One of my absolute favorite things about Prescott is Mt. Vernon Street decorated for Halloween! We walked along last night to view the spooky decor, which seemed to be much more elaborate this year. Above is one of my favorite houses and below is a somewhat spookier view of the same house.
Being a dog lover, I couldn’t resist this porch decor on one of the houses!
We had a dusting of snow this morning- along with a busy flock of yellow-rumped warblers! The snow was melting away as I went outside with my camera, but the warblers still swarmed the feeders as I snapped photos. This little guy waited in the willow tree (along with a few friends) for awhile, then back to the feeder.
This was taken at our last visit to Willow Lake, when the fields of gold were at their peak. I was surprised and pleased that this image won first place at our photo club this month!
Just having a little Photoshop fun- layering and blending photos
The aurora was visible right over our house last night!
I had received a text with a photo just taken of the aurora visible from Colorado. I didn’t have any real hope of getting a photo, because last time we drove all over Prescott trying to see it without any luck at all. I knew that it might not be visible to the naked eye and that people here had seen it before by taking iPhone photos. I went out to the driveway and just aimed my iPhone at the sky in a northeast direction and there was the purple! I did not see streaks or dancing lights or any green at all, but the color was definitely there. I used night mode on my iPhone for most of the shots so that I would see the stars against the dark background and increased the exposure slightly to get the color. My hands shake, so the focus on the stars isn’t perfect.
Below is another view looking out across the street from our driveway.
We took a two hour walk at Willow Lake on Thursday- what a gorgeous Fall day! The grasses were golden, and the trees were starting to turn from green to yellow. At one point I did my favorite camera waving moves- and this was the result!
I’m almost a week late sharing this, but a) it wasn’t quite finished on September 19 and b) I wanted to share it with my photo group before posting it. I took this photo at the parrot show at the Yavapai County Fair a couple weeks ago and knew as I took it that I wanted to create a painterly illustration of this wonderful pirate as he moved up onto the stage and stood in front of the rigging with his macaw (one of many birds he showed us). The image was a challenge for me to create, because there was a big awning thing and a motor home behind him, and getting rid of those distractions was a huge challenge for me.
Those of you who knew me before retirement as the teacher who held pirate treasure hunts every year will appreciate what a labor of love this image was to create! Aaaarrrrgh, matey!
Remembering our visit to Kansas this summer. . .
The raindrops on my passenger window made swirly patterns on the ocean and trees as I moved my camera as we drove along the Turnagain Arm in Alaska.
This piece was so much fun to create- it came together quickly out of two photos layered in Photoshop and a fair bit of brushwork. My photo club’s theme this month is Prescott/Prescott Valley, and after re-editing a photo shot a few years ago, I discovered that the lake where it was shot was just outside Prescott, so it didn’t adhere to the rules. On the last day to submit a photo, I woke up with the idea and inclination to throw caution to the wind and create an abstract- so here is Whiskey Row Kaleidoscope, a whimsical view of our iconic street of bars, restaurants, shops, and art. My friend Debbie came up with the title- thank you, Debbie!
And. . . to my surprise, it won third place at the photo club!!!
Another through the window ICM as we drove along the Turnagain Arm in Alaska . . .
Guess where we went?
Yesterday I took a day off from my to-do list. I know I am retired, but I keep pretty busy with photo group work (editing a monthly newsletter, photo club decision making, meeting, more meetings, creating presentations, taking and editing photos) and genealogy (leading a group, more presentations, and actually researching my own family). I’ve had some computer issues lately which have taken a boatload of time as well, so, after finishing 3 recent projects, I decided to take a day off (Labor Day!) and do whatever I wanted to do in the moment. I did some genealogy, but then opened Lightroom and started looking for photos to edit.
Somehow, this is what I came up with- very different from my usual creations!
To explain- I am fascinated by space and regularly view the latest images from the James Webb telescope. And I have absolutely NO understanding of any of it. That’s OK with me, because the mystery of the universe is what fascinates me. This started out as an image of the inside of the dome of a church in Kansas- and somehow evolved into the image above almost before I knew what was happening! I added the sunset I photographed a few days ago, an ICM image of Alaska clouds and rain, and some photoshop brushwork.
It is what it is- however you want to interpret it.
We stayed in the charming small town of Wamego, Kansas when visiting with Lonnie’s stepmom, Laura a month ago. Our first night there we stopped for ice cream after dinner at a cute little spot on the main street (I had the BEST root beer float!). Everyone knows everyone in town, so of course the owner knew Lonnie’s stepsister. The sun had gone down when we left and cast a magical light over this cute little town which seems to border Oz itself.
This abstract image was created from one shot of the pipes of an organ in a Kansas church. I was fascinated by the array of pipes arranged by diameter (it seemed…) and height in ascending order and took the photo with the intention of creating an abstract. I think there will be more- perhaps in different colors and perhaps not ascending. Stay tuned!
