Spirit Room

When we had visited Jerome in the past, we’d always taken note of the Spirit Room, a bar on the corner of the main drag. We had never been actually able to get inside, but always paused outside to listen to the band inside and to observe the scene- motorcycles pulling up out front and the crowd spilling out onto the sidewalk. I guess we had never been there early in the day before, because when we went in to get some water (yes, water) last Saturday, it was basically empty. While we sat and drank our waters, the motorcycles began to pull up, and by the time we left, it was getting full.

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Golden Morning

I guess it does pay to get up early, even though you’re retired. It’s a rare day that I don’t wake up before the sun comes up; however actually getting dressed and out of the house is more challenging. The golden light backlighting the flowers after sunrise caused me to dash outside with the camera- it seems like Spring is here at last!

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Fun with Thistles

Purple thistles abound in our area! We have a lot of weeds and native plants in the strips along the roads and sidewalks and in fields near our house, and this time of year is great for finding them in bloom. And every year I photograph thistles.

I added textures to these thistle photos and then took them into On1 for frames, stepping outside the box a bit when I chose these cool emulsion borders.

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Imperfect

This week, my little photo group is meeting to discuss photography and share photos. We took photos this time that have some aspect(s) of the principles of wabi-sabi. Here are three of my photos that celebrate imperfection and the passage of time.

Just ordinary stuff- some frayed dishtowels, a basket detail, and my childhood cereal bowl and creamer:

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Morning Stroll

This morning I was out with my macro lens, trying to capture the early morning light on the flowers when I became aware of some movement across the street.

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It was a javelina!

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He seemed on a mission and continued up the hill and up the driveway of our neighbor’s house, where I lost sight of him.

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We have lived here almost three years and, although herds of javelinas can be seen throughout Prescott, especially in early evening, we had never seen a javelina in our neighborhood until today. I know from neighbors that they are around, but they seem to avoid my camera. In fact, last month something rooted up all our bulbs in the front flower bed- and damaged some of the drip system. And now I have a potential suspect!

Unfortunately, my 80mm macro lens was on the camera, so I wasn’t able to zoom in on our visitor. The first two photos are cropped.

FYI, javelinas are collared peccaries, not boars or pigs.  They are usually in small herds or family groups and can be aggressive.

And they sound like this! http://www.desertmuseum.org/books/audio/javlina_medley.mp3

 

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Do you believe in MAGIC?

Magic

A month or two ago, the instructor of my photo group announced that the topic for our final would be MAGIC.

Final?

FINAL???

We had not had any topics during my tenure with the group, so I was dumbfounded to be given a topic- and even more so that there would be a FINAL!

I vacillated between several ideas- mostly not literal interpretations of the theme- but one morning, I just woke up with the idea fully formed, including the ideal model to use- our friend, Dale.

Fortunately, Dale was up to the task and within a few days the photo was taken, edited, and printed at Costco. Later on, I got my brand new Epson printer set up and attempted to print it myself. I am still learning the ins and outs of printing photos, so it took several hours of test prints and more editing to get it to look the way I wanted.

No grades were given, but the photo was given a rave review by the instructor- whew! The only negative comment was that the edge of his watch showed- darn! It’s gone now.

I’m now on summer break, with the group/class resuming near the end of August.

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Lost and Found

I was at the right place at the right time last week and was able to bring home this sweet bird nest that had fallen out of a tree at a friend’s house. Sadly, little egg shells were nearby. I intended to spend all of Mother’s Day morning in my garage studio photographing the nest (and beautiful Mother’s Day flowers from my daughter) using different lenses and backgrounds. However, rain and hail put a stop to the project after an hour.

Here are a couple lensbaby shots of the nest. More to come!

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