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At the Grand Canyon. I enjoyed seeing people enjoying it, and wanted to capture their awe.

Well well well, it’s been…a year?

Last year, after being gifted a camera, I set out with the intent to work on my skill in photography, photo editing, and writing a bit about that whole journey. As you can see, I didn’t do that. In the time between then and now a lot has changed. I went through a depression. I struggled with the “need” to process all of the photos I took before taking more, resulting in those I had not being edited and those I could have taken…well, not being taken. But a good deal has changed, and I’m on the path to feeling better. Being better. And I sat down recently and made my way through all the images that had been collecting digital dust. Here they are, lightly touched up, and ready for some eyes other than my own.

I’m committing to this again, this year. Not because I feel like I need to - but because I want to. The passions I once had are coming back, stronger than ever. So, let’s take that first step - again.

These images are from a trip I took to visit family, around the holidays last year. We drove from my home in California, through Arizona and New Mexico, all the way to Texas - and back again. It gave me a great opportunity to practice, and I caught some really good shots along the way. I’ll do my best to categorize them below.

The Grand Canyon, Arizona: Wildlife

While walking on a footpath toward a hiking trail around the Grand Canyon, I spotted this Deer hesitantly checking me out from a distance. I was surprised at how close it let me get. I crouched down and slowly made my way just close enough to snap a few of it. This one was my favorite. Editing this was fun, too. I’ve gotten a little better at manual color correction. I don’t know if it is my camera or the lens I’m using, but there tend to be some pink/magenta artifacts sometimes. I managed to tone those down in this picture. You can see an example of what I mean in my Lake Elsinore post, on the pictures I took of the Pelicans.

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Deer, looking at me suspiciously.

 

Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay

I seem to have a knack for catching birds having a little snack, haha. Saw this little guy way up in a tree and didn’t even notice that it had something in its beak until I was editing the pictures.

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Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay, having a snack

 

Northern Flicker

This fella stopped me dead in my tracks. I was out near the edge of the Grand Canyon, watching a good handful of birds (must have been just the right time of day) and the spots in the feathers of this one caught my eye. Beautiful bird. I’m happy I caught such a clear photo, since I only managed to take two of it. I took a lot more of the birds around him, too, but a lot came out blurry. I remember being in a bit of a rush, and had my dogs with me. It was still a wonderful experience.

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Norther Flicker, perched

The Grand Canyon, Arizona: Trees, Textures

Along with birds, and other wildlife, I’ve always had a fondness for textures, light, and fluidity (i.e., not just liquid - but smoke, movement, etc.). Here’s a few trees I came across on that walk that I fell in love with.

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Tree with twisting texture, b/w

 

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Tree bark with rough texture

Petroglyph National Monument, New Mexico

On the way through New Mexico, I stopped to stretch my legs (and the dogs’) at Petroglyph National Monument. The rocks with the petroglyphs on them were amazing to see, but they were at a pretty great distance, and the lighting was not great. I did my best to edit these so that the glyphs themselves were visible.

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Rock with glyphs depicting various shapes, creatures

 

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Rock with glyphs, one depicting a human hand, others depicting creatures

 

This one in particular is probably my favorite:

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Rock with glyphs depicting human hands

 

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Rock with glyph depicting a person

Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

We stopped off, again to take a break, at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Unfortunately, time was working against us since the dogs had to be put in a kennel for the duration. It was great practice for learning how to shoot in extreme low light, but since I didn’t have time to practice for long, this was one of the only good shots to come out of it. Thankfully, it is incredible. I could look at it for hours. It is rock, but it looks like fabric or cloth. That, and the lighting and framing - something about it makes it feel ancient. I love it.

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Roof formation inside Carlsbad Caverns

Saguaro National Park, Arizona

Another quick hike. I love the pictures of the cacti I managed to take here. They all have this sort of gradient in the sky, a great backdrop for the cacti reaching toward the heavens.

This one is my favorite of the bunch. Purposefully kept rotated because, to me, it looks like a hand, out-stretched and palm toward the sky.

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Cactus, rotated to look like a hand

 

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Cactus

 

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Another Cactus

 

Admit it, it’s funny.

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A…suspicious looking cactus

 

I’m unsure what this, and the following, plant (cactus?) are. But I thought they were pretty.

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Pretty maybe-cactus maybe-tree

 

The yellow part. If you look really close, it almost looks like glass, or like it has some kind of swirl in it.

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Another pretty maybe-cactus maybe-tree maybe-bush. But yellow.

Family property, Texas

When we finally reached Texas, we stayed with some family that has some land. We were only there for a few days, and were mostly out enjoying time together. Here are some miscellaneous shots from the downtime I had.

Another plant I don’t know the name of - but I loved the color. I also love looking through the bottom-right side of it to see the green.

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Pretty yellow plant

 

Northern Cardinal

I’m not sure if I’ve ever captured a picture of a female bird, but this cardinal is for sure a female. I think I like the way they look more than the males. I caught a picture of a male, too, but it was super blurry. I had to capture these from a larger distance than I wanted to, because it was raining. I remember standing as close as I could without getting wet and praying my cheap, factory 300mm was enough.

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Northern Cardinal (female) perched in a tree.

 

Another texture I love: Horse Apples.

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Horse Apple in the grass

 

My then mother-in-law had this display of a skull and some bones she found. I liked the way they looked, and tried to capture more of the texture by making the photos black and white.

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Skull, centered, b/w

 

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Skull, b/w

 

Last, but certainly not least - pictures of my dogs. Nova, and Juno, running around and having the time of their lives on all that land.

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Nova, mid-run

 

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Juno, standing majestically

There you have it. After a year of sitting on around 500 pictures, I’ve picked out the ~24 that I loved best. Here’s to hoping I can make more than one post in 2025.

Take care,

- D.