lights

36:365:2011

*photo by Elaine A. Russell


I've been slowly... but surely... adding links to my "blogs I follow" list here on Blogger... wow.
I didn't realize how many wonderful blogs I have had the great opportunity to find and follow.

It's amazing to me... not only how much supreme talent and creativity is out there... but that we have the ability to actually find each other... It's a strange and wondrous world.

As we were driving around in the dark the other night... I was overcome with how pretty the lights are... and how... we are all sort of like those little colorful lights in the darkness... shining brightly for others to see... if they only look...
(I'm the little aqua one in the middle)...

35:365:2011


It has been freezing cold here for a few days... and I have basically been spending it holed up and huddled up. But tonight we decided to make a quick run for some food. On the way... I got these photos of vintage neon on Route66 here in Albuquerque.

I've always liked alot of the vintage motels, cafes and neon on Route66... and it is even more impressive at night. All you really need for some killer night photography... is a stable tripod or monopod. Tonight... I actually forgot mine... so I used the top of the Jeep as stabilization for a longer exposure. The longer exposure allows more light to reach your picture... giving you more detail and color saturation.... provided you can hold the camera very very still... hence the tripod.
The photos for today's post are essentially straight out of the camera... proof that you can get clear crisp shots at night -- All I did was increase the color saturation ever so slightly to bring out the warmth of the brown on the cow.

For more on Night Photography... look here

*photos by Elaine A. Russell

1:365:2011


Welcome to the New Year~ may yours be full of promise, joy, health, wonder, mindfulness, wanderings, poetry, art, music, dance, growth, spirit, passion, grace... beautiful sunrises, sunsets, and moonglow...

Yesterday, as we were all leaving Bodies: The Exhibition... we had to travel this tunnel-way to the car garage where we had parked. It is gorgeous. I was amazed at all the creativity that went into this somewhat austere concrete tunnel... and wanted to share the lights with you.

And for all of you who may be wondering... yes, I started a new 365 Photo-A-Day project today... my 3rd... and I am really looking forward to it. And, as my sets and such on FlickR seemed to be building up... I took some time tonight to clean out alot of photos... remove some album sets... and decrease the number of groups I belong to in FlickR-land.
Re-organization is good. Downsizing is good. Selective focus... even better :)

*photos by Elaine A. Russell

305:365


""Samhain ( /ˈsɑːwɪn/, /ˈsaʊ.ɪn/, or /ˈsaʊn/)... is a Gaelic harvest festival held on October 31–November 1.
It was linked to festivals held around the same time in other Celtic cultures, and was popularised as the "Celtic New Year" beginning in the 18th century.

Samhain marked the end of the harvest, the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half". It was traditionally celebrated over the course of several days. It has some elements of a festival of the dead. The Gaels believed that the border between this world and the otherworld became thin on Samhain; because so many animals and plants were dying, it thus allowed the dead to reach back through the veil that separated them from the living. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. People and their livestock would often walk between two bonfires as a cleansing ritual, and the bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames.

In Scotland the dead were impersonated by young men with masked, veiled or blackened faces, dressed in white. Samhnag — turnips which were hollowed-out and carved with faces to make lanterns — were also used to ward off harmful spirits.
The Gaelic festival became associated with the Catholic All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day, and has hugely influenced the secular customs now connected with Halloween, a name first attested in the 16th century as a Scottish shortening of the fuller All-Hallows-Even.""
... from Wiki

~~~

Read more HERE

and HERE

and HERE

 *photography by Elaine A. Russell

224:365


Late last evening, I realized that I hadn't taken my photo for the day yet. I had gotten sucked into listing things on Freecycle, and doing some odd stuff around the house... and I got side-tracked. Such is life sometimes.
And so... around 11:30pm... the daughter and I headed out to see what we could see... and to catch a photo. We ended up having a great time... and actually got photos for (technically) last night and today.
I have been working this week on my night-time photography skills (or lack thereof )..... so it was a good lesson for me. I am also coming up on my one-year anniversary of having just the Kodak point and shoot camera... and this whole year has been quite amazing in terms of my growth as a photographer... it is really quite exciting.





***all photos by Elaine A. Russell

Feliz Navidad


photo by Elaine A. Russell


...working on the garage today... gathered a bunch of stuff to put on freecycle, and stuff to give to the contractor when he comes tomorrow to haul extra supplies .... and stuff to take photos of to list on craigslist....

...it is amazing... I can actually hang up all the tools on the wall... and stuff is back (mostly) where it belongs...


...and now I get to organize my studio better. This is awesome. I have been able to work on things... but it will be so much better when everything has a place and is in it..




the lights at the MIDDLE of the tunnel



So .. right at the Railrunner Station, at Central Ave and 1st street... there is an overpass for the trains/ underpass for cars on Route 66....
Recently... there has been a project there in the works... which is now completed. I am not sure who did the installation, or who was responsible for getting this done... but BRAVO.
The installation is a series of lights along the solid sidewalls of the brief tunnel, and they rotate colors every few seconds. On the inner walls next to the traffic, are a series of panels with lights behind them. The panels contain translucent enlargements of photos taken years ago.. and feature some well known "hallmark" places in and around the city; such as Memorial Hospital, the Kimo Theatre, etc.
Really really cool. Well worth a leisurely walk through....





*photos by Elaine A. Russell