where there is wind
May 16, 2022
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4 Comments
Awakening this spring morning to high winds, one thing was assured. Pollen and dust would fill the air, but it doesn't necessarily follow that there will be smoke. However, at 7 a.m., the sky was dirty, tinged with yellow, and full of smoke from the Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon Fire. I cannot even imagine how miserable the fire fighters are, and the r...
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garden dancers
May 08, 2022
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I look at Columbine flowers and they make me smile. They are like little dancers in the garden, poised for anything, including the winds that have been our near-constant companions during the last two months. The first ones to bloom in our gardens are the Aguilegia canadensis "Little Lanterns". The diminutive flowers have red outer petals surroundi...
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music to my ears
May 01, 2022
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Shrouded by stories of the bizarre, supernatural, ghostly figures, rattling skeletons and gloom, cemeteries have been given a bad, or at the very least, a spooky rap. But the ones that are lovingly cared for and beautifully landscaped are like parks of peace for the living, brimming with history. Being in close proximity to one definitely has its a...
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spring opportunities
April 24, 2022
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Everything in nature is cyclic. Growing things abide by their own cycles, and in many cases, the beauty of the cycle is demonstrated only once or twice a year. So when spring presents photographic opportunities once a year, as is the case with flowering fruit trees, it becomes a priority for me. Throughout the past month, I have been photographing...
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a perfect backdrop
April 18, 2022
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7 Comments
Our recent trip to El Malpais National Monument near Grants, New Mexico, served many purposes, including a product shoot featuring two of Fred's rugs. After walking around the nature-carved pillars and rubble for a bit, he found a protected area that not only kept the wind from shredding us but provided a perfect backdrop for his work. It was part...
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El Malpais
April 10, 2022
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It was a bit like visiting an old friend upon arriving at El Malpais National Monument near Grants, New Mexico last week. During his time working at the Bureau of Land Management in Albuquerque during college, Fred walked all over the Sandstone Bluff area, and surveyed roads and hiking trails. In October of 1994, we walked the Zuni-Acoma trail with...
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and so it begins
April 03, 2022
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2 Comments
Suddenly, it is April, and seemingly, just as suddenly, many things have evolved from sticks to green or colorful buds and flowers. All of you know I frequently photograph blooms in various stages, and part of that process is finding creative ways of seeing and making images of them. I intentionally planted lots of daffodil bulbs two years ago to b...
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on the rocks
March 28, 2022
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The days of "near spring" weather continue here in the southern Rocky Mountains. Last week, a wet, soaking snow fell, providing much needed moisture to the earth and to the bulbs, shrubs, and trees that will soon be in bloom. But there is nothing like seeing the bright and bold during the waiting period. We are lucky to have access to flowers liter...
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contest work
March 20, 2022
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8 Comments
Since I received an email from B&H Photo Video in New York - my place for purchasing cameras, computers, photo and digital paper and inks, and scanners - I have been pouring over photographs that would be suitable entrants for the "B&H Depth of Field Challenge" categories. I needed to make sure that I had permission of the subjects before I submitt...
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a place to call home
March 13, 2022
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I have been pondering the lives of the Ukrainian people this week because of the unprovoked war inflicted on them by the Russians. Over 2.7 million people have left the country, and are now in Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and points beyond. It is nearly impossible to wrap one's head around the number. But this number may help put it in persp...
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intersection of DC and AC
March 06, 2022
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These blogs, like the weather, seem to feature things that come together gradually or collide, like warm spring days and winter snow squalls in March here in the Rocky Mountain west. Bright blue skies were slowly replacing the overcast that brought a lush, wet snow to the landscape as I began writing Sunday morning. Those with passive solar homes o...
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intersection of glass and light
February 28, 2022
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Many of you know by visiting my blogs every week that I am fascinated by the play of light on and through glass. Several months ago, I discovered the wonder of three overhead lights shining through wine glasses. Merriam Webster defines this result as refraction or the bending of a ray of light passing from one medium (in this case, glass) to anothe...
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weaving olympics
February 20, 2022
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The 2022 Olympic Games concluded on Sunday in Beijing. Having watched many of the events, and witnessed the near perfection and incredible physical prowess of the athletes, I continue to be in awe of what they do with their bodies. But I also know that regular people do extraordinary things. From doing home and road construction, and building fence...
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roses for all
February 14, 2022
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7 Comments
14 February 2022. Despite the continuing pandemic, the climate changing seemingly by the minute, and multiple possibilities of violence around our dear and wonderful planet, there is still and always room for love. And that love is celebrated today, Valentine's Day, in many ways. So I extend my wishes to each of you by featuring the magical flower...
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warmth, anyone?
February 06, 2022
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7 Comments
Fully realizing that those of us living in New Mexico have been nearly irrevocably spoiled by the weather this year, the past week brought winter to the fore in a big way. With low temperatures on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings of 0, 4, 9, and 16 degrees Fahrenheit, and high temperatures below freezing for four days as well, my bra...
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© Daryl A. Black