Albion Basin

In the mountain photography-photojournalism class that I just finished, we took a field trip to Cecret Lake in Albion Basin - at the end of Big Cottonwood Canyon up from Alta ski area. We got there close to sunset and were able to get some neat mountain light pictures. Here's a mountain light and a silhouette. Good fun - in the last class we looked at pictures people took of the same items. Always a difference in how people see the same things.

Too much beauty???

Can you ever have too much beauty? Today was a cooler - kinda fall - day, and Murph and I took a hike at his favorite swimming hole up the mountain. Walking through the grasses, many of which are brown but some are blue-greenish, with scattered red leaves on the carpet floor, with the wind blowing on us in a caressing way - thought goes away and the experience of just being kind of floods you.
Then I come back to my backyard and here is a water lily in FULL splendor for the few days it lives - how can one look at it and not be moved by it's beauty and all that it has to say to us???

Neighbors

Our neighborhood is changing quickly. First one family, the adventurers that are going to New Zealand, have sold their house and moved. Then our next door neighbors are leasing their house as they go to Delaware for a couple/few years.
Kristen, our neighbor, loves Murphy and learned over the last few months how well treats work in attracting him over! Now she says she wishes she had learned that earlier!!!
Anyway, she will sit and be with Murphy for long times. Here's a picture that represents the mood to me.

Another view - lines with green

So I thought, what is the real point of this picture? What attracted me to it and what would I like it to show?
The lines are the real attraction for me, how they weave around and up and down. So the lines, and then the forms that they create and then the colors. These colors represent what I remember seeing, with a slight increase in saturation to bring them out. What do you think?
Posting to the blog reduces the saturation and contrast/vividness.

Lines with Green.

A very mesmerizing part of the sandstone desert are the lines - all different colors and shades of colors and going in directions that are sometimes hard to image a substance as hard as the rock bending like that! Of course, the rock wasn't rock then, but anyway!
The lines strike me a bit like smoke from a campfire - you can look at them and make up stories or hear the song of the ancients or whatever. They offer a steadiness and peace that support us humans as we meander along.

Coyote

While driving to Boulder last weekend, this little guy was standing on the side of the road. I was in my driving mode so had to stop and back up to get a picture. He walked back into the sagebrush and then stopped. Skinny little guy, and Murphy got very excited when he saw him.
Been thinking about the pictures below and noticing that the one I like the most is the horse. The landscape ones are about pretty places but not exciting to me except as a pleasant memory of the place (perhaps because I do not yet know how to do exciting landscapes).
With the horse I really wanted to get a picture of Murphy and the horse looking at each other, but that moment was over in a flash, oh well.

More Beauty

Beauty is ....

There is so much incredible beauty in the desert, from trees to rocks to sky and land and .... For me it goes on and on and it's never "what is there to take a picture of", rather it's how long am I going to spend in one place taking pictures.
This trip we saw a lot of beauty, some of it too vast for me to even try to capture. At another level, the desert primrose, the gnarled trees, yellow rocks placed on a purplish earth - all of them are captivators for me. Often, the beauty that surrounds me is so much that I have to stop and just be for a while.

Room with a view!

While meandering around the Burr trail, we chanced upon an unmarked picnic table. We had lunch there both days - very awe-inspiring to look out and down and around and see nature at some of her wildest. Albeit, quiet - as I told a friend this morning at work, my soul is still spread among these rocks! For both Diana and I, the desert solitude and quiet is regenerating while it slows us down. I don't think I should go to work the day after returning from the desert.
Here's one of the views from the table

Adoring

Murphy looks at me sometimes in the most adoring manner. I know I make it all up, but it's fun.
We're spending the weekend in Boulder, UT, doing a small road trip. Staying at the Boulder Mountain Lodge, a very nice establishment with Hell's Backbone Grill on the property. The Grill is quite well known for excellent food, which we sampled last night. Plus an excellent wine list for those of you that indulge.
Diana and I were sitting in the Adirondack chairs in back of our room, listening to the ducks and yellow-headed blackbirds in the nature preserve right next to us. Murph turned around and I had to take his picture. The more I worked with it in color the less satisfied I was, and B&W turned out to be the way in which I envisioned him!

Helpless

Helpless is how I feel when I see sunlight on flowers like these two - I have to take a picture and cannot help myself! It is as if the universe is singing to me and the only response I can make is to try to capture some of the song and pass it on!
This is the last day lily of this plant - they have all been spectacular. Diana hollered to take a picture so we can look at them in the cold winter and remember the beauty of the moment!

Murphy

I was just searching my blog for posts about Murphy and didn't find a recent one. Hard to believe that I have neglected to post about my buddy!
He's smart (remembers things like where his friends live), cute (a chick-magnet if I ever saw one), patient (willing to wait for Diana and I forever, just lays down and relaxes), playful, and wonderful with kids. Those that like dogs have tried to ride him, chase him, run from him, feed him, etc. and he is fine with it - until he's had enough and then he leaves.
We go hiking and he loves to explore - here's a picture of him in the yellow clover in a field near Park City. A great buddy!