I was struck by the shadows of leaves falling on the trunks of aspens in the sunshine. I had never noticed this effect before- and then I saw it everywhere! For this image, I chose to convert the photo to black and white for emphasis.
I won’t say where this is, because someone lives here. But… I will say that this old house checks a lot of my photography boxes: it’s old, it has seen better days, it has peeling paint, it’s surrounded by trees, and there’s a bicycle parked outside. My husband spotted it and drove me there- how could I resist?
A couple months ago I went on a photo walk with 3 other members of my Monday photo group. We walked around Cortez Street and the alleyway taking photos of whatever caught our fancy. I remembered what fun it was the other day and created a little grid of some of the details.
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!
As we walked through Two Guns ghost town last week, I looked down and saw flowers growing among the graffiti covered ruins- a stark contrast to the barren, desolate surroundings. Beauty under my feet!
As Lonnie and I headed to Holbrook the first day of our field trip, I captured this view out the car window. It had clouded over, threatening rain, and the exit sign seemed to point up into the clouds- suggesting an earthly exit perhaps?
Last week we took a fun trip with my photo club to the Winslow/Holbrook area to view explore this part of Arizona’s Route 66. This iPhone shot was taken from the backseat at Two Guns, a 1920-40’s era ghost town with ruins of a gas station, a “zoo” and many old structures.
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.
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.
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!
Photographed on our drive to Bodega Bay a few weeks ago, this barn looms out of a gloomy sky when converted to a black and white image.
When starting our walk at Aspen Corner, we saw indications that others had been there before us.
. . .for orange and brown leaves, warm socks, and PUMPKINS! Fall is my favorite season, so you have been warned that the occasional pumpkin will be featured here!
This is a Lensbaby photo converted to a black and white for my photo club’s monochrome challenge this month.
Spotted on one of our walks at Watson Lake.
Another shot of our irises- this time a group of three in black and white.
melinda anderson photography 