There was a really nice sliver moon this evening. I got the first shot when I stopped to get gas on the way home. The second shot was taken through the trees from our front porch.
Category: Night
Never STOP Loving
Our new neighbors pointed out the the “Never” and “Loving” on the stop sign at the post office was the only graffiti they had seen in Corrales, and it was positive. It’s been there for months so either the Village or the PO can’t decide whose responsibility it is to remove it or since it’s not offensive there is no reason to remove it. I had ignored it all this time, but tonight I thought it was appropriate to start off the week of Valentine’s Day. I also noticed that people are putting up “Valentine’s lights” in the fashion of Christmas lights in Corrales. Out of the lights I noticed on my way home tonight, the bicycle with flowers was the most interesting.
A silver chopper was parked in front of Cafe Giuseppe this afternoon, but it was blocked by a planter and a truck, so I only got a portion of it. I would of had to stand out in the middle of the street to get the whole of it, but I was loaded down with stuff and had deadlines that precluded risking getting ran over by a bus for another view of a chopper.
Roadies
Roadies waiting out behind the Sunshine Theater. I didn’t have time to check and see what groups were playing tonight.
Wild Ride
Taxi 127 was driving pretty wild tonight — maybe the passenger was in labor or something. Continuing my new, scenic routes to and from my new parking spot, I wanted to photograph this door for the past couple of nights, but there were some rough looking characters hanging around in front of the door, and I didn’t want to see what their reactions would be to me either asking them to move, or be in the photo since I couldn’t really see what they were involved in. The installation of sheets on the wall in the pocket park I photographed last night turned out to be quite colorful in the daylight.
Art Along The Way
Even though we are creatures of habit, our intelligence, ability to learn and adapt quickly are a few aspects of human nature than help us to survive and advance, so after 15 years of leaving by the back door every day, I should be able to simply change that habit and remember to leave by the front door, because going out the front door is now the shortest route to my car. I walked out the back door twice today, and instead of unlocking the back door and walking through the building, I walked around the block both times. Yet it wasn’t all for naught, because between 1:30 this afternoon and 7:30 this evening some new art was installed in the pocket park on the end of the block at 2nd and Gold.
New Point of View
We lost our parking spots again, so now I’m parking in the block north of Gold and south of Central between 2nd and 3rd Streets. The parking spot gives me a new point of view, and now I am going in and leaving by the front door — an entrance and exit I haven’t made for almost 15 years.
Yard, Moon, Clouds
I got home late last night from photographing Q~Lesque, and the moon was beautiful, peeking through the clouds.
Story of Film
Film crews often block streets and take our parking in downtown Albuquerque. They had 3rd Street blocked off the between Gold and Central the other night while filming “Force of Execution” with Steven Seagal. While I was making my way out of downtown the same night, I noticed the Kimo Theater’s marque read “Story of Film.”
Moon, Clouds, Ring
With an almost full moon and light cloud cover, there was a nice ring around the moon with the brighter stars visible through the clouds. Jupiter is shining bright at 1 o’clock, and Orion’s belt is barely visible between 3 and 4 o’clock. This series has three exposures take 3 minutes apart with a 17mm lens at ISO 400.
The first photo was taken at 7:27 pm MST (Mountain Standard Time) at ƒ/5.6 for 15 seconds. The clouds are slightly soft from their moving during the 15 second exposure.
The second photo was taken at 7:30 pm MST at ƒ/11 for 30 seconds. The clouds are softer, the moon appears smaller with a slight starburst.
The third photo was taken at 7:33 pm MST at ƒ/16 for 30 seconds. The moon appears to be even smaller, with a better defined starburst. More of the night sky comes through the clouds and if you look carefully, you will see the ghost of a contrail from a jet that flew below Jupiter and over the top of the moon during the exposure.
Comics Connoisseur
Apparently Stretch is becoming a comics connoisseur from Laurie reading Tintin while we waterboard him (subcutaneous fluids for renal failure) every night, because when I went back out to the kitchen last night after he thought we had gone to bed, I found him reading the funnies that Laurie had left on her book holder. He was so engrossed that I was able to sneak a photo before he noticed me and slinked off, looking a little embarrassed.
When the Sandias turned pink at sunset, I decided to try a panorama through the bare cottonwoods. While I was photographing the mountains, a great blue heron landed on a cottonwood between the irrigation and clearwater ditches, affording me the opportunity to get a pretty clear photo of it. When I was going back inside, Puck had all his attention fixed on something. I couldn’t see what it was, but he was so concentrated that I snapped the photo of him. The shutter clicking interrupted his concentration, he glanced at me, then started looking around as if he was trying to find the object of his attention, scolded me with a few choice meows when he seemed not to see it again (I assume he was saying “nice going stupid ¡#%&^@$*! photographer”), then he jumped down off the railing and came inside with me. When I went out a little later, I was able to get a detailed shot of the moon in the clear, cold, winter sky.
Off Center & Not Even 