Above is an image from a few years ago which captured a quiet mood at Lynx Lake here in Prescott.
Quiet Reflection
Child’s Play
Watching children playing in the waves brings back memories of my own childhood and experiencing the ocean for the first time. My mother had told me stories of her childhood in Southern California- swimming in the ocean and running races on the sand with her family. I think she was trying to show me how to body surf that day, although she never called it that. She didn’t demonstrate (and knowing my mother, she was probably fully dressed at the beach), but she instructed me to put my back to the waves and let them carry me to shore. I followed her instructions, but ended up being knocked over, causing me to somersault through the waves and come up out of the water with a mouthful of sand. That was the end of that lesson! Despite that fiasco, I eventually did learn to body surf when I spent a summer in Hawaii between my sophomore and junior years of college. And I’ve had a lifelong fascination with the ocean, though nowadays it’s as an observer and photographer.
Route 66 Heron
This is my first post of 2026- time flies when you are having fun (or are busy and overwhelmed). But I am still here! And still taking photos. I’m active in 7 photo groups and have leadership roles in two- I enjoy it all, but sometimes my blog posts suffer.
This started out as a night heron, photographed on the Newport Beach pier- but somehow I got the idea one night to dress him in Route 66 garb. So here he is- ready to go out on the town in 1960!
Merry Christmas!
Wishing you all the JOY of Christmas!
Intentional Fuji Movement
Although it is almost winter, it still looks like fall here in Prescott. Leaves are falling, but it’s just sweater weather during the day. The above photo is of our willow tree, which is still yellow and losing it’s leaves.
I am FINALLY, after a slow start, getting used to my new Fujifilm X100VI. It has taken awhile to learn which function buttons to set to which functions and then to REMEMBER where they are, to understand the film simulations and “recipes”, and to adjust to “zooming with my feet”. At this point I have customized buttons set to back button focus, turning face detection off and on (there is also bird detection, but I can’t see photographing birds with this camera), toggling the ND filter on and off (yes! it works great), and lastly choosing a film simulation.
I had given up on film simulations, because I shoot RAW and didn’t like jpegs cluttering things up in Lightroom- I ALWAYS edit my photos. But, I recently discovered that I can still use film simulations when I shoot shoot RAW, and I can have the film simulation that I set in camera come in as a Lightroom profile (by adjusting a Lightroom preference). The photo then looks exactly like it does in camera, but I can turn the film look profile off in Lightroom or keep it and edit it- still making all my own choices. I see doing this mostly with my creative photography like today’s ICM. I used Velvia, a very vivid look and only tweaked it by adjusting texture, clarity, and dehaze. Time will tell how often I use this feature.
Courthouse Christmas
It’s that time of year- Prescott’s Courthouse Square is lit up for Christmas. We walked around last night, so I could take photos with my new walk-around camera- a slick little Fujifilm X100 VI! It was cold and dark, and my fumbling frozen fingers struggled a bit with settings, but I did get a few photos I was happy with. This camera is soooo lightweight, which really helps my neck and shoulders- and it could fit in a purse or small camera bag. No, I am not abandoning my Nikons, but this camera is a little powerhouse! I just need to learn the settings better and develop some muscle memory. By the way, Fujifilm is famous for it’s straight out of camera film simulations- however as a Nikon shooter, I am not giving up RAW or spending time editing in Lightroom and Photoshop. Fortunately, I can have the best of both worlds as the film simulations come in as camera profiles in Lightroom, so you can use them if you wish.
Egret Encounter
Like everyone else that enjoys watching birds at lakes, I have seen and photographed egrets many time. This time however, was more of a close encounter than I expected. I was turned away from the water shooting a tree, when Lonnie said “Egret!” as it flew seemingly right in front of us. Then it looped back and made a right turn heading right at us. It looped back and then made its way along the shoreline to the other end of the lake. I had my 300 zoom lens on my camera and was able to capture most of this encounter, but the ones where it headed straight at us are a bit blurry. Later, when I looked at my photo of the tree, the egret can be see between the branches as it headed our way.
Bye-bye Blackbirds!
I love red-winged blackbirds! I have seen them often at Willow Lake, but this was the first time I had seen them at Watson. They flew in fast and disappeared into the grasses along the shore, and then flew away just as fast. In between, I could hear them inside the weeds. Sometimes other flocks would join them- and then off they’d go. It’s a successful shoot for me if the red shows on their wings. Getting a good closeup shot is on my bucket list!
Besides the blackbirds, we saw a bald eagle, a great blue heron, an egret, many ducks, and possibly two loons!
Cold Moon
I love taking photos of the moon and do it almost every month from our driveway or, in this case, the sidewalk across the street. And so of course I had to try to capture this month’s super moon. I love how it appears to sit on the horizon like a huge beach ball!
The night before, I also photographed the moon, which was almost full. There were clouds on the horizon, so these shots were taken after the moon rose above the cloud layer.
Colors of Night
Slow shutter impressions of Scottsdale’s Canal Convergence
Leaves in Black
I was struck by the shadows of leaves falling on the trunks of aspens in the sunshine. I had never noticed this effect before- and then I saw it everywhere! For this image, I chose to convert the photo to black and white for emphasis.
Convergence
This was the scene after sunset for the annual Canal Convergence in Old Town Scottsdale. And looking from the bridge in the opposite direction, we could see the lights on and along the water.
It’s always fun to see the new lights and displays as we walk along the canal- and it’s a wonderful photo op for photographers!
Sunflowers and Silhouettes
I have wanted to experience Van Gogh in this way since my friend, Carol, did this in Paris. Well it wasn’t Paris- it was Phoenix- but it was wonderful! Beautiful images projected on walls, mirrors, and floors, along with music and quotes from Van Gogh’s letters- just beautiful!And afterward we had a Virtual Reality Van Gogh experience- fantastic!
Sailing
We had such a wonderful time seeing friends in California- and it was especially nice to be staying in Benicia- our home for over 25 years. I made sure to go walk down to the water each morning to enjoy the fog and sunshine. Today’s photo was taken with a slow shutter and a tiny bit of motion to create this impressionistice view.
Shoreline
An early morning ICM view of houses and reflections along the shore in Benicia created an interesting abstract. I played with colors and created the version below- and I have not decided which version I prefer. What do you think?
melinda anderson photography 