Friday, August 24, 2012

desert evening...

It's been a good-and-wet monsoon season in Tucson so far...Last night was a break in the rain, so my wife and I went for a walk near Sabino Canyon--good to see the desert slopes so green, with water gushing out of the Santa Catalina Mountains... 

A few iphone-shots from last night:

...surveying the trails into Sabino Canyon...


...road to Bear Canyon, flooded...


...late summer wildflowers popping up...

...lots of grass shooting up among the prickly pear...

...an evening ride...

 ...a lone rain shower off to the south:

Really--I did not overly tweak the color in this shot;
I did play with 'ambiance' and 'drama' in order to 
brighten the foreground,
but the otherworldly clouds are REAL:

...sunset path...

Friday, August 17, 2012

a couple of Friday links, and a few NM scenes

Some recent news about Snapseed...

and then a video tutorial by the same iPhotographer, Justin Balog:



...and his website has lots of cool stuff...

===========================
--and a photo I snapseeded,
from last summer in Korea;
the folks at AFAR.com liked it--
it was a runner-up in their recent Catch!Eat contest.
Below is a link to the highlight:
"Last minute postcards...and NOODLES!"

===================================


I spent a few days in New Mexico right before the school-year began a couple of weeks ago--my first time to Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos...A very full short trip, involving eating copious amounts of red and green chile, trail running along the Rio Grande, and admiring adobe architecture...Here are a few scenes, all iPhone shots that have been snapseeded

 --just over the border from AZ into NW New Mexico--approaching the Zuni Pueblo...

--wildflowers near Enchanted Mesa, near the Acoma Pueblo...

--the iconic adobe church of San Francisco de Asis, in Ranchos de Taos... 

--bridge above the Rio Grande Gorge; 800 ft above the river... 

 --Taos Pueblo and Taos Mountain, under a threatening monsoon sky...

--19th c. French Romanesque Cathedral in Santa Fe; the steeples were never built...


Wednesday, August 1, 2012

From Sokcho to Santa Fe: a winner and a runner-up

My summer break is over. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, day one of the new school-year with my students...

So, briefly, two snapseeded iPhone photos for tonight.

The first one just won (!) one round of AFAR travel magazine's "Catch" contest;
a scene of a meal from last summer, in Sokcho, Korea:



And the one below was a runner-up--from Santa Fe last week:




I continue to be amazed at the possibility of discreet restaurant-shots with the iPhone...


To work!