Touch the wind...

needs minor tuneup?

2012-01-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

Remember back when tires were made in the cotton belt? Frayed not.

1939 Chevy Sedan Bus, slighty used

2012-01-23T19:15:00.000-07:00

This 1939 Chevy Sedan was on display at last weekend's Dillinger Days.

Jets? Nope, those window pods are actually car coolers -- evaporative coolers for the car.

Dillinger Days

2012-01-22T22:18:00.002-07:00

Here are a few pics I took Saturday in downtown Tucson at "Dillinger Days", a fun event commemorating of a bit of Tucson's history -- the capture of John Dillinger and his gang in 1934. The days activities included reenactments by performers in vintage clothing, music, and a lot of classic cars from that general time.

This trio sounded great! Some of the best saw music I've seen.

Hood ornaments are always cool. Kind of wish we had them today...

Still to be posted, a few pictures of two vehicles at the event that were not in such excellent condition, but had a wonderful character.

[New to me: (#9) attended Tucson's Dillinger Days for the first time, (#10) ate at Maynard's Kitchen for the first time -- nice meal.]

UofA Crit bike race

2012-01-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

Early saturday morning I went down to the UofA campus to take a few pictures of bicycle races being held as part of the UofA Crit race. The sun was just beginning to rise when the first race started, so lighting was a bit challenging. But I had fun trying to get used to new camera features and the challenges that come with trying to capture fast moving objects -- learned a lot, including that I have a lot to learn about bike race photography, especially in lowish light!

Before I could enjoy the benefits of shooting in full sunlight, it was time to head off to breakfast and get ready to go downtown to Tucson's "Dillinger Days" -- pics of that event soon to be posted.

[New to me #8, photographed a bike race.]

Speaking of the UofA... For any of my Tucson area blog readers, the University of Arizona College of Science holds a free public lecture series every year, each year on a different subject. I've attended the last couple of years and found the lectures to be outstanding. This year's public lecture series of 6 lectures will address the science and related issues of aging: "Living Beyond 100". The lectures are held on Tuesday evenings at 7pm in Centennial Hall, beginning January 24th (this Tuesday).

A word to the wise, these lectures are quite popular and have run out of space at times in the past, so if you go be sure to show up earlier than you think necessary. Doors open at 6:30ish and its not unusual for there to be a large crowd gathered already waiting.

For more information, go to: http://cos.arizona.edu/beyond/

Ring-necked Duck

2012-01-07T14:49:00.000-07:00

1/7/2012 Ring-necked Duck, 1/250, f5.6

I wandered over to Agua Caliente Park in NE Tucson this morning to start the long process of getting acquainted with my new Canon 7d camera. I don't have much telephoto reach with my current zoom lens, so I had to concentrate on some relatively close by birds. Nice morning out -- brought back memories of when I used to go birding out here quite often.

I'll still be taking a lot of pictures with my Canon G12 compact fixed lens camera that I've shot many of my past blog pictures with -- its a very convenient to carry camera with full manual controls when desired. However the G12 has weak spots when it comes to situations where I need to shoot in low light without flash, and/or need faster focus, and/or want more creative control.

That's where my new 7d comes into the mix: larger sensor, faster, better low light performance, more control over settings, ability to swap lenses. That all comes at the expense of a bulkier and much heavier camera, which is somewhat offset by having a much lighter wallet.

Many, many years ago, I used to shoot with a film SLR camera and then shifted to compact cameras when I found I would often not have my camera with me due to size/weight and found that smaller cameras could easily do 90% of the shots I wanted to do for photo albums, web, email. But I've been feeling the itch for a couple of years to make the jump again... Its simply amazing how photographic technology is growing by leaps and bounds. And no such thing as a perfect camera either... Comparing my iPhone camera, my compact G12, and now the 7d, each has strengths over the others.

And so much of taking a good photo has to do more with setting up the shot than the camera -- for example, its amazing how good the photos coming out of Kodak box cameras were (anyone remember threading 120 or 220 film across the back of a box camera, winding by hand until the exposure number on the backing showed through the rear window?).

I sometimes miss the smell of film. But I sure don't miss the cost of film or processing film. It makes me think that it could be a good exercise to go out occasionally with a self imposed limit of a 12 or 24 or 36 exposure "roll" -- allowing myself only that many shots total, no "do overs", focus on setup.

But equipment helps, and since equipment is getting so complex, it should provide a creative challenge too? Right? Ok, we'll see...

[new to me: started shooting pictures with a digital SLR (#7), first time owning or using one other than occasionally pressing the shutter button on friend's cameras.]

2012

2012-01-05T22:03:00.001-07:00

Canon G12, iso 160, 1/10, f3.5

I'd like to wish all my blog readers a belated Happy New Year and best wishes for good health and happiness in the new year!

While visiting friends over the holidays I was able to attend Boston's First Night celebration New Year's Eve -- had a great time wandering town catching some great concerts and seeing some of the large carved ice sculptures like the one above. I was really impressed with how well the MBTA subway system was working that night with the crowds -- we caught a total of 9 different subway connectons during the evening as we moved between events.

So, what to expect my blog for 2012?

more photos, possibly taking it up a notch with some recent additions to my camera equipment
more posts concerning "new to me" experiences - I did this a few years ago and found it very fulfilling to seek out new things -- found some favorite things I wouldn't have found otherwise. Counting and tracking these things is a good way to encourage me to keep my eyes open for more, sorry if some of them aren't particularly interesting at times.
links to other interesting blog posts elsewhere that I may run into from time to time
more text, as time allows, to flush out experiences and thoughts

[new to me: attended Boston First Night #1, including an outstanding Pipe Organ Concert in Old South Church #2, First Night Procession parade #3, Parkington Sisters #4 and Mavis Staples #5 concerts at Symphony Hall, Fireworks over Boston Harbor #6 ]

CocaCola flower

2011-12-19T19:32:00.000-07:00

So this shot was completely unexpected... I was just finishing off a plastic bottle of Coke today and thought: "hey, my iPhone's camera lens is so small it could take a picture of inside the bottle". I clicked off the above shot of the last ounce of Coke sitting in the molded bottom of the bottle. No effects applied. I really like it.

flower trash can

2011-12-14T07:05:00.000-07:00

keeping with the bike gear theme, a sidewalk trash can on 4th Avenue

heavy metal -- surfing saguaros

2011-12-11T22:51:00.000-07:00

I shot this picture at the 4th Avenue Street Fair of a rather cool shadow cast on the canvas wall by another vendor's metal art displayed in the next booth. The actual metal art in the next booth was made from horseshoes (saguaro) and various sprockets, disc brakes, and bike chains (surf board).

four off the wall faces

2011-12-10T23:52:00.000-07:00

Wall mural in the patio area of Mr Heads on 4th Ave.

BICAS Bicycle Art Auction 2011

2011-12-05T22:06:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of the many items that were up for silent auction last Sunday night at this year's BICAS bicycle art auction. This annual fundraiser features art that either represents some bicycle theme or is made using one or more bicycle parts. Some incredible creativity here. Look closely at the dog sculpture above and you will see many different bicycle parts.

[Note: All of the pictures in today's post are taken with my iPhone 4s -- I was curious how it would perform in available light at night]

large flower pedal

owl make of bent and flattened tire rims, sprockets, and other parts

knitted wrapped tricycle

robot coin bank

now this was cool -- a ray gun made of bicycle hubs, brake lever and a bike bell -- pull the trigger and it made a nice bell sound.

framed in a bicycle rim, this face was made of many strips of colored paper

Christmas Flamingos

2011-12-04T12:49:00.000-07:00

Spotted these two flamingos standing outside Mesquite Valley Growers this morning, dressed for tonight's freeze. Nice hats, much nicer than the long cone hats seen in the past on flamingo duncers.

routing electrons

2011-11-20T20:02:00.000-07:00

These very large conduits are part of the overhead electrical feeds for a new HPC datacenter at the UofA. The electricians did a incredible job of bending and routing all these conduits.

2011 All Souls Procession (Tucson) videos

2011-11-12T10:38:00.001-07:00

I only took still photos of the All Souls Procession for my blog this year, so I went looking on YouTube to find a couple of videos to share more of the look and feel of this great event.

Here is a great video by T. Stone of the 2011 All Souls Procession that includes some great shots of finale firedancers:

This is another person's short video of the portion of the finale where the urn (people placed remembrance notes/messages in it earlier as it was pulled along the Procession route) is lit on fire. This year there were three aerialists suspended from the crane including a silk performance artist.

And a more distant video of the urn lighting by Johnnyangelb that shows the height of the crane:

2011 All Souls Procession

2011-11-10T22:50:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed participating in this year's All Souls Procession held Sunday night in downtown Tucson -- such a cool event! I look forward to it every year as one of my favorite Tucson events. Here are a few pictures I took during this year's Procession. The couple above really out did themselves -- great look!

These guys sounded great!

Part of the pyrotechnic theatrical show during the finale at the end of the Procession

I was surprised to find after the fact that there is a ghost-like person behind a veil to her left.

Slideshow of my full set of pics from the 2011 All Souls Procession

To view my All Souls Procession posts for previous years, click on the All Souls Procession label below (and keep hitting older posts until you run out posts on the topic).

Did any of you attend this year? How did you like it?

Oxideyes looking at you

2011-10-18T03:00:00.001-07:00

[Tohono Chul Park, September 14th, 2011]

Tohono Chul Park animal sculptures

2011-10-15T10:48:00.002-07:00

[September 14th, 2011]

These are two full size animal sculptures by Kioko Mwitiki on the grounds of Tohono Chul Park in Tucson. Kioko is a metal sculptor from Kenya who works with recycled metal.

steel balancing

2011-10-05T03:00:00.004-07:00

Metal Arts Village sculpture (taken 9/12/11)

metal drawing

2011-10-03T20:47:00.000-07:00

Metal Arts Village sculpture

Portland Art Museum 5/5

2011-09-08T21:06:00.000-07:00

An outstanding multi-floor wall display of art and shadows. Lots of interesting shapes casting interesting shadows. I really liked it -- great concept!

great shapes & details -- very cool to view & study from different distances & angles

Looking down the wall...

[it really is looking down the wall, but to me my picture looks like a ceiling shot]

Looking up the wall...

Well, that wraps up my pics from a day in Portland and a week in Oregon back in August, 2011. All in all it was a great time: visiting friends and relaxing along the coast, driving the Gorge, spending a day in Portland, listening to some great music at the Pickathon, and taking a few pics along the way.

[Links: A blog I've been following for a while is Semi-True Tales Of Our Life On The Road which provides a really nice armchair experience of Odel & Laurie's RV travels -- great pictures, great ideas of places worth visiting someday. Laurie's latest post has some excellent Mt. Rainier pictures.]

Portland Art Museum 4/5

2011-09-04T08:52:00.000-07:00

Portland Art Museum 3/5

2011-09-03T04:00:00.000-07:00

a raven mask/headdress that can transform into a sun face

talon ankle wraps

a mask perhaps intended to be worn by one with laryngitis to convey their sense of hoarseness?

Portland Art Museum 2/5

2011-09-01T03:00:00.002-07:00

1937 Dubonnet Hispano-Suiz H-6C "Xenia"

Note how the doors open backwards on this car. Incredible curves / engine grill. The curved glass panoramic windshield design was apparently not used again until GM started using curved glass in the 1950's.

1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster

About 400 540Ks were produced, but only twenty-six Special Roadsters were completed before the war halted production.

1931 Duesenberg SJ Convertible Sedan

Built by the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Company in Auburn, Indiana. The Duesenberg was the fastest American production car until the Chrysler 300 series in the mid-1950s.

1939 Talbot-Lago T-150-C-SS

1933 Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow

The Pierce-Arrow was the choice of wealthy owners and rivaled Packard for prestige. It pioneered the extensive use of aluminum and was the first automaker to feature hydraulic valve operation. This car is one of three survivors.

A very appropriate hood ornament for a 1933 Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow automobile

OK, well that's it for my car pics of the "Allure of the Automobile" exhibit at the Portland Art Museum, next up... "normal" museum stuff!

Portland Art Museum 1/5

2011-08-31T01:10:00.001-07:00

Cruising on over to the Portland Art Museum I found that they had a special exhibition full of vintage cars called "The Allure of the Automobile". Certainly there have been many cars made in the past which easily qualify as art, perhaps less so these days. Starting with my picture above, a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta.

1953 Porsche 550 Prototype

1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SLR

1957 Jaguar XK-SS Roadster ($7,500 in 1957)

1954 Plymouth Explorer Sports Coupe
wow, what a beauty!

1959 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray

1948 Tucker Model 48 Torpedo

I have many more pictures from the Portland Art Museum to post. I really like this museum and appreciate their camera friendly policies (non-commercial, no flashes, no tripods, no monopods). Well worth a visit if you are in the area. [The automobile exhibit runs through September 11th, 2011].

Keller Fountain Park, Portland Oregon

2011-08-30T06:00:00.004-07:00

The Keller Fountain design was inspired from waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge.

Portland sure has some beautiful city parks!

Galloping through Portland in a day

2011-08-29T07:00:00.006-07:00

OK, so I'm still catching up on vacation pictures... On my recent Oregon trip I had only given myself one day in downtown Portland -- goal this time, visit PAM (Portland Art Museum) and walk around town seeking out some of Portland's street art (I really liked the bronze horses above galloping through the streets).

I left my car at the TriMet MAX parking garage in Clackamas and took the Green Line light rail train from there into downtown Portland. Free Parking + $4.75 for a 1-day pass good on all light rail, street car, buses. No parking hassles. Gotta love good public transportation!

Cool beaver sculptures cooling off in an urban fountain

The fountain next to the visitor center in Pioneer Square. At midday I came back here, bought lunch from a food cart and sat on the steps watching the world go by... Plenty of other people doing likewise.

but its not raining today...

These giant umbrellas must be nice on rainy days. I spent a week in Oregon this trip and didn't get rained on once -- that's a first for me.

A giant sculpture across the street from Powell's Books.

I had a great time walking all over town, and took a lot of pictures at the PAM which had an impressive special exhibit of vintage cars and lots of impressive art in their collection. Also on my Portland 1sts, I found the incredible Keller Fountain (not the one pictured above). I'll be posting these pictures in my next four posts.

Every time I visit Portland I get more impressed by it. Quite favorably. Portland seems to have a really nice vibe to it.

Columbia River Gorge Waterfalls

2011-08-28T08:44:00.002-07:00

[August 3, 2011; Multnomah Falls]

On my recent Oregon trip I took a day to drive up the Columbia River Gorge, something I had been wanting to do for years. I was a little concerned that perhaps the waterfalls wouldn't be running too strong since it was August and it had been sunny my whole trip, but I wasn't disappointed, they were still incredible. The above picture is of the lower drop of Multnomah Falls (69 feet).

The lower drop of Multnomah Falls from a different angle.

Both the upper (542 feet) and lower (69 feet) drops of Multnomah Falls. If you look closely, you will see two people standing on the trail bridge that crosses over the lower falls.

From the trail bridge looking down the lower drop

the upper drop -- ok, there were a lot of drops... ;-)

I really liked this waterfall, Horsetail Falls, it was a very pleasant spot to stop and have lunch.

I only had one day in my schedule for the Columbia River Gorge area and had really hoped to be able to get out for long hike, but things didn't line up. I hope to have time to do a hike on my next visit -- I'd really like to get up to Tunnel Falls sometime.

I was lucky to be able to visit this area on a weekday, it wasn't crowded at all when I was there -- but from what I understand these easy to get to roadside falls can get pretty overrun with people some days.

looking in, looking out

2011-08-21T14:07:00.002-07:00

[July 30th, 2011, Newport, Oregon]

Spotted this old fountain next to a business while wandering around the Newport, Oregon area. I like it, it has a definite other-worldly alien look to it...

[I changed the settings on my blog's comment section, so if anyone was having issues posting comments (I was) it may work better for you now.]

Cape Foulweather, Oregon

2011-08-19T21:11:00.002-07:00

I took this picture of the Cape Foulweather area while visiting good friends who live along the coast. So beautiful up there, and visiting from the desert I certainly enjoy all the water and GREEN everywhere.

My blog readers (still out there?) may notice that I'm trying a new template as well as larger picture images. Might take a bit longer to load the pages, but I kind of like using the screen real estate and the pictures look better without having to explicitly click on them to enlarge them.

Good, bad, indifferent? Please leave a comment if problems/issues with the new layout. Thanks!

Pickathon 2011 in Happy Valley, Oregon

2011-08-14T19:47:00.003-07:00

I was lucky enough to be able to attend two days of the Pickathon Music Festival earlier this month. It is held on a large farm in Happy Valley, Oregon. Three days, five stages, great setting, great music, mostly outdoors, folk, blues, soul, bluegrass, and more. Family-friendly. Eco-friendly. Good times. The Woodlands Stage was my favorite stage area, it was very cool to listen to music in a forest setting like this.

part the audience at the Woodlands Stage

They had lots of food vendors, including this vendor making off the grid smoothies with a foot powered blender.

There were two smaller inside stages, including the Workshop Barn above. A lot of the bands performed more than once, playing at a different stage each time.

The main stage area had these really cool canopies flying high overhead that provided intermittent shade with the passing sun. At nightfall, the color effects would get turned on and really make some amazing colors on the overhead canopies.

A lot of people camp at the festival, some come for the day, and some like me shuttled back and forth to nearby motels. Best experience would certainly be to camp on the farm, especially since performance run all day and well past midnight.

A group of traffic control volunteers gather to handle a "traffic jam"

Horses running through one of the camping areas

One of the two drinking water trucks -- lots of faucets along the side of the truck as well as the extension pipe at the back. Pickathon tries very hard to be very Eco-friendly for a large outdoor music festival. The don't allow anyone to sell disposable water bottles, rather you bring your own water bottle with you and refill it as necessary for free at one of the water trucks.

For food, you have the choice of bringing your own plate and utensils, and washing them yourself OR you can buy a token for $10. With the token method, when you buy food from a vendor, you give the vendor your token and they put your food in a reusable plate/bowl/container and give you a reusable utensil. Once you've eaten, you visit one of the recycling areas, and then turn in your dirty plate/bowl/container/utensil and they give you a token back for your next use. At the end of the festival you can keep your reusable plate/utensil, or turn the token back in for a $5 refund. Worked great!

A night view looking toward the main stage with lit canopies above the crowd. All in all a great event with no hassles other than an unreliable/unpredictable shuttle from my motel (Day's Inn). Next time I'll hopefully have time to camp and if not, then come up with a foolproof shuttle option that can handle late night runs so as to enjoy the late night sets. I thought the organizers did a great job, and the attendees were clearly a nice set of folks too -- didn't see any significant issues for such a large event.

Here's my full set of Pickathon pictures over on Flickr if you want to see more (press slideshow).

keeping watch

2011-08-14T11:37:00.001-07:00

I just got back from a fun trip up to Oregon -- visiting friends on the coast, wandering around, relaxing, and attending the very cool Pickathon Music Festival. Lots of pics to share once I get dug out back here in Tucson. The above sculpture (click for better view) was keeping watch over a parking lot in Newport, OR.

Home of the Flamingo Burger

2011-07-08T07:54:00.004-07:00

spotted on the side of the Sunny Daze Cafe on S. Campbell Ave,

I haven't actually eaten there, so no opinion other than its a nice Flamingo mural...

Score?

2011-07-02T14:40:00.001-07:00

6th Street was closed today as work continues on the massive infrastructure being built to support the UofA's new 7 million dollar, 5356 sq ft, video screen being installed at the football stadium's south end zone. The screen will be over 6 times the size of the existing video screen in the north end zone and will be the largest video screen in the new Pacific 12 Conference.

When completed, it will be the third largest video screen in NCAA College football.

Over recent years it seems like more and more "live" events are putting up large screens so that attendees can see things as well as home viewers, plus be able to screen commercials at the event. Now is it just me or...?

Escaramunzas at El Dia de San Juan

2011-06-25T12:51:00.004-07:00

One of the team members of Florecitas del Desierto, a local escaramuzas team (women’s precision side saddle horse riding group) that performed at last night's El Dia de San Juan festival. I like the way this picture turned out; I had to keep moving with the horse to try to capture part of downtown Tucson in the background. Click on the pic to check out her hat.

Links: Here are several videos that I found on the internet that show other teams in other places to give you an example of what this style of riding / competition is like:

missing symmetree

2011-06-22T19:21:00.001-07:00

a peer amid building reflections

2011-06-19T13:25:00.000-07:00

The "upside down pyramid" in east Tucson has housed a number of different banks over the years since being constructed in the late 70's for Western Savings and Loan.

The angled mirrored glass gives lots of different perspectives that vary with position.

looking up at the building captures me in the parking lot -- hard to do that with most building designs

I remember when there was grass being reflected off the bank, but they have since shifted to a low water usage landscape. There sure would be a lot of things one could do as short term displays / art to take advantage of the angled reflection as seen by passing cars.

on the left, cars headed north on Wilmot; on the right, part of Speedway headed west

outstanding in the alley

2011-06-16T19:49:00.000-07:00

This is a really cool mural painted along an alley wall in central Tucson. Click on pics for larger views...

Lots of great elements on this mural, gotta love the all the creatures. What's your favorite creature in this wall mural?

Ted DeGrazia's Gallery in the Sun from the ground

2011-06-11T17:46:00.000-07:00

My longtime blog visitors know that I really like the Ted DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun, a free art gallery found in north Tucson. On a visit this morning, just to try something different, I took all the pictures for this blog post from the ground. The picture above shows three of the many rooms in the gallery with a bench in the furthest room.

here is the back room with the bench on the left that was shown in the first picture

Looking up at one of the many fireplaces, interesting wall textures on the left and right.

a skull resting in another fireplace

still on the ground, now out in the courtyard area

this lizard was exceptionally patient while I took several pictures

you have to be careful not to get stuck by sharp horns found on many desert plants

Outside in the little chapel -- ceiling on top, wall mural, adobe wall

Angels flying around a corner area in the memorial area of the chapel

a tall agave stalk seems to check out a figure on top of a stone sculpture

For some of my past pictures of this gallery taken from a normal height, click here and also here. If you ever find yourself in the area (Tucson, AZ, 6300 N. Swan), its well worth the visit.

Happy Rooster murals

2011-06-09T20:49:00.000-07:00

Murals on the front of the Happy Rooster Cafe on South Sarnoff Drive.

spotted owl

2011-06-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I drove past this telephone pole on Cortaro Farms Road. Needless to say, I had to pull a U turn to go back and check it out.

Its kind of unusual to see an owl perched on a telephone pole in the middle of the day, let alone canvasing the area like this. Nicely done!

It certainly makes for a distinctive marker for this side dirt road.

warehouse mural

2011-05-31T19:44:00.000-07:00

While stopping by Roma Imports Italian Grocery and Deli today I spotted this cool mural on a warehouse across the street. First visit for me to Roma's -- I've heard a number of people rave about their handmade frozen oven ready meals and finally decided to stop by to pick up a few things to try out.

one o'clock shadow

2011-05-21T17:54:00.003-07:00

I drove past this large vertical sundial in Oro Valley at one o'clock today. Those are the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson in the background, which top out a little above 9000 ft elevation and have a nice pine forest on top.

More information and pictures of this 20+ ft tall, 5 ton sundial can be found at the North American Sundial Society.

Cast steel shadows

2011-05-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

While out trimming sharp spiny branches (ouch) in my yard this morning I took a few pictures of shadows cast by an abstract windmill. The top rotates, which made it easy to set up the long "tail" shadow cast above.

Tucson Folk Festival (2011)

2011-05-03T22:08:00.000-07:00

This year's festival shirt design for the 26th annual Tucson Folk Festival -- southwestern flair with musical instrument clouds floating past, very cool. Last weekend's free event downtown featured two full days of folk music on four different stages. Here are a few pics of my weekend wanderings...

Karen Mal from Austin, Texas blends Irish and Appalachian styles into contemporary folk music.

I suspected that this guy thought there was a blues festival downtown, but after I posted the picture on facebook a friend identified him as a local librarian. This really surprised me, since most of the librarians I've seen are, well, red.

The available chairs migrated throughout the day seeking out shade such as this at the Courtyard Stage.

Tom Adler & Aimee Hoyt from New Mexico with Laura Leach on upright bass and Dave Devlin on mandolin. Plaza Stage.

Bright & Childers at the Courtyard Stage.

Hank Childers sang a great song about washing machines at Princeton.

The Agave Brothers threw down a great set. I couldn't find any CDs for them.

Sometimes you just can't get the right angle with your own camera... That's when it pays to look for other cameras to bounce off of such as zooming in on this tripod mounted camera about 15 feet away from me. Much nicer camera than I use!

I really enjoyed listening to Púca -- Tucson based Claire Zucker and Dave Firestine featuring mandolin, Irish drumming, clogging. Claire has an amazing voice and expression and sang an outstanding Irish folksong worthy of a standing ovation. I'll definitely keep my eyes open for their performances.

Michael McGarrah started out the day Sunday morning at the Courtyard Stage with some great tunes and lyrics.

Arizona Balalaika Orchestra at the Museum Stage playing native Slavic instruments. They played an amazing version of the theme from Doctor Zhivago, one of my favorite movies.

Happy dog, Sleepy dog.

A true bird's eye view from a spectator's shoulder listening to Nowhere Man & Whiskey Girl from Bisbee, AZ. Seems like the bird needs glasses? Quite a few people had dogs with them, this guy with a bird, and one guy actually had a house cat on a lease of all things.

A better bird's eye view of the Courtyard Stage area and folks listening to Nowhere Man & Whiskey Girl. I really liked this group and bought one of their CDs.

Dana Hubbard had two other musicians sit in with him for his set, including Karen Mal who was catching the last rays of a setting sun at the Museum Stage. His web site has some great audio samples.

The Tucson Folk Festival is a great annual event put on by the Tucson Kitchen Musicians Association. Well worth checking out next year if you're in the area.

gateway to the setting sun

2011-05-03T07:53:00.000-07:00

As I was leaving the Tucson Folk Festival Sunday evening, I walked by a house with this beautiful glass and metal yard gate. The glass was illuminated by the faint twilight remaining after sunset. Impressive, functional, artwork!

[I wish I had a tripod with me, it was pretty low light for a handheld small lens point and shoot]

Where's your horse?

2011-04-30T23:16:00.000-07:00

spotted in front of the Tucson Museum of Art today

Mesquite Valley Growers Nursery Creatures

2011-04-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

These are a few of the creatures I saw among the pots last Saturday while out shopping for a plants at a local nursery.

Spring Plant Cell - Tower Palm

2011-04-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

a new cell phone tower sprouted along Speedway Blvd recently

ready to support "fronds and family" calling plans?

Speaking of cellular mutations, here is a link to a photo of four cell phone towers disguised as large saguaros that I took back in 2009.

1 Horse VW

2011-04-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

"Heart and Steel" by George Manus, grazing in the courtyard next to the Medicine Man Gallery this afternoon. This horse sculpture is made out of various chrome objects, including hubcaps from a VW.

Its been quite a year so far, but things are finally starting to settle down a bit so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to post to my blog more often now.

[Links: Here's a cool youtube video of a cat and dolphin playing together worth checking out.]

room for reading, reading room

2011-02-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

The incredible reading room at the Boston Public Library

Stata Center for Computer, Information and Intelligence Sciences @ MIT

2011-01-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

Back in December I had the chance to enjoy a nice winter walk around the MIT campus with a friend and finally got to see the very interesting STATA building and take some pictures. Wow! I'm not sure how to describe it, perhaps "a sci-fi building caught in an earthquake warped in a spacial anomaly and conceived in a Dr. Suess book"?

Lots of interesting shapes, angles, reflections

and if you look closely in some windows you'll find looking back out at you... very appropriate for a building right out a sci-fi book...

sunlight reflections off chrome parts of the building

even have some trees scattered about

quite a few other people also gazing up at this building and taking pictures

More info on the STATA Center for Computer, Information and Intelligence Sciences here.

[Links: I've added two more of the blogs that I follow to my favorite blogs sidebar on my blog. Tom Check of Tombo's Blog is off exploring the country again and has posted some excellent pictures of the Canyonlands and Monument Valley. Lisa, a bird and wildlife researcher writes the Got Flycatchers? blog -- well written and interesting.]

BIO5 Institute Building

2011-01-18T20:37:00.000-07:00

BIO5 Institute building at the University of Arizona yesterday evening

University Medical Center lawn memorial for shooting victims

2011-01-17T22:56:00.000-07:00

I took these pictures this evening at the lawn memorial/vigil located outside the entrance to University Medical Center while stopping by to pay my respects. Very touching. My condolences and best wishes to the victims of this senseless mass shooting, their families, our city, our state, and our country.

a horrible day in Tucson and in our country

2011-01-09T13:49:00.000-07:00

I've had to spend the last week up in Prescott dealing with an extremely challenging week after my elderly mother took a bad fall -- dealing with new accommodations, finances, paperwork, and so, so many other challenges and difficult choices. One of most challenging weeks of her and my lives.

Saturday morning I was back in Tucson meeting a glass repairman at my house to have my cracked windshield replaced, he had his truck radio on and asked if I had heard of the shooting in NW Tucson. I hadn't, and we both proceeded to listen to his truck radio for breaking news updates while he worked on my car. I can't fairly describe my emotions at the time: grief, sadness, anger, frustration, pissed off, punched in the stomach, worried -- no words seem to be adequate.

No one deserves this.

Of the 20 people who were shot, the only one I have ever met was Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the apparent primary target. I've listened to her speak at town hall meetings held at IBM where I used to work. She represents my district, and does so fairly and with open ears in a district that contains constituents of both liberal and conservative leanings. One of her trademarks has been holding small meet and greet events such as Saturday's where people actually have time to speak 1:1 with her for a few minutes.

One of the biggest problems in our political system in our country is getting good candidates to run who will try to do what is in the best interest of our country, not just what's in the best interests of their own party. Gabrielle is one of these rare individuals in my opinion. While its far too early to understand the twisted motives of the shooter in this instance, it does make me reflect on the role of portions of the media who make a living stirring a pot of hate between political parties rather than facilitating genuine reasonable political discussion, factual research, and discussion.

Last week I had to visit bankers for family business who had moved to a very nice new office. I remember admiring the building layout and then sitting in a reception area where a flat screen TV was tuned to a station/program where someone was ranting about a politician in a very hateful manner and with unsubstantiated facts. Hateful entertainment presented as news. I almost brought this up when I met with my appointment, what a great facility it was, but that for my own business I could never see doing business there because of how negative their lobby is. Now I wish I did.

I feel that we should all pay increased attention to where we get our information, whether its NBC, BBC, FOX News, CNN, as to whether they are presenting us with information so that WE can make reasonable opinions of our own or whether they are trying to stir our emotions so that we agree with THEIR opinions. And as with so many things, follow the money -- what is their stake in the matter? They are businesses after all.

News outlets and commentators are businesses. Free speech is important, but so is "free hearing". We are consumers. We have a vote. I'd suggest that there is value to turning off or not viewing excitable programs or news that are clearly working on emotion versus factual and civil discussions. If we turn off the program, or don't frequent non-news businesses that present emotion filled hateful programs in the background of their businesses, then we are more likely to see more balanced, thoughtful reporting.

I'll be the first to admit that I've said some unkind things in the past about some politicians that I don't think have my or my country's best interests at heart. Personally, I'm going to work even harder on keeping my perspectives and political discussions based on philosophies, research, and calm factual discussions of difference. I remember my deceased aunt and uncle, who were very religious and had their own strong political beliefs, yet prayed for our elected political leaders and their success in the interests of the country every night regardless of their politics.

The 9 year old girl that was killed, Christina Taylor Green, had been brought to the event to see how our political process works. Tragic. Tragic on so many fronts.

I'm not saying that this tragedy was or was not caused by any organization of particular leanings, I'm saying that this tragedy can serve to make all of reflect on where we may be at or headed if we as a society don't back away from all of the hateful speech we consciously or subconsciously ingest from commentators and programs which do not have our and our country's best interest in mind versus driving up their own ratings, power, and revenue by playing on emotion, fear, and bigotry.

My thoughts and prayers are with all the victims of this senseless act, their families, and our country.

deCordova Sculpture Park & Museum

2010-12-30T20:17:00.000-07:00

I had a great time visiting the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum (Lincoln, MA) with friends this week. Lots of interesting modern art sculptures out playing in the snow like the two headed creature above.

Pine cone people lurking under a tree

yours truly at a forest doorway

one of the more interesting entry booths that I've seen

Winterhaven Fesitval of Lights 2010, Tucson Arizona

2010-12-19T11:53:00.000-07:00

Here's a slideshow of a few pictures I took of house / yard displays at the annual Winterhaven Festival of Lights in Tucson.

I really enjoyed listening to a number of owls hooting in the neighborhood trees just as it was getting dark out. Lots of people walking the neighborhood as well as lots of people on horse drawn wagons.

Midday at the Oasis (exotic bird sanctuary)

2010-12-04T18:14:00.025-07:00

I had the great pleasure of visiting The Oasis Sanctuary today, located near Benson, AZ. The Oasis is a bird sanctuary specializing in providing permanent care and shelter for parrots and other captive exotic birds. Currently the Oasis is home to about 650 exotic birds, mostly parrots. Parrots can often live to be 60 to 80 years old, which means they can outlive their caretakers and need to find new homes. Click pics for bigger images.

In addition to large walk-in fly-in aviaries, there are a lot of birds in smaller cages with fewer birds depending on the bird's history, condition, whether it get along well with others, etc.

one of several large aviaries where parrots can socialize, fly, and get support from the flock. This aviary had a number of African Grey Parrots.

connections

one of the people on our tour gets a picture while our great tour guide fills us in on the history of this particular bird, one that she herself rescued

the vast majority of birds that we saw seemed to really "enjoy" having visitors -- its easy to pick up on their intellect watching how they interact with humans, each other, and different bird species

my theory is that this is what happens when a green parrot flys through a rainbow..

kind of reminds me of a parrot version of a painted bunting that I've seen in the wild

fortunate for them that there are no "Post, No Bills" signs anywhere...

ok, remember the two guys in the balcony of the old Muppets Show? I'm just saying...

hopefully not looking for nuts...

These are two of the parrots that Mark Bittner, featured in the movie "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill", brought here sometime ago to be rescued. That's a great documentary/movie if you ever get a chance to see it. That movie is actually the first time I had ever heard of the Oasis, many years ago.

simply incredible

I was about to take a picture of the middle bird and the other two quickly moved into the picture, no doubt to give me a "field guide" style portrait, front, back, side profiles..

The Oasis Sanctuary is a 501(c)(3) non-profit. Per their brochure: "As a true Sanctuary, The Oasis does not breed, adopt out, sell or trade birds. Once a bird enters the doors of Oasis, they are guaranteed a lifetime of care and compassion. To ensure the safety of as many birds as possible, The Oasis has developed proactive relationships with bona fide Avian adoption programs around the country, who work to find loving and educated homes for unwanted, adoptable birds."

The Oasis Sanctuary provides tours, by appointment only. Remember, the Oasis is an exotic bird rescue / shelter operation, not a zoo. The Oasis survives through donations. They require a minimum of two weeks advance notice to schedule a tour and request a Sanctuary donation of $10.00 per person. Located in the general Benson, AZ area, see their web site for more info.

Its an amazing planet we live on. Wish we humans took better care of it.

...and watch out for that propane tank

2010-11-30T07:15:00.005-07:00

A confusion of signs resting next to a building in Prescott Valley

fun with High Dynamic Range (HDR)

2010-11-28T10:13:00.024-07:00

These are pictures of my first attempts at HDR, or High Dynamic Range, pictures. A short explanation of HDR is:

In situations of high contrast in light, it can be impossible for your camera to properly expose a bright or dark area in one part of the picture without under or over exposing a different part the picture (the camera sensor has a limited dynamic range for a single shot)
HDR addresses this by having you take multiple pictures with different exposures, properly exposing different parts of the picture in different images
The multiple images are then merged later using software which takes the best exposure pieces of each picture and merges them into one image

There are a number of software programs available for processing HDR images, for these pictures I'm trying out a free demo version of Photomatix Light (demo leaves the "Photomatix" watermarks on my pictures you see here, $39 to purchase and get rid of watermarks).

My first photo above is an HDR composite of three separate exposures I took in Sedona, AZ yesterday. The dark sculpture was in the shade, with a much brighter sky and leaves behind it (no flash used).

Here's a better example. This is a foot bridge across Oak Creek at sunset last night. I would not have been able to get the above picture without using HDR -- the sky/redrock cliffs were still in full sun, the bridge in partial light, and the highly shaded creek bed below very dark in comparison.

To illustrate, I've posted my three exposures below which were then merged to make the above picture (remember, these are my very first attempts at this, so with experience this could be done much better).

I took the above picture with the exposure basically set on the distant redrock cliffs. Notice how the dark creek bed is very underexposed.

This this is a 2nd photo, -2 ev, (shorter exposure), resulting in darker sky / cliffs, and even darker creek bed.

and the 3rd exposure was +2 ev (longer exposure) which shows the dark creek bed, but completely washes out the distant bright sky and cliffs. The bridge is also better exposed.

This was a really nice place to experiment with HDR. It turns out to be easier than I thought. Some cameras, including my G12, have an exposure bracketing option which allows you to set the camera to take 3 pictures in a row, one normally exposed, one slightly underexposed, one slightly overexposed. That's what I did for these pictures. But, it is possible to experiment with HDR by just taking multiple pictures with different exposures. The software also helps to align the images from from the multiple pictures.

For best results the pictures should be taken on a tripod.

For my experiments, my first HDR photo of the sculpture was hand-held, the bridge series with the camera sitting on a railing, and the last sculpture (below) with the camera handheld but partly resting on the ground.

My third attempt -- looking up at a very dark sculpture up into a much brighter sky. No fill flash used.

I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I did putting them together. I'm a convert. You will certainly see more pictures (certainly not all) posted over time on my blog where I use HDR techniques. And without demo watermarks on the images (smile). So far, I like what I've seen with this Photomatix software and after a little more research will probably end up buying their Photomatix Light version to get started.

There are a lot of techniques and available resources on the web about HDR techniques. I'm a total newbie and was very pleased with my novice attempts at a first try. Pretty cool stuff!

rustic turkey vulture

2010-11-23T18:27:00.002-07:00

A very large turkey vulture stands in front of The Painted Gecko, a metal arts business on Ft Lowell in Tucson.

piercing blue skies

2010-11-14T09:33:00.014-07:00

I did a double take the first time I saw this tree growing on a building along Speedway Blvd. Quite the sky catcher and very effective at drawing passing eyes to their business. Click pic for more detailed view.

[Links: A number of Tucson area artists participated in an open studio tour event last weekend. I was too busy to visit any studios, but while looking at participant's web sites I discovered a metal artist with some really nice work. Check out some of Adam Homan's sculptures at his website (be sure to click on his pics to get larger images, press his "return" button to see other sculpture groups).]

taking jellyfish to new heights

2010-11-09T21:16:00.002-07:00

One of the many great experiences at the annual All Souls Procession is watching the finale performers. They often use a high lift crane which you may remember me referencing in prior year's blog posts. My low light pictures never do full justice to the height and performances of the suspended aerialists...

MMOS has just posted a VERY COOL daylight rehearsal video shot by Stu Jenks of the aerialists rehearsing for their performance last Sunday night that really captures their movements and how high they are above the ground!

2010 All Souls Procession Pictures, Tucson, AZ

2010-11-08T04:22:00.004-07:00

About 20,000 or so Tucsonans enjoyed great weather for the Annual All Souls Procession in downtown Tucson Sunday night. This is one of my favorite events, lots of people watching, pyrotechnics during the finale event, peaceful, tolerant, diverse, reflective, and non-commercial. Simply amazing! I even painted my face this year, wandered around taking pics, walked in the procession, and enjoyed Flam Chen's acrobatics and fire work during the finale.

Below is a slideshow of many more of my All Souls Procession pictures from last night. To get the largest full screen images, press play, then press the expand button at the bottom right. Enjoy! Leave me a comment if you stop by and were there...

All Souls Procession 2010 Costume Fashion Show

2010-10-29T01:22:00.016-07:00

I had a fun time down at Cafe Passe thursday night watching a show of costumes used in past year's All Souls Procession events. Nicely done! But where's the burlap? Here are a few pics... (click for bigger pics)

Flam Chen is known for their stilts and very unique creative costumes! and fire, of course... but that's for another night.

As part of the event, they had an auction of customized All Souls Procession tee shirts from prior years -- customized is a huge understatement!

Cool band playing afterwards... Bummed that I had to leave before the Mission Creeps played, but it was great to be able to come down here and people watch.

Outside the Little Village on 4th Ave, home to Cafe Passe, and the Bohemia, The Wooden Tooth, and Ventana Galleries.

I was trying out my new G12 camera in low light shooting for the first time. It performed pretty well for a small camera, especially considering that I was juggling a book in one hand while trying to take steady shots and had just thrown down a large coffee since I was going to have to do a little late work for the U tonight. [More (better) pictures of this event by me and others are on flickr, select slideshow at top right]. (more better?!)

One more week until the All Souls Procession -- really looking forward to it! A great Tucson event!

GLOW 2010 in Oracle, AZ

2010-09-25T19:19:00.018-07:00

Here are a few pictures I took Friday night at the annual GLOW event held up in Oracle, AZ. [If my readers can't tell from my lack of recent posts, more work than life lately, Friday started with an on-call phone call at 3:30 AM...]

In spite of the long day, I was able to get out to enjoy the sights and sounds of GLOW under a beautiful full moon. My favorite GLOW art this year was the large installation along the trail of glowing flowers that looked like they were made of legs wearing heels -- very cool!

[click pics for larger images]

A very large metalic spider scaning the ground

Several different bands and performers making tunes around the ranch

I remember this guy with different light than last year.

A flaming forge over in the area where the blacksmiths were hammering out glowing metal

Great turnout, this year's friday night turnout was 800 people. Maybe next year I'll submit some glowing art display of my own. I was hoping to this year, but didn't have the time to build the piece I'm thinking about making.

Marshall Gulch Hike

2010-07-11T20:23:00.009-07:00

ok, so Tucson's hot right now. So I headed up Mt Lemmon (immediately north of Tucson) today for an hours drive that would place me in pine trees and cooler temps for a short hike.

Who said fireworks can't be green? At least that's what these look like to me.

These creatures look like they would be right at home swimming around in the ocean somewhere.

But instead they flutter around the forest...

Totally missed this log on the way up to Marshall Saddle, but got a chuckle out of it on the way back down -- sometimes it pays off to retrace a trail looking the other direction versus doing a one-way loop.

entering the burn zone from the big forest fire a few years back...

This tree looked like it had made an image of the fire as it burnt.

Very interesting burn patterns. I'm guessing that the gaps in the bark had higher amounts of sap oozing out to ignite? Bizarre burn patterns.

The past and the future

the MIM (Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ) 4/4

2010-06-04T07:26:00.006-07:00

I'm wrapping up my pics of The Musical Instrument Museum with this post -- my goal is not to create a catalog of all 10,000 musical instruments on display at The MIM, but to provide a sampling for my readers who can't make it there and to encourage anyone who can to go visit this great new museum in Phoenix.

Wildcat fans anyone? Lute, Lute, Lute, Lute! ;^)

I remember seeing Pat Metheny play a similar, but different, very complex stringed guitar/harp/whatever in a concert some years back -- amazing.

seems like just about the time you finished tuning you would be starting again?

Large tuned chimes, each about 2 inches thick!

yep, 12 ft high, and yet playable! levers on the top left of the body control bars that pull into the strings along the neck as the player stands on the platform.

"The Phoenix" a very slowly rotating bronze sculpture in the courtyard with guitar-like strings coming down from the wings.

the MIM (Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ) 3/4

2010-06-03T06:54:00.007-07:00

Very large vertical and horizontal log slot drums, nicely carved!

ok, my low light pic doesn't do this justice... this was cool - an instrument to be played by four people at once: harp like strings, a vertical neck strings, kalimba like section, and drum section (click pic for better view)

exploded view of a Steinway

one of several harp or harp-like instruments on display

Fender certainly deserves a section in a musical instrument museum

even though a few exhibits were still being developed, it didn't detract from the visit whatsoever... just another good reason to come back again

If you can tune a steel drum...

... you can individually tune a collection of cans as well

another large carved slot drum

the MIM (Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ) 2/4

2010-06-02T06:27:00.006-07:00

R.C. Nakai playing samples of Native American style flute music. I'm sure I may have missed some given the quantity of instruments/exhibits, but I counted a total of three North American style, two chamber flutes with block (bird). Even though there are about 10,000 instruments on display, there are so many different types (and regions) represented that while you are likely to find, say, a hundred different flutes, you are unlikely to find many of the same style of instrument.

Bigfoot is in Africa? Who knew? No wonder we haven't seen him in these parts lately... ;^)

resonate gourds

More pictures of a few of the instruments on display yet to come... By the way, they currently allow photographs in most areas, however no flashes are allowed. I took all the above pictures with my P&S which doesn't have a very large aperture lens for gathering light -- so while the museum is very well lit to the human eye, some of my pictures were taken near the limits of hand held shots for my particular camera.

the MIM (Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ) 1/4

2010-06-01T18:34:00.020-07:00

Two early violins, one muted, one amplified

The MIM, or Musical Instrument Museum, opened on April 24th of this year in Phoenix and I stopped by for a visit last weekend. All I can say is wow! What a great concept, a collection of musical instruments from cultures all across the world.

The musical instruments are organized by country and many of the exhibits have a video showing short clips of the musical instruments being played. You are issued a pair of wireless headphones at the admission desk and as you walk up to an exhibit the audio fades up, and as you walk away it fades down until you enter the range of another exhibit. This let you focus on the exhibit you are looking at without hearing background sounds from other exhibits -- worked great!

The overall museum is 190,000 square feet on two floors (about 70,000 of which is exhibit space). There is also a 299 seat musical theatre where concerts can be scheduled, a cafe, coffee shop, and plenty of space for research, restoration, storage, etc. Overall, a $250 million dollar project driven by the former CEO of Target, Bob Ulrich.

There are currently over 10,000 global musical instruments on display in well lit, friendly spaces. I was especially impressed that they did not hide things behind glass -- the vast majority of instruments are just out of reach, with nothing between you and it, and plenty of security people watching the floors to make sure things don't get touched.

Adult admission is $15. About 30 minutes into what turned into a 4 & 1/2 hour visit, I was already thinking it was well worth it. Ok, ok, I'm an engineer, a musician, enjoy music, culture, and art -- so I reeeaally enjoyed it on many levels.

There is no way my pictures or words can really convey the experience, quality, or quantity of the exhibits. If you live in Arizona, I highly recommend a visit. Its a very well done museum and claims to be the first global Musical Instrument Museum which also makes it perhaps a little more unique than some other fine museums of art or culture.

Remember the incredible scene of hundreds of drummers hitting lit drums at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony? This is one of them. You can see all the LEDs surrounding the center square drum. A video loop showed the drums in use during the ceremony with great audio to the wireless headphones.

An exhibit showing an early Martin Guitar workshop. Don't worry, Fender fans, they were well represented too!

A lot of us have seen or seen pictures of player pianos that played music from a roll of punched hole music. Well this is one of the "master" pianos used to punch those rolls. Since these were kind of backroom hacks, its a kick to see a normal piano adapted to this use by driving screws into it, running wire contacts to drive solenoids, etc.

The large exhibit spaces are broken up nicely, making it easy to move around, but challenging to snap a picture showing how large the overall space is.

I've seen walking cane flutes before, but a violin?!

A harpsichord designed to stay out of the way

I was kind of surprised how many countries have versions of ducted flutes

Lots of instruments that would be art in their own right, even if they hadn't been designed to make beautiful sounds.

I'll post more pictures over the next few days to share some of the visual experience with those of you too far to visit. If you are within visiting range, I really recommend you visit the MIM, its really a great museum. Plan to spend some time there, its very big with tons to see. I'll be back for sure.

The MIM is located in northern Phoenix, just a mile or so east of where highways 101 and 51 cross -- very easy to get to with no major large city hassles regarding traffic, parking, or security.

Here's the press release of the opening with additional background.

whoa, I'm not a cow am I?

2010-03-14T20:08:00.004-07:00

passing by...

2010-02-20T09:34:00.008-07:00

I remember this stainless steel sculpture being at the entrance to the old student union building back when I was a student at the University of Arizona.

The sculpture was relocated to a spot NE of the new student union, in a more interesting setting. Set among plants, it kind of has a "just passing by..." look to it now.

horsing around

2010-02-15T21:05:00.008-07:00

heard of glazed ham?

2010-02-14T21:12:00.003-07:00

A tall mosaic sculpture @ the UofA

2010-02-13T10:58:00.014-07:00

This interesting and eclectic mosaic sculpture can be found north of the University of Arizona Student Union. It really has a lot going on if one stops to really check it out.

Pretty darn tall for a tile oriented sculpture... In the background is one of the University of Arizona's parking garages -- if you look above the garage's top deck, that grid structure is holding a large array of solar photovoltaic panels which produce electricity while also providing some shade for the cars; win-win.

cool tile moon up on top

the base is wrapped with Santa Theresa style tile work with a variety of southwestern themed plant and animal designs similar to those found under the shade ramadas out at Sabino Canyon

nicely done sculpture, I'd say...

Walking in the rain

2010-02-07T19:00:00.010-07:00

We had a very nice overcast and rainy day in Tucson today. I had a morning systems maintenance window this morning and when I finished work I went out for a walk in the rain around the UofA campus. Very refreshing, even the statues were enjoying it.

Ah, refreshing rain!

looking toward the old Steward Observatory building

the Wildcat family was out and about

normally wet fountains, wetter

tables on University Blvd

I walked about 3 miles or so around campus, talking to friends on the phone, snapping an occasional picture, and really enjoying being out in the rain (desert dweller, remember). I stopped for a hot coffee at Cafe Luce which I drank, yep, outside in a light drizzle -- good coffee, first time I've been there. Then back home to do chores, cook, turn the big game on, and get ready for the week. All in all a great day!

American Indian Music Festival @ Casa Grande National Monument

2010-01-31T11:30:00.006-07:00

Yesterday I dropped in on the American Indian Music Festival put on by the National Park Service at Casa Grande National Monument this weekend. Lots of great music in a very laid back environment. They set up about 30 chairs up front for Elders, and then about 150 bales of straw for general seating -- worked out very well.

Travis Terry played a great NAF set...

As did Randy Granger on NAF, vocals, and Hang

and John Bear

River People Basket Dancers

Open-mic stage out in the visitor center parking lot

A good collection of vendors... About 10 different NAF (Native American Flute) style flute makers represented, as well as several artists selling very nice wood carvings, baskets, jewelry.

But too much to do this weekend, I couldn't spend more than a few hours taking in the concerts before I had to head back to Tucson. Great annual event (this was 2nd year), well worth attending if you are in the area.

Primordial Puddle Dreams

2010-01-23T12:07:00.009-07:00

I've aways enjoyed passing by this mural in Tucson. With all the recent rain, I thought it was a good day to stop and reflect on it.

On a separate note, I've begun a new job in a new part of town which should lead to new photo ops as things settle down a bit. Stay tuned...

Christmas time warp

2009-12-28T11:47:00.006-07:00

Wow, this year has gone by both quickly and slowly, if such a thing is possible. Here are a few handheld snaps from Christmas Eve as I drove my mother through the Valley of Lights large scale Christmas light exhibits up in Prescott Valley, AZ.

They had several large drive-through tunnels that were pretty cool. The geek in me wanted to say "engage" in my best Captain Picard Star Trek voice and floor it to watch the lights streak by as I entered warpspeed... but alas...

Apparently the workers had some gripe while building this tunnel, at least it appears they raised some cane while constructing it...

A rather large stage coach streaking by in the dark of night

Lots of traffic on Christmas Eve. To get an idea of the large size of these Christmas light sculptures, check out the size of the flag way down the road as compared to the size of the cars.

A better view, but without scale, as we drove past

ok, this was a completely accidental handheld camera blur that came out pretty cool, adding depth to a large Energizer Bunny display.

Manger scene with a camel at least as big as a very large camel.

Miner's Shack

animated firetruck shooting presents

animated construction of "Merry Christmas"

There were plenty of other cool displays, but hard to get off good camera shots since you aren't allowed to get out of your car and pretty much have to keep your car moving along. They had an ark scene with two giant giraffes that was one of my favorites, but my pics came out too blurry.

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season and will have a safe and happy New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T17:06:00.003-07:00

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving day today! Here are a couple of quick snaps from the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum today, including the very healthy turkey above.

"Now that was a lot of food!"

"man, I really wolf'ed down that meal..."

Tucson Jewish Community Center Sculpture Garden

2009-11-17T15:31:00.015-07:00

"Serenity" by Beth Bloch (2006, Bronze)

I really like this sculpture "Serenity" in the Jewish Community Center's (JCC) sculpture garden! Very impressive! I read in the paper that they had a grand opening of the sculpture garden last weekend, and was very fortunate have the time to be able to drop in for a visit today.

To visit, just go in the main building entrance to the front desk and ask to visit their sculpture garden (which is accessed from the inside). I was really glad I stopped by, a lot of impressive art here. Some are permanent collections, some on loan, and a number that will be there for 10 months and then replaced with others. Well worth the stop! Its free (although I left an unsolicited small donation at the front desk on by way out).

Here are a few photos I took along the way... I haven't included everything that's there so there will be some fresh sights should you get a chance to visit.

"Sharing A Story" by Marie-Pierre Phillpe-Lohezic

"Ellipsoid I" by Gary Slater (2008, Copper & Glass)

waiting to be placed in the garden, nice shadows...

"Freedom Fighter" by Robert I Russin (1990)

"Liza" by Glenna Goodacre (1996, Bronze)

"i am so glad" by Craig LeCroy (2009, pumice stone)

foreground: "Tribe of Zebulun" by Manuel Alvarez (2009, Persian Travertine)

background: "Lyrical Connection" by Moira Geoffrion (1995-98, Broze)

"Grief" by Edward Fleming (2003, Marble)

"Neith" by David Mazza (2005, Steel)

"Ryoken" by Alexander Smith (2008, Steel with Patina & Paint)

and I have to include a few pictures of the massive sculpture at the main entrance to the JCC

lots to reflect on here, very impressive

2009 Tucson All Souls Procession (3/3)

2009-11-11T16:20:00.020-07:00

it seemed like everyone had a camera and was in the picture of someone else...

Drummers in the procession provided a strong and lively beat that added a lot to the procession, especially during times when it moved along slowly.

no doubt representing a pet that was a past family member

please, please tell me this guy doesn't miss Disco! Disco is dead. Disco get down, and stay down.

biting my political commentary tongue, ow!

looking backward at our procession going through the new 4th Ave underpass as we head downtown toward the site of the grand finale

a lot of photo ops looking out at the bystanders watching along the route...

a very photogenic couple

Looking skyward at members of the locale pyrotechnic theatre group Flam Chen performing while dangling from a large construction crane during the grand finale. [unfortunately the conditions of the finale really challenge my capabilities with my handheld point & shoot camera, so not a lot of pics to share here... sorry 'bout that.]

Remember the Urn full of remembrances? Here it is on fire being hosted skyward by a construction crane into the night sky.

I really enjoyed this year's All Souls Procession and can't wait until November 2010 rolls around. I think the non-profit organizers do an incredible job with this event. This is really an amazing event and one that is hard to describe.

[I managed to get some better pictures and a short video of last year's finale which you can find over on my blog here]

2009 Tucson All Souls Procession (2/3)

2009-11-11T15:54:00.012-07:00

Its clear that women have an advantage when it comes to face painting...

A lot of creativity goes into some of the push/pull carts. These two really used their head.

ah, did I mention music? mixed into the crowd were a number of groups playing music such as this young group of mariachis.

every procession needs a chairman and a chairwoman

a number of people carried pictures of dearly departed ones

In memory of the Tucson Citizen, a long-time local evening newspaper that went out of business recently... Note the headline on the last issue of the the paper, another much earlier headline, and of course the coffin being carried...

in memory of "Macho B" a jaguar that died after being accidently captured in a game and fish mountain lion trap. This event stirred a lot of emotions locally since jaguars are very rare here.

2009 Tucson All Souls Procession (1/3)

2009-11-11T15:13:00.018-07:00

What better way to resume blogging after a month off than with a few pics of one of my favorite Tucson events, Sunday night's All Souls Procession? The All Souls Procession is an annual Tucson event inspired by Dia de los Muertos. In recent years it attracts over 20,000 people downtown for a peaceful and non-commercial remembrance of departed loved ones in light hearted and enjoyable way.

Ok, on to the pictures, starting with the clown above -- I guess birthdays do bring us one year closer, don't they?

This year's Urn, where people can place a short note of remembrance about a departed loved one. The Urn will be lit on fire and lifted skyward by a large crane during the grand finale later in the night (post #3 of my series).

Lots of people of all ages starting to gather at the starting area of the All Souls Procession. The Procession is held on a Sunday night and later than Dia de los Muertos to put some distance between the very different, more commercial, gore and party centric Halloween holiday).

There was a fairly large group of Andean instrument playing, colorful, and energetic dancers which we followed for much of the procession.

definitely a people watching people watching people watching people event!

Its never too early to learn how to play the pan-flute!

beatles seem attracted by the crowd for some reason...

a parasol? even with all that sun block? *smile*

not in control of their own destiny...

GLOW, unplugged (3/3)

2009-10-03T10:14:00.006-07:00

While wandering around the GLOW festival looking at all the illuminated art, it was easy to miss some of the year-round art sitting in the dark along the path. Time to turn on my camera's flash and take a few snaps into the surrounding darkness to see what lurks out there. Turns out, some pretty cool stuff...

"found art" / "found junk?", lit by my flashlight, sitting in the dark next to a building

more a GLOW in Oracle (2/3)

2009-10-03T10:02:00.003-07:00

An unfortunate choice of night for this saucer to land and attempt first contact with earthlings. We didn't realize it wasn't part of the GLOW festival until it lifted off and went skyward... No doubt they thought us rude.

A GLOW musician playing fiddle by the light of a headlamp.

These were spinning wheel lamps, "cycle delic"

Looking up into the sky at the ranch windmill. Looked like it was intercepting a night rainbow!