Here is another image from my quick photoshoot of fence and clouds in Congress AZ- this time a vertical shot.
Chasing Clouds
I brake for clouds…
On a recent trip over the mountains and through Yarnell, the clouds were magnificent! It had rained the night before, and I really wanted to stop for photos- but I wasn’t the driver, and we were on a schedule, so…
When we got to Congress, we stopped at the gas station, and I hustled over to the fence down the road and managed to grab a few shots. I used my Fuji and shot the photos in black and white, editing the RAW image in Lightroom.
I might also add that a broken down fence is always a favorite subject- so with clouds in the background this was my idea of a perfect photo opportunity!
Teepee Dreams
I have photographed the teepees at the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook on three separate trips. Each visit has resulted in entirely different images. This last was from a short visit a couple weeks ago. It’s possible that wasn’t my last visit- I still haven’t actually walked on the grounds of the motel!
Bisbee Vibe
Remembering our two trips to Bisbee (southern Arizona)- so many photo opportunities in this old town!
Somehow Spring is Here
. . . and we missed Winter! Above are two photos from a recent walk through our local rookery at Willow Lake, where herons and cormorants are building their nests and bluebirds and their little friends are perched on the lower branches along the trail. At home the finches are nesting, the lizards are out, and butterflies flit through the yard!
Timeless Faith
Chat GPT suggested the title for this photo taken back in 2015 of Mission San Xavier del Bac (south of Tucson). I’m posting it now, because I recently edited it for the monthly competition in our photo club. The challenge was to take a photo that we might have rejected previously and improve it by editing. I also used this as an opportunity to practice my updated Silver Efex software for a black and white conversion. I’m in a Black and White Special Interest Group with the club and have been learning the program- with an emphasis on the Zone System, which I first heard about from my father back in his photography days. After my Lightroom editing, I did the conversion and some local adjustments in Silver Efex, and then I took it back to Photoshop to add some toning, which I couldn’t quite get right in Silver Efex. I don’t always submit photos to the club and am very happy to report it got First Place!
Below is the original image before the final edit:
Good Morning!
Here’s my pre-sunrise view when I got up- today I actually went outside to capture it!
What if?
The lunar eclipse is happening tonight (actually early tomorrow), and a group from my photo club are down at Whitewater Draw to photograph the eclipse AND the sandhill cranes. I’m thinking of them and wondering . . .
What if a crane flew by when the moon was obscured during totality?
I combined one of my photos of the January 2018 lunar eclipse with a photo of a sandhill crane from last year’s trip to Whitewater Draw- and then had some fun in Photoshop!
If you’re awake, don’t forget to go out and view the eclipse early tomorrow morning!
In the Twists of a Tree
A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking,
because its trust is not in the branch, but in its own wings.
– Unknown
Patchwork Egret
Just having a little fun with an egret photo….
Echoes of the Past
My photo club’s January challenge was to create a flat lay still life. I pulled out some family keepsakes from a cedar chest and my dental cabinet/heritage cabinet to create this layout on the floor. I used my new Fuji camera and snapped this looking down (while holding my breath!). All the photos and mementos are from my maternal grandmother’s side of the family. I am happy to say that this image took second place at our club last week!
Quiet Reflection
Above is an image from a few years ago which captured a quiet mood at Lynx Lake here in Prescott.
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!
melinda anderson photography 