Truckers still make their daily runs of hay in the early morning hours from the San Luis Valley in Colorado into New Mexico via U. S. Highway 285 to the dairy farms south of Roswell, returning in the late afternoon and evening.  Others rumble down the blacktop to deliver fuel, and other food and goods, providing a life line to those of us who are staying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The sounds of trucks lay a human music bed for all variety of birds that absolutely know it is spring.  Three phoebes are trying to sort out their nesting arrangements.  Flickers dig up anthills in search of food, and a red-naped sapsucker was drilling mightily into one of our aspen trees this morning.  It was the first sighting for us in the 20 some years we have lived here.  The rest of nature is moving at its own pace, as many of us seek to find our new normals.  Kudos to those of you who are working at businesses still open to the public and are frequently risking your health in doing so.  And to the parents who are working at home and educating their children at the same time, what can I say?  You are super heroes too!

So, we find ourselves moving through the days and weeks quite differently, as time compresses.  One 24-hour day seems to contain more than a year right now, leaving many of us wondering what the heck day it is, and when we will be able to see friends and family again in the flesh.  It is, at the very least, life in an altered state. Given that, I decided to change things up and do my own alterations to photographs I love.  Changing exposure and tone, among other things, is always a fascinating process.  Some of the results are featured here.

Few things in nature are as photogenic as the seed pod of the goatsbeard or western salsify (a member of the sunflower family), and I thought it would be a great subject for alteration.

goat's beard seed pod, altered    

I was a little tentative about putting this deep purple tulip into an altered state, but it seemed to translate in an interesting way.  The more I look at how the details present themselves, the more compelling it seems.

tulip - altered

I haven't used this image of a lotus pod much, but it was fun to see it undergo an alteration.

lotus altered 1

Another lotus pod with its own leaves in the back and foregrounds

lotus altered 2

Finally, as I await this year's crop of daffodils, I decided to work with another image that I haven't used much in the past.  It seems much more soft and soothing than expected.

daffodil altered

To Dianne, Sara, Debra, Steve, TTT, Barbara, Wayne, Veronica, Terry T., Jean and Sam, and Marilyn, my heartfelt thanks for your comments this week.  And for a truly entertaining and uplifting video, search Facebook for Returning the Favor with Mike Rowe.  Known for his Dirty Jobs and Somebody's Gotta Do it, Rowe is hilarious.  He and the crew released a recent episode of school principal Charity Haygood in Newark, New Jersey.  Guarantee, you will feel good all over!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image@