Ready . . . ACTION!

One of the effects of the year of staying home is that I have learned the names of most of my backyard birds. If you know me, you may find this hard to believe. Before retirement, it was mostly lack of time and interest. When I started taking photos, I realized I knew nothing- but I didn’t care. And then came Covid. I was home, I watched the birds, I had Sibley’s guide and two other books (which I’ve had all along) and a couple birds apps- I guessed I could take the time to look them up. And now I have found that I actually know some names. . .

So, I can say with some confidence that the new kids in the backyard are yellow rumped warblers, which I really enjoy watching. But they have the other birds a bit flummoxed. Here, a white-crowned sparrow is either saying hi or back-off to one of the warblers (the rest just flew off). I’m not sure who is flying in- the action was changing second-by-second. Lots of excitement in our backyard!

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Daffies

Daffodils in the stores must mean it’s Spring, right? These were part of a beautiful little bouquet brought to us by our friends, Debbie and Dale on the occasion of the four of us, all having had our second shots over two weeks ago, getting together in our house without masks for the first time in over a year! It felt so normal, yet surreal at the same time. The light at the end of this long tunnel is finally in sight.

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Photo Series

I have finished the series created for my Unity Church class on Stations of the Cross. I’ve been working on these for the last couple months, and, as I’ve said before, have been working way outside my comfort zone. Most of the images started out as photos from my archive which I combined or re-edited to create a personal interpretation of what we discussed in class. The teacher used metaphysical interpretations of the gospels, combining them to give us eight stations to interpret, based on the life of Jesus. I hadn’t looked at the Bible in years, so it was interesting to re-read and re-examine. I am the only photographer.

The stations in order: Creation, Nativity, Baptism, Healing, Miracles, Teaching, Triumphal Entry, Crucifixion/Resurrection. Most images are not easily interpreted- and a couple have meaning only to me.

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Snow Trees

Although there are signs of Spring, winter has not loosened its grip. Although this photo is from two months ago, I could have taken a similar shot this week. Snow is only on the ground in patches currently, but it has snowed more days than not in the last week.

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Arizona Browns

We took a drive in the countryside around Kirkland and Skull Valley last weekend- always fun! We saw lots of browns and tans (my least favorite colors) and very little greens on our drive. But over the years, I have developed an appreciation for the browns in the Arizona countryside, which has its own unique beauty.

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Snowy Reflections

I’ve been busier than usual and recovering from my second Covid shot (not complaining!), and just realized that Spring is on its way. I have quite a few winter scenes yet to post, so expect more snow scenes over the coming week or so. Today’s photo was taken at Granite Basin Lake at the end of December.

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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

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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! 🙂

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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.

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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

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