Tin Peaks

I have always loved tin roofs- if you have never slept under one in the rain, you have missed out! The above abstract is an homage to the tin roofs of Bodie, reimagined and reconstructed here.

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The View

Standing in my driveway and looking down at the street below, this is what you would see- if you turned your head very fast or perhaps had just indulged in a martini. I recently got a new variable neutral density filter that fits my zoom lens so that I can use a slow shutter speed in bright sunlight- and thus create impressionistic images by moving my camera around. Great fun!

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Almost Iris

It’s almost Spring here in Prescott- finally. Our irises are going to bloom today or tomorrow, so I took some photos of the buds and leaves over the weekend. This one was taken using intentional camera movement- you can almost see it begin to unfurl.

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Poppies!

Little darlin’, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darlin’, it seems like years since it’s been clear

Here comes the sun, doo-doo-doo-doo
Here comes the sun, and I say
It’s alright

George Harrison

After a long dismal winter, we were beside ourselves to find this field of gorgeous poppies yesterday. It still seems like winter in Prescott- still having occasional snow and lots of flooding rains- BUT. . . down in Wickenburg, it is SPRING! We stayed longer than expected, just enjoying the scenery and eventually having a late lunch/dinner downtown. What a great day!

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Alley Abstract

A couple weeks ago we had a short stay down in “the valley” (what Arizonans refer to as the Phoenix area) and stayed an extra day to avoid returning home during the massive snowstorm. After a morning spent birdwatching at Gilbert Water Ranch, we spent some time walking through the Roosevelt Row area of Phoenix, the downtown art district with murals, galleries and shops.

This abstract was created by combining two images- shadows on an alley wall and a mirrored wall installation.

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Sol

I’ve neglected my blog lately and am so behind in editing photos! I’m overcommitted in my photography life, plus there have been other things going on as well. So today I have an image I had saved for one photo group- and then have used in ANOTHER photo group. I have edited it several ways- here’s one for today.

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Niche

I’m looking back at old photos today, not just because I’ve hardly been out of the house to take new ones, but because I’m looking for a set of photos that I could say are in my photography niche (an assignment for my AAUW photography group). I have several “niches”, I guess, but in the last few years, my favorite place to take photos is at the beach. I like to take photos of beach people, beach birds, and the water itself. This photo is part of my intentional camera movement/slow shutter series of gulls in Alaska. I love the look of the white gull over dark water- and it required almost no editing.

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Life and Death in the Backyard

My husband spotted this beautiful hawk in the backyard this evening. He was perched on a low birdhouse- and was eating prey. I took photos through a window, but he was behind branches and, was, well . . . eating. I ended up sneaking out the back door and brazenly going out on the patio with my camera. He heard the door and flew to the top of one of the shepherd’s poles we have in the back. He looked at me, but didn’t seem to recognize me as the source of the noise. He looked all around, and I slunk back into the house. He is gone now.

My bird app tells me this is an immature Cooper’s hawk. I hesitate to post this, because I have had commenters argue back and forth about Cooper’s hawks vs. Sharp Shinned hawks. I will say we have had Cooper’s/Sharp-Shinned hawks in our yard many times over the years, but this is the first immature one I’ve seen.

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