An Afternoon in the Mountains Plus Artist's Perspective

I often post pictures of the mountains from down here in the valley. The truth is I rarely get to go up into them. It is worth it when I do get to go up, because it is absolutely amazing up there. There are more trees and it is considerably cooler. There is even a teeny tiny town situated at the top. There is a gift shop up there that sells the best fudge ever!

The downside is that it takes SO long to get even to the foothills. Once in the foothills there are the previously mentioned giant houses you have to get past before you can really enjoy the view. Overall, I love it when I get to go, and this past weekend I got my chance.

It was the plan all week. When Saturday came I was let down by the heavy haze covering the city. It made the distant view of the mountains unclear, and I was actually fretting that it would mess with my ability to get the kind of photos I wanted. I decided that I would just have to deal with the conditions as they were. It was my only day to get up there.

As I got into the mountains I had hoped that the haze would just be above the city and that it wouldn't permeate the mountain atmosphere. I was wrong. Nevertheless, I was determined to get some good photos. Maybe I would have gotten better photographs if not for the haze, BUT there really is no use thinking about that when what I did get was pretty awesome.

This, for example, is my favorite!



I also like this one a lot.



Those types of photos are nice, and I was happy with them, but my true purpose in going was to have a new and interesting environment for experimentation. I wanted to play around with mood, perspective and movement. In order to illustrate how I did this I will first post a photo in which you can tell exactly what is going on. The next will be the experiment in mood and movement.

This first two are really the only ones where both are experiments, but keep in mind I was in the same location for both. The first it is easy to tell what is going on. The second is only an impression. I think they both work, but that's just me, the artist, speaking.







These next two I did while chasing the sun on its way down.






These two I think are the last I will show you of this trip.







NOTE: I have sometimes used photos from the internet in the past and also may in the future. That being said, all photos I have taken myself are, in fact, my property and may not be used without my express permission.

Creepy houses, Dumb dogs, Cute babies

I figured I should just go ahead and post even though I really don't have many events going on right now. So I just picked three random events that happened lately and that is what I am blogging about today.

Creepy Houses and Dumb Dogs

So I went for a walk the other day because I hadn't been out of the house in forever and the kids were driving me to distraction. I thought it might be a good idea to bring the dog. It wasn't. I brought my camera thinking that if I saw anything I found interesting I could take a picture.

At the very first step out the door my dog decided that today was not his day to behave on the leash. He tried to drag me down the street. The more I tried to get him to behave the more he decided that he was not going to behave. He wanted to visit every single dog that lived on the street despite the fact that about half of them would have eaten him for dinner if there hadn't been fences in the way. Once I did get him under control enough to be able to take photos I was so flustered that I wondered why I thought that taking him would make for a relaxing walk.



On the up side (if I can call it that) I got this photo of a house that I thought was really creepy in an Amityville Horror Type of way. Don't ask me why, but the photo (I don't think)displays just how eerie the atmosphere was around the yard. Even though the house is clearly lived in.



Cute Babies

The A few days ago my second daughter had a birthday. We had her baby cousin over who also has a birthday in March. She really enjoyed the cupcake.



Finally, I'll leave you with a picture of my two year old because two cute babies are better than one.

What can the rich afford?

I was up on the very far Northern side of town the other day. Since that is the part of town nearest the mountains I brought my camera. The intent was to take some pictures of the mountains up close. That's exactly what I did despite this sign.



Really? I'm not allowed to stop, park or stand in that spot on that road. And the street had those signs down both sides of the road every several feet. Seriously.

I must now add that this particular area is known to all as where the VERY rich live. Now I'm happy for the people who are fortunate enough to be rich or to have gotten rich. But do they really need a million signs on their street trying to keep the common rabble (like me) from even stopping or standing on their very privileged street? I'm sure they can afford decent security systems so a person standing doesn't seem like much of a threat to this castle-like structure.



Or these giant houses.



Which brings me to the next thing the very rich can afford. To employ these



So they can ruin these



for the not so rich.

I'm BAAAAACK!

I find myself apologizing more and more. Especially since I promised project number three months ago. So I will give you all the best of my class if you don't mind. I might just give you more later, but I won't promise. I've had a rough couple of months, but 2011 promises to be a lot better.

Here are my photos:

These two are my favorites from the Tucson Meet Yourself folk festival.


I wish that this Photo could have had some sound attached. This man looked so severe, but had the most beautiful music flowing out of him! I can't describe to you all the absolutely amazing voice this man has. It almost had me in tears listening to him. I'm not kidding.



This next Photo is from a group of Native American dancers. It was so cool to get this photo during one of the dances.



This next photo is my favorite from my panoramas project.

I went out to Saguaro National Monument before noon one day. I took 8 photos upward and stitched them together in Photoshop. The extreme blue sky is a result of photographing before noon. Just a tip for those of you looking to get bluer skies in your photos.



These next two are from my Metaphors project.

Since they are visual metaphors I'll let you all guess as to what they mean. Makes it more fun.






Last but not least I'll give you my favorites from my final. My final was on the ballet dance students at the University of Arizona. They were very welcoming and I loved every minute of it.

This one is my favorite from my visit right before Halloween. It was so cute to see the dancers dressed up that day.



I LOVE this photo. My only regret is that it cuts off at the fingertips.



The instructor



My favorite



I think this photo shows a less idealized version of ballet. Definitely one of my favorites.



Well, That's it for now folks. I hope I didn't overwhelm you all with photos, but I wanted to give you a big post because I made you wait so long.

Project 2- Self Portraits

I told you all to expect posts on my projects. Project number 2 was self portraits. I don't have anything much to say about them. They were supposed to show who I am in some way. I hope at least that came across.











Well, that's it. That's me. I thought they turned out well enough. Whether they were well enough for the prof. remains to be seen.

The next post will be on the "Tucson Meet Yourself" folk festival. Stay tuned.

Project number 1

If you have been reading for a while you know that I am in a photography class. I had promised to post photos on my blog, but I wanted to make sure the projects were over and turned in first. I don't know why. This first project was called What do you know. It was basically assigned to see what kind of photos we knew how to take and where we are in terms of experience and know-how.

The assignment itself was simple enough: Take four different pictures(out of about 100 exposures) of the same subject. They were not to be slight variations on one another. They had to be clearly different. I chose as my subject an old, worn out boot. It was mainly because I thought a worn boot would have a sort of personality.

When critique time came I realized that I was more advanced than some people but far inferior to others. I expected as much. What I didn't expect was that perhaps I was a bit to obscure in my story. My boot was supposed to be on a journey. Oh well.

I decided to make to story a bit more concrete on my blog and write a poem accompanied by the photos. So without further ado here is:

The Higher Ground

I stepped upon the river bank
In search of higher ground
And laid upon the green grass
When none was to be found





Wandering far from home
I stood upon a wall
That was not high enough
Not adequate at all



I made for distant peaks
My body old and worn
The higher ground was nearing
I'd get there as I'd sworn

I climbed both long and high
To the summit of the mount
My weary life behind me
As I solemnly looked out

My life at closing time drew near
I recognized that truth
I closed my eyes and said goodbye
To old age and to youth.

-Marjorie Napier-




Well, That's that. My next projects are close together. I have to complete on this weekend and another by next weekend. Expect posts.

Walk through the Desert with Me

Sorry for the long absence. I've been busy since my mom got back to the US and into town. She spent a year in Norway, and I'm so happy to have her back.

We decided to go for a walk the other morning for some exercise, and my sister-in-law knew of a path that goes through a very wild part of the city. She suggested I take my camera. For as much as I love to take pictures I hadn't thought of it until she suggested it, but I went ahead and packed up my camera and we were off to our little desert trail.

When we got there I discovered that the path was paved and looped around but was not near long enough for the walk we had in mind. Plus, there was a warning to watch out for scorpions, tarantulas, and rattle snakes. JOY! We went on ahead anyway, and when the path ended we took the rough trail for a while.

I took a good amount of pictures, and now you all can take the walk with me.

This is a cholla(pronounced: Choy-a) cactus. Not the prettiest of cacti, but this one was quite big.


This is a very cool dead tree. Some of you might not find it as cool as I did. I liked it.


A very pretty barrel cactus flower


The same barrel cactus with my mom's shadow


A bunch of yellow flowers growing between the rocks.


An ocotillo cactus


A palo verde tree. These grow such beautiful yellow flowers in the spring.


A very strange, little, spikey thing


A tiny barrel cactus


A neat little bush I found


A very scary spider hole


A lizard that lost his tail


Another cool little lizard


A ground squirrel


A giant saguaro. This is what my desert is known for. Yes, they are giant. For a little perspective see the next picture.


This is my mom next to the cactus in the last picture. Did you know they can grow as tall as two giraffes?