Another in my series for my Unity class
Latest
Sources of Light
December moon at sunset
Beach Lady at Sunset
Over the last few years I’ve taken many photos of people at beaches in Southern California- and probably my favorites are my Beach Ladies. After we get our second Covid vaccinations, I hope to get out of the house, out of town, and out of state to do more beach photography!
Below is a Beach Lady watching surfers at sunset- taken two years ago
Nativity
Here is the second in my Stations of the Cross series- Nativity. I started with a photo taken of the sun rising from our driveway. When I started working on my image, I noticed a single star in the sky, which I had not seen when I took the photo. I replaced it with the “Christmas Star” (the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction photographed last December). In this photo you can just barely see Jupiter and four of its moons and Saturn with its rings blurred. And then, I of course did some creative editing! 🙂
Orange and White
This is from a couple weeks ago when there was still snow at Willow Lake. It snowed again last night, but it was only an inch or so on my side of town- and I didn’t see significant snow at Willow when we drove by this morning. I love the contrast of the white snow against the warm tones of the rocks.
Creation
I am taking an eight week class through my church where we all create art! There are painters, mixed media artists, musicians, and at least one photographer (!) coming together to have discussions based on assigned readings and then create art in response. Each week we share art with each other in our zoom meetings.
I had imagined this would be similar to contemplative photography, which I am familiar with, but it turned out to be based on Stations of the Cross, which is totally outside my experience. The class explores the metaphysical meanings of the stations as related to our own lives. This is way outside my comfort zone, but the excellent teacher and interesting classmates are making this a wonderful experience!
Week One- Creation
Til the Cows Come Home
This is a re-edit of a photo from 2014. I have such clear memories of that drive through Paradise Valley in Montana with Lonnie and our grandson, Miles. It was such a beautiful day, and five year old Miles was totally involved in spotting old barns and picturesque country scenes for me to photograph. In this reimagining, I aged the mailboxes to make the image match how I was seeing them that day. I remember noticing the cows coming along as I snapped the photo, but didn’t stay to see if they stopped or turned off before they came to the road.
Through the Storm
A view of the tree across the street through the snowstorm
Winter Evening
I had never been in snow until I went skiing in high school. For me, snow has always been something you visit, not live in. When our daughter was in her early twenties, she moved to Montana and later Wyoming. We spent quite a few Thanksgivings and Christmases with her family when they lived at Yellowstone, so I could see first hand what it was like to have real winters! And of course, now they live in Alaska. . .
But when we moved to Prescott, we got to have the experience of having snow at our own home- and I do love it. Our usual snowfall only lasts a few days and it’s really light. But this year and also two years ago, we had heavy, everything STOPS, snow- unplowed roads, no mail, no garbage pickup, and no way to get out- nothing to do but stay home and keep snow off the satellite dish. Thank goodness we had plenty of food and no power outages!
The best part of snow for me is how it totally transforms our drab neighborhood into a Christmas card! This image is from last week- shot from our driveway as night was falling.
Snowbird
Monday’s huge storm didn’t stop my backyard birds from hanging out by the feeder. During the worst parts of the storm. they would take shelter on the patio as their favorite bushes became engulfed by snow, but when the wind died down, they would be out again. I love the minimalism of this fluffed up little guy contrasted with the white snow.
Thumb Butte with Snow
As I write this, I haven’t been able to get out yet to take photos- fingers crossed that the snow plow guy will come later today. The photo below was taken a few weeks ago with just a dusting of snow on Prescott’s iconic Thumb Butte.
Then and Now
THEN:
The photo below was taken a couple weeks ago when we drove around town chasing photo ops on the third snow day of the year. As you can see, it was just a light dusting, but it still created a pretty scene. As we turned to to drive over to Granite Basin Lake, I spotted this perfect little tree ahead, and I shouted “Stop the car- NOW!”. Since no one was out and about that morning, we were able to stop, and I got this shot.
NOW:
Yesterday was our Covid shot appointment. An announcement was made that the clinic in Prescott Valley would be delayed by 2 hours due to heavy snow, which meant that our 2:30 appointment would be at 4:30 and it would mean coming back through the storm in the dark. Appointments would be postponed until the next week if we didn’t show up. What to do, what to do? Then a friend contacted me that they were accepting people in BEFORE their scheduled time (lots of people weren’t able to get there at all), so, long story short, we got there and got our shots! BUT coming home, the storm worsened and we weren’t able to get all the way up the hill to our driveway- so our car is parked down the street where it will likely remain all week. We have 1-2 feet of snow on our driveway and our yard has drifts of 3-4 feet. And snow will continue all week!
Wet hair, wet clothes, but happy and vaccinated!
View out the front door this morning…
Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow
It is a very snowy day. Understatement.
Usually I would delight in this beautiful winter day and not care that our hilly street isn’t plowed, because I could take photos or stay inside with my genealogy or a good book- BUT… we have appointments for our Covid vaccinations later today. Currently appointments are delayed for two hours, so we may have to be rescheduled. Trying to keep a positive attitude- like this flicker who is guarding the feeder (behind ) so no one else can get the frozen block of food.
#2021problems
Shining Through
FYI- looking at bay water shining through a grate in Homer, Alaska
Hopeful for Unity
It’s a new day! And, even after the events of two weeks ago, I am hopeful we can come together as a people despite our great differences. I loved the quote from St. Augustine in President Biden’s address that “a nation is a multitude of rational beings united by the common objects of their love.” Let’s focus on our commonalities and not our differences, people!
So no photography today- just these shots from our tv. Note: as a genealogist/family historian, I am fascinated by that Bible!
