A Walk in the Canyon
When the sun begins to fade, the reds revert to orange, the greens turn richer and the cacophony of nature rises.
One of my favorite things to do in Zion Canyon is to take one of the very last shuttles to the last stop, The Temple of Sinawava, and to walk back to the lodge, my home. During the daytime, the crush of visitors and the noise of the many, many shuttles can get oppressive enough that it takes away from the grandeur of the area. In the Blue Hour, though, it's a different environment.
With the absence of human noise, nature takes over. Every natural sound is echo and bounced along the canyon walls and the never-ending river sings its song to no one and everyone. If you're so inclined, take a gander at a short video I made on a similar evening. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel as I'm making new hiking videos as I go along my adventures.
Street Art of San Jose
I love me some great street art. Not sh#tty vandalism but the real good stuff that has artistic quality and a social message. The dudes in San Jose have their game on point!
Street art is visual art created in public locations, usually unsanctioned artwork executed outside of the context of traditional art venues. Other terms for this type of art can be "urban art", "guerrilla art", "independent public art", "post-graffiti",
and "neo-graffiti".
That's all a very nice way to go and say "F*ck you!" to the man and be able to get away with it. Some cities, though, are forward thinking and progressive enough to dedicate some of its public spaces to just this type of art. That's the case in San Jose, Costa Rica. On government-controlled walls near the main judicial and legislative offices, you'll find loads of sanctioned art. Near the train station, underpasses and other urban spcaces in that area, it seems that the area has become a Mecca for public art.
click any image to embiggen
I think they're a litmus test of sorts. Do you see disrespect towards the system or to authority? Do you see just the art or just a distasteful message?
Y'all KNOW I dig the graffiti art in San Antonio but this stuff is amazing. Upon my return to town, I'll have to go to some of SA's other well-known street art collections and see what's what. Until then, and I'm proven wrong, I gotta say that San Jose, CR has got better game at this point.
click any image to embiggen
Mission Reach - The San Antonio RiverWalk
The San Antonio RiverWalk is an extraordinarily popular attraction in San Antonio but most of our visitors don't realize just how extensive the developed area is
I've done it again! I went on a little adventure, captured and edited images and never got around to posting them in a blog post. No worries. The San Antonio RiverWalk isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
For this quick trip, I only brought my iPhone but wasn't disappointed. That little thing can capture so much wonderful imagery in the world around us, no? Sure, there's no replacing a bigger, "grown-up" camera but I've never been disappointed with what I can create with it.
The visitors to San Antonio love the RiverWalk but so rarely get to see the parts of it outside of the main hub. That's just fine with me as it means there's so much less traffic on the outer stretches of the river. Go north of town and you'll find what's called Museum Reach which goes near the museums, the zoo, and a few awesome parks. I go there quite often and this trip was my first exploring the Mission Reach portion and I was certainly not disappointed.
So many bits of nature and beauty popping up. Many wonderfully cool and abandoned structures along the way and if you've known me for awhile, you know that I'm a sucker for a good freeway underpass.
Again sorry (not really) for the delay.
Springtime in the Suburbs
I don't have a favorite season of the year. They all have their equal charms but I won't lie and say that I don't get a bit giddy when the new flowers pop up ... even the ones in the yard.
Yep. I'm still a sucker for flowers in almost all forms
Texas is blessed with warm temps for most of the year so these little suckers are popping up left and right with no fear of frost. In the fields, there are plenty of native grasses and wildflowers springing forth and in every yard in town (in this case Olmos Park), the colors are coming on full speed.
I had an hour to kill so I spent it in one of my favorite ways ... walking. This time is was through the very nice homes in this little township near my home. So much color.
I don't even have a yard at the moment so I've been tempted to find an ignored part of town to adopt and tame. I spent many years as a landscaper and as a certified Master Gardner and the desire to start working in the soil again is quite strong.
The book below is one of my longtime favorite gardening books. The folks at Sunset do a great job of updating the climate information in the various zones and the number of plants that they have contained in the book is stunning. Soon I'll have a yard again ... but not soon enough.
San Antonio Graffiti - San Pedro Ave
I've noticed that the style of graffit is quite different in San Antonio as opposed to Spokane. Super Cool stuff!
Now that I'm comfortable ensconced in my new town, I've taken to one of my favorite hobbies, walking. One of the things that I've noticed on my walks (and drives) is the very unique nature of this town's graffiti art.
Bright, loud, colorful. I won't pretend to be an aficionado of the world's different styles but the art around San Antonio seems to be laced with more humanity than I've seen elsewhere. More human elements.
This is far and above cheap street tagging. This is graffiti art in its finest form. Many of the bigger pieces have unique signatures on them and in time, I'm certain that I'll be able to recognize both the signatures and the flairs and flourishes that each artist has.
All of these images were found along San Pedro Ave and all within a few blocks of each other. As I spend more time in this town, I'll be on the lookout for more pockets of color like this
Wallace by iPhone
As many times as I've been here, I never get tired of exploring what Wallace has to offer!
From the Wallace Chamber of Commerce:
Danger, intrigue, passion, great wealth, heroics and comedy are set against the breathtaking backdrop of northern Idaho’s Bitterroot mountains. Those are the elements of the 12 decade story of Wallace. The entire town of Wallace, Idaho is on the national Historic Register.
I think that you all know me well enough by now that I'm not one to take pictures of the traditionally photographed parts of a town .... even one as pretty as Wallace. I'm funny that way. Wallace has hundreds of buildings that date from the town's early silver-minig daysand most of them are still in use. The downtown area is quite lively and hosts a great many restauarnts, pubs and shopping opportunities for visitors but it managaes to NOT feel like a hokey tourist spot. Locals and tourists sit side-by-side in most places.
I always swing by the place after I finish a hike to Stevens Lake and I'm never disappointed. The place that I normally stop at, The Silver Corner, was undergoing renovations so I wasn't able to get their greasy burger that hits the spot after a hike so I had to go without this time. Thus, I had some extra time to walk about and find things that drew my eyes.
Wallace may be slightly behind the times but that's to be expected for small Idaho towns and, in some ways, that can be quite a benefit. They don't have a Starbucks or fast food joint on every corner. Walmart is not gonna move in, either. There's room for improvement or upgrading in some areas but the lack of development has allowed so many of the great pieces of its history to stay in place and for them to be revered and allowed to be a part of the present and future. Everywhere you look in this town you'll find countless angles and colors and reminders of its colorful past. This was my first time really taking time to photograph some of these things and had I more time, I could have spent many hours poking around.
I'll be back again just after the first snows to hike to the lakes again and I'm certain that I'll be coming back to Wallace again. This time, I'll make certain to create extra time to take it in properly.
Orlando by iPhone
A family visit run amok. By "amok", I mean exactly as I wanted!
Orlando is not a place I ever saw myself visiting. Despite its obvious popularity as a vacation destination and as a town with a huge and happy population, I just never saw me as a good fit for the area. I'm much more of a mountains and rivers kinda guy. Not gonna lie, though. The idea of mucking around through swamps HAS always sounded cool ... for short periods of time.
Well, no swamp mucking for me. No hunting for feral anaconda and boas in the Everglades. Maybe another time I'll get to go with my friend Tammilee on one of her cool, Florida adventures. This trip was purely personal, a family visit. But me being me, I made it a point to look around and see the things that aren't normally seem.
In the above gallery, the image of the egrets and alligators has become my absolute favorite. It's "Just a stupid iPhone pic" (you know who you are - shakes fist!) but it's a capture and creation that I'm quite proud of. Taken at Gatorland in Orlando, it was a matter of timing and then, a lot of editing to get the colors and composition the way I wanted. All of the images are meaningful to me; looking up from the swamps, a visit to probably the coolest lighthouse I've visited, and, of course, the stork (pretty much a F'n dinosaur) captured with a selfie-stick while he was on (literally) a hot tin roof!
Perhaps it's a character flaw of mine. When I visit places, I do my very best to enjoy the moment and enjoy the company I'm with but I can't help but to see scenes and how they might play out in 1/200th of a second or after some artistic editing. I enjoy walking through a place and having a vision of both how it IS and how it could be.
Allow me to finish this post with an image of an egret riding an alligator. I guarantee you that, although you may be cool, you'll never be "egret riding an alligator" cool!
Art and Nature Under I-90
From Division street over to Latah Creek, exists a special part of Spokane. Under I-90!
I have a long gestating project, my Under I-90 project, to which I keep returning. There's a stretch of Spokane that runs from Division St west to Latah Creek and under/along a stretch of Federal highway. In this stretch, I've found a unique ecosystem. Not all good and beautiful, mind you, but a unique space unlike anything else in Spokane.
Yes, there are homeless folks and a bit of squalor but I can't help but see the beauty in all the angles and texture and slivers of light. I took a walk earlier today and I found bits of green that were absent only a few days back. Plus, the crisp skies seemed to make the urban art and their colors POP a bit more.
I won't pretend that a few bits of green will turn the place is a Shangri La. It's still quite the opposite but I do take it as a sign that if man disappeared from the Earth, nature would affix itself in all of the abandoned corners ... and would do quite well for itself. How would we do if nature disappeared from the Earth? I don't think we'd do nearly as well.
I intend to spend more time here in the next few weeks and I'll do my best to highlight the hidden (in plain sight) architectural beauty that is part of this concrete behemoth!
Bing by iPhone
Spokane is lucky to have such a spectacular gem in the heart of its Entertainment District! Every corner of it is stunning!
The Bing Crosby Theater in Spokane, Wa has a spectacular history. Though it’s previous owner allowed it to get run down a bit, the current owner, Jery Dicker, has spared no expense to bring the place back to its full glory. In addition to just upgrading infrastructure, the new team has added so many flourishes of art and color and style. I dare say that The Bing is more glorious now than it has ever been. I’m lucky to have been allowed the chance to visit the place during off hours in order to capture these images.
It seems that you can’t go anywhere in the building without finding a beautiful angle or color or shape. A walk around the exterior of the building will show you plenty of texture and detail of the bygone days. Lamps, stairways and even walls seem to capture light and shed color in return. Oh, and they have concerts, too.
Do yourself a favor. Go to their event page, find a show you’d like to see and arrive early. Take a walking tour of the place and look for more hidden gems.
The Ladies Foursome - We Begin!
In a few weeks, we'll present another show. But first, we get to create more imagery!
Yesterday (Apr 24), the cast of 'The Ladies Foursome' and I headed out to The Links golf course in Post Falls, Id. It was a multi-purpose trip; partially to capture promotional images, hopefully to have the cast learn a bit more about the sport of golf and certainly to have a great day of fun and team bonding!
Sarah Miller, Callie McKinney Cabe, Marianne McGlaughlin, Nancy Gasper and the Director, Dawn Taylor Reinhart have been in rehearsal for just a week and as much as can be learned about golf through reading, conversation and YouTube videos, they knew that it would take a trip to the links to make their swings look realistic, their trash talk genuine and the knowledge about their characters come to life!
We won't even pretend that the form was perfect! Heck, even the shoes were off but, we all still had a blast playing on the course!
Over the next few days, we'll be showing plenty of new images on our various social media pages so be certain to keep an eye out. I'll have them all posted here AFTER the run of the show.
The Doors and Windows of Railroad Alley
Broken, boarded up, bricked over, replaced and some even still in use! Take a walk along Railroad Alley and you'll see all manner of portals into Spokane's history
Behind, you guessed it, Scratch.
Railroad Alley is actually 2 different alleyways, one north and the other south. It's the northern one that has more access to it, more daily use. The southern one has many areas that are blocked off or are now private areas. That's OK, there is still plenty of territory to cover. With the exception of one block, the portion between Howard and Wall Streets, one has a straight walk from Washington St westward to Adams St.
Along that path, you'll find bits of our mining and logging history in the form of offices and building that formerly housed those offices, stylish new condos and lofts, modernly renovated offices and ones that look as if they're still from the early part of the previous century. You'll also find countless portals that go between the open alleyway and the inside of the buildings
Many of the doors and windows have been replaced yet many seem to be the originals from their era. Many others have been covered in one way or another. Where the paint is chipping, you can see the numerous layers and the different colors attempted over the many years. On the bare brick, the scars of graffiti and its removal ... and RE-vandalism show. How many taggers have "owned" part of the alley at one point or another?
This isn't some quiet back alley, though. It's an active thoroughfare for folks getting from the street to the business to make deliveries and for the many tenants that make their homes in the cool lofts and condos that dot the path.
Every color and texture imaginable is on the walls. Brick, wood, stucco, concrete all have their space in this gallery. Though the newer designs are present, the bulk of the doors and windows harken to older days. There doesn't seem much point in replacing the old ones with newer designs. They're still quite functional and have lasted this long. Thank goodness because, like many things from past eras, they're much more interesting to look at than a solid collection of new steel and glass.
Go on! Go take a walk and what you can see!
The Geometry of Snow
The Geometry of Snow
We live in a beautiful portion of the country. From any part of Spokane, you're just a few minutes in any direction to being in the wilderness, the prairie or the rolling farmlands. Mountain streams and the hidden valleys abound. With this heavy snow, even a walk through the South Hill becomes an escape into nature.
Stevens Lake by iPhone
I've already told you about this trip to Stevens Lake in a previous post so I won't bore you with the details again. I suppose that I could add some cute poetry but I suspect that you'd rather see the pretty picture.
There may have been some skinny-dipping involved. The water was as chilly as you might expect so I didn't last long.
As the trail winds through several types of forests and gains elevation quickly, every bend and turn provided a new view or a new type of forest to walk through.
I so thoroughly love every aspect of the Stevens Lake Trail. It's my favorite escape valve in North Idaho.
Stevens Lake - iPhone - danscape (18 of 69)