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.

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Wigwam Motel

Back to Route 66! I visualized this image as we drove into Holbrook, where we stayed the first night of our Route 66 trip with my photo club. The last time we were in Holbrook, we stayed across the street from the Wigwam Motel (yes, people stay in these faux teepees, which have nice beds air conditioning, bathrooms etc. ). I knew I wanted to photograph it again- but convert to black and white. It was difficult to get an uncluttered view- I had to walk around the corner to be able to get a clear view of the huge “teepees” against the cloudy sky. Mission accomplished!

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Wires of Bisbee

We will be heading to Bisbee, Arizona this week, so I have been looking through photos of our first trip there in 2021. I found this shot and thought it would look most effective in black and white. I inverted it in Photoshop to emphasize wires and details of the buildings.

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Shadow Collision

Like 99.99999 percent of photographers everywhere, I am fascinated by the interplay of light and shadow. I noticed the overlapping shadows of diners from two booths, as we ate lunch at our favorite diner recently.

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Lost in Kansas

A couple weeks ago, we spent the weekend in Wamego, Kansas visiting with Lonnie’s beloved stepmother, Laura, who at age 92 is in poor health. The two full days we were there, we spent time in the mornings and early evenings with Laura and her daughter, Sue, caregiver extraordinaire, but in the afternoons we went out on some adventures. We drove to Manchester to visit the family graves and the site of the old burnt out family home, as we always do, but this time we decided to add an additional cemetery to the itinerary. Lonnie’s great-grandmother Carrie Funk Wolfe, who died when his grandmother, Irene, was only twelve years old, was buried in the Catholic Cemetery in Vine Creek, only 7 Miles from Manchester. I don’t remember how long it took to get there (an hour? 2 hours?), but what were listed as roads on Google maps, turned out to be narrow rutted dirt roads. Despite us having been raised in Kansas (Lonnie) and small-town Chico (me) and living in Arizona, which is full of dirt roads, we felt like city slickers in this area. The closer we got to Vine Creek, the more confused we became, but we got there! However, we chose to go a different way back (why?), and the directions on Google took us to a road not really there and a road ending in a gate. We basically followed our noses and eventually found a main (dirt) road that was familiar and took us straight to Manchester and the highway back to Wamego, only a half hour late.

I love the scene above which shows the beauty of Kansas farmlands. I took it to my weekly photo group and talked about converting it to a black and white, which everyone agreed would not work. Because I have been working with black and white film recently (details eventually in another post), I have been experimenting with converting more photos to black and white, as well as editing my film photos- so here is my moody version:

I think I like it better in some ways than the color version, although the color image is certainly more true to the scene.

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Stepping Out

Spotted in Petaluma- an older couple making their way down the steps. I look at the woman- and she looks like me! She is holding on to the railing and her man for dear life just as I do. Even though my knee has been replaced, stairs do cause me to be extra careful. I recently had a birthday which is giving me pause as I head in the direction of 80 (still a couple years away). I feel young, except when I look in the mirror- or walk down steps!

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Adorable

We ventured out beyond the confines of Prescott a couple days ago to BEARIZONA, a wildlife park in WIlliams, with the exclusive intention of photographing the three baby grizzlies they acquired a few months ago. Baby animals are always cute, but there was something so adorable about these cuddly little guys who will grow up to be soooo dangerous. We watched their antics for over an hour as they played, bathed, and chased the ravens who hung around their area. Great entertainment!

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Reflecting Words

 

I’ve posted photos of this book of sermons by my great-grandfather, Rev. Andrew J. Mowatt, previously here, but yesterday I took a few more for a photo assignment for my AAUW photography group. I’ve learned a lot about Rev. Mowatt since my original post, including the fact that he authored at least FOUR books based on his sermons. This particular book was based on sermons he delivered at St. Paul’s Presbyterian  Church in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Andrew J. Mowatt was the son of the immigrant Thomas Mowatt whom I wrote about a week or so ago.

 

 

 

 

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Be the Light

 

I’m joining Kim Klassen’s Texture Tuesday again to share a photo I took in January with a new edit using textures she sent out just last night.  I am also using Kim’s words as my blog post title.

So everyone, let just be the light!

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