Tiny houses are certainly a big deal now- but who knew they were a big deal in the 1870’s? I don’t know the story behind this little building in Castle Dome, but it certainly caught my eye!
Desert Dust
Castle Dome Road seems longer than it is, especially for us city slickers in our shiny cars! Every time a car drove by as we were pulled over taking photos, a dust cloud lingered long after the car disappeared. On the way back out to the main highway, I decided it was a photo op and shot this through the windshield.
Unafraid
Last week, we spotted a roadrunner coming into our back yard several times each day. One day, Carol and I were out there for over an hour with our cameras, and the roadrunner was everywhere! We even watched him kill a large lizard by- sorry!- whacking him repeatedly against the rocks (don’t worry- no photos). At one point, he came down to the lower level and drank from the fountain- leisurely and unafraid.
Here he is in all his glory:
Mr. Quail
Here is another shot of Mr. Quail. I love being able to get closeups with my long lens.
Happy 3rd of July!
Bystanders at Prescott’s Hose Cart races yesterday:
I love living in this small town1
From the driveway. . .
A sad view indeed . . .
The Goodwin fire has been burning since Saturday, I think- and is over 4400 acres, forcing the evacuation of the town of Mayer and other small communities southwest of Prescott. And no, it is not contained or controlled. If you look closely at the photo, you can see one of the planes that were flying over the fire this afternoon. With this area’s still vivid memories of the 2013 fire that took the lives of 19 hot shots, fire is taken very seriously here. Although we are in the monsoon season, no rain is in the forecast.
A monochrome view:
Skull Valley Shooting
A few more photos from our road trip with Joan and Rudy- this time we were shooting the Skull Valley gas station.
Yavapai College Photography Show
Let the fun begin!
It is a beautiful show- and I am honored to be a part of it!
P.S. One of my photos has SOLD!
Rim Shot
The views go on forever!
Rolling Rim Impressions
We were absolutely entranced by the view from the Mogollon Rim on our recent trip to Payson. The views of rolling hills and mountains seem to go on forever. This image started as an in-camera multiple exposure, which was then layered with another multiple exposure and edited in Photoshop and other programs.
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.
More from Willow Lake
High Water
It was a beautiful sunny day in Prescott- perfect for a walk and some photography. The water is high at Willow Lake, and areas where we normally walk are under water. The upside is that the water surrounding the boulders create beautiful reflections- and waterfowl is everywhere! The usual ducks were there, as well as egrets- and there was a hawk perched high in a tree (too far for a photo with my limited lens).
Snowplow at Sunset
Arizona sunsets are amazing!
You can see the Thumb Butte ahead with our hill to the right (our house is off camera).
Photography notes: Unfortunately I only had my iPhone with me to capture this (and the snowplow was waiting for us to move, I think)- and I haven’t learned enough about iPhoneography to know how to capture the dynamic range of this scene. I would automatically bracket this scene on my big camera- and could have done it with the phone camera if I knew my controls better (on my to-do list. . .). I edited it on the computer, but I can’t help wondering what it would have looked like taken with my Nikon!
Alien?!? Robot?!?
Is it an alien? A robot? A silo? A barbecue?
Nope- it’s an old furnace used for smelting copper in the late 1800″s by the United Verde Copper Company Mines in Jerome. The coke used for fuel was brought around the horn from WALES- and shipped by train to Ash Fork. From there, it was brought over the mountains by mule drawn wagons to Jerome. I’ve walked by this many times on our visits to Jerome and never stopped to look at it before.
I am always amazed by displays like this- and grateful to local historians who think it’s important to save these artifacts from the past.
melinda anderson photography 