The Observer, The Observed with “Spontaneous Poem from a Treetop Crow” by Jim Stallings
This image, once created, seemed ideal as a new header for this blog, with its subtitle, “A Southwest Point of View.” Jim had already written this poem (a gift of encouragement to my family recently), and I asked if I could post it here.
Spontaneous Poem from a Treetop Crow
In the lofty life of a wise old crow
Swaying in the topmost backyard branches
Like a magical clock counting down mortality’s coil,
May it not be in some secret way
We the awed observers
Have all along been honored by a wiser watcher?
Rose Photograph Blue Ribbon Winners from ARS 2014 Fall National Convention
Roses are the focus of American Rose Society conventions: rose specimens, rose arrangements, and increasingly, rose photographs. The 2014 Fall National Convention featured a competition of rose photography. The results of the competition have recently been posted on the website of the ARS.
I had known that my photograph of ‘Dream Weaver’ had won Queen (equivalent of Best of Show) and that my Creative Interpretation image of ‘Gemini’ had won King (equivalent of Runner Up to Best in Show). Until I received the ribbons in the mail last week, I did not know that ‘Child’s Play’ had been awarded best in section for Fully Open Roses, nor that my image of hips of ‘YoYo’ had been awarded best in section for Rose Potpourri. I will show those images in a later post.
I was surprised and pleased with how many of my images had been awarded Blue Ribbons. The images in this post are the Blue Ribbon winners.
‘Gemini’ Hybrid tea, exhibition form
Miniature Rose Glowing Amber Exhibition Form
‘Glowing Amber’ is an interesting little rose. It has distinctive reflex petals, with a red upper and yellow reverse. There are stories that the hybridizer complained that photographers never captured the brilliant colors of this little gem. I did not hear any complaints about the color in this image. 🙂
Miniature Rose ‘Child’s Play’ Exhibition formSpray of Miniature Rose, ‘Foolish Pleasure’Fully Open, Stamens Showing Hybrid tea, ‘Gemini’Old Garden Rose 1918 Hybrid bracteata, ‘Mermaid’
This image of ‘Mermaid,’ one of my favorite roses, appeared on the cover of the 2014 Rose Annual:
‘Mermaid’ on Front Cover of 2014 Rose AnnualRose ‘Dr. Huey’ in Rose Potpourri. Photo taken on the First Annual Dr. Huey Tour of the Corrales Rose Society
Dr. Huey is often used as the root stock onto which to graft other roses grown for their blooms. It can get very, very large!
My image of ‘Gemini’ entered in Creative Interpretation was awarded King of the show, but I had two additional Blue Ribbons in that class.
Hybrid tea, ‘Leonidas,’ in Black and White.Hybrid tea, ‘Veterans’ Honor’
With Albuquerque under a Winter Storm Watch from this evening through tomorrow evening, and with this morning dawning dark and gray, this seemed like a good time to enjoy the beautiful roses and colors of summer. Please enjoy!
Mountains and light – ever changing and with the interplay being part of the magic of New Mexico, “Land of Enchantment.”
On a glorious day in October of 2014, friends Laurie and Tim, along with my mom, spent a day exploring parts of New Mexico we had not seen in some time. Tim and I were both celebrating a birthday, and the trip itself provided many wonderful birthday surprises.
All day long we saw clouds. Some were big, bright, white puffy clouds against a brilliant blue sky. Some were dark storm clouds. And then there were these clouds that produced some shadows but allowed (and created) rays of light at various points. It was late afternoon, and we were on the east side of these mountains on the journey back to Albuquerque. The mountains from our vantage point would have been in shade, even had there not been clouds.
As we rounded a curve, the rays appeared, ever-so-briefly. We stopped for photographs, and actually had a “rural New Mexico” moment when we met another couple.
Many images from that day had a special meaning to me from the moment they were created. Less than a month later my calm, routine life was shaken by a seismic event that has given some of those images an even more special meaning. This image is one of them.
Foggy Morning at the Valles Caldera on the Autumnal Equinox
The Valles Caldera National Preserve is a national treasure in the heart of the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico. The caldera itself is a 13.7 mile wide volcanic caldera. The area has had many uses over the years, including ranching, movie set, and year-round recreational use now.
In 2013 we were fortunate to be able to purchase a pass for one day, which turned out to be the Autumnal Equinox, to drive through the caldera on designated roads at our leisure.
The day before, we encountered a heavy rainstorm right at the entrance to the caldera. So, I was expecting mud the following day. That night, though, there was a spectacular sunset viewed in all directions from Los Alamos, which sits on the edge of a mesa. Silly photographer – I did not have my camera with me at that moment, because we had gone out to dinner and my companions were a bit tired of being dragged hither and yon by someone with a camera. It was my own fault. I’ve learned the best images appear when I don’t have a camera with me. But, I do remember the vivid and amazing views at sunset that evening.
The following morning, we encountered a lot of fog in Los Alamos itself. Once we got to the edge of the caldera, we could see that the entire caldera was filled with fog. At that point, my companions were yelling at me to pull over and take a picture. Nice thought, but the heavy rains had resulted in some mudslides onto the highway, and road clearing equipment and men were out working to clear the highway. There was no safe place to stop.
The caldera of course, remained shrouded in fog as we entered the preserve and drove to the staging area to wait our turn. The fog began to lift just as we began our journey through the caldera. We were rerouted at some points because the roads had washed out the night before, and because of all the mud, I was glad I had all wheel drive.
The day itself was beautiful!
Here in New Mexico, we do not see fog too often. It lifted quickly that morning.
But, I hope this image gives you some idea of the beauty of the caldera, and its beauty with fog (and, our gorgeous blue skies, even with fog).
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.
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.
“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.
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!
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.
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.
