Tripping

Lonnie and I took a short trip over to Payson for two nights. We had never been in the area east of the Verde Valley and wanted to explore a bit (and I wanted some photo ops!). Our first visit was to Tonto Natural Bridge State Park to view the 183 foot tall travertine arch (believed to be the highest in the world).  After reading that the hike down to the bottom of the arch was strenuous and on slippery, unstable ground, we decided to save our knees and look at things from a higher vantage point- on level ground.

The arch is magnificent- I wish I could post photos from the bottom looking up instead of the top looking down! Here are two shots (basically the same except for the orientation) from one of the viewpoints at the top. That white stuff is water dripping down.

 

 

 

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Into the Mystic

Another digital art/alternative landscape/multiple exposure piece from Alaska.

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I’m kind of at the point where I don’t know what to call my work anymore. Is it digital art- but it’s all photography? Is it multiple exposure- but it’s done in photoshop? Whatever it is, I enjoy doing it!

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Red Cliff Echoes

arc20141020-dsc_5986_melinda_anderson-edit-editI woke up way too early this morning and got up to have a play with some images from our Utah trip back in 2014. Last weekend I had been re-editing some Moab shots for class and to possibly use in an upcoming show- so these red cliffs have been in my subconscious waiting to be turned into some photo art just for fun. I have been playing recently with some phone apps (Fragment and Tiny Planets), which take chunks of your photos and re-arrange them, and wanted to see if I could do something similar in Photoshop in a more controlled way. Fun!

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Eklutna Lake- Two Ways

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Our son-in-law took us for a drive over to Eklutna Lake, which was not yet completely frozen. The icy shoreline proved irresistible to kids and dog who immediately were running and sliding and having a great time.

I realized I haven’t posted as many black and whites as usual- and I do love black and white. So I converted today’s image into a monochrome, although I think I like it better in color.

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Through the Gap

My daughter’s home in Alaska is surrounded by trees and mountains, and the winter sun is too low on the horizon to shine directly on their house.  But for about an hour a day it sits in a gap between peaks, its intense light turning everything golden before hiding again behind the mountains.

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Five

This row of trees seems to stand guard at the gap in the mountains at the nature center. In browsing through other photos of this area, I noticed everyone seems to take a photo of these same trees. They are somewhat ragtag and gawky looking, but there is just something about them!

At sunset, everything seemed to have a rosy glow.

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I did another edit in black and white, but couldn’t seem to get the effect I wanted. Then I added a teal color layer and a texture, which gives it a snowy look. Just playing!

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Aurora!

We have just returned from a wonderful Thanksgiving visit with our daughter’s family in Alaska- our first trip there in winter (I know it is technically fall, but it was WINTER there!). There was no snow, but the ground and many of the trees were covered with icy hoar frost. Daylight was limited, and the weather averaged in the low teens. Brrrr!

I was hoping to see the northern lights, but Caitlin had warned me that most nights had cloud covered skies, which blocked the view. I think it was the second morning we were there that she woke us up to  tell us that she could see the aurora from the front deck. We staggered sleepily outside (it was not really that early- 7 a.m.- but it was dark, of course), and, after a few minutes of allowing our eyes to be accustomed to the darkness, we were treated to the sight of a faint aurora dancing around the dark skies. I grabbed my camera and set up the tripod for a long exposure. I hadn’t prepared for this and didn’t think anything was showing up on the LCD monitor. Caitlin offered to drive us a few miles down the road toward the state park, where she thought we would be able to see more. We pulled over in a likely spot, but alas, we could only see stars. I set up the tripod anyway and took three 15 second exposures anyway, stopping when I kept hearing rustling in the bushes. It wasn’t until I looked at the images on the computer that I realized that there was indeed a very small part of the aurora visible. My images were underexposed at 15 seconds- perhaps I needed to increase ISO or use a longer exposure. Next time, I will be more prepared!

Below is my favorite view, although the aurora is mini. This was taken from a pullout on the road.

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