Category: Sandias

The Birds

Timothy Price8 Comments

Crows swarming over the Rio Grande and bosque this afternoon reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock’s movie “The Birds.”  A pair of Sandhill Cranes were trying to land on the river, but they were having a hard time making their way through the swarm of crows. They tried flying through the crows two or three times before the crows thinned out enough for them to land. Each attempt they would start down, zig zag a few times, pull back up and circle around before making another attempt. On one of their circles they got close enough for me to get a clear shot of them above the crows. A flotilla of geese were leisurely floating down the Rio Grand to where they spend the night about a quarter mile from where I was standing.  When they saw me on the bank they turned into the current and started treading water, staying in the same spot for some time while they discussed among themselves whether or not is was safe to float on by me.  They finally decided to stay in the water and continued on their way, hugging the far bank as they floated past me. A couple of ducks floated down after the geese, but they decided it wasn’t safe to float on by me and took flight.

Bob’s MAD

Timothy Price1 Comment

Politics! Need I say more? I had to go to Costco before they closed tonight, so I missed the moonrise over the pink Sandias. The moon had risen and only the tail end of the pink was still splashed on the granite along the top of the mountains by the time I could get a shot of it. We have had two nights with lows of 20 degrees F, so most of the flowers we didn’t bring inside got frozen. The flowers in the third photo have been defiant so far, and are still blooming despite the cold nights. I got an old crow flying overhead and then notice a Cooper’s Hawk watching me photograph the crow.

Godess

Timothy Price2 Comments

I did a photo shoot for a handsome young couple’s engagement tonight on the river at the north end of Corrales. While I was waiting for the couple to arrive, another young couple skipping rocks on the river volunteered to pose for me so I could get my exposure and fill flash adjusted. On my way home, I stopped and got a photo of the fire on the Sandias at dusk.

Watermelon Mountain

Timothy Price1 Comment

The first photo shows why the Sandias are the Sandias. I had an interesting day. I accompanied a trio in two services and then played for the outdoor service at 1:00. I have just started playing again after not touching my guitar for over three years and I have not performed in public for almost 10 years.  Playing feels strange with numb finger tips, but I haven’t had to go through the pain on raw fingers until they build up calluses. My finger tips are a bit raw from practicing, I just don’t really feel them.

Susan came out for her annual “end of the San Ysidro Church Art Show” visit and trek to the bosque to photograph the Sandias. Although, this year we went out to photograph some of the abandoned adobe houses in Corrales, and then headed north to photograph the Sandias from a different point of view. We got photos of some cranes grazing, playing and fighting in a field along the way, and a hawk just happened to fly by. Just after the sun fell below the horizon, we drove up on the bank of the drainage ditch that runs along the southern edge of the River’s Edge subdivision in Rio Rancho and got the Sandias in their full pink. Another photographer set up his view camera next to us, and then Dennis Chamberlain, who Susan knows, came walking back to his car, tripod over his shoulder in the dusk. So we all talked photography until after dark. Dennis is a fantastic photographer. I recommend checking out his magnificent photos at http://www.dcphotoartistry.com/DC_Photo_Artistry/Welcome.html.

Getting the Led Out

Timothy Price1 Comment

Tristan and David were playing some of the old vinyl albums we gave them at Tristan’s birthday party last night. I forgot how good vinyl sounds compared to CDs and especially MP3s. Even my old, worn out ears could hear a big difference in the sound quality of the vinyl and today’s digital formats.  As the night wore on Tristan and friends turned into zombies.  I got the photo of the pink Sandias after we dropped off Tristan’s birthday present late this afternoon.

More Fall Colors

Timothy Price2 Comments

Fall colors are in — even the neighbor’s horse was sporting fall colors backlit by the low afternoon sun. Since I don’t have the time or energy to climb the face of the Sandias to get a closer look at the aspens putting on their yellow, I used my 600 mm lens to get a a little closer view of them by stitching seven vertical images together.  Stretch has improved so much over the past couple of weeks, that we gave him a day off from waterboarding today. He was out contemplating French and “Intelligent Life” this afternoon — a jumping spider was hanging out with him.  The last photo is a panorama of the Sandias using a 100 mm lens (2 vertical photos stitched together).