the sweet yellow of saffron
November 02, 2025
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I have been fortunate throughout the years to have friends and co-workers who, when they find out I have an intense interest in food, indulge me by bringing gifts of ingredients to explore. The delightful little bottle of saffron from Spain was gifted to me possibly as long as three decades ago. Since it has been kept in good environmental conditio...
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No Kings Rally - the costumes
October 26, 2025
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As promised in last week's blog, costumes from the No Kings Rally on 18 October in Santa Fe, are featured in today's posting. The political fashion statements ranged from commercially produced blowups to handmade. Creativity knows no bounds!
Given New Mexico's history with aliens and the Roswell Incident, this metaphorical image of aliens of a dif...
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No Kings Rally
October 19, 2025
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The day in Santa Fe was as perfect as it could have been. An autumn chill to the air but stunningly clear and cloudless blue skies. Judging from the weather radar early in the morning, and post-rally media, the weather was quite decent nation-wide for the No Kings Rally. An estimated 7,000,000 people in the United States attended rallies in over tw...
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the kitchen laboratory
October 13, 2025
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Weather in the southern Rockies this week has been more like that of the Pacific Northwest, with clouds and rain, and high and low temperatures oddly similar. But you won't be hearing any complaints from here. A great majority of time in the Southwest, rain is a welcome commodity. But for some strange reason, rain makes me hungry. It also makes me...
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forest primeval in transition
October 05, 2025
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It was a perfect autumn day, crisp and cool under a deep blue sky, and the leaves on the aspen trees seemed to be turning yellow, gold, orange, and red by the minute. There were many locations in Santa Fe where a person could look to the east and see the palette. And we are not the only ones who knew it because the Aspen Vista Trail parking area wa...
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apple of my eye
September 28, 2025
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A person doesn't need to live in New Mexico long before realizing that when the weather is right, certain kinds of fruit explode in abundance. Last year was the year of the apricot. 2025 seems to be the year apples shine. That means only one thing. I make sure they get their due, photographically speaking, before they are eaten.
With apples,...
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it is that time of year, precisely
September 21, 2025
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I thought at least twice about not taking the sidereal equinox tack in today's blog, because some of the deep science led to my own eye rolling. It is complicated. But if you read this today, 22 September 2025, it is the autumnal or sidereal (pronounced sigh-deer-ree al) equinox. The day of the year when the amount of daylight is reducing at the mo...
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ponder, create, curate, dump and repeat
September 15, 2025
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Under crystal clear skies, with a temperature of 56° outside, autumn in the relative high country of New Mexico is becoming more evident by the day. Soon, leaves will begin to turn shades of yellow, orange, and red, as nature starts to relax. But late summer remains part of the mix for the time being, and I photograph with that in mind. Particularl...
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after the rain
September 07, 2025
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In October of 2011, a group of tango dancers were gathered in a Taos studio for an intensive weekend of instruction. Two instructors from Buenos Aires - Carolina and Donato - were in the middle of an afternoon session when suddenly all of us (numbering twenty of so) rushed to the west windows. I remember the teachers saying "What is happening?" The...
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Labor Day
September 01, 2025
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In 1881, Peter J. McGuire and Gustav Luebkert co-founded the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. The mid to late 1800s were heady and sometimes bloody years for laborers. McGuire fought and led a successful strike for the eight hour work day while involved in the Greenback Labor Party, in St. Louis, Missouri. In 2025, as we are...
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footware
August 24, 2025
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Some of you who have been kind enough to follow my blog for all these many years may have noticed that on several occasions, I have featured assorted shoes. Whether they are cowboy boots, work boots, sandals, dress shoes or running and walking shoes, I find these things that protect our feet and help us work or play on a daily basis fascinating. Mi...
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photographing Indian Market
August 18, 2025
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There has always been something compelling about downtown Santa Fe. It is particularly extraordinary after a good rain like the one that fell on Friday. The smell of damp trees, the Santa Fe River - full or empty - and the food. A wild and visceral atomization of grilled meat, green chile, and fried bits fills the air. These elements become a backg...
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the intersection of climate change, AI, and shoes
August 11, 2025
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During any given twenty-four hour period, a massive number of things happen, including both good and bad, and natural and human-made disasters. Some of these we can see, hear, or read about on our chosen source of feedback. Others - for many reasons - are not brought to our attention at all. One thing is certain. I cannot keep up with nor wrap my h...
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creative chaos
August 04, 2025
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Creativity is chaos. To build or put something together is rarely an easy or straightforward thing. The easiest way to deal with chaos is to embrace it and work within its amorphous body. As I sit in my office, on a comfortable chair, with near perfect temperature and humidity provided by nature, there is a crew of six men outside, hammering, drill...
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surprises in the rarified air
July 26, 2025
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Every time I walk in the rarified air of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains north and east of Santa Fe, there are surprises. Given the amount of rain that appeared to be falling daily in the Aspen Vista Trail area, my thoughts turned to mushrooms and flowers. But having never been to that particular area in July, there were plenty of surprises on which...
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© Daryl A. Black