December Musings

Here are a few images that I created over the past month......

I took the above image the day I shot the deserted cabin.  The moon looked so mysterious with the clouds wisping by...and then I found the quote! 

The next 2 images (above and below) were shot just before Christmas.  I loved how the clouds just seemed to roll around and over the mountains.  The gentle colors of the dawn add a very wonderful touch.

And, finally, this bird's nest is in our front yard, in one of the bushy shrubs.  I did play around with this image.  It reminded me of leaving home, and I found this quote that sort of speaks to life.

Enjoy!

Digital Collage Pieces - Deserted Cabin Area

Woke up feeling a bit creative this morning and decided to play with the images I shot the other day of the deserted cabin and the area around it.

The above piece is based on the photo I shot of the road and bushy little tree that was next to the cabin.  I started with a Citrasolv background, added a map image, a post card, and Zelda.  She's a vintage image I got from a photo I got off of ebay a few years ago, and is one of my favorites (as you can tell, since I've named her!).  I then sort of blended and merged all the layers for this result. It reminds me of that line from Robert Frost (I believe) - "and miles to go before I sleep".

 

Whenever I've shot this little cabin, I can't help but wonder about the family who might have lived there at one point.  This piece is meant to capture that sort of nostalgic feeling.  I started this piece with a digital watercolor paint background, added some letter text and an image of a family who may have been like the family who lived there at one time, at least in my imagination.  This piece seems to have a bit of a bittersweet feel to it for me.

 

Enjoy!



Misc Shots from a Great Photo Morning

Here are some other fun shots from a great photo morning!

Here's a shot of the moon in the sky as the morning sun rays are just beginning to light it up - such a pretty blue.  The little red dots on the left side of the image is my car, sitting and running with the heat on so I can periodically warm up!

Love the image of this smaller bushy tree alongside the road.  I played with the colors to really enhance the morning colors.

This image reminds me of cotton candy!  Again, just playing with the colors of the sunrise and the sky.

As I was driving home from my dawn photo op, I just had to pull off on the shoulder of the road to capture the incredible lighting of the clouds in the morning sky.  Is it any wonder why I love living here?

 

Enjoy!

Inspirational Cabin

 

 I find this cabin so inspirational, I just had to add some quotations to some images of it.

This Robert Frost quote is perfect for this image of the cabin.  Whoever lived here certainly was on the road less traveled by.

And, isn't this quote so true.  Life certainly does go on, regardless of what we do or don't do.  It's a good thought to remember when we get so caught up with things we "must" do for some reason that always seems very important at that point in time.  None of us is really all that important!  Life will go on, with or without us.

This quote really hit home for me.  As I was shooting this image (and unknown to me at this moment), a friend's young daughter, wife and mom to 2 small little boys, had undergone emergency open heart surgery and it was (and still is as I write this) unknown as to whether she would survive.  We should all live every day of our lives as if it's our last, because we truly don't know how long we'll be around.

And, a positive note to end this post with - dreams are wonderful, especially as they can be guides to what our future will be. 

 

Enjoy!

Deserted Cabin

 

I have loved this deserted cabin since we moved here.  It's on a little country road about 10 minutes from our home.  Whenever I drive by it, I always think I need to photograph it again.  I first photographed it a couple of years ago, but noticed that it is getting closer to completely collapsing (2 walls have already fallen), so I wanted to photograph it at least one more time before it's gone.

I always park off the road in some one's drive into their place and right next to where I park is the fenced in field in which the cabin sits.  The barbed wire fencing adds to the rustic feel of the cabin, with the makings of a lovely sunrise as backdrop.  I can only shoot this cabin at this time of the year to get that great backdrop - in the summer, the sun rises further to the north and it's not nearly as pretty.  So, a few chilly fingers are worth it for these types of images!

I got a bit closer for this image (above) and you can see better the precarious state the cabin is in.  With the tree just outside of it, the character is just so great.  I just love the feel of this place.

For this shot, I walked around to the front of the cabin.  You can see the front door, mostly off its hinges, and the fact that the back wall is totally gone.  Again, the tree in front of the cabin with its bare winter branches really frames this image so well.

For this image, I walked back and took a shot of the entire old homestead.  Again, that sky is the perfect backdrop for this winter morning shot.  The fence and the little country road just bring back feelings of what it must have been like to live out here in years gone by.  If you look closely, you can see a jet contrail in the upper left of the image - however, it sort of looks like a falling star, doesn't it?

For this last image, I crossed the road and stood by the fence on the opposite side.  I transformed this image into a black and white image just to capture more of the feeling of yesterday.  Also, look how alone this little cabin was. 

 

Enjoy!

Moon and Sunrise

Yesterday, just about dawn, I drove to a deserted cabin about 10 minutes or so from home.  I did get some great shots of the cabin (in separate posts), but the unexpected treasures came from the images I was able to capture of the moon in the dark sky and the sunrise over the landscape. (You can click on the images to enlarge them and make the quotes easier to read.)

The above image of the moon with wisps of clouds passing in front of it just seemed to evoke a sense of mystery.  Since I was out there creating images, the quote from Julia Cameron just seemed appropriate for this image.  Surprise was certainly what I felt when I found the moon posing so perfectly for me!

Here's another image from just a few minutes later.  Interesting how much darker the sky seemed to be at this point.  Again, keeping with the mystery theme of this moment, I thought this quote really kind of summed up how people (including me!) often feel about mystery and just the uncertainty of life.

 

And, finally, the sunrise on the landscape.  When people have asked me how I like living in New Mexico, I will generally tell them that this is the place where I was meant to live.  This quote seems to capture the reason why I feel that way.

 

Enjoy!



Morning Glory

 

 

Woke up this morning to this wonderful sunrise - a perfect sunrise in the high desert/mountains ...

 

It looks like a perfect morning for flying, doesn't it?  The wind sock doesn't look like there's much wind and I think it's in the direction that the runway lies, and that's always good!

Can't wait until Jeff has his new plane built and maybe I can get him to take me for a ride early in the morning so I can be up in the clouds when they are this color!  Somehow, I can't quite see us getting going early enough for this, but I can dream, can't I?

 

The mountains shown area the San Pedro and probably a bit of the Ortiz Mountains way off in the distance.  At moments like this, I can hardly believe that this is the view from our back patio - who would ever have thought that a kid from Chicago would ever live in a place like this?

 

Enjoy!



Icy Art

This morning, after the snow from yesterday, and with the super cold weather we're now having, there was some lovely icy art that nature created.  Take a look.......



The shrubs above are in our front yard and just seemed to twinkle in the morning sun.  I want to add some red berries to this.....altho the shrubs don't ever have red  berries on them!

This is one reason I don't cut down the bushes that need annual trimming until early spring - I just love the texture and beauty the dried branches can bring to the yard when it snows.

Look at these little icicles on these branches.  It looks so pretty and delicate!  This is another reason I really enjoy when it snows here!

 

 

Enjoy!!