Man time flies when the world is collapsing and burning around you. Hard to believe it was just over a year ago I fell backwards into my passion for art. It was with some sort of faith everything was fucked in the present and the only answer was to go backwards.
And it was. For at least a decade or more I was in a terrible haze. I’m still trying to see things clearly. It’s hard with all the digital noise and being downwind of the fires. The only clear thing is the present and what I am doing with it.
In the background are these forces bigger than all of the things in my head. One of these forces is the daily nuclear replenishment that can go on with or without my observance.
The other day I saw a composition I just had to capture as the moon was setting. In my eyes, I see the composition as something completely different than what the lens may capture at times.
What I saw was waning moon setting over a Mondrian inspired paint job on a common Southwestern Adobe architectural style. The moon through the lens turned out to be further away than I would have liked though.
Cropped original photo
I started off trying to increase the size of the moon captured, but hit the limits of quality pixels no matter which way I tried to work it. So I had to borrow a moon from a previous photo on an image with finer detail.
March 14th, 2020 Waning Moon
The image of the moon was captured with a Canon 5D IV and 50mm L 1.4. It took some adjustment to create the solid black and blues in Adobe RAW masking the moon for separate adjustments.
Easy enough I was able to create a selection around the moon and copy and paste it into the Apartment photos. Using a blend in the layer style with some adjustments I knocked out the dark background and set the opacity to 70%. And wahlah… But wait. There was also the pesky tree that I had to remove. To me I say I flexed some Photoshop skills because it appears realistic and unremarkable.
To get the second image it was a lot easier I simply copied and pasted the moon layer along with using the patch tool to hide the smaller moon.
Yes that’s right folks! Rainbows, lightning, and dust storms all in one sitting. Well for me at least. I am working on the time lapse, but here are some early images to show off. I used a little Photoshop magic to combine the lighting shot. Unfortunately, I was fumbling with settings when it was lighter out and a handful of strikes went off in camera view with brighter skies.
This is a similar time of day as the Sunset Light Study from a few days ago with the Goldfield mountain range behind the camera. I’m interested to see if anyone else caught these images from a different perspective.
Rainbow on the edge of a dust stormLightning in a monsoon dust storm
Sunsets in Arizona are one of our states selling points for tourism worldwide. Here’s a sunset light study with a rare shot of the Superstition Mountains face with light being cast through a narrow opening of clouds. The sun is falling behind the Goldfield mountain range, behind the camera, yet to settle below the horizon.
It starts off as a brilliant copper glow and gradually shifts towards the natural sanguine, sepia, and burnt umber hues. During a thick monsoon season we get the large cumulus clouds hanging above. This year as been a bit off, but stay tuned I’ve been keeping my eye on it with the NOAA app and on the ground visuals.
Six photos of different light cast on the mountains
The video below starts with the natural color to create a better loop. The images above is how I capture it and I created the video by tweening 20 frames between each image.
Golden Hour
Kapow! Here’s the sun setting through the clouds between the mountain peaks. I like the initial photos where it appears the sun has a crown. I was using the 50mm 1.8 on a Canon D2000/T7i. The first few photos are using f/22, a small aperture, and high speeds to create the beams of light. Later on in the study I was looking to capture more foreground and slowed the speed down using the same aperture.
Here’s the light behind the camera. I was actually catching different stages of the sun setting behind a line of clouds. The clarity of the setting sun is diffused by the atmosphere of dust, Phoenix pollution and clouds along with the slower speeds. This is an HDR composite and I could probably use any of the image above to fake the funk. I purposely chose a mountain ridge as a background to easily align any future production work.
Before the Golden Hour
Here’s where I started to capture the light before going on a quick hike to find some critters and better foreground. I knew the sun would create some spectacular colors between the peaks and clouds in about 30 minutes to an hour. This is a composite image of the Goldfield Mountain range. The image was stitched between separate HDR composites top and bottom. The mountains made for an easy alignment.
The Gambit’s Quail below is about all the critter action I was able to capture. It had a line of chicks running behind it that skillfully disappeared into the brush. The giant Black Tail Jack Rabbit got away before I could focus on it. No picture, it didn’t happen right?
I thought if I just setup for the sunset in their foraging area, maybe just maybe, they would come out for a photo shoot. Instead they kept me company in the brush with their little quail noises. I had a few minutes before the sun made it’s grand appearance and flipped into video mode. I need to work on video setting on my camera, but this is a sample of the quails and other birds settling in for the night.
The composite is right before the sun started to fall below the clouds.
A Hanging Fruit Cholla with a little flower.
Blue Hour
Before leaving I captured what was left of the light. The photo below was taken during the transition of golden hour to the blue hour I suppose. The mountain shadows make the foreground difficult to work with. I was thinking if I had a model this would require lighting to be setup. Yes, I went a little overboard editing this.
Here’s an example of a softer image of the Phoenix skyline that required less editing. This was taken with a full-frame sensor and captures more pixels and subtle light gradients. It was capture using the 50mm 1.2L, which the combo makes a big difference.
I’ve been traveling to a location recently looking for wildlife along the Salt River in the Tonto National Forest in Arizona. A lot of people come hear looking for the wild horses that roam along the Salt River and the Bush Highway. My goal is to find whatever roams this narrow corridor along the river and desert trails.
An adult Cooper’s Hawk hiding close by a juvenile hawk as it begins to dissect it’s meal.
Deep on a trail I happened to hear the cry of something unfamiliar. I was hoping it wasn’t the skunk I smelled earlier and slowly walked towards the call to find a couple Cooper’s Hawks perched above the trail.
Juvenile Cooper’s Hawk discarding inedible material from it’s prey.
Arizona is home to several raptors and guessing this is a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk based on images from AllAboutBird’s.org.
I’m not sure what it was eating, but it seemed to be another predator with a full belly. Momma hit the jackpot. She didn’t stick around for the photo session unfortunately. I attempted to zoom in to see what it was ripping apart. In this instance it looks like feathers are being discarded.
Juvenile Cooper’s Hawk looking up from it’s meal with a stringy piece sticking out of it’s beak.
Juvenile Cooper’s Hawk intently feeding on a large meal
This young bird didn’t seem to mind the shutter and kept working on it’s meal. In this image it appears it has a fish head. Although I saw other parts and pieces that resembled reptile legs with feet.
Juvenile Cooper’s Hawk intently feeding on a large meal
Juvenile Cooper’s Hawk eating with a piece of prime red meat in it’s beak.
Juvenile Cooper’s Hawk holding down it’s meal with it’s claws and picking away at it with their beak
A juvenile Cooper’s Hawk gets a better grip on it’s meal as it digs for the yummy goodies
Nom! Nom!
The juvenile Cooper’s Hawk pulls a piece of stringy flesh from it’s meal
A hard stare from a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk
Juvenile Cooper’s Hawk looking at the fallen tid bit of a meal
Juvenile Cooper’s Hawk Staring at the camera
In the three images above the juvenile Cooper’s Hawk takes a break from it’s meal to check out the camera. The last one a hard stare at the shadow clicking away below.
Now the meal is devoured, it’s time to clean up as the young Hawk looks for any left overs and brushes it’s beak on a twig.
Juvenile Cooper’s Hawk cleans it’s beak after a tasty meal.
The young hawk looks over it’s shoulder before flying off
The juvenile Cooper’s Hawk takes one last look back over their shoulder before taking flight. I thanked it for a one in a million opportunity to see this activity in the wild.
Yesterday a new camera, Canon EOS 2000D (T7), arrived to replace the one lost. I’m really happy with the results working with about twice the pixels of the 1300D (T6).
Pink Oleanders in the morning grey
The Oleander shots required some work to bring out the whites and soft tones. Surprising the noise at 400 ISO is subtle and hardly noticeable in the jpegs.
Light from darkness
First sunset with European Canon EOS 2000D
The cover photo was the first sunrise and this is the first sunset captured. Looking forward to many more.
Momma walking with her duckling
This was a cute moment momma walking behind her duckling to keep it safe.
Boots the eyes of an old soul
Finally had to get one of Boots. He’s a new friend. Can’t say as much for Harper quite yet. She more bothered than he is. Boots gives her a slow eye kiss and a rough crackling meow.
The other day I finally consolidated back-ups and found some files that I wanted to rework. Talk about satisfaction, and a little trip down memory lane. I’m still looking through the hundreds to see what can be turned from a blurry mess into something special.
A little love of the process in Photoshop brought this photo of the Phoenix Skyline together. The goal at the time was to create a frame from flowering creosote. The intense sunlight and natural contrast proved difficult. What I saw in this was a beautiful mirage in the distance with a flowering creosote bush right in the foreground.
The aptly named Fairy Duster. This wasn’t the best shot to begin with, but with Adobe Photoshop’s Shake Reduction it recovered fairy well. 😉
These lupine are beautiful and I was a lucky guy to find them. Or did they find me?
I had a couple ask me where to find all the wildflowers before taking these. The best way is to get out of your car and walk a trail. These photos make the flower appear larger than they actually are. So to see them you have to see a hint of purple, yellow, blues among the desert brush hiding them from the road.
My favorite Lost & Found is officially this image of the Milky Way Core. The color is like being inside a kaleidoscope in the middle of the high desert mountains.
February 23rd, 2020 I decided to explore Phoenix while working a bit. It was for a photo project and also to get some exercise. It was a Sunday and the streets still had people coming and going like it was Monday. It’s nice to see the first time tourists come in and give them rides around town.
Here are some pictures to look at while we virtually ride around town.
Feeling a little lost and hopeless? No worries look for an ambassador to help find your way. In the downtown district in particular life is growing upwards, which can obscure landmarks and navigational reference points. Here’s a helpful hint. Phoenix is divided East and West from Central Avenue. The area for the most part is a grid, but maps can be deceiving as the entire metro area is about 75 miles wide. I once picked a up a couple using a brochure trying to walk to a farmers market about 15-20 miles away. The map made it appear to be walking distance.
Abandoned Phoenix 1st Baptist Church
This has place has many stories.
The Phoenix 1st Baptist church had a fire and was preserved by Mayor at the time Terry Goddard as a historical building. I see it’s been used as a wedding venue for photoshoots also.
Monroe Street
Monroe and Central has some cool spots. Cornish Pasty was a small shop about the width of a hallway in Tempe back in the day. Now it has several locations including this beautiful store front.
Central Station
Janet Echelman’s – Her Secret Is Patience
A glimpse of the Westward Ho and the Civic Space Park where events are held on occasion with laser light shows with Electronic Dance Music EDM. I think the structures holding up the wire vector sculpture are just as interesting as the sculpture itself. You can also purchase bus passes and lightrail tickets Central Station. They are handy for getting up and down Central Ave to visit restaurants and other venues. People that have baseball game tickets can ride the lightrail for free from park and ride stations.
Roosevelt Row
Roosevelt Row has been an area revitalized with small business and metropolitan flare.
Roosevelt Row keeps changing from my observation. I visited First Fridays early on and participated in Tempe’s version as an artist. It’s great to see this nurtured over the years and wish everyone success.
Phoenix is set up for a work and play atmosphere. When Phoenix Comicon comes to town people walk around dressed up as their favorite comic culture icons. People walking with lanyards is a common sight around the the convention center. I know they appreciate a driver sometimes that doesn’t mind giving a little tour.
Reflecting on the Past
When I went out to take pictures it was for a project currently being evaluated. I got home and was pretty happy overall. There were some things I need to be aware of in the future. Especially the critics in my head.
Life sure has changed since then. Looking forward to the next time we can do this.
