The Chinese New Year or Spring Festival (春節 in traditional Chinese characters) began on Saturday, 28 January, and will last for fifteen days.  2017 is the Year of the Fire Rooster, and millions of people around the globe are celebrating.  According to the website "Your Chinese Astrologer", people born under this sign are beautiful, kind-hearted, hard-working, courageous, and honest, among other things.

In accordance with a week that has, shall we say, been very disturbing around the world, I thought some levity might be in order.  And since it is The Year of the Fire Rooster, what better way to blog than with rooster images, featuring both constructed and live images.

First, the setups.  What would make a hand-made rooster look as if it is in a native environment or a cage?  A little feed (popcorn), some wire for coop atmosphere, and an herb or two? Natural light coming from three different directions, courtesy of a greenhouse, provides a variety of options, just as the big lightrooms did in the early days of film.  That will do.

hand-blown in Seattle...

rooster setup 3

carved and painted in Oaxaca...

rooster setup 5

shaped and painted in Portugal....

rooster setup 2

metal worked and painted in Seattle...

rooster setup 4

...and this wooden rooster from southeast Asia

rooster setup 1

Last but not least, Big Daddy III - the real thing - at Casa Gallina, An Artisan Inn,  Taos

Big Daddy 2

Two lovely girls in Beijing will surely tell me one way or another if this is correct but I wanted to wish you Gong Xi Fa Cai or Happy New Year in Mandarin.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image@