The Cycle of Life

I watch the cycle of life play out everyday at the Painted Pony Resort.  From the yearly arrival of the monsoons with new grasses and the greening of the desert, the yearly appearance of certain insect species, the birds nesting and raising young, and yes, to the loss of animals on the estate.  Most evidence of animals that have become part of the food chain are birds, frequently the Collared Eurasian Doves that inhabit the estate.  Large predators such as hawks often catch unwary doves and the remnants of their meals can be found in the form of piles of feathers.  Small mammals such as rabbits are also frequent meals, but on occasion something larger dies on the estate.  A guest recently found a Mule Deer that had found a comfortable spot under one of the pines next to the Bungalow for its' final resting place.  The animal appeared thin with grey/white head and ears suggesting an older animal.  It was unable to stand and only made feeble movements when I approached.  There were no signs of injury so I set some water out for it in hopes it lack of vigor was the result of dehydration but soon realized that the animal was probably not going to survive.  I decided to give the animal 24 hours to recover before getting out the rifle since I'm not a hunter and don't enjoy dispatching animals, though it has to be done sometimes.  Upon returning the next morning the I found the deer has passed on and removed and buried the carcass out in the desert to recycle.

An old Mule Deer resting in the shade of a pine tree.

Free Association in the Chiricahuas

Hiking in the Chiricahua Mountains can be magical experience, a time to unwind, a time to think, and most importantly a time to free associate.  Frequently while hiking I will look at a scene and see a possible photographic opportunity something that might make an interesting image.  Frequently at the same time a description or image title also pops into my mind.  It often is completely unrelated to the physicality of the scene and sometimes takes some thought before I understand all the details of the scene that prompted the free association description or title.

Yesterday while hiking with guests from All-Star Telescope I came across one of those scenes in Cave Creek Canyon which was accompanied, mentally, by a title and description.  I grabbed some images and then moved on.  It was only when I got home and reviewed the images that I was able to comprehend the complete picture and understood the scene I had captured.  We had been discussing the floods in the canyon as a result of hurricane Odile from several years back and this discussion must have been percolating around, bouncing between neurons, when I saw this old log sitting out in the forest.  The shot below entitle "The Perfect Wave" is the result of a found object (the old log) and discussions about flooding mixing around in my head.  Note the curl of the wave as well as the splash (the green stems) in the foreground and compare with the ocean images below it.  It us strange how the mind works and even stranger how we respond.

The search for the perfect wave.

Catching a wave from Wikipedia

A curl from PublicDomainPictures.net

I've included a couple of other shots of the log from different angles just to show the complete picture.

A view the other direction.

Some interesting textured knobs (burls) on the old log.

The Moon

We just finished experiencing another full moon here at the Painted Pony Resort and I was fortunate to get some usable photographs.  The first is of the rising moon over the Peloncillo mountainss while the second is a sunrise shot of the setting moon  over the Chiricahua mountains.  The little Canon point and shoot I use (Canon SX150) for photography did a good job capturing the moon, though I had to zoom past the mechanical zoom into the digital zoom region to get the automatic exposure correct.  The quality of modern digital camera images continues to amaze me.  Even the new tablet camera images are good, see here.  Unfortunately the tablet had to go in for repair and I'm awaiting its return so I missed trying it out on the full moon.  Hopefully the next full moon will see some tablet camera images.

Full moon rising in the east

Full moon setting in the west

How do People See? Again

I continue to struggle with the concept of "how people see", specifically how it relates to what makes an interesting photograph.  Recently, I stumbled into a little experiment using Facebook and ended up posting 3 images and comparing their performance.  The metric I used was a "like" indicating a positive response from a viewer.  The 3 images were taken from the same location (mouth of Sulphur Canyon but of 2 different subjects) and posted on 3 consecutive days (Friday through Sunday).  Image 1 was of a view towards Darnell Peak, a multi-image panorama but presented in Black and White.  After spending several hours on creating the image I was very pleased with final outcome and posted it.  Image 2 was a simple snapshot of Portal Peak and presented in color, while image 3 was another multi-image panorama of Portal Peak also presented in color.  My expectation was the first image would preform the best.  It was a good composition, with the volcanic walls of the Chiricahua mountains rising up from the grasslands, the moon in the background, nice shadowing, and crisp details that draw the eye into the scene.  Yet after several days it received only 35 likes so I added the snap shot of Portal Peak (image 2).  Surprisingly, the quick snapshot with the top of Portal Peak in shadow, the result of a passing cloud, picked up 87 likes and was featured as a group cover image where it picked up an additional 70 likes.  I then added the final multi-image panorama, a "big picture" view, which received 46 likes.  In terms of work load the most time was spent creating image 1, the next was image 3, and image 2 (the snapshot) took the least amount of time.

Image performance, whether in the form of views or likes is important since I use the imagery as a way to create interest in the area and in the long run generate business for the Painted Pony Resort.  I can only conclude that color performs better than Black and White, and color contrast in an image is more appealing than the scope of an image.  Finally, the amount of work spent creating an image is not proportional to its public appeal.

I still like the first image the best.

Image 1, Looking up towards Darnell Peak on the south side of Sulphur Canyon.

Image 2.  Portal Peak from the south side of Sulphur Canyon.

Image 3.  Portal Peak and the mouth of Sulphur Canyon.

Birding in the Boot Heel

I'm not a birder, but it is an extremely popular activity in the basin and range province of southern New Mexico and southern Arizona.  I have written about the tradition of birding in the area but I must admit, being out in the valley and focusing on landscape restoration leaves little time for birding.  But as the landscape slowly improves the avian fauna are some of the first returning animals I see.  The number and diversity of avian species has slowly increased over time, so perhaps some dedicated study on local avian species is warranted to better understand how the improvements to the land affect which species utilize the available resources.  Since the beginning the most common bird species seen on the estate was the Eurasian collared dove.  The number of doves though resulted in the appearance of raptors such as owls, hawks, and kestrels which have been seen on the estate and I find bits and pieces of doves on occasion indicating a successful hunt.  Since collard doves are an introduced species, I do appreciate the assistance of these raptors in controlling their numbers.  Most recently, a northern harrier has been hanging out and can be frequently seen hunting in the grasslands towards the riverbed.

Below is a another new comer I saw for the first time on the estate, a female Ladder-back woodpecker, Picoides scalaris. Checking online birding sightings, this should be common species around here though the closest sightings are reported from Highway 80 about 1.5 - 2 miles further west.

Female Ladder-Back woodpecker at the Painted Pony Resort.

Right Place and the Right Time, but Unprepared

Being prepared is always a good thing, but sometimes you find yourself presented with a situation and all you can do is hope you can pull something off.  It was one of those mornings, I opened the door and started to step out when some motion caught my eye, and to my surprise a Bobcat was slowly wandering up the runway but I had no camera in hand.  I slowly stepped back inside to grab the camera but the door made a noise as it closed (and I had just lubricated the hinges).  Getting the camera I slowly reopened the door and stood in shadow, the Bobcat was staring right at me so holding the door with one hand and the camera with the other I started shooting with the hope that something would work.  Well, it kinda worked.  The cameras auto focus captured the mesquite well but the Bobcat was slightly out of focus.  As it continued to meander northward I held the door open with my foot and tried again.  Using both hands I was able to capture some in focus images but by this time the Bobcat was moving into the tall grass, so instead of a full view of the animal I was only able to capture the top of its' back and hind quarters. I estimate that it was a good 2 foot tall at the shoulder, a big animal.  This sighting is especially encouraging since it suggests that the restoration work is having an effect.  This being my first sighting of a Bobcat on the estate I was a thrilled and the presence of an apex predator suggests there is enough game about to make hunting on the estate a worthwhile endeavor for the Bobcat.  While others who live close to the base of the Peloncillos have reported Bobcats the estate is across the San Simon riverbed and 3.5 - 4 miles from the base of the Peloncillo mountains so the presence of a large healthy Bobcat is even more encouraging.

Fuzzy Bobcat on the runway.

Fuzzy Bobcat sauntering along.

In focus Bobcat in the grass.

In focus Bobcat obscured by the grass.

Another Exercise in "How People See"

A question I have been asking for several years and have written about before is "how do people see"?  Not the physiology of vision but what one sees when looking at an image.  Specifically what makes an image appealing.  Below is another exercise in that vein, a sunrise image over the Peloncillo mountains presented right side up and upside down.  While the first image is pleasing with wispy clouds and right angled streamers the flipped image is more visually interesting, at least to me.  The clouds themselves become the center of attention and more depth is created.  While the slight downward angles created by the inverted mountains seem to focus my attention onto the clouds where I perceive the increased depth.  These images were shown in the photography group, Cochise County and its Wonders and received some support, but only 16% found the inverted image interesting, as evidenced by a like.  My only conclusion is that I'm the outlier in the distribution of "seeing" since I find the inverted image more visually pleasing and interesting.

A Peloncillo Mountains sunrise

The same sunrise but inverted

The Long Light of Winter

Winter in the San Simon Valley is generally characterized by warm sunny days and chilly nights.  Temperatures drop to freezing but rapidly rise back into the 60's once the sun rises and crests the mountains to the east.  The sun rises and sets fairly far south and the mountains views in the afternoons are frequently bathed in a warm yellow light.  Below are 2 images taken on 2 consecutive days with the warm late afternoon sun illuminating the Peloncillo Mountains of southern New Mexico as viewed from the Painted Pony Resort outside Rodeo New Mexico.  The rich yellows and reds with the long shadows created by the sun's path across the southern sky creates an almost 3D effect in the photographs.  It really is hard to take a bad photograph down here.

The Rustic Cabin and the long light of a winters afternoon.

A view further south the next afternoon.

 

Looking East

I posted a video compilation of the views to the west showing the Chiricahua Mountains taken over time and now the reciprocal video, the views east over the Peloncillo Mountains.  Taken from the narrowest part of the San Simon Valley, about 9-10 miles wide and from the Painted Pony Resort, this video shows how the landscape and mountains of southern New Mexico are always in motion, always changing, always presenting something new to see with each glance.  The idea of landscapes in motion is not new.  Time lapse photography allows the compression of hours into minutes and the time scale can easily vary.  This compilation of images spans about 5 years and is by no means complete, but is representative of some of the scenes collected over time. Many are sunrise views taken throughout the year but some sunset and day time scenes are also included (especially if the clouds were interesting).  Another observation of how the landscape is always in flux for those willing to pay attention to their surroundings.

The Internet of Things Continues to Grow

First it was the new washer and dryer that were part of the "internet of things", but now the thermostats are included.  The touch screen thermostats at the Painted Pony Resort were a source of frustration at times for guests.  The screens on 2 units were the recipients of that frustration and were no longer working consistently.  I would periodically have to remove and reset the units after guests left to reset them and keep them functioning.  So the owner decided on a thermostat that was easier to understand and manipulate but with an added twist, an internet connection.  These new Honeywell thermostats have access to the router and modem and communicate with with Honeywell allowing remote (internet) control of the thermostats allowing the owner to monitor temperatures on the estate from his office back east.  The nicest aspect to these thermostats is the ability to set minimum and maximum temps that may be used.  This prevents very low or very high temps being set and left on by accident.