Postcard from Soap Lake – Making it Better

I shared this photo with you some time ago…but I want to share it again today because I think I have made it better.

As I’ve said here before, I am always experimenting with new filters and techniques in Lightroom and Photoshop. I was doing that very thing today while working on my new Web site. Specifically, I was picking out some of my better photos to display in a slide show on one of the new pages.

I came across this lovely double rainbow just north of Soap Lake, WA. And having recently discovered with some new filters and effects, I decided to try them on this image. Well, I am so pleased and excited with the results I wanted to show you today. You can click on the image and see it in a larger size. Recommended.

So, I hope you will forgive me for showing you the same image twice…but this one just shines (forgive the pun).

Postcard from Bisbee – The Local Flora

As I write today, we are getting ready to be hammered by rain, high winds, and some good old lightning and thunder. But, amazingly, the temperature is still in the high 90’s. The monsoon season may have begun. It is already raining on the east side of town, but I live on the far west side. The monsoon season is not mentioned in the Chamber of Commerce brochures. I look forward to my first flash flood. We shall see.

Anyway, back to Bisbee. I have shown you some of the local color and now I will share with you a couple of pictures of the local flowers, in full bloom when I visited. As with most of my Bisbee pictures, I was not content to leave well enough alone.

I started playing in my computer darkroom and took these two flower images further out than I ever had before, at least for flowers anyway. I let them sit for a few days before I shared them here, wanting to make sure I still like them….and I do.

I hope you do too.

Picture of the Day – Bisbee Bomb

Just a quick update today. I have been working on my new Web site almost non-stop and totally forgot yesterday to do this blog. By the way, the revised Web site should be up very soon.

This is another image from Bisbee, AZ. I believe I mentioned in the very first blog about this interesting city that there was a store that had a bomb for a sign. Well, this is it!

Again, you can see that colors about in Bisbee. Not much else to say, other than perhaps, “Bombs Away,” or “Bombed in Bisbee,” or…well you get the idea. Enjoy.

Don’t forget you can see all my Bisbee pictures at:

http://www.corkrum.com/stock_photos/bisbee/

Postcard From Bisbee – Two Art Galleries

As promised, today’s blog from Bisbee will focus on the artistic, rather than tourism. Hope you don’t mind.

When I started photographing in Bisbee, I knew almost immediately that my images were good, but they would really come alive in post processing…in other words, the computer darkroom. I spent some four full days working on the 32 images that comprise my Bisbee collection.

Using Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, and several different non-Adobe plug-ins, I experimented and played until I got the images I wanted. With the two images presented her, I wanted a strong painterly look, but not a painting (although that might happen someday).

As is obvious, they were taken outside of two art galleries on the main street. They also give strong hints about the use of color throughout the entire city. With these two images, I knew what I wanted to do with them even before I snapped the shutter. And, happily I achieved my goal.

You can now see the entire Bisbee collection up on my Web site at:

http://www.corkrum.com/stock_photos/bisbee/

Postcard from Bisbee – Quirkiness Lives

Sometimes when I write these blogs, I don’t know whether to act as a tour guide, or as an artist showing off his work. Bisbee, AZ created such a dilemma for me. Here is why:

First, Bisbee is a fascinating town right out of the old west, located 78 miles southeast of Tucson, 24 miles south of Tombstone, and barely north of the Mexican border. It is built on hills. Bisbee was originally founded as a mining town for copper, gold and silver. Just south of town there is a huge open pit mine that attests to its history. That was then.

Today, Bisbee is many other things:

It is an artist community; an out-of-the-way tourist destination that doesn’t feel like it was built for tourists; a town filled with stairs of all shapes and sizes, short and long; a city of incredible colors, strange houses, and narrow backstreets; a former haven to hippies and John Wayne; a current home for gays and one of the top Gay Pride celebrations in America; a place where the weather is much cooler than Tucson; and runner-up as the quirkiest town in America as voted by the AARP magazine.

In short, it is a place you want to keep coming back to.

For me, it was all those things and more. It is a photographer’s dream. Here I wandered and photograph at will…never running out of subjects. The colors and the quirkiness are wonderful and they are everywhere you look.

There is a storefront covered in bottle tops, another store with a bomb for a sign, an empty lot filled with rubble and sculpture that is an ad hoc park, art galleries of all kinds, and the colors….my God, the colors. As a photographer, you dream of finding these places…and I did.

In the next couple of installments, I will be sharing more of Bisbee. But don’t expect normal photographs…oh no. Bisbee inspires creativity and many of my photographs have turned into creativity personified. And I haven’t even started painting them yet.

Needless to say I will be back here for more photography and creative ventures. So, to answer my dilemma from the opening sentence, I suppose this blog entry is the tour guide part of my trip to Bisbee. Stay tuned for the artistic parts.

Postcard from Prescott – The Granite Dells

Just thought I would share two photos I took just north of Prescott in a very interesting area known as the Granite Dells. The Dells are only a couple of miles from the downtown area…but they are so different from their surroundings, it is almost like they should not be there. Still, there they are.

As you can see from the photos, they are a very different rock formation that anything I have ever shown here. There is a lovely lake there, some easy walking and hiking trails, and Watson Lake Park. Mostly though, there are private homes built in and around the rock formations. Still, they are quite lovely to explore and if you are ever in Prescott, I advise you to do so.

Another nearby town that is very interesting to visit is the old mining town of Jerome. It is built on the side of some very steep hills.. I visited there about 18 months ago, so I won’t cover it here. And, of course, not too far from Jerome is Sedona.

I enjoyed my time very much in Prescott. One of the nicest parts for me was that my campground was out in the woods, but so close to town that I didn’t have to cook. You gotta love that!

More photos from Prescott will eventually appear on my Website. Will advise.

Picture of the Day – Fire Hydrants

Just a quick one today as I am working on my new Web site layout. It is coming along nicely and should be up on line in a few days.

I took this picture on Sunday in Prescott. It is actually in the rear alley of a place called the Old Firehouse Plaza…a collection of restaurants and art galleries in what was an old firehouse. You could not tell it by looking at it today.

But the deep red color scheme you see here pervades the entire structure. It is too bad these decorated old fire hydrants are hidden in the alley as they are one of the most interesting aspects of the whole town…photographically anyway. Regardless, I like the picture. Hope you do also. By the way, don't forget you can always click on my photos and see a larger version.

Editors Note: This note is for those of you who get my blogs via e-mail. One of my faithful readers notified me yesterday that he was receiving junk e-mail from someone who was using my GoogleGroups account, the one I use to distribute both my blogs to subscribers via e-mail. I too had received the same junk mail, but hadn’t noticed its source. I scoured my GoogleGroups membership list and found the person responsible and immediately banned them for life. So, you should not be receiving any more junk mail from some slimeball named Rachael. My apologies for not catching this sooner.

Postcard from Prescott – An Oasis of Coolness

I spent the better part of three days and two nights this last weekend in a lovely city that sits high above the surrounding desert and offers a break from the June scorching heat. Prescott, Arizona, about 100 miles northwest of Phoenix sits up at 5,300 feet.

While I was there, the high for each day was around 75 and the high 40’s at night. It was perfect for camping, which is exactly what I did. There is a very nice Forest Service Campground about three miles south of town.

Prescott became the first territorial capital of Arizona in 1864 until it was moved to Phoenix three years later. In 1877, the legislature again moved the capital back to Prescott for 12 more years…until it was finally moved back to Phoenix for the final time. Remember, Arizona did not become a state until early in the 20th century.

It is a very interesting city and has been called the most Midwestern-style city in all the Southwest. In the center of the city is the county courthouse, surrounded on all sides by a lovely park. When I was there this last weekend, there was a large art festival going on in the park, which for me, brought back many memories. (Photo #2)

But the most famous part of Prescott is right across the street…the infamous Whisky Row (Photo #3). Until 1956, it was the Red Light district. In 1900, a great fire destroyed most of the buildings on Whiskey Row. As legend has it, the patrons of the various bars simply took their drinks across the street to the Courthouse square and watched it burn. Today, you will find several drinking establishments still flourishing quite nicely.

On the more positive side, the city is blessed with many Victorian-style homes. In fact there are 525 buildings in the city listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Getting to Prescott is easy from Phoenix as there is a beautiful highway that runs right off of Interstate 17. However, as I was going to Prescott from Blythe, CA (where I had been visiting my son), I chose Highway 89 which turned out to be a steep and twisty road for the last 20 miles or so where I could seldom get above 25 mph.

But it was all worth it as there are some beautiful pine forests up at that elevation that lead all the way into town. And being so close to town, I never actually cooked at my campsite…I just headed into town for meals.

While I really enjoyed myself in this fair city, it was the weather that was the real bonus for me. On my last morning there, I wore two coats to stay warm. But, as I headed down towards Phoenix, it wasn’t very long before the van’s A/C unit was running full blast.

Here are just three photos that I took this weekend, but more will follow shortly. Eventually, all the good Prescott photos will be on my Web site.

Picture of the Day – Yosemite Falls

Greetings from Blythe, CA. I am on the road again for a very short time. Am visiting here with my son Eric and his wife Jill. It has been a while since I’ve seen them. They recently moved here from Yuma to be closer to Eric’s work. In case you didn’t know, he is a federal border patrol agent assigned to the Blythe sector. Boy, does he have some stories to tell! He will probably be here a couple of years. I have enjoyed my time with them, but will probably leave today, heading northeast to a town called Prescott, AZ. Have never been there and want to explore my new home state some more.

Prescott is up in the mountains at around 5,500 feet. So the high temp there today will be around 74. Am looking forward to seeing this town, and its surrounding areas…and of course, to cooling off a bit. Will probably stay for a couple of days and give my camera another workout. I just wanted to check in today and let you know that I have not forgotten you.

I don’t have my photo library with me, but I did find this one picture that I don’t believe I have ever shared here. It is, of course, Yosemite Falls as seen through apple blossoms. Yosemite Valley did have apple orchards in it at one time and there are still a few apple trees here and there. This one was in full bloom when I visited there a couple of years ago in the Spring…and the falls in the park were all overflowing at the time from a fantastic spring runoff. As you may remember, Yosemite is one of my favorite places in the world and this is one of my favorite pictures.

Not sure when I will be able to write again, but it will probably be next week. I still have many pictures to show you from my last trip a week ago to Bisbee and Chiricahua National Monument and will probably add more to the collection in the next couple of days. It is nice to be out exploring again.

Postcard from Tucson – Desert Spring – Part 2

Spring is nearly over here in the Sonoran desert. But, l am here to tell you it was something to see, especially for me, a first-timer. I did a fair amount of touring looking for flowers and color. It turns out I did not have to go very far. The best and brightest part of the spring flowers were all in walking distance of my residence.

There is a very nice jogging and bicycling path right across the street from where I live. It is surrounded by natural desert. It was here that most of my best pictures were taken. As I daily walked these paths, I had a camera to record the flowers on the various types of cactus.

Almost daily, new flowers emerged that were not there the day before. I saw small cactus, no bigger than six inches high, yield flowers that were much large than the plant itself.

And the color…oh my gosh, the colors were just amazing…reds, yellows, purples, whites, and mixtures. Even some of the ugliest cactus bushes you have ever seen put forth beautiful spring flowers in abundance.

Here are three sample photos from my trips into the nearby desert. The best of them all are now on my website for you to enjoy. Just click on any of the small thumbnail photos and the larger version of it will be displayed. I hope you enjoy these photos of spring in the Sonoran desert as much as I did taking them.

Notes: Last week, I showed you a photo of a boat I took in Port Townsend, WA. FYI, I have put a few more photos from that visit up on my Website for your enjoyment.

This last weekend, I spent a couple of days visiting Bisbee, AZ and the Chiricahua National Monument. Both places were a photographer’s dream. You shall be seeing some of those pictures in the very near future. Tomorrow, I head out for a quick trip to Mexico, then Yuma, then on to visit my son in Blythe, CA. Then, who knows where. I will write when I can.

Postcard from Tucson – Desert Spring – Part 1

I live to see new things. I have never lived in a desert state before now, so, it was with some interest that I looked forward to my first Spring here in the Sonoran desert. And I was not disappointed.

Most of the Spring display of flowers is history now, and I took some beautiful photos, more of which I will share in the next blog. But, for this edition, I want to focus on the blooms of the giant Saguaro cactus that only grows naturally here in the Sonoran desert.

As I’ve mentioned before, these giant cactus can live for over two hundred years. They don’t even begin growing their arms until after 100 years. They store water better than the Hoover Dam, so even drought years don’t affect them. And now, they are in full bloom. It is something to see.

West of Tucson, where I live, the Saguaro grow thick as thieves, and almost all are blooming now. It is amazing to drive by and see them. As you can see in the photos, each cactus has more than one bloom…many more.

The first photo shows four arms of a single Saguaro cactus, all in bloom, so you know it is an older one. Most blooms are up very high on the plant, so photographing is difficult…but I found a little hill where I was able to photograph this cactus located further down the hill.

The flower from these cacti are the state flower of Arizona. The plants themselves are protected by state law and cannot be cut down or transplanted. The fruit of the Saguaro can be used to make jam and syrup, although it is not as common as the prickly pear cactus fruit.

My desire to see new things has been more than satisfied this Spring, here in the desert. The Saguaro cactus continue to inspire awe and wonder. In the next edition, I will show you the flowers of other amazing cactus that grow all around me.

PS – It might be a few days before the next blog as I am heading out tomorrow to see more new places…cameras-in-hand, of course.

Picture of the Day – A Photoshop Boat

I photographed this boat a couple of years ago up in Port Townsend, WA. It was an overcast day, as is often the case there, but the light was still good. And I just loved this small boat.

However, the original image wasn’t good enough for me. Using some of my on-board filters in Photoshop, I tweaked and played with the original image and came up with this version which I like much better. All the colors are still there and the original image isn’t changed all that much.

I just boosted the colors a little bit, added a glow, then for good measure, added a little fog in the background, even though there was none that day. It just seemed appropriate and it brought more emphasis to the boat. I hope you don’t mind…but at least I told the truth.

Picture of the Day – Hoodoos

Welcome to Bryce Canyon National Park, where you will find the highest concentration of hoodoos in the entire world. There are hundreds of them pictured in this photo.

What’s a hoodoo, you ask? Here is the geological definition from Wikipedia:

A hoodoo (also tent rock, fairy chimney, earth pyramid) is a tall thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. Hoodoos are composed of soft sedimentary rock and are topped by a piece of harder, less easily-eroded stone that protects the column from the elements.

The photo you see here is an immense concentration of hoodoos…so thick you can hardly differentiate one from another. It was very difficult to develop in post processing, and only when I applied a few selected filters was I able to bring them out a bit more.

I decided to try a black and white image as the hoodoos themselves are mostly orange with a little white thrown in here and there. I liked the result enough that I wanted to share it with you.

Sadly, I am limited by the blog as to the size of the photo I can use. But, like all photos in my blogs, if you click on the photo, you can see a larger version.

Picture of the Day – Thru Mesa Arch

As is my custom lately, I find myself experimenting with different filters in Photoshop. I came across an interesting photo I took of Mesa Arch in the Canyonlands National Park. I like the composition very much, but the lighting was just terrible that day.

I could have used some very elaborate filters to make it look like the light was fabulous, but just didn’t want to fake it. Instead, I came across a filter I had never used before. It’s called the “Polaroid Transfer” filter. Below, is a quick explanation of the real Polaroid Transfer process. A small number of artists and photographers use it to create interesting images.

It is one of those techniques that gives a different result every time. So I tried it on this image and it produced the image you see here. I really like this image as it made the colors so much more vivid and added some interesting ghostly effects.

The only other thing I did was change the contrast ration slightly. I did not want to do more as the real Polaroid Transfer process is not changeable. You get what you get, which is what I wanted to do here. And frankly, I like what I got!

Will try this one again in the future.

A Summary of the Polaroid Transfer Process from Wikipedia

Using a camera, enlarger, slide printer or Day Lab expose Polaroid film. You need pull-apart type film, such as Polaroid 669 (now discontinued, or Fuji FP100c, which is readily available). Develop by pulling the film from the holder. Wait about 10-15 seconds and quickly pull the film apart, not letting the two sides (the picture and the negative) touch. Put the pulled apart negative face down on paper (or other material). Place pressure over negative and let sit for about 20 minutes. Then pour hot water over each side of the negative/paper sandwich. Gently peel the negative from the paper. Allow transfer to dry, face up.

Postcard from Fredericksburg – Rebs

A few years ago, on this very weekend, I was in Fredericksburg, Virginia, touring this town, its Civil War battlefield, and other nearby famous Civil War sites. As it was Memorial Day, there were many re-enactors out in full uniform representing both sides of that bloody conflict.

Pictured here are Confederate soldiers, camped just outside of town along the Rappahannock River (which can be seen in the background). Across the river was another encampment of Union soldiers.

Here, in December of 1862, Union troops under the command of General Ambrose Burnside, gathered to assault the town. General Lee, was caught off-guard by the Union movement and was forced to rush reinforcements into the area. He was helped by Burnside who refused to cross the river until a shipment of pontoon bridges arrived from Washington, even though there was a way to cross the river without bridges. The bridges were late in arriving, giving Lee extra time to bring in his troops.

After the bridges were put in place, and under heavy rebel fire, Federal troops crossed over and eventually took the town, looting as they went. Lee withdrew on purpose, to force the Federals to attack uphill at a place called Marye’s Heights. They did and were mowed down mercilessly by Confederate Fire. Still, Burnside kept sending wave after wave of troops, 16 in all, to assault the heights, all of whom suffered the same fate. Finally, Burnside called off the assault and retreated back across the river.

There were other parts of this battle too numerous to mention here, but suffice it to say it was a disaster for the Union. Burnside was shortly replaced by General Joseph Hooker, who himself suffered a major defeat a few months later at nearby Chancellorsville. Seven months later, these two massive armies would meet again in Pennsylvania at a place called Gettysburg.

Two days after taking this photo, I also went to Gettysburg to round out my very special Memorial Day weekend. These places will forever be burned into my memory.

Picture of the Day – Three Amigos

I shot this photo recently at the Saguaro National Park West. It looks like three people standing close having a chat…only it is cacti. Just something about it grabbed my imagination.

The cloudy sky was a bonus that day, although I remember that it became all clouds shortly after this photo was taken. I took the original image and first applied a correction filter that also put down a slight darkening effect in the corners (called a vignette).

Then I converted it to black and white, applying more adjustments. Finally used another filter called “glow” which gave me an effect that I really liked. Did a little more magic on it and….voila! You see the results before you.

One of the fun parts of digital photography is playing around with different filters to see what you might get…and believe me…I love to play.

Postcard from Las Vegas – A Different Kind of Wildlife

I am not a wildlife photographer. It is not in my nature. But, I could not help photographing some of the beautiful animals in the Wildlife Preserve at the Flamingo Hotel. There are different kinds of unusual animals here including several different species of birds. Obviously, there are many Flamingos. The beautiful fish in the man-made stream are also worth a look.

The photo here shows a Grey Crowned Crane, a native of the African Savannah, south of the Sahara Desert. It also happens to be the National Bird of Uganda (no Idi Amine jokes here please). I can tell you from experience, it loves to pose for cameras.

If you are ever in Vegas and want to do something different, stop by and take a look at all the animals and wander around the beautiful grounds. There is even a restaurant with large windows right next to the preserve so you can enjoy the view while eating (please don’t order fowl…it would be sacrilegious and scares the animals).

Picture of the Day – Clouds over Soap Lake

I can’t recall if I mentioned it here, but I have spent a fair amount of time lately reorganizing and cataloging my rather large photo collection. Not only did it need it, but some of my newest software makes it almost a necessity to redesign the directory structure to make it more accessible.

One of the bonuses of doing this is I have come across many pictures that I had nearly forgotten…including this one. This is north end of Soap Lake, WA. It was one of those rare days where great light and beautiful clouds happily coincided to make a good image. Having the lake be so calm also helped, although about a minute after I shot this photo, a boat came along and ruined the reflections.

Never-the-less, it is one of my better images of Grant County, which was my home until last year. It brings back good memories. It also reminds me of why I take photos…to capture these kind of rare moments.

Postcard from Tucson – A Simple Bench

I found this bench, and a few others like it, underneath the University of Arizona campus. Yes, there is an underground campus, a proverbial maze of classroom and auditoriums that lie several feet underground. You will also find occasional open areas like this one…open to the sky where one can sit and enjoy the light, the beauty of plants and play of shadows.

I was intrigued by the shape, the form, and depth of this bench…and by the simplicity of the scene. A color image distracts the eye. Simple black and white is the best way to see it.

Now, you can observe the unique shape of the bench, and the nearly parallel lines on the seat that lead your eye into the distance. And you see the light and shadows as they play on this stage.

It is simplicity itself. And beauty.

Beauty is a pretty face
Beauty is a brand new vase
Beauty is lovely hair
Beauty is an oak wooden chair
Beauty is a graceful smile
Beauty is a great sense of style
Chizom Okpara

Postcard from Ephrata – Remembering the Garden

I happened to be browsing some of the many photographs that I’ve taken of Spring flowers and I came across this lovely image. In looking at it and the other photos taken the same time, I realized it was in our garden at the house in Ephrata.

Now, I don’t think about those days very much anymore as I mostly look forward and not into the rear view mirror. But, gazing at this flower, I remember how Susan put so much time and effort into making this garden a reality. I also remember the little time I got to spend in it before moving on. It was a nice place to mellow out and enjoy the colors of Spring. Would have liked to have had just a few more days there.

Our lives are like chapters in a good book…nice when you are there, but always moving forward to the inevitable conclusion. I don’t look back in sadness, but rather in joy for the time I was part of this chapter.

Regardless of the memories, I do like this photo very much. I don’t know the flower variety, but the leaves underneath make me think it is some sort of tulip.

Now I live in Tucson where we have a whole different version of Spring. Very soon, I will be sharing some photos and memories of my first Spring in the desert.