October 19, 2008

Dark clouds over the U.S.


We saw it coming but what can you do? Things come as they
will and all you can do as an individual is ride out the storm
and move on when things settle down. Chatted with a neighbor
at the hotel who told me about the devastation of Hurricane Ike
in Texas, where he was from. He had very little left.


Nature treated us to a little winter wonderland. It was a pleasant
surprise as I had not seen snow for about 12 years.


As soon as we were out of the mountains we were back in more
familiar territory. Now this I recognize!


When you see a peaceful picture like this
you can hardly imagine that out there we are
in an economic crisis, that there is a senseless
war being fought and that so many people do not have any
security for the future.
Maybe I am better off not watching television but I
consider that an ostrich policy. I read papers, listen to
BBC and NPR and check the internet for my information
but it hits me more when I watch TV.


Mesa Verde - totally fascinating how people could survive here.
Undoubtedly we will survive too whatever happens.


Shiprock near the Navajo Nation. One day I will make time to
visit the area to make pictures of the Navajo who are an
endless fascination to me. Perhaps I will one day learn how to
make the hollow, silver beads that they make on the reservation.


Canyon de Chelly, one of my favorite areas in Arizona and by this
time I am beginning to smell home on the westerly winds and my
longing for my own bed, my own cooking and my dog can hardly be contained.


This is 'Old Faithful' performing for us on time.


Blandness is not found in nature. What a magnificent orange-
red blast of color made by the bacteria in the geyser area.


Part of the ground surrounding geysers is
dead and white however other area display
amazing colors.


Can green get any greener?


A geyser belching gases smelling of rotten eggs.

Halloween house.

The journey goes on.


After so many picture of mountains I started to long for subjects
that were closer by. I like pictures to tell a story and that's
probably why I take picture of people. They always tell a story.


No changes made to this picture and am amazed at the bluish
hue it has.


The water was like a mirror and the reflection of the trees
are an impressionist version of the real ones.


It seemed that every day something else was in bloom or
changing color. We had yellow days, green days, red days,
copper days. This was a crushed pomegranate red moment.


Bison at last, and dozens of tourists most with enormous camera
lenses which put my equipment to shame. I can understand that
Yellowstone attracts photographers because of all the beauty
it offers.


Making pictures of water is always a challenge
to me. I wanted to show the swirling and the
splattering of the water itself, the white of the
water and the darkness of the debris and rocks.


This is an enormous country and only by traversing it do you
get some idea of it's vastness. Here I was attracted by the
black beef cows under a cloudless sky and a splattering of
pastels, grazing on the hay colored prairie.

4500 Miles of Color.


We traveled 4,500 miles at just the right time of the year to see the
fall colors change from green to yellow and then gold and amber
before the leaves started falling revealing the bare branches of the trees.


Every day brought new spectacular sights and if you are into color
as much as I, then you too would have seen colors that you can't describe
or name.


Yellowstone was everything they said it would be but it made me
yearn for Africa. I however doubt that wildlife viewing there is the
same as I remember it to be.


It wasn't only all about orange and yellow, the blues and grays
too made up part of the pallet.


I don't watch TV and living in hotels these past weeks
gave me the opportunity to watch the presidential debates, which
provided more than enough food for thought as I
watched Idaho, South Dakota, Montana pass by my
car window.



I took the liberty of giving this picture a little color because all
the postcards and pictures look exactly the same. While at Rushmore
I spoke to a man who had done well in real estate and we discussed
his concern about his money which could possibly be reduced to
a fraction with the insecurity on Wall Street and with the banks.


I discovered how hard it is to make mountain
views look original on photo. Composition and
depth of field are the only tools in my box that
I could use.

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