Checker Fiddleneck (Amsinckia tessellata)

I found these somewhat dainty flowers on 04/21/2011 on a hike to the Mt. Potosi area, west of Las Vegas, Nevada. Because it was still fairly early in the morning and it was just barely starting to get some sun, its blossoms were not fully extended.

Description:Checker Fiddleneck (Amsinckia Tessellata) or sometimes called Devil’s Lettuce, is an erect, bristly annual plant can be from 8-24 inches in height. Its stiff leaf hairs have bulbous bases. Its five-parted, 1/3-2/3 inch long flowers are generally yellow (sometimes orange) and sit atop a 2-5 inch coiled stem. the petals of the flower are less and a 1/4 inch wide and the flower tubes are cylindrical. The lobes have white hairs on the margins. It grows in dry sandy or gravelly places up to  6000 feet around creosote bush, sagebrush scrub and joshua tree woodlands. It is most common throughout the Mojave and Sonoran Desert. Its flowering season is from March to May.

Ansel Adams Wannabe Series – B&W Photo No. 03

I encountered this beautiful old ponderosa pine on 03/07/2011 while hiking along the Robber’s Roost Trail off NV State Road 158, also known as Deer Creek Road. Though it certainly appears dead, it was still firmly rooted in the ground stretching towards the heavens – holding on for dear life.

When I took the shot, I was trying to capture a silhouette of its beautiful branches against noontime sky. Unfortunately, the sky was so bright that the tree and branches ended up becoming quite dark and lacking desired detail. However, after ‘punching’ up some of the color channels, converting the shot to a black and white and increasing brightness and sharpness, I was able to bring out more of the detail and texture in its bark and barren branches, yet at the same time providing a nice silhouette.

Ansel Adams Wannabe Series – B&W Photo No. 02

This picture was taken on our first trip to Zion National Park on 08/20/2008. It is but one of a dozen beautiful views that were available from the switchbacks along UT-Route 9 that lead up to the tunnel near the top of  the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway. Ansel Adams, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the Yosemite National Park, is one of my all-time favorite photographers. Following in his tradition, I sometimes find myself trying  to view what a shot will look like in B&W, even before taking the picture. In many photographs, color distracts from the overall effect of the picture; whereas a black and white photo allows one to focus solely on key forms and details that are present within the image. Changing it to black and white tones down the distractions and makes the flowing shapes much more noticeable. Smoke Signals: The use of smoke signals is one of the oldest forms of communication in recorded history going as far back as the Chinese when soldiers stationed along the Great Wall would alert each other of impending enemy attack by signaling from tower to tower. In this way, they were able to transmit a message as far away as 500 miles in just a few hours. The North American Indians also communicated via smoke signal; a kind of Indian telegraphy. Each tribe had their own signaling system and understanding. For the most part the signals or code was pre-arranged between the sender and the receiver. There was no universal code for shapes, frequency or multiples of puffs. A signaler started a fire on an elevation typically using damp grass, which would cause a column of smoke to rise. The grass would be taken off as it dried and another bundle would be placed on the fire. Smoke could be made to curl in spirals, ascend in puffs or circles, even parallel lines. There were a few overall accepted meanings such as three puffs in rapid succession usually indicated danger. Reputedly the location of the smoke along the incline conveyed a meaning. If it came from half way up the hill, this would signify all was well, but from the top of the hill it would signify danger.

As you can tell by viewing the original photo on the right, I first cropped the image to help better concentrate one’s focus onto the two mountain peaks. When I captured this shot, I immediately noticed that the cloud formation just above the main peak resembled what looked like an Indian smoke signal rising from the top of the mountain. To further enhance this effect I cheated just a little by making the cloud more ‘wispy’ and then bringing it down to meet with the top edge of the peak.  Finally, converting it to a black and white and enhancing the contrast not only brought out the detail of the rocky cliffs, but also made the cloud look more like smoke.

Ansel Adams Wannabe Series – B&W Photo No. 01

This picture was taken on our first trip to Zion National Park on 08/20/2008. It is but one of a dozen beautiful views that were available from the switchbacks along UT-Route 9 that lead up to the tunnel near the top of the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway. Ansel Adams, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the Yosemite National Park, is one of my all-time favorite photographers. Following in his tradition, I sometimes find myself trying to view what a shot will look like in B&W, even before taking the picture. In many photographs, color distracts from the overall effect of the picture; whereas a black and white photo allows one to focus solely on key forms and details that are present within the image. Changing it to black and white tones down the distractions and makes the flowing shapes much more noticeable.

Even though the original color photo was quite nice in its own right, I especially like the conversion to B&W. With just a minimum amount of cropping, the enhanced contrast provided by black and whit definitely makes the interesting ‘arch-like’ section of the mountain much more the focus of the show by appearing to to add more detail.

Lava Man – Guardian of the Canyon

I shot the original image for the creation above while on a hiking tour through the lower Antelope (slot) Canyon, located just outside of Page, AZ on 10/08/2009.

I know, I have a wild imagination. The ’alien-like’ image above was created from the photo on the right. When I began playing around with the image, I think it was the section in the rock face that looked somewhat like an ‘eye’ that first caught my attention. First I flipped it. Then I cut it in half, duplicated it and pasted the two halves together. Finally I  enhanced the color and saturation until I arrived at the fiery ‘molten-lava-like’ image above. Click to view more images from Antelope Canyon.