From the highest peak in the Tucson Mountains

I've been back in the classroom for a couple of days now...

Last Thursday, though, on a clear cold morning, I went for a hike in the Tucson Mountains. On the western edge of the city, this the lowest mountain range in the area, but from its highest point, Wasson Peak, you get 360-degree views over the entire area: city, wilderness and more peaks on the far horizons.

Water, sunscreen, and iphone...

it's a 7-mile round-trip desert hike with about a two-thousand-foot elevation gain.

(Do NOT do this hike in the summer; there is NO shade...but perfect from late fall through early spring.)

About 2/3 of the way up, this is the view toward the SW,

across the agricultural land of the Tohono O'odham nation,

toward Baboquivari Peak,

the 'navel of the world' in their native cosmology:

No shortage of cholla cactus along the rocky trail...

Here, looking south down the mountain range

toward the distant Santa Rita Mountains.

I played with the 'dark 1' option in the 'drama' filters for the scene above,

then with the black-and-white filter for the version below,

adjusting the white balance in the 'tune image' filter;

I like the imperfection of the flare, shooting

directly into the low sun...

...approaching the summit on the left:

(seven photos fused together with the AutoStitch app)

 Finally, at the peak--4687ft/1429m...

looking off to the NNW toward Picacho Peak...

Not as lofty as the 9000+ ft. peaks in the Santa Catalinas and the Rincons, but still high enough to feel on top of the world...

Below,
--looking NORTH toward the Tortolita Mtns
--looking from the NE to the E toward the Santa Catalina Mtns, across Oro Valley & Tucson
--looking SOUTH down the Tucson Mtns toward the distant Santa Rita Mtns
--looking toward the WEST across the Avra Valley

(made with PicFrame app)

And finally, one more saguaro-studded scene,

using 'tilt-shift' & one of the relatively new 'retrolux' filters:

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Incidentally, in the January NIK software newsletter,

in the "Spotlight on Snapseed" section

THIS blog is featured...

Thanks, NIK!

San Diego...and Autumn on top of the Santa Catalina Mountains

Aquarium, beach, mountaintop;

a few snapseeded scenes from the past couple of weeks...

Some of the underwater faces at the Birch Aquarium in San Diego:

Placing your iPhone right up against aquarium glass and then fixing a focus-zone with your finger,

then waiting for something to swim into view--some fun shots...

In this PicFrame, clockwise from top left:

weedy seadragon, moray eel, a shrimp, and then--can't resist, must say--"found Nemo"

Using AutoStitch, a panorama--watching surfers from Crystal Pier:

...dozens and dozens, calmly waiting...meditative...

Closer to home--up in the Santa Catalina Mountains, just north of Tucson. Drive up high enough this time of year and the scene is more like something you'd imagine in New England--a deciduous forest with autumn foliage at the top of this 'sky island' in the desert...Above 8000 feet there are a few little valleys that come alive with fall color, an unexpected change from the cactus-studded lower slopes:

Driving back down at sunset, about halfway down,

looking out over Thimble Peak and the Tucson mountains beyond...

The other day, after work, decided to go for a trail-run into Bear Canyon,
at the base of the mountains--such a contrast from the evergreen-and-deciduous forest at the top:

About a half-mile in, there's a natural arch up the eastern wall:

Overlooking the entrance of the canyon:

Below, some fun with black-and-white, then warming up the temperature, 

and then playing with the grunge filter:

 And, from just a few hours ago, tonight--moonrise over the Santa Catalinas:

Google just acquired NIK software...and a couple of ColorSplash reflections

Google has just acquired Snapseed. Read more here

So...now Snapseed is to Google as Instagram is to Facebook, it seems...

Interesting to see where this is all going...

A couple of mountain-reflection scenes to post tonight.

I was going through some photos from this past summer on my iPhone; 

thought this scene of Goat Lake in the Central Cascades

would be fun to edit with the ColorSplash app in addition to snapseed:

Below, this is a 'transplanted' scene--taken several years ago at Upper Tipsoo Lake near Mt. Rainier...I e-mailed it to my iPhone in order to play with it using snapseed and ColorSplash as well:

Reflections can be as compelling as what they reflect...like a dream can seem more real than the awakening...

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...