Friday, September 25, 2009

The Art of Going Back


Returning to Arizona to visit my family is always a mixed bag of emotions. Living in Washington State in a small river town there is an abundance of surreal natural beauty. An over population of rich greens & fairytale waterfalls provides a much needed sense of calm. In revisiting where I did a lot of growing up, I do not have such a connection. It is empty to me, as if my creativity was stripped away.


The dense populous lends itself to someone other than me. I have grown to feel embraced by my current surroundings which in turn unselfishly shares it's innate source of imagination and comfort.


The views at sunset are consistently awesome but I crave the misty rain and foggy blanket the pacific northwest possesses. I feel cocooned, ready to create after awakening into the crisp mornings.


The in-your-face mega consumerism coupled with the need to drive everywhere you have to go is so foreign. The more time I spend still, the more I come to the realization of what I like and can do without. Spending time creating of my own mind brings a wholeness like no other.



The family is what makes these trips possible. If it weren't for both of my parents living in Arizona I don't think I'd ever go back. I would much rather have my friends/family visit me here where I can share my fascinating discoveries of a life so different. Living in a small river town is an art of it's own, a dying lifestyle protected in my little bubble of the world.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Borrowed Abandon

I have been lead by this wonderful artist [CLICK] to this wonderful artist [CLICK]. With all of the creative ideas flying around in my head I am at a loss as to grasping a focus on any of them. With that said...I have chosen to follow Liss' "abandon" theme for a photo graphical pull out of the crevasses of my mind.


An abandon scrap of chain link fence from an impromptu back yard demo, sparked by the need for more entrance space. It is a constant reminder of the beginning of a larger demo project for next summer.



A once needed walnut has been abandoned by a local squirrel. It's necessary parts have served their purpose. I'm counting on that squirrel to have done it's job for know one needs 60ft. tall trees growing out of the foundation of their home.


A home left behind...by force or choice?


Important tools to start the morning abandoned until the next day for laundry or reuse...their fate depends on the mom....moi.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

A Dave Matthews weekend of creativity


I am a big fan of freeway passenger photography. Most times my attempts are complete blurs, which allows for those few and far between appealing shots to be all the more glorious & rewarding. This barn was beckoning to be captured as we flew by. We had a long approach curving along HWY 90 near Ellensburg, WA, thus providing me with enough time to fumble my camera out of my bag. I like it. It's simple. It's colors are soothing. It represents a confident, content solitude amongst the constant fleeting traffic. On a more personal note... it brought to rest our 3 day 30k people camp out at the annual Dave Matthews [CLICK] concert at the Gorge Amphitheatre [CLICK HERE].


Seeing as how I can NOT stop seeing interest & beauty in my daily life, I have the disease of taking photos of just about every single one of them. Family trips are full of stopping moments of snapshots of the obscure. My camera travels with me like one of my children (it is a bit more behaved at times). I am forever haunted with the images of uncaptured (is that a word??) shots by those few cases of which I had forgotten to bring it along, even if for a 30 minute jolt to the store. When the sun hit the fence line at our 3 day DMB concert camp, it lit up the color contrast between the fresh crisp grass green and the rusty red wood stained panels on the fence...just for me.



The weather that weekend was an art show of itself. Thunderous skies broke into spectacular double arched rainbows. It did not scare off any of the tens of thousands of campers of which got to enjoy the art in the sky. A reward of sorts. CLICK ON THE PHOTOS to catch a closer look.