Sunset Sunrise

Steven sat across from me at mom's table on a quiet late afternoon, looking out the patio door. "Let's go to Black Mesa and shoot a sunset," he said. I was in.

Black Mesa is the name given to a plateau to the west of Albuquerque, about 5 miles from my mom's. It offers a view of the Sandia Mountains to the east and a wide expanse of high desert grass to the west. It is an ideal location for a good sunset or sunrise.

We set up our tripods in a very cold wind. We compared a few notes on settings, etc. Then we waited. The sunset did not disappoint. When we got home we were shocked at the difference in our images. Were we at the same sunset?

First up.  Steven shot his with his Canon EOS 700D and a Sigma EX 10-20mm lens. The first shot was taken in back of us (east) towards my beloved Sandia Mountain. The next one wast taken to the north and seconds later he got a shot to the south. All were shot at ISO 200, f/14 and 1/30. Later, as I fell in love with his photos, I realized a subtle truth in composition.  I shot the sunset.  He shot the sky.

I shot towards the west.

Two mornings later I started my return drive to Phoenix and was treated to this sight as I turned the corner from my mom's. "I am going to miss my Sandia," was my first thought.  My second thought was to get my *** moving and check it out from Black Mesa!

As you can see below, the plateau hides most of the city.  I left in just a couple of lights so you could imagine where the glistening bowl of lights (jewels) were down in the valley.

By now it was looking pretty interesting. So I got out of the car but was still handholding, keeping my ISO high and using exposure compensation to keep my shutter speeds somewhere in the range of not quite sharp but OK. Did I really want to unpack my gear? Not yet!

How about my widest lens? Hmmm . . . Steven had fun with his 10mm.  Well, different, but a 24mm is not a 10mm!! LOL.

Getting lighter. More interesting.  One last shot with the Df.

OK, unpack that tripod, get the big boy D800 out. And hurry this beauty is not hanging around long.

You would not be surprised to know that I want to go back to this spot the next time I am in Albuquerque, which I hope will be real soon.

Barrett Jackson

Nothing like a car show! Just ask Tom and Jerry. The 2013 Barret Jackson is going on through this weekend so you just might want to check it out.  Here are some of the cars you will find, a very small collection taken from what Tom and Jerry shot in a day.

How about this very rare Italian Alfa Romeo from the 1930's?

Or maybe you would like this '68 Cadillac El Dorado. That would put a grin on my face too!

If you like detail you might go for hood ornaments. This one is from a Rolls Royce.

Maybe a 30's French car?

Perhaps you are into speed. The show has you covered. In fact, this group is for sale as a group. It consists of two very famous and RARE drag race cars from the 60's. They were driven by rivals Snake and Mongoose. They have been restored along with their hauling trucks.  You would need a very large garage for this collection!

Or maybe this speedster, an extremely rare 1950's Bird Cage Maserati!

 Shiny gold bling?

Are you a pickup kinda gal? How about this Chevy?

Do you like odd shapes and driving close to the ground? Must admit that is a pretty blue!

If shiny engines strike your fancy . . . well they have those too.

Or, maybe you just want to have some fun this summer and set up this great attraction and cool down the neighborhood kids with a splish splash party (margaritas are allowed for parents after 5 PM). Be sure to invite me, please.

For me, though, I want luxury so I have saved my two favorites for last. The Packard from the 30's is rather nice. But I really want the very last car, a one of a kind custom body, powerful, big and an 'extreme' luxury car . . . the Auburn!!

My car!!

Oh darn!  Tom says it is outside our budget! But, if you have a couple of million dollars you can bid on it this weekend.

Or, you could just go take some cool shots!

Shooting the Moon

Full one, no less, rising over Watson Lake in Prescott!

But first, we had lunch at the Raven in downtown Prescott and then walked to Gurley Street to take up some time before our big shoot of the rising moon. As it turns out, photographers usually find interesting things to photograph.

Let's start with a bit of humor and fun. Barbara was seen begging for a kiss from some shady character . . . she is a sport and everyone loves how she takes pictures of us. Turn about . . . 

Rick found an interesting person as well . . .

Phyllis has her own take of interesting people . . .

Matilda, alias for a famous photographer, crafted a very different, a bit edgy and appreciated look of a corner scene with some 50's bad boys (except the date on the print is '93). The image was processed in OnOne software and I really like a new perspective. Thank you Matilda for your contribution.

Tom loves alleys and it appears that Barbara does as well.  Must admit I walked right by this opportunity. What was I thinking? I love blue bikes.

Photographing door window reflections is always interesting.

Every town square has a clock. Am glad Elaine caught that item.

But, fun on Gurley street had to give way to the real object of our trip. A rising full moon.  We arrived at Watson Lake about 4:30 and examined our site options. Some chose to shoot from the water's edge and a couple wanted to shoot from higher rocks.  As the sun set the whole sky became more and more colorful, from bright yellow and then on to peach, pink and blues. There was a little time to shoot the lake with a golden glow.

You can see how the choice of shooting at water's edge versus higher up overlooking the lake affects how the images reflect water and color. The group above the lake saw the moon first. This was important to Rick because he wanted a really good shot of the moon. The group at water's edge thought the reflections would be better from their vantage point! I wanted reflections but thought the upper deck (LOL) was a better option! One thing for sure. . . we all had fun.

As the pink slowly gave way to deeper blue, the contrast was enough to see that there was still snow on the slopes of Mt. Humphrey in Flagstaff.

Full moons are hard to photograph as they are so bright compared to the rest of the image that they blow out easily if you try to get any background. To get both the moon's detail and its reflections requires separate images and combining them in some post processing or perhaps doing a bracketd shot (but I have never seen a good HDR without a separate moon added).

I hope that Rick thinks he got the shot he was after. I had a choice of a gray moon or a golden moon.  I chose the golden moon.  Both are gorgeous.

Here is my effort at two combined images. What I am most proud of is the tree in the golden reflection!! Can you see it?

Here is Tom's HDR image to capture a wider dynamic range and using a donor moon.

If you notice above in my photo, as the reflection creeps across the lake it shows up first as dancing light on the water. From there it expands. There is a glimpse of that dancing in my photo above.  Barbara captures it again in her image below. When you are there and you take in all of what is going on . . . well it is magical.

We might have stayed longer but the Park Ranger politely reminded us that the park closes at sunset. He gave us plenty of time. I think we were grateful to put our gear away and head for dinner at Left-ts.

This was a fun day. Thanks everyone for your participation and the effort taken to get your shots ready.