Through
This was taken at West Fork in Oak Creek Canyon a month or two ago. The leaves had just started turning- and it was a drizzly day, unfortunately.
Honor Our Vets
Lonnie and I went downtown yesterday for the Veterans’ Day Parade. There is something very moving about seeing the open display of patriotism in our divided world- and especially the veterans of World War II and more recent conflicts proudly wearing their uniforms to the cheers of the crowds.
I always love the vintage uniforms- and was taken with the soldier on the right and his resemblance to George Washington – at least in my mind.
Leaf Greetings
As we walked around Courthouse Square a week ago, the branches over our heads formed an arch so the autumn leaves could greet each other.
Both Sides Now
And here is another view of the Courthouse- from the “backside”. Actually all four sides have the big steps and columns- a beauty from each direction!
Patches of Blue
We pulled off the road before we headed into the town of Sedona so I could capture the stormy skies over the majestic red rocks. As I set up my tripod, the sun started peeking out and patches of blue appeared in the sky. A beautiful Arizona fall day.
Monolith
Last week I had an appointment in Flagstaff, so we decided to take the Oak Creek Canyon scenic route. Of course, we had to stop at the Bell Rock and the Courthouse parking areas to visit some of our favorite rock formations! It had been raining, so the red in the rocks was extra saturated. But, for some reason, I converted this image of the Courthouse to black and white, which I thought made a nice contrast with the clouds.
A Different Look
The heavy monsoon rains have brought an amazing array of wildflowers and grasses to Willow Lake this year, creating a different look from previous summers. I don’t know what these pink flowers are (someone will tell me), but they were everywhere.
We went out a couple times last week (me balancing trekking poles and camera and backpack), and each time my photo shoot was curtailed by thunderstorms. I hear that monsoon season is over now, but I’m not counting on it!
Petroglyph- or Urban Decay?
The side of this building reminded me of petroglyphs, which we see a lot here in Arizona.
Find Your Muse
This month’s challenge for my photography club is street photography. I’m missing the meeting, because of our trip to Alaska, but I have made some effort to do some street photos over the last few months. I hung out across the street from this shop, because I liked the words on the window- I just had to wait for someone cool to come along.
Because this image is for my blog and not for the club, I didn’t go for the typical black and white street photography look. This was edited in Topaz Impression- just for fun.
Red, White, and Blue
I hadn’t taken my traditional flag photo for today- so we went down this afternoon to Courthouse Square after the crowds had dispersed. Here’s a shot of the gazebo decorated in red, white, and blue.
Happy Fourth of July!
Spring Dancer
I was totally captivated by this little girl’s impromptu dance and couldn’t help taking a few shots.
Up to Speed
I remember taking this shot near Yuma, because I was attracted to the way the light was hitting the weeds at the lower left. But then when looking at the photo on the computer, it just seemed like another dusty, dry, shot of an unappealing landscape. It took me a couple years to get used to the harsh desert sunlight here, and this is one of those locations where I was fighting it all the way.
I decided this week to finally get up to speed on the major improvements that happened in Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw recently (specifically the addition of creative profiles to the basic panel). I was not a believer, because I have my usual workflow- and I didn’t see the point of changing. However, I watched tutorials by three of my go-to editing gurus, Matt Kloskowski, Blake Rudis, and Julieanne Kost and gave it a try. I was especially interested in what Blake had to say, because he never does much on the creative side with Camera Raw- he saves that for Photoshop and the plug-ins.
So. . . I used one of Matt K’s new Lightroom/ACR profiles (Crisp Warm) on this photo (plus some other Lightroom edits) and am pleased with the results. I like the way you can reduce the opacity of the profile, which I did here- and that the profiles don’t override the slider settings like presets do. I also really like that you can access the same profiles in Camera Raw, which would allow me to use them in a layer in Photoshop and mask if I wanted. These changes haven’t rocked my world so far, but I can definitely see using this new feature.
