Postcard from San Francisco

I recently returned from a month-long stay in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was so great to leave the hot and humid weather of Tucson behind and enjoy the mild weather than the Bay Area offers. For me, there is nothing better than watching the fog roll in off the ocean and cool temperatures way down. I slept under the covers for the first time in months and would purposely leave my bedroom windows open to feel the cool temperatures all night long. I know, I am a bit crazy, but when you live in southern Arizona, you dream of cooler temperatures and sleeping under blankets.

While in SF, I went to an afternoon Giants game, and on another day, walked up Powell Street past the cable cars and on up to Union Square. My purpose, besides enjoying the unique atmosphere of The City, was to visit the brand new Apple Store, a large two story retail store. It was very different from any other Apple Store I’ve visited and is the model for all new Apple Stores. I have already written about it in my tech blog, if you care to read it.  

How does this relate to the image above? Well, I took the original photo that became this image image from the second floor of the Apple Store, when they had their giant windows wide open. As you may know, all my digital paintings and sketches originate with a photo. Using a unique art app called “Prisma,” I turned the photo into the image you see here. I call it “Blu City.”

Prisma works on both my iPhone and iPad. For this type of work, I prefer using the larger iPad. There are many choices of art styles in Prisma, but I chose this one as it appealed to me the most.  I’ve done a few experiments with this app and some similar apps to see the results. 

Many years ago, I pioneered the art of turning photos into digital paintings and sketches. I still do it. In the early days, it took many hours, sometimes days and weeks to produce a piece of art I could be proud of. I made a successful living selling my work in art shows all over the Western United States. My work was also featured in several art galleries. Like most artists, I was proud of what I achieved over the years.

But times change. Now almost anyone can produce nearly instant art using some of the available software on the market today. It makes me a little sad to see how easy it is for people to produce unique pieces of art with the cell phones. I used to sweat blood and tears to make a quality work of art.

But, time marches on as does technology and I can do nothing more than embrace the new applications. You might want to give it a try yourself. Prisma is currently free. But just a word of caution: even with these amazing new apps, the old rule of photography still applies…Garbage In, Garbage Out!

Postcard from Torino, Italy

The Palace

by Rudyard Kipling

WHEN I was a King and a Mason - a Master proven and skilled
I cleared me ground for a Palace such as a King should build.
I decreed and dug down to my levels. Presently under the silt
I came on the wreck of a Palace such as a King had built.

There was no worth in the fashion - there was no wit in the plan -
Hither and thither, aimless, the ruined footings ran -
Masonry, brute, mishandled, but carven on every stone:
"After me cometh a Builder. Tell him I too have known.

Swift to my use in the trenches, where my well-planned ground-works grew,
I tumbled his quoins and his ashlars, and cut and reset them anew.
Lime I milled of his marbles; burned it slacked it, and spread;
Taking and leaving at pleasure the gifts of the humble dead.

 
Yet I despised not nor gloried; yet, as we wrenched them apart,
I read in the razed foundations the heart of that builder’s heart.
As he had written and pleaded, so did I understand
The form of the dream he had followed in the face of the thing he had planned.
. . . . . . . . . .
When I was a King and a Mason, in the open noon of my pride,
They sent me a Word from the Darkness. They whispered and called me aside.
They said - "The end is forbidden." They said - "Thy use is fulfilled.
"Thy Palace shall stand as that other’s - the spoil of a King who shall build."

I called my men from my trenches, my quarries my wharves and my sheers.
All I had wrought I abandoned to the faith of the faithless years.
Only I cut on the timber - only I carved on the stone:
"After me cometh a Builder. Tell him, I too have known."

 

Digital Painting by J.R. Corkrum – “Entrance to the Grand Foyer”

Kings Hunting Palace in Torino, IT

Postcard from Washington, DC

 

I’ve been fortunate to visit many of the great art galleries of the western world…the National Gallery and the Tate in London; the Louvre and the Orsay in Paris; the Uffizi and the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence; the Guggenheim in Venice; the Chicago Institute of Art; just to mention a few. Some of them I’ve visited more than once.

But, I visited the National Gallery in Washington DC only once, I am sad to say. It’s an absolute treasure house of art from around the world. When one visits a museum such as this, one becomes overwhelmed with the magnificent works in front of your eyes. You want to go back again and again to see them all. If it were possible, I would go every day and take in just one painting per day.

On this day in DC, I came across this well-loved painting by James McNeill Whistler…originally titled “The White Girl,” but later changed to “Symphony in White.” It is arguably his second most famous painting…the other being the painting we all know as Whistler’s Mother (I’ve seen that one also as it hangs in the Orsay Museum in Paris).

The White Girl was painted when Whistler lived in Paris. The model was his mistress, Joanna Hiffernan. He submitted the painting to the Royal Academy in Paris for inclusion in the famous annual Salon exhibition. It was rejected by them along with paintings by Manet, Monet, and several other famous Impressionist painters of the time. You see, the Royal Academy was quite conservative and did not consider most of these new works as being good art (read Ross King’s excellent book, “The Judgment of Paris,”to learn more about the end of neo-classism and the rise of the Impressionists and how the establishment fought this new kind of art).

Now about the photo: I call this one “Transitions,” as your eye must go through three rooms to arrive at the painting…each room transitions to the next. But, if you look closely, you will see I changed the second room to pure black and white. So you transition from color, to black and white, then back to color where the painting hangs. The beautiful doorways make the transitions even better. This is one of my most favorite works. Believe it or not, it was shot on slide film, then later scanned into my computer for post processing.

Some don’t, but many museums allow you to use your cameras while viewing the artworks. But be warned, you will not be allowed to use a tripod or flash in any of the museums. If you get caught doing it, you will be kicked out. So my advice is to bring a camera that has built-in anti-shake so you can capture those beautiful paintings. Be sure and take several exposures as even anti-shake cameras are not perfect, especially in low-light conditions.

What is somewhat amazing is that the camera that took this image did not have anti-shake (wasn’t invented then), nor did I use a tripod…the shot was hand-held. Sometimes you just get lucky.

Postcard from Canale

Spring – Concerto in E Major

From “The Four Seasons” Music and Poem by Antonio Vivaldi

Allegro
Springtime is upon us.
The birds celebrate her return with festive song,
and murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes.
Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar, casting their dark mantle over heaven,
Then they die away to silence, and the birds take up their charming songs once more.

Largo
On the flower-strewn meadow, with leafy branches rustling overhead, the goat-herd sleeps, his faithful dog beside him.

Allegro
Led by the festive sound of rustic bagpipes, nymphs and shepherds lightly dance beneath the brilliant canopy of spring.

 

Listen to “The Four Seasons” (Spring) while reading the poem. That will give it far more meaning.

Painting by J.R. Corkrum – “Spring Walk in the Italian Hills”

Postcard from Piedmont

Normally, when I send you a Postcard, I tell you the name of the town where the image was taken or painted or sketched. To be honest, I can’t remember the name of the little town where I found these churches. Piedmont is the name of the region in Northern Italy where this little town and many others exist. Piedmont is known for its sophisticated cuisine and wines such as Barolo. It is also home to many other small wineries that produce some of Italy’s finest wines.

I and my wife Susan stayed in a private home up in the hills near the town of Canale. From there we would venture out to the little hill towns that dot the landscape of this fabulous wine growing region. Here, towns and homes were built on hills rather than on the flat land where the wine grapes grew. We visited one town after another without a map. We could always see the towns in the distance and all we had to do was find the road to it. That was great fun!

We always purchased our lunch in the morning, including a bottle of local wine, from a delightful little deli in Alba, run by two women who spoke no English. They always sold us wonderful meats and bread for our picnic…and excellent wine at very reasonable prices. Then we would venture out to the countryside to see these wonderful little towns. That was a week both of us will always remember.

As I said, I found these churches in one of the little towns along the way. Churches are a major going concern in Italy…all Catholic, of course. And you find them everywhere, often in close proximity like these churches. Once in Torino, I would find a church on every block, sometimes across the street from each other…or close together like here.

I think this digital pastel-style painting turned out quite well. The vibrant colors may be a slight exaggeration (artist license), but those are the colors. I called this painting, “Three Churches,” because I can see three crosses on three different architectural styles (count ‘em). However, there may actually be only two churches. In Italy, you will sometimes see modern facades added to old churches. Actually I have seen a couple of those here in America.

But it was such a lovely scene that I had to photograph and paint it. I hope you find it pleasing.     

Postcard from Saluzzo, Italy

Cloister

by Charles Leo O'Donnell

" Show me your cloister, " asks the Lady Poverty of the friars. And they, leading her to the summit of
a hill, showed her the wide world, saying: " This is our cloister: O Lady Poverty! "
Well, that were a cloister: for its bars
Long strips of sunset, and its roof the stars.
Four walls of sky, with corridors of air
Leading to chapel, and God everywhere.
Earth beauteous and bare to lie upon,
Lit by the little candle of the sun.
The wind gone daily sweeping like a broom —
For these vast hearts it was a narrow room.

 

Digital Sketch by J.R. Corkrum – “Monastery Quadrangle”

Postcard from Minneapolis

Believe it or not, this is a football stadium. I know it doesn’t look like one, which was my first impression when I first laid eyes upon it. This is US Bank Stadium, the new home of the Minnesota Vikings. As much as I enjoy football, I look at this stadium more as an architectural wonder. I enjoy photographing architectural elements…you may be aware of that if you are a long-time reader of this blog. In this case, the element is the whole structure.

You may notice that it is not quite completed in this photo. Well, I took it just over a month ago, and from what I read it is now finished. As I write, the grand opening is in two weeks. The first Viking preseason game to be played there is on August 28th…with the first regular season game scheduled for September 18 against Green Bay on Sunday Night Football. It will also host the Super Bowl in 2018. 

Here are a few interesting details about it: Its a fixed roof stadium, with the roof made being a strong translucent plastic material spanning 240,000 square feet. The walls are also made of the same materials allowing fans to see outside, including views of downtown Minneapolis. There are also wall panels that open to the outside allowing people inside to experience some of the outdoor elements while being protected from rain and snow. If you look just above the elevated walkway, you can see the outline of a couple of these wall panels.

The truth is that the Viking ownership wanted to build an outdoor stadium, but state and local governments would only provide funds if it were an indoor stadium so it could host other events. I can’t image watching a Super Bowl in February if it were an open stadium.

The stadium sits on the site of the on the site of the now-demolished Metrodome. You may remember that stadium as it was also a covered but the roof was an inflatable fiberglass roof that was held in place by air pressure. In its latter stages, it was not well maintained and eventually became a safety hazard. On November 19, 1981, a rapid accumulation of over a foot of snow caused the roof to collapse, requiring it to be re-inflated. It deflated the following winter on December 30, 1982, again because of a tear caused by heavy snow.

The beginning of the end occurred on December 12, 2010 at about 5:00 a.m., the roof had a catastrophic collapse as three panels tore open. They continued to try and repair it, but it was not worth doing. Demolition initially began in 2014. It was the home for both baseball and football, but this new stadium will only be for football. The baseball stadium, Target Field, is only a couple of miles away. 

I didn’t get to spend a lot of time in Minneapolis, but I sure am glad I got to see this amazing piece of architecture. I look forward to seeing a football game on TV so I can see the inside of this place.

Postcard from Notre Dame

A couple of weeks ago, I showed you the photo I took of the famous Golden Dome that sits on top of the Administration Building at Notre Dame University. I hope you saw it. Anyway, a graduate student I met at the library told me I definitely needed to see the dome from the inside. I am glad I took his advice. What you see in this photo is directly underneath the dome, looking up. In some ways, it reminds me of many state capitals I’ve been in as well as some other buildings that have domes. But, like all domes, this has its own uniqueness. 

The painting was done by Italian painter and Notre Dame professor Luigi Gregori. It represents Religion, Philosophy, Science, History, Fame, Poetry and Music, all subjects taught at Notre Dame. There is a legend that if a student ascended the steps before graduation, that student was doomed never to graduate. This legend stems from traditionalist smoking rituals. Students were not deemed worthy to climb the steps and smoke with their professors until they received their degrees and were educational equals.

The administration building itself was built in 1879 to replace a previous one that had burned down. The dome was the last feature they added in 1882. The building also houses the Columbus Murals, a group of large paintings depicting the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, also done by Gregori.

It was a wonderful day wandering around this legendary university. It is quite special. If you would like to see a view of the campus from the top of the Golden Dome, just click on this link. I will have some other photos from Notre Dame in future editions. It is indeed a photographer’s playground.

Postcard from the Oregon Coast

The Lighthouse

Shining beautifully beacon bright
illuminating darkest night
by day becoming landmark white
calling to the lost or in distress
bringing them to lands sweet caress
with hope of survival and success

Shining beautifully beacon bright
by day becoming landmark white
lost souls rejoice at wonderful sight
salvation there for all to see
the place to find humanity
bringing me to my destiny

Poem by forty two

Digital Sketch by JR Corkrum – “Yaquina Bay Lighthouse”

Postcard from Notre Dame

To give you a little insight into my youth, I am a product of a Catholic School education. My grade school years were spent at St. Matthews School in San Mateo, CA. While I am no longer a practicing Catholic (I refer to myself as a recovering Catholic), much of what I learned at St. Matthews is still ingrained in me. One such lesson I learned early and often was that there was no finer educational institution than the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. I was taught that I could have no better higher education goal than to go there for college degrees. Needless to say, I didn’t make it.

A couple of weeks ago, I just happened to be in Indiana to attend a certain race on Memorial Day in Indianapolis. When I planned the trip a few months ago, I decided to go early so I could finally see for myself this legendary bastion of college education and collegiate sports. It was, in a sense, a pilgrimage that started all those years ago.

So, two days before the Indianapolis 500, my friend Dave and I headed north out of Indianapolis for the 2.5 hour drive to South Bend. We drove through some beautiful farm country…fields filed with crops separated with what I refer to a mini-forests…lots and lots of trees. It was a beautiful drive.

With only part of a day to spend in South Bend, we covered the highlights of the Notre Dame campus…the football stadium and practice fields; “Touchdown Jesus”: the huge religious mural on the Notre Dame Library; the library itself; The Golden Dome; the Notre Dame Basilica; the Grotto; and, of course, the bookstore to pick up some Notre Dame t-shirts. We also ate lunch at The Legends restaurant, next to the football stadium. You can guess about the décor in that place. It was all exciting and great fun to see.

As you may have heard, football is huge at Notre Dame. We could not get close to the stadium as it is undergoing major renovations. I look forward to seeing the final product on TV when college football gets underway in September. And, right across from the stadium is Touchdown Jesus. More about that in another edition.

If I had to name one thing that impressed me about the campus, it was the campus itself. There are far more open spaces than buildings. It is like one big park, beautifully landscaped with huge trees, bushes, flowers, and long meandering walkways…and some beautiful, mostly old buildings here and there. Walking from building to building is a great experience. It is peaceful there, just as a college campus should be. While most western college and university facilities are crammed together (Stanford being an exception), Notre Dame is wide open beautiful parkland. I envy those folks who got their education here.

The photo here is of the Golden Dome, a campus landmark that sits on top of the administration building. If you ever visit Notre Dame, be sure and go into that building and stand under the dome. That is a special site all its own. I will share that with you in another edition as I will share some images from other amazing campus sites. Hint: walk into the Basilica and be transported back in time to a magnificent European Baroque cathedral. WOW!

Of course, the large campus bookstore is the place to go for great Notre Dame memorabilia at surprising reasonable prices. And if you are a sports fan, be sure and have a meal at The Legends restaurant. Just be sure to bring proper walking shoes because it is a big, big, beautiful place.

Yet another item checked off the bucket list.

Postcard from Minneapolis

This is a big mall! I am talking about the Mall of America. If you go to Minneapolis, you can find it right next to the airport. Its a fun place to wander around and see how big a mall can be…and that is what I did. I didn’t spend any money except for a cup of coffee at one of the Starbucks. Yes, there is more than one Starbucks inside this massive mall.

It is shaped basically like a rectangle so one can walk all around it...I did that too, bad knee and all. Opened in1992, the stores are are located on three levels, although I have seen a fourth level for offices. And speaking of stores, there are over 400 of them. Wow! Hard to believe I could walk past almost all these stores without buying anything but coffee.

I noticed on the directory that both Apple and Microsoft had stores here. So I decided to check out the Apple store first. But amazingly the Microsoft Store was located right across from it. Talk about two rivals being so close together. Anyway, it made it quite easy to visit both of them. The Apple Store looked just like most of the Apple Stores I’ve visited. The Microsoft Store was quite a bit larger. That day, they were demonstrating the Vive VR headset which I tried out for 15 minutes. That was really fun. If you want to read about it, check out yesterday’s tech blog.

What is really unique about the Mall of America is the very large amusement park in the middle of the mall. I said large and I mean LARGE. It is called the Nickelodeon Universe. It is big enough to hold 3 roller coasters and several other large rides. While I did not go on any of them, it was fun watching the whole operation. It is quite a place.

The different parts of the center all look different. This picture shows the south side of the square. Look close and you can see all three shopping levels. Of course, there are many kinds of restaurants and fast food joints throughout the mall. At the insistence of my friends we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. Never again!

Something I learned after my visit was that the mall was built on the former site of Metropolitan Stadium, at one time the home of the Minnesota Twins baseball team and Vikings football team. A plaque in the amusement park commemorates the former location of home plate, and one seat from Met Stadium was placed in Mall of America at the exact location it occupied in the stadium, commemorating a 520-foot (160 m) home run hit by hall-of-famer Harmon Killebrew on June 3, 1967.

I am so glad I got to spend time there. I’ve heard about it for years, and since I was staying an hour’s drive away from it in Eau Claire, WI, I had to pay it a visit. Glad I did!

Postcard from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

It’s been quite an adventurous two weeks. But I am back home, safe and sound with a great many memories…not the least of which was the 100th running of the Indy 500, “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” It was a special three days, capped off with the big race on Sunday. As previously mentioned, I’ve wanted to go to an Indy 500 race since I was a little boy listening to the race on the radio from my home in the Bay Area. After listening and watching the race for all these years, I finally made it…how fitting it was the 100th running of the race.

The photo above is not from the race. It was taken two days before the race at the very last practice. The Friday before the race is called “Carb Day,” which is short for carburetor. Even though these fast cars no longer use that device, the name and the tradition continues on. On this day, at the start of a one hour practice, all 33 cars charge out of the pit area on to the track at once, which is what you see here. They come out mostly in order of their starting positions, previously determined on the weekend before the race during two days of qualifications.

So, the first car you see here has the pole position of the race. It is driven by James Hinchcliffe, a driver who came close to death last year and watched that race from a hospital bed. He was critically injured in a crash during practice run. Because of that, he was a sentimental favorite for this year’s race and excited everyone by going the fastest during qualifications and winning the pole position. He beat out the second place car by 1 ten thousandth of a second. 

Behind him in the blue car is Josef Newgarden…and directly behind him in the yellow car is Ryan Hunter-Reay, a former Indy winner. These three cars would battle for lead on Sunday for the first half of the race. Hunter-Reay would collide with another car coming out of the pits and would finish way down in 24th position. Newgarden would eventually finish 3rd while Hinchcliffe finished 7th.

So who won on Sunday? It was a 24 year-old rookie named Alexander Rossi. He started in the middle of Row 4 (11th position). I am not 100% sure where he is in this photo, but I am pretty sure he is the blue car directly behind the silver car and in front of the yellow car.

It was an exciting moment when all these cars came roaring out the pits at the same time. While this was only a practice, you would have thought it was the race itself. These cars roared around the track at close to 220 miles-per-hour…pushing their cars to the limit, passing other cars when possible and testing the cars for final adjustments. The fans in the stands could feel this practice was very close to a real race and the drivers all said afterwards they felt the same thing. They all want to win the 100th race as for them it would be the pinnacle of their racing careers. Alexander Rossi has little idea how his life will be changed forever.

During this practice, cars came in and out of the pits so their crews could make minor adjustments to improve the cars speed and performance. On race day, the cars start on the track, not from the pits. That is what makes the Carb Day Practice so special, especially for first-timers like me…seeing and hearing the cars live and close up for the first time. It was definitely goose bumps time. Wow!!

Postcard from Sonoma Raceway

The photo is titled, “Trouble in Turn Two.” These are Indy Cars, so named after the Indianapolis 500 race, run every year on the Memorial Day Weekend. This photo was taken at the Sonoma Grand Prix run in August of 2014.

The most dangerous part of any race is at the start, when all 25 cars try and negotiate the first turn at the same time. In this race, which is a road course rather than an oval, the first turn is on the other side of the bridge. The cars come out of Turn 1 and go immediately into Turn 2. As you can see, this is where several cars run into problems.

For your information, the red car on the far left is driven by Scott Dixon, who escapes problems here and eventually wins this race. The yellow car, just left of center, is driven by Ryan Hunter-Ray who finished 2nd on this day. This was my very first time at an Indy Car race although I have been a fan of these cars since I was a little boy.

I have now been to three Indy Car races…two at the Sonoma Raceway and one earlier this year in Phoenix (an oval course). I show you this photo for a reason…Next week, I am off to Indianapolis to see the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 race! I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am to see this race.

When I was a young lad, I used to sit on the patio of my parents home every Memorial Day and listen to this race on the radio. There was no TV coverage then so I could only imagine what was going on. Even then, I was a huge fan. In later years, I could watch it on TV. I’ve seldom missed watching or listening to this race. I always dreamed of going there, and now I will be doing it. A friend of mine from Wisconsin who has been going to the race for 48 straight year and has permanent seats in turn 4, arranged it all for me. I will be joining him and another good friend for 3 days of celebrations and, of course, the big 500 mile race.

As mentioned above, the is the 100th running of the race, so you know they will be making a big deal of it…and we will be at every special event taking it all in. On Thursday night, we will all meet up for the first time at the Possum Trot restaurant in Oakwood, IL. While not connected to the Indy race, it is a traditional dinner my friends do before the race festivities begin.

Then on Friday and Saturday, there are big events during the day at the raceway, including Carburetor Day on Friday. Among the events on those days will be Vintage Car Laps where old-time Indy cars take to the track once again; Pit Stop Competition, an Indy Car Light race, parades and more. Also looking forward to seeing the Indy Car Museum. And, of course, the race itself is on Sunday at Noon, east coast time.

And as part of this trip, my friend Dave and I will take a trip north to visit the campus of Notre Dame. After the race, I will eventually wind up in Minneapolis, another place I have never been. I will play tourist there for a couple of days before flying home. So it looks like it will be a good time.

Because I am traveling, I will be taking a couple of weeks off from writing this or my other blog, “Rants and Raves.”. But I look forward to coming home and sharing more photos from this trip.

Another item to be checked off my Bucket List.

Postcard from Venice

“There is still one of which you never speak.”

Marco Polo bowed his head.

'Venice,” the Khan said.

Marco smiled. 'What else do you believe I have been talking to you about?”

The emperor did not turn a hair. “And yet I have never heard you mention that name.”

And Polo said: “Every time I describe a city I am saying something about Venice.”
―

Excerpt from Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino

Digital Painting by J.R. Corkrum – One Boat Canal

Postcard from Rome

This is the Tomb of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. It was built between the years 134-139 AD. The emperor’s ashes, along with those of his wife and son were entombed here in 139 AD. After that, the remains of other Roman emperors were buried here, the last being the Emperor Caracalla in 219.

In its day, it was quite beautiful. But much of the decorations and even the tomb contents were removed when the building was turned into a fortress in 401 AD. In 410, and later in 537, the structure was looted of most of its precious contents by the Visigoths and the Goths.

Later, the Catholic Church began its own looting, tearing down columns and other ornaments to build its chhurches.  So this structure is only a shell of what it once was. In the 16th century, the Pope of the time turned it into a castle. As you may have seen in the movie, “Angels and Demons,” there is a tunnel leading from the castle to St. Peters in the Vatican. Later, the castle became a Papal Prison.   

Today, the structure is known as Castel Sant'Angelo, aka: Castle of the Holy Angel. But I still prefer to think of it as Hadrian’s Tomb. I prefer it’s Roman History to that of the Catholic Church.

The bridge leading to the tomb crosses the Tiber River and has several statues of angels, as you can see in the photo. Atop the tomb is a large suspended statue of the archangel St. Michael.

I would have loved to seen the original tomb before it was raped and pillaged by barbarian hordes and the Catholic Church.

Postcard from Rome

It was late afternoon when our flight from London landed in Rome. I was with my then-wife Susan, her two brothers and their spouses. A shuttle bus awaited to take my fellow passengers from the airport to our various hotels. It took about an hour to get to our hotel, located just two blocks away from Rome's main train station. I chose this hotel for that very reason.

While checking in, I noticed a brochure for a night tour of Rome. I talked to the desk clerk about it and she said the tour leaves from near the train station. She checked and there was still room for all 6 o us if we wanted to do it. I checked with the group, and they all said they wanted to do it, some more reluctantly that others. The last thing I wanted to do was sit in my hotel room on my first night in the Eternal City.

The bus picked us up at the appropriate time and off we went to see this magical city of lights. Our first stop was the Trevi fountain, which you see here. It is certainly more beautiful at night than during the day. I had my camera with me, of course, and because of the low light situation, I used Susan's shoulder to steady myself and the camera. It obviously helped because I got a nice, clear photo.

Trevi Fountain is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world. It appears in several notable films, including Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita and Three Coins in the Fountain. The fountain is at the junction of three roads and marks the terminal point of the modern Acqua Vergine, one of the aqueducts that supplied water to ancient Rome.

Legend holds that in 19 BC thirsty Roman soldiers were guided by a young girl to a source of pure water thirteen kilometers (8.1 miles) from the city of Rome. The discovery led Augustus to commission the construction of a 14-mile aqueduct leading into the city, which was named Aqua Virgo, or Virgin Waters, in honor of the legendary young girl. The aqueduct served the hot Baths of Agrippa, and Rome, for over four hundred years.

The plan to build the current fountain was proposed by Pope Urban VIII in 1629, who thought that the then existing fountain was quite dull. After several false starts, fountain construction began in 1732 and was finished 30 years later. It was refurbished a few year before our arrival.

Of course there is a legend that if you throw a coin into the fountain, you will return again to Rome. However it must be done in a certain way…you must toss the coin with your right hand over your left shoulder with your back to the fountain. Of course I did that, as did every member of our party. Each year, over 3,000 Euros are collected from the fountain and given to charity. It is illegal to remove coins from the fountain, but that does not stop a few folks from trying.

Does the legend work? So far, it has not worked for me, although I have been back to Italy since then…just not Rome. But I am willing to give it a fair chance, at least for as long I remain on this planet.

PS: There is a miniature fountain on the left side of the Trevi Fountain. Legend says that if a couple drinks from the “small fountain of lovers”, they will be forever faithful to their partner. Didn't know about that one which probably explains why I am single. Oh well!

Postcard from the Olympic Peninsula

Coastline

The inlets
Wrap around the water
Writhing in the fury of the ocean’s waves,
Obscuring the distance they reveal
To the eyes that gaze absent mindedly
Down their beaches and their cliffs.

Indifferent to the conflict below,
The sun blazes down
But the winds cleanse the skin of its heat
As they are driven from the sea.

The sea that breaks the stoic rocks
And casts the sand’s lonely grains
-Along with the many homeless winds-
Across the beaches which slope
At the feet of their stony bluffs.

But the cliffs stand in austere grandeur
Defiantly surveying the endless waters
Whose numerous, ceaseless, enduring waves
Are kept at bay by the towering unity.

I am of the wind that has no home
In the conflict of sea and land
I am the sun that lights this vision:
Firmament of hills, sea and sand.

Tides come and go but never leave me
Sands shift in time but never deceive me
As sun I shine light on all at hand:
This ceaseless meeting of sea and land.

Poem by: The They

Digital Painting by J.R. Corkrum - “Land’s End”

Postcard from Zion

The trip was meticulously planned. Dates and weather were checked. Hotel reservations were made. Everything looked good. Instead, it was a bust!

The time was November 2015. The place: Zion National Park. It was supposed to be a trip to photograph the glories of Autumn in that most beautiful place. But somebody forgot to tell Mother Nature. I arrived in the canyon one day ahead of my friend and professional nature photographer Dave Forster. My job was to scout the park to find the best place for Autumn colors. Having done this before, I knew the places to seek out for Autumn’s glory.

Except I found very autumn color. The trees were mostly green. What yellow I could find was mostly a brownish yellow…not very photographic. Of the red and orange colors, there were none. To come all this way and not find what you were looking for…well it was disappointing to say the least.

The next day, Dave showed up and we took a tour of the canyon. Nothing had changed…there was nothing here to photograph. On our last Autumn visit, the colors were spectacular! We both nearly wore out our cameras. We took hundreds of photos, a few of which were shown here. This time, our camera stayed in their respective bags.

Just before you leave the park, there is a junction…the left one being the road into the high country of Zion. It’s a spectacular road, with amazing views of the park as you climb higher and higher, ending in the mile-long tunnel that brings you out into the high country. We decided to give the high country a try, even though autumn ends early up there because of the elevation.

As we emerged from the tunnel, we found mostly what we expected. Autumn was pretty much over here as there was snow on the ground. The higher we went, the more snow we found. Then we came upon the scene you see here: the last tree of autumn in the high country set among the red rocks so prevalent in Zion. Of course we stopped, both hungry to do something with our cameras.

We shot several images, each of us in a different spot. Dave was down below near the tree while I was stationed where I took this photo. Eventually Dave joined me up above and we continued to take pictures, each looking for that perfect composition. I think this photo was my best, although certainly not the best photo I have ever taken in Zion. This location partially saved our earlier disappointments down below.

The next day we headed further east, joining up with highway 89, then the beautiful Highway 12. With stops in Bryce National Park, then on to Hole-in-the-Rock Road and down to Dance Hall Rock, the photos of which have been shown here before. From there we headed back toward Zion, but turning on different highway that eventually led us up to 10,000 feet and Cedar Breaks National Monument.

So while the trip was not a total bust, I have to say that Zion Canyon was supposed to be the highlight of this trip, but it just did not happen. But that is the life of a photographer…sometimes you get lucky, sometime you don’t.

Postcard from Phoenix

Just last Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending the Indy car race in Phoenix. It was quite a race…won by Scott Dixon driving the #9 Target Car…the very car shown here. Except I did not take this photo in Phoenix. Rather, I photographed it last August in the winners circle in Sonoma, CA when he won that race and the 2015 Driving Championship. He is one heck of a driver. It was nice to see him win again.

The Sonoma track and the Phoenix track are two birds of a different feather. The Sonoma Raceway is a 2.5 mile road course…Phoenix is a one-mile oval track…well almost oval. It has four banked turns built into it…not sharp turns, but turns never-the-less.

I’ve been to two races in Sonoma and now one at the Phoenix course. This is the first time in 11 years that Indy cars raced in Phoenix (to be truthful, although the course is named The Phoenix International Raceway, it is actually in Avondale, just west of Phoenix). In Sonoma, I was far enough back from the course, that the engine noise didn’t bother me. Not true in Phoenix. Although we were high up, the course is small enough that the noise was unbelievably loud…especially at the start. Wow! And I didn’t bring any earplugs.

These cars moved at unbelievable speeds, anywhere from 185 to 191 MPH. And they never braked for the turns…they just took those turns at full speed. They could complete one lap in 19 seconds.  I was using the Verizon Indy Car app on my iPhone, so I could not only monitor the race standings, but the individual car statistics, including speed, gear changes, braking and more.

The Chevy equipped cars had the advantage over the Honda cars on this course. The top ten qualifiers were all Chevys. Three Honda cars hit the wall on Friday before the race, but were all rebuilt and raced on Saturday, although they started at the back of the pack. At the end of the race, 8 out of the top 9 finishers were all Chevys.

There was a lot more drama here about drivers and their cars than I’ve told you, but it would probably only interest hard core racing fans. It was exciting and fun and I got to watch a replay of the race Sunday morning on TV. I will go back next year for sure but will chose different seats. We were right at the start/finish line, but when the cars came off the last turn they were hugging the wall in front of us, so it was not a good view and the forget about decent photos. In fact, one driver hit the wall in front of us and skidded down the track along the wall. We never saw it.

One nice thing about this year’s cars, they have large computer generated electronic numbers on their cars that show their positions on the track during the race. I must admit at 190 miles per hour, it was difficult to see the number as they came by us. The light can also show their time in the pits when they come in for fuel and tires. Pit stops are critical in racing. The faster you can get in and out the better. In fact you could say Scott Dixon won the race in the pits as he moved up because he pitted faster than one or two cars in front of him.

Of course, for me, this is just a preliminary race for the big one coming up on Memorial Day Weekend in Indianapolis. It is the 100th running of “the greatest spectacle in racing” and I will be there for my very first time. Can’t wait. I got my ticket, airline flights, cars, and hotels all arranged. After Saturday’s race, I am ready!  

Postcard from Dance Hall Rock

This is the second image I’ve show you from my one-day visit to Dance Hall Rock in southeastern Utah. In case you don’t remember, Dance Hall Rock is 39 miles down a very rough, unimproved dirt road called “Hole in the Rock Road.” It lies east of Escalante. If you don’t know where that is, it is about 60 miles east of Bryce Canyon National Park, along Highway 12.

In my first blog about this big rock, I told you how the holes in the sandstone rock are created and how, over time, the wind blows dirt down into the hole, allowing plant life to eventually get started. The first image I showed you was of a hole only a few feet deep. Obviously, this one is much, much deeper. It is deep enough that if I fell in, it is doubtful I would survive. And this tree is very, very tall.

I had to work my way around it to get the right location for the best shot. Trust me…I was very careful negotiating around this deep hole. Although you can’t see it, the hole is quite wide and there is a garden of desert plants all along the bottom. It is quite something to see. To find these holes one must walk all around the top of Dance Hall Rock. They are not really obvious to the eye until you get near one. There are no trails or signposts…and even getting up on top of the rock itself requires a bit of scouting, then climbing. Not easy to do at my age. 

Finding and photographing this tree has been on my bucket list for a number of years, ever since I saw a photograph of it in a book on southern Utah. Finding its exact location was also a bit of a challenge. It took some careful scanning of Google Earth before I found its exact location. I only wish I could have arrived there earlier when the sun was higher in the sky. This was late afternoon and the deep shadows down in the hole were in large contrast to the sunlit top. It took all of my Lightroom and Photoshop skills to make the shadows a bit brighter.

I managed to wander around the top of Dance Hall Rock for a little while longer, looking for more holes. But soon I had to head down and get off the rock as the sun was starting to set behind some nearby hills. It was pitch black when we finally got back to Highway 12. I was tired, and relieved to get off that damned dirt road and back on to a paved highway…but I got the shot!! 

Postcard from Val d'Aosta

In the very upper northwest corner of Italy lies the beautiful Val d'Aosta, or in English: the Aosta Valley. It is a magnificent valley, surrounded on three sides by the Alps. There are two main roads that begin in the city of Aosta. The road west climbs slowly through small towns such as Pre-Saint Didler, Aumavilles, Introd…finally ending in the well-known Italian ski resort town of Courmayeur. 

Did you notice that the towns I mentioned all have French names? Why? Because it was first populated by the French as early as medieval times. It has a long and checkered political history too detailed to go into here. Remember, Italy did not become a nation until 1861. French was the official language for many years. It was Mussolini who forced the Italian language on to the residents. Many of the people who lived here back then chose to migrate to France and Switzerland. Today, both French and Italian are spoken here and most residents know both.

Back to the highway west. I mentioned the resort town of Courmayeur. That is where the Aosta Valley ends…at the foot of Mount Blanc. But wait, the road does not end there. There is a 7.2 mile tunnel through the mountain. When you emerge at the other end, you are in France.

The other road I mentioned runs north out of Aosta. Take it for a few miles and you enter Switzerland. Technically that road does not go through the Aosta Valley, so I won’t elaborate on it.

One of the most interesting facts about the valley is it contains around 100 genuine castles and 50 smaller fortified homes, all built ages ago when such things were in style. The castle above is Saint-Pierre Castle (notice another French name). It was built in the 12th century. Occupied for most of its life by French noble families, it was restored back in the 19th century by an Italian nobleman. He eventually gave it to the city of Saint-Pierre.

I took the original photo on slide film, then converted it to digital. I then sketched the image using digital pastel chalk to render what you see here. The mountain in the background is Mount Blanc.  I spent two days roaming the Val d’Aosta, taking photos and just enjoying the incredible scenery. If you are ever in northern Italy, be sure and make the trip. It is only about 1.5 hours north of Torino and is an easy drive. Bring your best camera!!

PS…Mount Blanc is not the tallest peak in the Italian Alps. That honor belongs to the Matterhorn. I bet you thought that mountain was in Switzerland. On a clear day, the Matterhorn is visible all the way from Torino.

Postcard from Italy

 

Italy in One Day

If I could feed you Italy in one day,
served within a cup for you to savor,
I’d begin in sunny Sorrento
south of Naples,
the morning air perfumed by lemon trees
whose fruit is distilled into the liqueur
that the locals pride themselves in making;
you hold a small espresso cup between index finger and thumb
and wrinkle your nose at the bitter flavor
of a first tentative sip
between nibbles of cheese and bread and fruit
in a tiny cafe that overlooks the Mediterranean
and the hazy outline of the island of Capri in the distance.

 
If I could feed you Italy in one day,
pressed between the slices of a fresh panini,
I’d take you to the Tuscan hills
far from the beaten paths of tourists
north of Siena,
the afternoon as fresh as laundry
drying on the lattice of clothesline
of the apartment across the piazza;
women’s voices dart like birds overhead,
flying in and out of open windows
as we share bites of our sandwich,
thick with tomato, cheese, and basil—
simple ingredients that yield a complexity
of tastes washed down with swallows of cold beer
under an ice blue sky.

If I could feed you Italy in one day,
prepared al forno like a primo piatto of lasagna or gnocchi,
I’d take you to an obscure osteria just outside the Duomo
in central Florence,
where the waiters sing you to your table
with operatic theatricality
and the vino della casa is the rich ruby colors
of the evening as it settles on the city,
soft as a silk scarf slipping through your fingers;
we feel the heat of the kitchen
press against the cool of coming night,
our noses florid with the spices of our meals
as we feed each other forkfuls from our plates;
the streets are alive with the commotion of traffic
and the banter of voices bouncing like balls
down the cobblestones of the Via.

If I could feed you Italy in one day,
poured like dark grappa in a delicate tulip glass,
I’d end at a taverna in a remote campo
in the heart of Venice,
where the tables are draped in checkered linen
under quiet awnings far from
the chaos of the Grande Canal;
the sweetness of the day lingers
in the echolalia of lapping water
and the sounds of gondoliers at work;
we indulge ourselves in the ablutions
of vin santo, biscotti dipped in sweet wine,
in limoncello or amaro sipped
from chilled glasses,
in espresso black
as the Venetian sky at night.

If I could feed you Italy in one day,
would we ever feel the need to eat again?

Poem by Mike Orlock

Digital Painting by J.R. Corkrum - “Portal of San Rocco”

Postcard from Barrio Viejo

This image is from a very special section of Tucson called Barrio Viejo. It is the old town section of Tucson. Barrio Viejo, the old neighborhood, mainly consists of Tucson's 19th century homes and commercial buildings. The area isn’t very big, but it has some of the most interesting doors you will every see.

Ironically, it is located right next to modern downtown Tucson. In the 1960's & '70's, much of the old neighborhood was bulldozed to make way for urban redevelopment, including the Tucson Convention Center. Today, most Tucsonans would be happy to bulldoze the Convention Center if it would bring back the heritage that was lost.

In the 1880's & '90's, this area was home to a culturally diverse community of working class people from America and all over the world. Many worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad. With the arrival of the SP in 1880, Tucson changed forever. Instead of a hopelessly impoverished, dusty little Mexican village in the middle of nowhere, it became the growing Southwestern city that we see today.

The old architectural styles of the Barrio Viejo are maintained by the local residents…proud of the area’s history. But they are just forward thinking enough to add some special features to the homes here by adding unique doors and bold colors. Besides homes, there are professional offices, art galleries, vacation rentals and a few restaurants and drinking establishments. There are even some new buildings that echo the architecture & character of the neighborhood.

The area is listed in the National Historic Register.

Postcard from the Desert

Sunset in the Desert

The sweet aroma of desert dust fills my lungs
While I sit and cherish every breath.
Gazing at the beautiful sunset in the west
I can’t help but to tear up at the sight of the
Wonderful purple, pink, and orange colors
Dance across the sky as they bid the sun goodnight.
Unaware, my hand slowly reaches out to the left of me,
Tries to get a grasp but all it catches is air.
Bowing my head I realize yet again
That I am here alone, watching the sunset
With no one at my side.
After the first few seconds,
My body begins to tremble, shake involuntarily.
There’s a horrible aching pain in my chest,
I tightly try to clench at my heart as I begin
To either laugh or cry, neither a difference to me.
It begins to beat faster, my shaking more violent.
I look to my left again praying there will be someone
There to hold me.
Quickly I blink a few times to wash the tears back,
Hoping when it clears that my love is there.
To my dismay I sit here in the desert alone,
Watching the sunset once again with no one at my side.
Taking deep breaths and wrapping my arms around my knees,
I gaze back straight ahead to watch the beauty of a desert sunset.
One of these days I’ll have someone by my side,
However that someday is not happening today.

Poem by Vanessa ‘0

Digital Painting by J.R. Corkrum

(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 to see my latest works.

Postcard from the Oregon Coast

If I could find anything blacker than black, I'd use it.  -J. M. W. Turner

Some weeks ago, I wrote about my visit to the Turner Exhibition in San Francisco. As I said then, Turner is my favorite painter. I have loved his works since the first time I ever saw one years and years ago. Not only have I seen his work in San Francisco, but also in the Tate Gallery in London (his home turf, so to speak) and in other galleries around the world.

Several years ago, I attended a three -day family reunion with my wife’s family. It was held on the Oregon Coast, near Lincoln City. The rental of a large home on the ocean was arranged. The three trees in this painting were the view from the living room window. I took a photo of them, (along with many others that weekend), not sure what I would do with this particular one.

With the help of Photoshop, Lightroom, and some new digital painting plugins) I decided to try and create a digital painting in the style of Turner. The picture above was the result. If Turner were alive, he would probably laugh at it. But no matter.

Turner was marvelous when it came to painting clouds. He was a master of the sky. In the original photo, a storm was clearing but another was coming in from the west. These hearty trees have overcome any kind of weather that the Pacific Ocean could bring. This was perfect archetype for the brushes of Turner. So it was that I chose the style of JMW Turner as my model for this painting.

I am sure that any Turner expert could reign down a deluge of criticism on my humble efforts but, that is OK with me. I am not Turner…I am only me. It is my rendition of a painting done in the technique of my favorite painter. I loved how it turned out in the end and am pleased to present it to you for your consideration.

Postcard from Paris

“You start at a café table because everything in Paris starts a café table.” -Irwin Shaw

Life in Paris revolves around the café…it has for decades. It is the normal part of life in that great city. An English journalist once observed that in London there are 5,000 people for every waiter. In Paris, there are 5,000 waiters for every person. That may be very close to the mark. Most Parisians start and end their day in a café.

The café in this painting sits in Montmartre. If you are not familiar with Paris, Montmartre is the only hill in Paris. It is 426 feet high. You can see it from everywhere. When you see a movie set in Paris and you see outdoor stairs, that is Montmartre. On top of the hill sits the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur. It is quite tall, topped by a beautiful dome. There are stairs that one can climb all the way to the top to get a breath-taking view of this magnificent city. I know because I did it.

As an aside, there are 3 very high places to get a great view of Paris…Sacre-Coeur, the Eifel Tower, and the Montparnasse Tower (the tallest building in Paris). A Parisian friend once asked me if I knew the best place to view Paris. I, of course, said no. He explained that the best view was from Montparnasse Tower. The reason…because it is the only place where you can’t see Montparnasse Tower. I agree as the building is not very attractive.

Back to Montmartre… you can get up the hill by either walking up the nearly never-ending, but beautiful stairs or take a special bus. I say it is special as there is only one seat on either side of the aisle. The streets are very, very narrow. When I took the bus, I thought sure the driver would hit several cars along the way or at least knock off their rear-view mirrors. He never did, but on several occasions it was very close.

For many years, Montmartre was a center for arts, especially the painters. At the beginning of the twentieth century, during the Belle Époque (translation: Beautiful Era, from 1871-1914) , many artists had studios or worked in or around Montmartre, including Salvador Dali, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, Camille Pissarro and Vincent van Gogh. Today, many painters gather on a daily basis in the large square outside the Basilica.

But around 1909, Montmartre as a center for the arts began to unwind. It began with Pablo Picasso moving to Montparnasse. As he was the foremost painter of that time, other painters began to move there also. By the end of World War I, if not before, Montparnasse became the new center for the arts and artists. There were writers and poets living there already, but all art now seemed to begin and end in this section of Paris on the Left Bank.

That’s where we pick up the story of the cafes. In the 1920’s writers from America and the British Isles seemed to flock to Paris, specifically Montparnasse. They are known by the term, “The Lost Generation.” Included are Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald, D. H. Lawrence, Gertrude Stein, Archibald MacLeish, Kay Boyle, Hart Crane, John Dos Passos, William Faulkner, Dorothy Parker and others.

The cafes are where they, the painters, poets, composers and their friends met on a daily basis. Poor artists and writers, which included most of them at the time, would rent tables by the hour and drink coffee and wine and talk into the late night. Cafes such as Le Dôme, La Closerie des Lilas, La Rotonde, Le Select, and La Coupole, all of which are still in business, were the places where starving artists could occupy a table all evening for a few centimes. If they fell asleep, the waiters were instructed not to wake them.

Arguments were common, some fueled by intellect, others by alcohol, and if there were fights, and there often were, the police were never summoned. If you couldn't pay your bill, people such as La Rotonde's proprietor, Victor Libion, would often accept a drawing, holding it until the artist could pay. As such, there were times when the café's walls were littered with a collection of artworks, that today would make the curators of the world's greatest museums drool with envy. Cafes were the center of all arts, not only for Paris, but for the world.

You arrived at your café at 1 p.m. and stayed until seven. You went out for dinner. You came back at nine and stayed till 2 a.m. -Jean Moreas

While the hey-days of the Montparnasse cafes ended with World War II, they are still an important part of French life…it could be called a living tradition. Today, you can see writers and poets slaving away to produce their masterworks…now using laptops as well as pencil and paper. Times change, but traditions don’t.

Having spent time in these cafes, I can tell you they are special. I will admit I am fascinated by Paris of the 20^th century, and to sit where some of the greatest artists and writers in the history of the world spent part of their daily routine…well it was very special. I love the cafes of Paris and the life style they engender. Starbucks and other coffee shops are just not quite the same.

“You end at a café table because everything in Paris ends at a café table.” -Irwin Shaw

Postcard from Sacramento

This bridge was my first view of Sacramento. The year was 1959. I was in the 8^th grade and my father had just been transferred from San Francisco to Sacramento. I was not happy.

Back then, there was no Interstate 80. There was only Highway 40. It did not go around the downtown area, but instead lead right downtown. In fact, you came over this bridge on to Capital Ave that led directly to the State Capital building. It is right in your sites as you crossed this bridge, strangely named Tower Bridge.

All well and good if your destination was the Capital. But, if you were headed east towards the North Area of Sacramento or even Reno, you had to take a circuitous route all around the Capital Park, then out 16^th Street, then on to another local highway that eventually became Highway 40 again.

If you were headed for Lake Tahoe, you still had to travel the same route, but you turned onto a different street to connect to Highway 50. Apparently in those days, the City Fathers believed the only way to make people stop and spend their money was to make them drive all around and through the downtown area. My great aunt Monica, when she came to visit us for the first time, said, “They took me all around Robin Hood’s Barn to get here.” Wish I would have said that.

Much later, the Feds built a highway around the city so that you could have a non-stop modern freeway route all the way to Reno and beyond. Today it is Interstate 80. Even if you wish to go to Tahoe you take the Freeway and connect to I-5…then to the Highway 50 turnoff. Of course, the city has not lost money as it has grown to a Giant metropolis with many, many new buildings, great shopping, and the tourist-trap known as Old Sacramento. (see my blog date 10/21/15).

As mentioned, I was not happy with the family’s move to Sacramento. I had to leave the metropolitan San Francisco Bay Area. It was my home for my entire life…at least to this point. I left people behind who were very dear to me as well as a city that is still one my favorite cities in all the world. I had to leave the 49ers and the Giants behind (only one year removed from their move from New York) as well as my Grandmother, Market Street, the Cable Cars, Fisherman’s Wharf, Chinatown, North Beach, and the Ferry Building.

That was the day when I became a San Franciscan in absentia. Of course that title still applies today. San Francisco will always be my hometown, even though I now live in Tucson.

Did my bad attitude towards Sacramento ever change? Nope! It got better as time passed, but Sacramento was a big city with a small town mentality. As Gertrude Stein once said about Oakland, “There is no there, there.” That was my feeling about Sacramento. I could not wait to get out. And I did. Four years later, after graduating from High School, I left for college. Can you guess where? That’s right…The San Francisco Bay Area. Actually I moved to the city of San Jose, now the capital of Silicon Valley. Admittedly I was 50 miles south of my favorite city, but still managed many, many visits to that great city. I was back home.

Over time, circumstances led me back to Sacramento on two different occasions. I still didn’t like it all that much. I suppose a lot of it has to do with its close proximity to San Francisco…its hard to compete, much less surpass a great city like SF. As for Sacramento, I left it for the final time in 1992. Truth be told, it is better now than it ever was and has more to be proud of…but it can never replace the Bay Area. Never.

Postcard from Tucson

As many longtime readers know, I live in Tucson, AZ. But, in all time I’ve done this blog, I don’t remember ever sharing an image of the city itself. Well, here it is in all its glory!

As you may know, Tucson is surrounded by hills and mountains. I took this image from up on Sentinal Peak. It is aslo known as “The Big A Mountain”. The reason? Right behind where I was standing to take this picture, there is a huge letter A, symbolizing the University of Arizona. It is quite large and can be seen for miles. It is all white, but a few years ago, it was red, white and blue…the school colors. I don’t know why they changed and painted it with just with white, but they did. Every year, it’s a tradition that the freshman class come up here and give the Big A a fresh coat of paint.

Moving back to the photo, the big highway in the foreground of the photo is I-10. This interstate runs from Los Angeles to Florida, or ocean to ocean, as you might say. It first goes east to Phoenix, then turns south for 100 miles to Tucson. Just to the right of the photo, it turns east again and heads to Las Cruces, New Mexico. From there it goes South again to El Paso then eventually works its way south and east again all the way to Jacksonville, Florida. It is a very long, long highway.

Just behind the freeway is downtown Tucson. Its funny in a way in that some of oldest old homes from the days of Spanish occupation in Tucson now mix with the modern downtown. When I first came here, I was not impressed with the downtown area. But it has been going through a renaissance with new buildings, new restaurants and shops. Its becoming quite classy and a fun place to hang out. There are theaters there…and just on Monday, they held a large outdoor jazz festival at various locations. There is a lot of new activity happening here and I am mighty glad to see it.

Now look just behind the downtown area and you will see a large collection of buildings that runs north and south. That would all be the University of Arizona. Look closely and you can see the football stadium. That is at the south and east end of the campus. Let your eye follow from there all the way until the large buildings come to and end. That would be the north end of the campus. It is quite large…trust me as I have walked almost all of it at one time or another. 40,000 students make up the student body. Its big enough that it has its own transportation system as well as a police department.

In between the downtown and the campus lies the 4th Ave District and the University District, each with its own unique ambience and definitely worth a visit if you ever come this way. Connecting all of these is a new streetcard system that begins on the west side of the freeway, just to the left of the photo. It travels through all the districts I mentioned, ending up at the very north end of the campus. Its a great way to travel the city and not worry about parking. As a matter of fact, I took it today to attend an art lecture at the University Museum of Art.

Tucson is surrounded by mountains. Most of the mountains you see in this photo are part of the Santa Catalina Mountains. To the far right of those mountains in the photo is the beginning of the Rincon Mountains. The city of Tucson runs right to the base of both those mountain ranges. It is a big city, in term land size. The city sits at about 2,500 feet evelvation and has aproximately one million people in the greater Tucson area.

I hope you have enjoyed this quick tour of my adopted home. I live in the western foothills above the city, at about the same elevation as the Big A mountain. It would be a couple of miles to the left of where this photo was taken. I really love this city and have enjoyed my 7+ years here. Maybe not so much in the summer, but everything here is air conditioned, included the streetcars. Thank God for that.  

Postcard from Tumacacori

The Old Mission Church

by Belinda van Rensburg

The air is hot and humid as we sit in the church pew,
the building's very old and nothing in it's new.
The walls are cracking; the alter cloth is stained,
and I'm sure that we'd get drenched if it should rain.

The roof is leaking but the preacher keeps on preaching;
A tired fan is squeaking and the rusty door is creaking.
The paint is peeling but the people are all kneeling;
pouring out their hearts to God with honesty and feeling.

I don't know the lingo but my spirit can discern,
that the congregation's here to worship and to learn.
Oh! How fortunate I feel as in this place I kneel,
for upon this mission church is God's approving seal.

 

(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…
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Postcard from Tucson

I bought a new pocket camera just before Christmas. It is a Lumix camera with an amazing Leica lens. It has a 30-1 analog zoom and takes photos in both JPG and RAW. If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know I use a Sony NEX-6 mirrorless DSLR camera most of the time…but also use a Nikon D-200 camera (big and heavy) and an iPhone 6+. The problem with the first two is they do no fit in my pocket. And while the iPhone takes great photos, if you start to zoom in to a subject, the pictures get increasingly bad. It uses what is termed digital zoom…not good.

So, I wanted a small, quality camera that fits in my pocket that will let me zoom when I needed it. The new Lumix more than filled the bill…and I got it at a great sale price!

Of course after receiving it, I gave it a proper workout. The results have been astounding. With that long lens, I recently photographed all the mothballed airplanes out at Davis Monthon Airbase. I shot from one of the high hills here in town. You can barely make them out with the naked eye and only if you know where to look. This camera took a fabulous picture and even with the camera zoomed out almost all the way, I was able to get a good photo just by holding it in my hand. It has an anti-shake mechanism built in that works very well.

Anyway, this is one of my test photos that I took out at Mission San Xavier del Bac, which is located just south of Tucson. It is a very old mission dating back to the 1700’s. You’ve seen a few photos from there in in past episodes of this blog. It is a quite famous mission and was once photograhed by Ansel Adams. His photo, (click here to see it) is very famous. It was taken at the rear of the mission.

My photo here was also taken behind the mission, just a few feet from where Ansel did his.Just to the left in my photo, you see a small part of a dirt driveway that leads into the mission. His photo was take on the other side of the road. Trust me when I say I am not trying to compare myself to Mr. Adams…he is leagues above me. But I do like this image very much. It captures the flavor of the old mission in the middle of the desert.

The mission gets a lot of tourists every day of the week. But few take the time to walk around to the rear. I was all alone back here while taking photos while the front of the mission was bustling with folks walking looking around. Fine with me.

I also took other photos of the mission on this day and again a few days later. It is a good place to test out my new camera. I went inside the church which is very, very dark. I managed to take a few images inside that turned out quite well, even holding the camera for a 1/6 of a second exposure. Now that blew me away.

The best lenses in the world are made by Leica. Many of the most famous shots by great photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Man Ray, Eugene Smith, Garry Winogrand, and many more were done with Leica cameras. I recently went to a photography lecture by a famous old-time photographer (whose name I sadly can’t remember) who said right up front he made the decision early in his carerr to spend the money and get a Leica. They are expensive, for sure, but those lenses are the best…but of course they are not cheap. That is why I was so happy to get this new camera that came with a certified Leica lens.

But the best part was when I finished my shoot. I just put the camera back into my jeans pocket and drove away. Not a bad deal. It will go with me now every time I leave the house.