Well, I have to study today – since I’m back in school my “Daily Photograph” is going to be even less daily than before. Here is a photo of a Hairy Woodpecker I took at the CCC Cabin on the crest of the Sandia Mountains just east of Albuquerque, New Mexico in late October, 2006. Once I get going with school I will post my papers here, if they’re any good, anyway!
Hairy Woodpecker-Sandia Crest, New Mexico
I was out trying to photograph Christmas lights the other night, and that led me to remember one of my older photographs I’ve always liked. This was taken in La Palomita Park in Albuquerque on the 19th of December 2006. It was my first night shot, on a tripod. The house just blazes away! The colors (ie red) were not amped up in Photoshop, this is pretty much an unedited file.
Red House
Sandia Mountains from Ojito Wilderness Area
In March of 2007 I went to the Ojito BLM Wilderness Area, about 50 miles northwest of Albuquerque, New Mexico. This was my last New Mexico hike before moving to the dread plains of Illinois. It was gloomy and overcast all day, which put an unfortunate damper on my photography plans. However, just before sunset the sun came out under the clouds for a few minutes, which is when I took this photo. The sun has already set in the foreground, however, the Sandia Mountains, on the other (east) side of Albuquerque, lived up to their name (Sandia is watermelon in Spanish). The red here is the sunset reflected off of snow. I edited this photo two years ago, using my then primitive methods, and so it took some time to correct this back to presentable form! Do not edit your original! This was taken from the eastern boarder of the Wilderness Area, where we camped. There are some cool unexcavated Anasazi (or ancient Pueblo) ruins near by. If you didn’t know what unexcavated ruins looked like you would probably walk right by with out seeing them.
Cottonwood Madonna
I happened across this carving in an old cottonwood tree while photographing in Albuquerque’s Old Town in October of 2006. As it is behind the church and facing away from the road (alley) I was quite surprised to find it – I was photographing the rear of the church, turned around and there she was! The following is what I could find out about her online:
healing from inside
the heart of a cottonwood
nuestra señora
The story goes that in 1970 a parishioner of the 300-year-old San Felipe de Neri, Albuquerque’s oldest Catholic parish, carved the image of the Virgin de Guadalupe into the open wound of an ancient dying cottonwood. The Virgin saved the tree’s life. (Haiku and text from Red Ravine, “Virgin Cottonwood Haiku“)
Behind the San Felipe de Neri Church, there is a treasure that very few locals even know about. Some call her the Lady of the Tree, others the Cottonwood Madonna. In the parking lot behind the church, a tall cottonwood stands near the wall. Embedded in the tree’s trunk, along its natural indentations, someone carved the figure of a Madonna. (from About.com, “A Walk Through Old Town“)
This is a photograph I took of Albuquerque from the Sandia Mountains on the 27th of August, 2006 while hiking with my bros Bobby and Bryan. I’ve always liked the contrast in this picture between the city (population some 650,000) and the Sandia Mountain Wilderness Area. The Sandias are definitely the best, and possibly the only, thing Albuquerque has going for it. Except for the weather. And New Mexico. “A greater hive of scum and villainy is not to be found in 4 parsecs…” (or something like that).
Albuquerque from Sandias
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