I suffered a sever bout of food poisoning (I am guessing Salmonella from one of our local establishments) a week ago and it has taken a while for me to recover fully. It’s hard to be creative when one is sick.

(To see a larger version of this image, just click on it)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page.