March 2015

Slickrock Twostep
Windowrock, Arizona
2015

For scrambling around on slickrock, I prefer shoes with a better grip than cowboy boots afford. But they seemed to be working just fine for this youngster.

Canyon del Muerto #6
Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona
2015

A panoramic view of part of the canyon from 600′ up on the rim.

Canyon del Muerto #4
Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona
2015

Canyon del Muerto #3
Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona
2015

Canyon del Muerto #2
Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona
2015

These are petroglyphs (images carved or pecked into the rocks) as opposed to yesterday’s photo which was of pictographs which are images painted on the surface of rocks.

Canyon del Muerto #1
Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona
2015

We’re spending a couple of days on the Navajo Reservation on our way to Tucson. Yesterday we took a jeep tour up Canyon Del Muerto, a canyon adjoining Canyon de Chelly. We saw lots of petroglyps, pictographs and ruins as well as the usual canyon country geological and vegetative features. I’ve spent a lot of time in this part of the southwest over the years, including my two week stint in 2013 at the Hubbel Trading Post just south of here. but this short half-day trip was still quite unique. So I thought I’d start at least a short series of images from the trip, starting with these fine pictograph examples.

Kudzu Castle
Birmingham, Alabama
2015

This is actually an old building that was part of the coal mining complex on Red Mountain in Birmingham, but it has the look of an ancient palace or castle. If you’re familiar with kudzu, you probably realize that in the summertime this building, as well as the grounds and trees surrounding it are completely draped in vines.

Wraparound
Birmingham, Alabama
2015

On a hike in Red Mountain Park. One feature of forests in the east that we don’t have out west is an amazing number of vines that form all kinds of interesting shapes.

Self Portrait With Paper Towels
Homewood, Alabama
2015

Another shot of my brother’s workshop.

Old Guys Are Us
Homewood, Alabama
2015

There’s something about the workshops of old men that attracts photographers. The vernacular selection of tools, workbenches, and the makeshift adornments, along with the patina of both the work environs and the old men who inhabit these well-worn man caves are very compelling subjects. There have been many a project on this topic, Brooks Jensen’s Made of Steel in particular comes to mind.

I’ve taken my share of such photos over the years, this one being the most recent. While not necessarily the best workshop I’ve visited in terms of photographic opportunities, it did have quite an impact on me. You see, the old man inhabiting this workshop is my brother Ken who is only two years older than me. Since when did we become the old-guy generation, whose environs are capable of being such quaint subjects all of a sudden? Below is a photo of Ken in situ, old guy gray hair and all.

Ken Blackwood
Homewood, Alabama
2015