Contemplating Shadows

Kelly mineshaft detail, Kelly, NM, June 2012

Hollow tree, Magdalena mountains, NM, June 2012

To contemplate is to look at shadows.
-Victor Hugo


Thanks to my cousin Jarrod for this quote; it has inspired some interesting photo explorations recently. Two recent hikes took me into the Magdalena mountains, where the hard summer midday light creates strong contrasts that overpower subtleties of form and tone. But it also creates stark shadows that I've always found compelling. Like most (all? I never did take art history or art appreciation courses in college) visual art forms, photography is about light and form, which means it is also about shadows. Shadows reveal the contours of things, and of the hollows they leave behind. Shadows simplify and reduce, or stretch and distort, revealing the complex interplay between things and light. Shadows hide, conceal, shelter, and also imply the essence of both forms and those who view and interpret them.

Kelly mineshaft detail, Kelly, NM, June 2012

Growth

Cholla, new growth. Magdalena, NM, May 2012.

Nobody around here likes cholla much because it infests grazing ranges and snags too easily onto passing creatures with thorns that dig in and torment and don't let go. It does make pretty flowers and cool skeletons, but dang those thorns hurt. Even so, I couldn't help but feel drawn to this plant this morning; it seems energized by our recent rains and has put out surprisingly beautiful, uncharacteristically tender new growth. This kind of shot wasn't my goal for today; I tried to focus on landscape photography but, you know, it's just not me, and I'm tired of trying to be something I'm not. "Be yourself, do what you love, go with what works for you," I tell my clients. And of all the photos I took today, this is my favorite. So, while I'll keep trying to stretch my vision and skills, I'll stop shushing my gut-level passions and spend more time appreciating the world from my particular (sometimes peculiar) perspective.

Mountain Time

Magdalena Mountains, looking toward Water Canyon, May 2012 (Topaz BW Effects "Opalotype" style)

My new wanna-be theme song, from one of my favorite bluesmen:

You drive west on 80, it won't take too long
Till the road starts climbing up to mountain time
There's a girl I know there, she lives free and easy
And she shows me wonders and she takes my mind

And she's wild as eagles
She's as sweet as honeysuckle
Her life's flowing like a mountain stream
And she takes me somewhere
And it's good to be there
And she pulls me into her bright golden wing

Now I hate the city and I love the country
I love that feeling on that mountain high
And that girl is waiting
But she won't wait too long
So I drive all night to that clear blue sky...
 --Joe Bonamassa, "Mountain Time"

This spring is why they call it Water Canyon...

Well, it's west on 60, I'm hardly a "girl," and I'm definitely not holding my breath for anyone to bother making the long drive up here... but if there's truth to the adage that we take on qualities of our surroundings, I'm happy to be here and to live a life that is wild, sweet, and flowing like a mountain stream...

This morning I loaded up my restless self and my restless dogs and set out for Water Canyon, a perfect hiking spot for a spring day with a forecast of increasing winds. There is so much bright, living green, and cool water just a bit up the canyon, and the dogs happily wallowed in the stream and rambled through the quiet forest. The day started off sunny and clear, then the winds blew in big rolling clouds after lunch (I love lunch on the trail far better than in any restaurant). Even as the winds picked up, the canyon remained serene; this area of the Magdalena Mountains is perfect for windy days and is also perfectly cool on the hottest summer day. What a great way to kick off what will be a busy week in ABQ... and a great visual setting for my new internal soundtrack....

Good Morning

Wildflower in morning light, Magdalena Mountains, May 2012

Any day that starts with a walk in the sunshine and cool, sweet mountain air is already awesome. Now I will garden, catch up on coursework, and hang out with my son who is still recovering from a nasty cold. He sat outside with me yesterday while I divided and replanted some irises, and seemed to be better for the fresh air and sunshine. Enjoy your weekend, however you spend it.

The Sunday Creative: Rock

Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) in rock, Magdalena Mtns., New Mexico, April 2011

This week's Sunday Creative theme is "rock," and I happen to have some nice rock images on hand from my Friday hike in the beautiful Water Canyon area of the Magdalena Mountains. The image above shows a deceptively soft-looking mullein sprouting from a shallow crack in a sheer rock face, illustrating this plant's toughness and adaptability. Mullein grows abundantly throughout New Mexico, even in the poorest of soils and the driest of seasons, and has long been used medicinally for coughs, eczema and other skin conditions, and bacterial infections. It only grows in sunlight, so of course it thrives here. Also growing in this canyon's granite/limestone/volcanic rock walls are claret cup cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus, shown in the photo below), Apache Plume (Fallugia paradoxa, just beginning to leaf out), nonpoisonous sumacs (Rhus trilobata and R. microphylla), junipers and pinon trees, and willows bearing neon spring-green leaves to brighten up the dry brown landscape.



Rock with lichens, claret cup cactus, and grasses, Magdalena Mtns., NM, April 2011



I love how visible rock is out here; the giant, tumbled slabs and boulders and protuberances of this landscape remind me that nothing is permanent, even the very ground we stand and live on.



Willows and sumacs tumbling down a rock slope, Magdalena Mtns., NM, April 2011

Macro Love: Southwestern Spring

Claret cup cactus flower (Echinocereus triglochidiatus), Water Canyon/Magdalena Mtns., NM, April 2011

This week's "I heart macro" post comes from one of three hikes I took this past week -- I'm finally getting out on the trail regularly. We had some seriously brutal winds here yesterday, but even on the windiest days Water Canyon, which winds into the Magdalena Mountains from the east, is quite pleasant. So I packed up my camera, new hiking boots, and Lucydog -- going out on her first hike since surgery! -- and hit the road for some serious hiking. It was wonderful. I turned up into Dark Canyon (at the group campground), which was warm, breezy but not too much so, not at all dusty, and green thanks to the little bit of water that flows through the canyon even in dry La Nina years like the one we're having now. Most of the water flows just under the sandy/rocky creekbed but surfaces here and there, much to Lucy's delight. Thanks to this source the willows are bright neon green and the cacti are in bloom -- I spotted the claret cup pictured above from 100 yards away at least, and had to do a bit of rock climbing to get close enough for a good photo. Lots more photos to come; it will be cold (possibly with snow flurries) through Monday so I'll be inside for a couple of days...

Recovery

Lucydog patiently awaits her water-bearer, near crest of Magdalenas (Oct. 2010)

My sweet Lucydog is recovering well from her leg surgeries and, fingers crossed, will soon be able to hike with me again. Dad and the kids and I have taken her out to the property a few times in the past week, and although she's not ready to chase jackrabbits yet she has been going a bit farther and faster each time we go. I'll take her to the vet in the next week or two for a follow-up X-ray, and assuming she's healing up well we can slowly ease back into hiking. I need to recondition almost as much as she does; I hate hiking alone, and the kids only seem to enjoy it in good weather (sensible, aren't they?), so I haven't gone much at all in the past few months.

Kelly Smithsonite hand-wrapped in sterling silver

As a sort of preview of how my first serious hikes will feel, my first yoga class of the year last week kind of kicked my butt. Yes, we have yoga out here in the hinterlands, thanks to a good friend who periodically holds community classes and is doing a "Spring Cleaning" series for April. The last time I was doing yoga regularly (2009) I gained amazing strength and mobility; everything kind of fell apart last year as Mom got sicker, but I can already feel my strength returning as I start moving and getting back out into the world. I'm so, so happy my big happy dog can come with me again. Maybe I can find more pretty rocks like this stunning piece of Smithsonite with calcite crystals that I wirewrapped for a friend a while back. Happy trails... soon!

A Spring in Springtime

Patterson Canyon Spring (near Magdalena, NM), March 5, 2011 ("Abstraction" filter in Topaz Labs Detail)



Patterson Canyon Spring detail (semi-abstract)



First, a note about the Bead Soup Blog Party: I'm still working my way through the 210 wonderful blogs; the last 10 days have been crazy-busy but this week (after tomorrow) should be a bit better. I want to both see and comment on everything, so if you haven't heard from me, you will soon! God that was fun, and I can't wait to do it again.

I finally got out for my first hike of the year yesterday, a favorite short hike up near a friend's house that was enough to get my heart pumping but not too much to stress my winter-lazy muscles and bones (and slowly recovering immune system). Our weather is up in the 50s and 60s most days, and the sun makes it feel even warmer than that, so as I've been recovering from my never-ending sinus/etc. infection I've been feeling restless to get outside -- a sure sign of both recovery and springtime. The shot above wasn't much on its own, so I put it through my Topaz Labs Detail plug-in for Photoshop and decided to go a different way with their "Abstraction" filter, to give this image a painted feel. This little spring runs all year round, and the new green reeds tell of warmer days and nights even up around 7500 feet. So, although my beloved Lucydog still isn't ready to hike (she needed more surgery, and the healing clock for her is reset to 8+ weeks), I can't resist any longer and so will start reconditioning myself to both the exertion and higher altitudes again. I need to hike. Not when it's cold -- I don't need to do anything that forces me to struggle to stay warm when it's cold outside -- but now, yes, it's time to get back out there, leave my ego-self behind, and live in that place of the moment, whatever it might be called.