Mama Does the Garden

Celebration time!!  Talked mom into going with me to the Albuquerque Botanic Garden.  Woooo Hoooo!!  Once there we agreed to meet in an hour and I took off to try out some infrared photography.  She would not have it otherwise, not wanting to slow me down.  At the designated time we met by the miniature railway track. I was laboring to get just that 'perfect shot' and I peered over and caught my mother intently focused on getting her shot!!!!  Whoa!  Now, mom has a newer iPhone and later admited to having taken 'a couple of shots'.  Tom has some competition here.  LOL

Mom's shots are included below and I am posting one I took of her.  No, I am not asking permission because she would not give it and when it comes to mom I am really good at asking for forgiveness when it matters.  This is a varied post.  So much fun.  I hope that at the end you have a smile on your face too.

This is my mom!!  No, she does not dye her hair and we are sometimes asked if we are sisters!  She is intelligent, inquisitive, articulate, and today she was adventurous!

There were two male wood ducks and three females.  The females were up in the low branches of a tree overhanging the pond.  The males were guarding the pass, so to speak!  The females were so well hidden that not a single photo turned out well.  Now that I know they are there . . . a quick check next time I go.

I borrowed Steve's infrared filter.  It fits a 52mm lens and the only lens I have that small are both manual focus, older primes.  I chose the 28mm lens.  What follows are the the images, color first, then careful placement of the filter (to not disturb focusing) and the resulting red image that I see on the back of my camera, and finally the processed image.  I used Silver FX and kept it simple by selecting a preset.  Usually I would adjust within Silver FX but did not do that this time.  So, metadata . . . ISO 100, f/2.8, at 10-13 seconds.

Just had to!  Used layers in Photoshop to erase top infrared photo to reveal the color photo underneath.  Somebody has to do the Photoshop when Tom is gone.  LOL

Mom and I did not hurry out of the garden.  We sat for a while, enjoying the gorgeous weather, kids going by and commenting on just about anything that came to mind.  We picked up tacos on the way home from a street vendor, Sabor Mexico.  Then . . . naps!  Glad to share.  Oh, Tom is within 300 miles of Baltimore.  All is going well on his end.  He says 'hi' to everyone.

San Juan Badlands

Well, sort of.  I think they are called 'bad' because they are hiding!  The map shows areas where one might find them and a couple are quite well known (Bisti).  But, those little side dirt roads are not specifically labeled to help you find your way!  We had fun exploring and we did see some of the rock formations that I associate with 'badlands'.  Actually, this area got its name 'badlands' because it is so hard to grow anything.  Farming is not supported in the area but there is a lot of natural gas and it is being extracted.

The mustard color denotes sites of 'badlands' rock formations.  Most of the roads are dirt, some requiring high clearance.

Tom and I were joined by my brother, Steve, and Angie.  Steve has just the right vehicle for a trip such as this.  Of course, being a passionate photographer, he was very willing to pull over for just about anything . . . like an old abandoned house below the 'rocks'.

A stop along the road.  I went around the corner on the left to explore the other side, which as we approached looked like it had more detail in the rocks.  See detail below.

This became my imaginary turned inside out cavern. I could not imagine how these rock formations were created.  If we were to dissect Karchner Caves would it look like this?

I suddenly realized that I had walked quite a a way around this side of the mountain, leaving the others MUCH closer to the car!  OK, I have a foot panorama going here.  Keep walking!!  They won't leave me.

Oh!!!  Getting so much more interesting!

Giving my neck a rest from looking up . . . 

While I pursued one type of image, the rest of the group focused on 'items of interest'.  So nice to see both sides of the mountain while only walking half the trek!

Cactus?

Oh so showing off fall color where there is none! 

The aliens are landing on the wrong side of the mountain!!

From our roadside stop we head back to seek the ever elusive road into 'badlands'.  Everyone is looking on their phones and Steve even sports a real GPS navigator on the dash!  One road is deemed 'of interest' and off we go over the cattle guard to explore.  Not quite what we expected but we are troopers!  The clouds are building, there are still images to capture.

Steve skunked us on the horse. To get yellow flowers as well . . . just lucky!

Now that is a root indeed.  A little bonsai shaped tree, small . . . but that root is a hoot!

What plants do in the badlands to survive.  Amazing.

Better than Balancing Rock at Arches National Park.  I'll bet Nancy can make a famous person's face out of this one.

Steve enjoys shooting with an infrared filter.  This genre is not for the faint-o-heart!  He uses a 720nm filter.  He shot these at f/11, ISO 1220, with shutter speeds from 10 to 13 seconds.  He uses a Canon D5 Mark II (full frame) and at 35mm.  The images are then processed in Lightroom as a B&W, and then imported into Silver FX.  He does not set his camera up for monochrome.  He shoots RAW (wants full control over adjustments) and on a tripod.  Lots of experimentation is required as it is not unlike shooting with big stopper ND filters where you cannot see the image once the filter is on.  Composition is also very different.  Steve looks for foliage (green and living) and skies with clouds (to add white to a black sky.  Long exposures require a quiet wind and a sturdy tripod.

Processed image below.  His preview on the camera is this red color.  It takes practice to imagine, then, how the image will appear when fully processed.

Notice what happened to the yellow flowers!

Adapting, surviving and waiting for Angie.

By now our hunger pains are front of mind, more so than photo opportunities.  We head back into Cuba to a restaurant named Brunos.  It is large, nicely decorated with locally themed art, with seating for many.  Then I realized that Brunos serves the many travelers between Albuquerque and Farmington.  But first, there are shots from the car.  Tom gives you an idea of what the San Juan Basin looks like.  Oh, and his never ending love affair of all-things cars, especially the classic look!

Entry gate to Brunos.

Finally, as we get closer to Bernalillo (northern end of Albuquerque), the sun brightens the mountains to the south.  It was a fabulous, if long, day.  You were with us in spirit and it is with warm thoughts of your friendship that I write this blog.  Tom is in Austin tonight, the start of another grand adventure.  He promised photos so stay tuned.  Thanks for sharing.

Sunrise at Garden of Gods

With such a fabulous experience with sunset at the Garden of Gods we were up to getting up early and trying a sunrise shoot.  It was fun and, for me at least, very educational.  While we think of both ends of the day as being the Golden Hour, the site can make a huge difference in how that light will play out.  The biggest difference at the Garden was the background and the sky.  In the morning there were no clouds, the sky looked more muddied and the mountains to the west of the rocks were hazy and boring.  Oh well, the rocks did light up with lots of orange to go around!  Plus, we found some of the more interesting compositions were shooting from behind the rocks, on the shadow site.  We hope you enjoy our sunrise.

This ridge is just north of the main Garden, not a part of the Garden.  It appeared that the only easy public photo access was from business parking lots below the ridge or from our lookout above the Garden.  This ridge is white, not the red rock as seen in the Garden.

Photo taken from the lookout above the Garden.

This is the only white ridge within the Garden.  Between this white rock and the larger orange rock is a nice walking path.

The Garden is very accessible with many paved paths and easy to follow hiking trails. We saw many people walking and biking in the Garden.

On the shady side!

Those little pepper dots are birds.  There are hundreds  of birds nesting in the area.  In the morning they make quite the racket!

I took so many photos of this bird flitting about . . . and got just one worth posting!!  

After a couple of hours at the Garden, we packed up our gear and headed back to Albuquerque.  Nice trip home.  With a day to recover, we were ready this morning to check out Cuba, NM and the San Juan Badlands with my brother and Angie.  Tomorrow Tom leaves for Austin.  Thanks for joining us.