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Snow on the Sandias

snow sandias
Snow on the Sandias
snow sandias
Snow on the Sandia Mountains, Fog Below, Clouds Above, Lit by the Setting Sun, December 2013

Snow on the Sandia Mountains is predicted in the coming week. Albuquerque itself has the possibility of seeing some snowfall. Precipitation is desperately needed in the Southwest, and hopefully we will indeed see precipitation in some form.

Continuing with yesterday’s theme that sunrises and sunsets here are frequently very beautiful and awe inspiring, but unpredictable in what form they may take, this is from a sunset in December of 2013. This is the only time I can recall seeing the light of a setting sun on the mountains with snow on them not light in some fashion the clouds above, and it is one of the rare times I have seen fog below the mountains.

This image looks east to the mountains. The sunset to the west had the more usual sunset colors of orange, gold, and gray, and was quite beautiful. A memorable sunset in both directions, east and west.

The overall blue effect here, combined with the light of the setting sun on the snow, created an image that I’ll not soon forget.

I hope you enjoy this, more than a year after it appeared.

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Sunrise over the Sandias

sunrise
Sunrise over the Sandias
sunrise
Sunrise over the Sandias, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Sunrise – and sunset – can be a magical time almost anywhere, but reliably so in the high desert country of New Mexico, “Land of Enchantment.” It is very easy to take our beautiful skies for granted, almost, because we have them so often.

One of the truly remarkable things about our skies, though, is that the exact appearance of a sunrise or sunset can never be predicted, nor how long its appearance will last.

This morning was basically overcast, but a light overcast at the time of sunrise. I really was not expecting too much, but I always watch until I am certain a show either never happened or is over. This morning I made ten photographs between 7:18 and 7:24 am. This is the only one of the images with such distinct rays arising over the Sandia Mountains, starting from where the sun was about to appear.

The magic of sunrise – and the sky in general – in New Mexico.

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As the Crow Flies

crow
As the Crow Flies
crow
As the Crow Flies

“As the crow flies” generally carries the meaning of the most direct route, such as, “it is less than four miles to the river as the crow flies, but I have to drive ten miles to get there.”

This is the bird that you saw earlier in the image of a crow in the treetop, surveying all around it. This is what it looked like as it flew off that afternoon.

Although I have many birds that regularly visit my yard, and although crows are quite common in other areas of town, I do not see them often here, at least as compared with many other more common birds in my yard.

Seeing this bird in flight, after observing it for a somewhat extended time, was a real treat for me earlier in the week.

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The Crow

through her eyes
The Crow
crow
The Watchful, Observant Crow on a Cold Winter Afternoon

The crow in this image was the only photographically cooperative one in a flock that appeared briefly.

This afternoon I was out photographing a cloud bank rolling over the Sandia Mountains when a very noisy flock of crows arrived on the scene. Crows certainly do demand attention when they show up!

For a brief time they settled in a tree right next to the house, meaning I did not like any of the images of them from that point. But, when most flew off, this one settled at the top of an isolated juniper tree, allowing me to create a “crow portrait.” 🙂

It was a cold, wintery day, and snow is forecast overnight. I suspect it will come from the cloud bank rolling over the Sandias. West Texas has had winter storm warnings since Tuesday, and I suspect this is part of that same system. We’ve been lucky here (if you don’t like snow) or unlucky here (if you’ll take precipitation in any form because it is needed so badly here).

This weekend temperatures are forecast to warm into the 40’s F here. I would be very happy if we (or just the surrounding mountains, even) got a lot of snow overnight, because it would melt on the streets fairly quickly tomorrow, and yet we would have some additional precipitation.

In a different vein, the image and the day beckoned me to process this image in an exaggerated manner as a cold and wintery day in the Southwest!

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Celebrating 2015

celebrating
Celebrating 2015

Happy New Year!

celebrating
Cosmos, still seemingly dancing in 2015!

This little cosmos seems to still be dancing in the New Year, 2015!

Wishing everyone a very happy 2015, filled with health and happiness (and, a little later in the year, more flowers of all varieties). And beautiful sunsets and sunrises; magnificent vistas; marvelous historic structures; cute animals; wonderful people; and all the things that make us celebrate life!

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Autumn on the Rio Grande

autumn on the Rio Grande
Autumn on the Rio Grande
autumn on the Rio Grande
Autumn on the Rio Grande

Autumn is the most glorious time in New Mexico, for so many reasons.

As 2014 draws to an end, a winter storm is bearing down to ring in the New Year. This seemed a good day to revisit one of the spectacular autumn days on the Rio Grande.

The large trees are cottonwood trees. Cottonwoods are found along the Rio Grande, but not far out from it. They are some of the major trees of a southwest forest along the Rio Grande, a forest referred to as “the bosque.” New Mexicans love the bosque, and Albuquerque has miles of bike and walking trails through and along the bosque.

This particular image is from Corrales, New Mexico, and the Rio Grande is just out of the image to the east. The mountains you glimpse are the Sandias.

It was a glorious day!!

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Abandoned

Abandoned
Abandoned
Abandoned
Abandoned – not adobe! – in the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico

Readers here over the years know that I have had an ongoing project recording adobe structures in New Mexico. This often includes abandoned and decaying structures, as well as some of the beautifully maintained adobe structures. Adobe is the building material one thinks of when considering the traditional construction material of Twentieth Century (and earlier) New Mexico. Those of you who read here also know that I love adobe.

Driving around New Mexico, both in rural and in urban areas, you will see a lot of accumulated “junk,” such as old cars to name but one type.

On a beautiful autumn day in the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico I was photographing a beautiful landscape. These structures were just out of the landscape scene, but I found them interesting. So I photographed them as well. Although they appeared abandoned, I will say I did not want to get much closer, just in case they were being used for something I did not want to know about. After all, this is New Mexico.

The image itself lent itself to some post processing techniques not typical for me. I hope you enjoy the image.

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Southwest Christmas

Southwest Christmas
Southwest Christmas
Southwest Christmas
Southwest Christmas – a native gourd among grasses and leaves reminds one of a colorful Christmas ornament

New Mexico has many traditions associated with Christmas:

in Albuquerque and

in Northern New Mexico.

to name but a very few.

New Mexico also has some very well known gourd artists, who make beautiful art objects out of the lowly gourd. Perhaps the first to bring this art form to national prominence was Robert Rivera.

Gourds grow wild all over New Mexico. Sometimes they are thought of as a nuisance, sometimes just a common occurrence.

I saw this gourd peeking out from a tangle of grass on a cloudy day, and it reminded me of a colorful Christmas decoration, as did the skeletonized leaves with their bluish color. I saw it as a very natural expression of a Southwest Christmas!

I wish all of you a beautiful and peaceful winter holiday period. Consider celebrating it in New Mexico sometime. 🙂

Merry Christmas to readers who celebrate.

Happy 2015 to all!

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Summer Colors

Summer colors
Summer Colors
Summer colors
From The Postcard Series,
Colors of Summer: Cosmos

On the eve of Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, and the beginning of Winter, a reminder of some of the colors of Summer.

This is cosmos, an easy-to-grow flower that brought brightness and joy all summer long, into fall.

The image is part of The Postcard Series.

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Birds of New Mexico

Sandhill Cranes
Birds of New Mexico

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Cranes birds of new mexico
Sandhill Cranes, Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico

Sandhill Cranes Birds of New Mexico
Sandhill Cranes in the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico

Sandhill cranes are common birds of New Mexico between late October and early February. The Bosque del Apache wildlife area is perhaps the best known of the areas to find them in their winter home, but in reality they can be found all along the Rio Grande in New Mexico, from north of Albuquerque continuing south past the Bosque del Apache.

In flight these are elegant, graceful birds. Maybe not quite so much on land 🙂 Sandhill cranes are loved in New Mexico!

Golden Eagle

Golden Eagle birds of new mexico
Golden Eagle, Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico

The Golden Eagle is another bird of New Mexico, although not found in such great numbers as the sandhill crane is found in winter. This photograph is from the same place in the Rio Grande Valley where many of the crane images on this blog were made.

Eagles are magnificent, imposing birds of New Mexico!

The Rio Grande is a wonderful waterway along which to observe – and photograph – a variety of birds common to New Mexico!

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