I didn’t know cool and tacky could be combined until I saw this.
It certainly gets your attention.
Tacky Cool
Tag Archives: Southwest
Colors And Pottery – Something For Everyone
Outside Sedona, AZ. there is roadside store that eventually will suck you in.
The 10 foot chicken in the entrance catches your eye first, but here that’s still not enough to hook you. We drove past a few times without stopping, discussed it, but kept moving on.
The color, bright familiar signs, and strange displays will finally get to you. How do you pass a pile of ceramic skulls under a giant red Coke sign?
Mexican style pottery is the main attraction. Once you’re inside you will find plenty of things you can’t possibly live without but don’t need.
How can you not buy an S & H Green Stamps sign or a relaxing 5 foot Thai deity.
Cathedral Rock
No trip into Red Rock is complete without photographing Cathedral Rock. It’s almost a requirement to shoot from across Oak Creek. So I did.
We also went to a different location to capture the back side. There is nothing bad you can say about this scenery, but using Oak Creek in the shot works better.
Sugar Loaf Head Trail
On my last day hiking up Sugar Loaf it occurred to me most of the photographs were either up the mountain or off to the canyons. The actual trail was a beautiful adventure all to itself.
We have traveled over the years but this was completely different. Even the old weathered trees were artful. A first impression is rough red rocks and dirt. After a while you notice all the different greens and the abundance of tiny but colorful brush flowers.
The wildlife here is timid, I imagine life is hard.
However, one day off in the distance I heard a siren, perhaps an ambulance, sounds travels here. Anyway, as the siren sounded I could hear others sing along. Coyotes from different directions joined in. At home it would have been my dog. Here it was a reminder of where we were.
Red Rock Formations
The solitude is what draws me to this canyon and the rocks more than any place else.
There are trails, you will greet other hikers once in a while, but all around you is this. I don’t see how you could get tired of seeing it.
Both shots taken from the same trail just different places along the way. It’s just a wonderful place to stop and look….. by yourself.
Lesser Goldfinch
These shots are of another bird I had never seen before.
It was obvious the were some type of Goldfinch. I just could not get close enough to really see them.
Finally I did get a few photos. The background and light were not great yet I could see them enough to get these.
Strictly a Southwestern bird. Like their east coast relatives they travel in small flocks. I only saw them close to streams with fields.
From A Balloon
If I wasn’t so obsessed about getting photographs from above the canyons I would never have been there in the first place. Not only do you fly around in a picnic basket, there’s no way to steer these things.
Did I mention the flaming propane tank by your head? Wear a hat.
All that craziness changes once the people below let you go free. It’s hard to believe how gentle and soft you fly off. Not once did we feel any bumps, or even motion. A soft breeze, that’s it. Amazing but the height never occurred to anyone, not even me.
I got all the shots from above I could want. Sunrise, buttes, and hills.
It was so comfortable I took my time composing images and taking different exposures.
Before you know it, time to land.
It turns out just fine.
Female Black-chinned Hummingbird
A few days ago I published photos of a Black-chinned male Hummingbird, now I found a few shots of a female.
If you compare this image to one of a Ruby-throated you will see the difference immediately. Here the female has no coloring or markings at all across her front body.
I’m getting good at this! Well, page 250 in my handbook has helped as well as a long Sigma 500mm lens.