Creative Imagery

I live in the desert southwest, but if you go to a park, lie down and look up:

I could be on a tropical island in the middle of the Pacific

Then head 1 mile south to another park,

lie down and look up:

and I'm back home on the east coast amongst towering trees and foliage.

It's all in your perspective....

Silhouette

This is a tree from the Hummingbird park that I took pictures at a few months ago. The other day I was sitting with the kids at the park and shooting random pictures. I loved the composition on this one with the sun behind the tree throwing the tree into silhouette. I wish I could say this shot was planned, but it was more of a discovery than a well executed composition.

Headed for Trouble

This railroad bridge is for the small miniature train that gives rides around the park on the weekends. During the weekday, while the train is not running, the favorite activity of the kids is to walk the train tracks all around the park pretending to be trains. One of the thrills is going across the bridge labeled "keep off." I should not condone such rule-breaking behavior, but isn't getting away with small transgressions what childhood is all about? The delinquents: Molly, Sean, and Sean's friend, Timmy

Desert Spring

It's been warm in Arizona for a while, and we've had a relatively wet winter. Warmth and wet add together for beautiful wildflowers on the mountains. I took these pictures while doing my favorite hike on Tempe Butte, otherwise known as "A" Mountain. They were taken with my cell phone camera, so only about 3 came out post-worthy. Most of the pictures were not nearly as crisp or well focused as they would have been with my Canon. It was so bright, I could hardly see what I was shooting on the display and the cell phone camera has no focus, so backgrounds were in focus, but flowers were blurry. I'll have to get up there with my real camera, but won't be free again until next Wednesday! But for now, here's some of the desert beauty.

This one is not crisp and very pixillated, but I love the composition and will try to reshoot this one with the good camera next week. (if the flowers are still there)

Happy Belated St. Patrick's Day!

Happy Belated St. Patrick's Day! A sunset captured on the side of a Guinness bottle seemed an appropriate way to mark the day. I have been super lax on this blog, but as with all resolutions, I can just apologize and resolve to do better!

The Road Less Taken

This path appears to ascend heavenward. Next time I will take it and see where I end up.

A postcard from Phoenix

to all my suffering friends and relations in the midwest and east coast:

A drop of sun to get you through the day!

Howling at the Moon

Last Friday's full moon was the biggest and brightest full moon of the year. It was also known as the wolf moon since it was the first full moon of the year. As a bonus in the first picture, Mars was just to the left of the moon; look for the reddish, star-like object. According to Spaceweather.com this full moon was about 14 percent wider and 30 percent brighter than the full Moons of the previous year.

The brightness of this moon made shooting directly at it very difficult and it turns out looking like the sun in the photograph. in order to catch the detail of the full moon, had to narrow the aperture and decrease the shutter speed, which made everything else in the photo (including Mars) black.

The muted grays of a rainy morning contrasted with the bright blue sky and puffy clouds as the rain disappears for the day. Arizona winters at their finest.

Cracklin' Fire

We had a truly Arizona winter tradition of marshmallows over the fire pit tonight. I built up a fun size fire and the kids gorged on fat white marshmallows until they were quite ill. After they ran off to expend the sugar energy, I got some peaceful time by the fire to enjoy it's warmth and beauty. I miss fireplaces, but I do not miss cold and snow!

Capturing Cats

These are some picture of my sister Lucy's kitties. They were patient enough to let me shove a big black camera in their faces and try to capture a bit of their souls. Mine won't let me near them with the camera!

Smurf was all into having his picture taken

Socks was a bit hesitant and shy

Catching those wide eyes without a flash on a moving kitty was tricky business

After a couple of shots, she was shooting daggers at me!

I'm still culling through my photos and editing, but here are some of the good ones.

Port of San Francisco as seen from the water.

The "Painted Ladies" juxtaposed with the modern financial district in the background

A common Golden Gate Bridge tourist shot

A Moody Skyline

San Francisco

A few standard tourist shots until I get a chance to load up some more! It's cold and foggy/rainy today, plus we were running around a lot today, so not as many pictures. Tomorrow promises to be a touristy (and rainy) day, it'll be fun to see what I can shoot pictures of.

Golden Gate Bridge taken from Vista Point north of the Bridge.

No lights on the bridge. boo.

But it made for a more dramatic view of the bridge architecture.

Looking at the Bay Bridge and the downtown S.F. skyline.

Another random set from the past few days....

A trip to San Francisco this weekend! Stay tuned!

Reflections

Art installation at the children's museum

Orange glow

and, because I like lights in the darkness

It can be cold in AZ

Two random pictures....

Everyone is complaining about the cold and snow all over the country...blah blah. We have our own winter troubles here in Phoenix. This is frosty grass, leaving work one morning. Can you believe my car window had frozen frost on it?? I had to sit in the parking lot for 10 minutes until the car got warm enough to melt it off. If that's not hardship, I don't know what is! :)

BRRRR, just the memory of that frigid morning made me cold, so here's a close up of some roses (yes, my roses are still blooming) in my warm house that had just been watered to get the aphids off of them. I would call it a dew drop, but I haven't seen any dew in Arizona. So a real rose, with a fake dew drop:

Hummingbird Park

Late post today. And brief...so very tired. Took some pictures this afternoon at our local park where they have a small hummingbird sanctuary. No hummingbirds in residence tonight, but pretty evening and waterfall shots.

Park entrance

A welcoming doorway. I enjoyed the beckoning view framed by the entryway

Waterfall

Side view of the waterfall.

In my sleep deprived eyes, this looks like a muppet

from the Dark Crystal or a lizard head.

Frozen waterfall droplets

Iconic Arizona sunsets

I worked last night and am going back again tonight, so I'm cheating a bit and pulling out some of my favorite sunset pictures taken on our way back from Flagstaff right before Christmas. I told you I wouldn't bore you with too many sunset pictures. yeah...um...I lied. I think sunsets are one of my favorite things. I could take pictures of them forever. :)

PS: Happy Birthday to little brother! I know he checks this blog at least ten times a day. :) Have a great day, Sam!

Fun with the Sun

The sun setting over the prayer garden at church while I was waiting for the kids to finish up their religious ed. classes. I thought the rays of light over a place of reflection was quite symbolic.

As I finished my second ascent up "A" Mountain in Tempe, I was lying on a bench catching my breath when I caught a glimpse of the early morning sun peaking through the mesquite trees at he top of the mountain.

Both pictures were taken with my 5mp Motorola Droid phone. The colors are definitely not as sharp as the Canon, but the phone is good for capturing must have pictures on-the-go and much easier to carry around!

Goodbye Christmas...

...until next year.

Normally, I wait until Epiphany (Jan 6) to take down the Christmas decorations, but I'm working this year on the 5th and 6th, and I think everything will be stale by next weekend. So I took advantage of today's 70 degree temps to open the windows, air out the house and take down the decorations.

So, a bit sad to see the season end; here is my homage to the christmas season.

Christmas lights, with a warm fuzzy feel

Star of Wonder

tree

Noel

Lazy pajama days playing Wii

Cards from friends. How lucky we are to have so many!

We'll miss you Christmas...can't wait until next year!