My favorite 33 photos from 2013 (with 36.5 hours to go)

I decided to make a quick pass through my 2013 photos and pick a few personal favorites to share.

This turned out to be an interesting process.  I ended up with 33 images.  These aren't necessarily the best images, just a few personal favorites.

I selected five images from this year's Veteran's Parade.  The five combined make for an interesting and emotional sequence.  

There were several large groups of High School JROTC students marching in the parade.  I couldn't help but look at these young men and women passing by and wonder what their futures will hold, what they will do for our country, what our country will do with them, to them, and for them.  It makes me both proud and concerned in a mixed bag of emotions.

The Future:

The Present:

The Past:

poster carried in the parade -- "Have a great time in heaven.  You were awesome"

I'm proud of our military; less proud, at times, of what conflicts our civilians send them into.

Veterans for Peace marching in the Veteran's Day Parade.

ok, moving right along, trying not to bug anyone...  I really like old fluorescent signs that have survived time, including this one at a pest control company in Tucson.

I didn't do as much birding as I hoped to during 2013.  This is probably my best bird image of the year, a Great Horned Owl leaving it's perch during one of the Free Flight programs that the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum holds.  I like the intent focus of the eyes, it already knows where it is going and what it is going to do.  Check out the talons.   BTW, you can click on any of these pictures (no, not like a porpoise) to see a larger image.

I really like the lighting of this Belly Dancer performing at this year's MoctoberFest.  Great eyes and smile!

A couple and their dog enjoying the day during Cyclovia.  Smiles all around!

"The Messenger" in snow.  One of my favorite sculptures in Tucson.

It is not at all unusual to see architects, landscape architects, and artists have great initial concepts and then trip all over each other in what the passerby sees.  This house in downtown Tucson really blended colors nicely with the outside vegetation.  This is also one of the very nice things about The Messenger sculpture above: clean lines of sight of the sculpture and all the way back to the Santa Catalina Mountains, no utility lines or street lights in the way.

If you hear someone talking about the 'blooming desert" around here, they aren't talking about the heat.  Below, a night blooming cereus that blooms one night a year and looks like a dead stick much of the rest of the time.  Also called "The Queen of the Night".

Not a great technical shot, and no time to retake before the subjects shifted around, but I still like it.  I especially like the Corgi taking a drink out of the cup while folks enjoy violin music at one of the Armory Park PorchFest stops this year.  Adults, kids, musicians, and dogs all enjoying PorchFest -- the way things should be.

Another image from the Armory Park neighborhood PorchFest.  This one reminds me of what a great night that turned into with a very hot day turning into an event-threatening rainstorm which turned out to only show up long enough to cool things off;  the evening of porches and music proceeded spectacularly.  Classic example of the benefits of not letting weather discourage you from attending an event, especially in Tucson.

My night blooming Echinopsis cacti really outdid itself one night.  I captured this image with the patient help of a friend -- I handled the camera while she moved a light at different angles.  I really like the way it turned out.

A fun shot at this year's GLOW festival, a Circus Amperian performer standing on top of a Tesla coil holding an umbrella frame with one tip igniting.

Miss Frankie Stein and James Arr of the Mission Creeps performing downtown.  Always a good show with great music!

Having fun at the Cardboard Ball, where most everyone wore one or more pieces of cardboard.  This was such a fun evening among some very creative folks in Tucson.

This is one of my favorite shots of the year.  This was a quick candid shot during the Cardboard Ball and is just so strange.  What's that bright light come from the left?  Where do all these stairs head to?  Why the barricade?  What's death waiting on?

I took a number of pictures of Tucson Mayer Jonathan Rothschild at events over the year, but this is one of my favorites.  He is holding his hands up in victory after having just used an angle grinder to cut the steel metal ribbon bolted across the entry at Xerocraft's Grand Opening of their new Hackerspace home.  Several Xerocraft members are in the background, rightly pleased with how well their unique ribbon cutting ceremony went off.  The Mayer is a good sport.

Stiltwalkers performing in Armory Park at Dios de la Adrenalina 

This is a small portion of a wonderful long mural in the Dunbar Springs neighborhood.  I like the angle and lighting which conveys a wind blowing out of the shadows...

Performers at the second PorchFest in of the year in Tucson, this time in the Dunbar Springs neighborhood.  I love these informal community neighborhood events that bring people together, out of their own neighborhoods, out of their houses, out of their backyards.

A talented harp player with a great look -- at this year's Procession of Little Angels in Armory Park.

Roaming neighborhoods to celebrate the longest night -- during the Winter Solstice @ LumiNight.

A passerby during LumiNight holding his present, a small lit candle.  This photo could certainly be improved upon technically, but I still like it and what it captures for that evening of giving out small presents to strangers during the Winter Solstice.

The Festive Bike (aka The Loud Bike) which carries a 300 watt sound system and is a very popular addition to many small community events around town.  Seen below with Christmas lights at night during LumiNight.

I acquired the metal sculpture created by Erik Bang during this year's BICAS silent art auction and had a tremendous amount of fun building a temporary "world" for it on my kitchen counter with sand, sky, colors, lighting angles, etc.  I really like the way it came out and its was fun to be doing this in reality, not with Photoshop effects or anything.  I want to do more!  Moving and positioning lighting and angles on inanimate, non-blinking objects gave me a new appreciation of what my wedding/portrait photographer friends must go through with living, moving people.  :-)

And of course, I have to include a few images from Tucson's signature event, the All Souls Procession.  I really liked this trio's look.

as well as this trio -- simple face designs that look incredible

This one, because standing on it's own visual merits alone, it's pretty strange.  In a good way.

All Souls Procession Finale Performers, amazing as always!

. . .

Part of my to-do list for the coming year includes increasing my technical, composition, and photography related people skills in a variety of environments and settings.  

Stay tuned!   And thanks for visiting my blog!  :-)

the eyes of the future...

"Messenger", Speedway Blvd, Tucson, AZ  (2/21/2013)

You may remember my post from last year, "The Raven Rocks".  At the time, I thought it would be cool to try to catch a picture of it in the snow.  This morning the opportunity presented itself following a snow storm on Wednesday night.  

I took this photo after sunrise while waiting for more dramatic lighting that didn't materialize.  I still like the shot though -- shows a little snow on the top of the raven.

The sculpture now has the phrases "The eyes of the future are looking back at us" and "To protect what is wild is to protect what is gentle" written under the wings.  [click picture for larger view]

Wise sayings, don't you think?

There is also now a plaque with info about the sculpture (also see my Raven Rocks link above).  I like the fact that this sculpture was made of salvaged concrete unearthed during the road widening project.

We had snow falling at noon on Wednesday, rather a rare thing in our desert.  Sure our mountains always get snow, but snowfall in any amount that reaches the desert floor is always a pleasant surprise.  It was amazing how many smiles appeared at work as people looked out to witness snowflakes tumbling down.  :-)

the Raven Rocks

9/12/2012, East Speedway Blvd sculptures, Tucson, Arizona

These cool new sculptures are associated with the recent road widening project of East Speedway Blvd between Camino Seco and Houghton on my side of town.  The rock cairns on the left, made of large boulders, were created by artist Simon Donovan and stone carver Will Chamberlain.  The large raven with 19 ft wingspan was created by artist Caryl Clement of Wheat Scharf Associates.

9/12/2012, "Messenger" by Caryl Clement

While I was taking pictures this morning a woman walked up and introduced herself as the artist of the large raven, Caryl Clement.  She just happened to be walking down the sidewalk on her way to work.

Caryl said that the raven sculpture is made out of concrete footings excavated during the road construction project and then shaped by Mark Yaglowski.  Caryl also mentioned that the land right behind the sculptures is city property and in a flood plain so it is likely to maintain a great view of the Santa Catalina mountains behind the sculptures.

9/12/2012, Cairns by Simon Donovan with Will Chamberlain

My picture of the cairns doesn't do justice to their height -- it almost looks like they are the small rocks you see marking trails.   They're not, these are all boulders.  Very cool.

as seen from the road

I really like both sculptures and think they complement each other nicely.  I think its great that our road construction projects put a little of the budget into various diverse forms of public art.  The road project also turned out nicely, two lanes each direction with bike lanes, rubberized asphalt for low noise, sidewalks, and several other nice features for traffic flow and safety.

[Links: The City of Tucson has put together a presentation with some great road art pictures (some Tucson, some not): An Introduction to Public Art in Transportation.]