Photographs
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Sunsets in New Mexico are a continual source of delight
and surprise. A friend commented that I had a talent for
being in the right place at the right time. My real secret
for that is being in the right place at the wrong time often
enough until it eventually is the right time. It does help to
watch for interesting cloud patterns, and the foothills of
the Sandias are a great place to go where you can have
junipers blocking the lights of the city.
Most sunsets generate a feeling of serenity, but you can
occasionally get a fiery scene like this one. It reminded
me of a line in a Bob Dylan song: "The sky is on fire."
Seeing a sky like this is a rare experience. I take a lot of sunset photographs in the summer because I like to hike
in the evening when it's pleasant. When the sun gets low
the 80s are a lot cooler than when the sun's high.
Two ponds have been created for wildlife
habitat south of Central Avenue and well
away from Tingley Drive, aside from the
popular pond near Tingley and closer to
Central where people feed the ducks and
geese that hang out there, probably getting unhealthy from refined carbs just like many
of us. The pond seen here and the other one
nearby are far enough back in the forest
that it doesn't get much human traffic, and
I've never seen anyone feeding the geese
and ducks that frequent it. This pond has a
small island in the middle of it where geese
sometimes gather. It's a very pretty and
serene spot that I like to visit often. I also
saw about a dozen good-sized turtles
swimming in a small area once this spring.
This is a photograph of a weathered-out pocket in a rock wall in Cohab
Canyon in the northern end of Capitol Reef National Park. I love the subtle
colors and the contours of the rock and shifting patterns of color. If I saw a
canvas gallery wrap print of this in an art gallery I think I might be wondering
if it was a photograph or an abstract painting.
Cohab Canyon ends just above the road following the canyon of the Fremont River that crosses through the north end of the park, one of only two places
to cross the 90-mile long park by car. To my surprise, though, it ended at a 20
-25 foot cliff that goes straight down. It was just high enough that it took me
15 minutes to figure out a way to get down without the risking a broken leg. I
finally realized I could use a tree close to the cliff to brace myself between a
tree branch and the cliff to shinney down far enough to where I could jump.
Cottonwoods and mesquite trees in the Rio Grande Bosque blaze with color every October and into
November, changing from green to gold to golden
brown as chlorophyll drains from their leaves with
dropping temperatures. It's a fleeting window of
brilliant color before leaves turn to dull brown and
fall to the ground. It's exhilarating to witness the
Bosque change from half green and half gold to
gold to golden brown over the course of a couple
weeks, and one that passes too quickly for me.
Beautiful sunsets don't always come in brilliant and
showy red and orange skies. This photograph taken
just after sunset evokes a serene and peaceful
feeling for me with some orange on the horizon and
dark blue-gray clouds and wispy white cirrus clouds
in the center, bracketed by darkening blue sky above
and the shadowed foothills below. It's a photo I just
want to keep looking at, so I put it on my computer
as my desktop background.
