July 2022

POTD: Creation Myth #4

Creation Myth #4
Bozeman, Montana
2022

When a pine siskin met an untimely death in a freak accident at our bird feeder, I salvaged its wings because, well, that’s just the kind of thing I do sometimes. I placed the bases of the wings under this rock that was laying on our counter to force them to flatten out as they dried. Then the small jawbone I’d also found recently somehow ended up on top of the rock. This odd impromptu still life sat that way for a number of days until one day it came across to me as some sort of flying totem, so I photographed it. I worked it into this composite image sometime later. I saw it as another image that could be interpreted as illustrating some sort of pagan creation myth so have titled it as the next in the small series of creation myth images I’ve created from time to time. After sitting on the image for a while and then looking at it again, it now appears to me to be more apocalyptic than creative in nature. Perhaps I need to start a new series under that rubric, but for now, I’ll stick with the creation idea on this one.

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POTD: The Good With the Bad

The Good With the Bad
Leadville, Colorado
2022

I looked up the web site referenced on this sign and support their efforts. Legal and safe abortions should be available everywhere. However, I found the sentiment expressed on the sign disturbing for a couple of reasons. While the “colorful” choice of words doesn’t particularly bother me personally, I fear it may turn a number of people off to the extent they won’t bother to look up the website. But more than that, the wording suggests a  wholesale condemnation of the Supreme Court. I may be a Pollyanna in thinking the court is still a largely sound institution even though it, in my view, made a horrible decision on abortion (and also some other cases as well). But if things have gone so far off the rails that we must disregard the institution as a whole, it’s much more depressing than the abortion decision itself. I’d feel better if they could do well-deserved yet targeted condemnation of their actions on specific decisions

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POTD: The High Point of My Life

The High Point of My Life
Mt. Elbert, Colorado
2022

My childhood friend Steve Johnson (left) and I climbed Mount Elbert (elevation 14,440′) last week. Mount Elbert is the highest summit of the Rocky Mountains, the highest point in the U.S. state of Colorado, and the second-highest summit in the contiguous United States (after Mount Whitney in California). Given I have no plans or desires to ever summit any taller mountain than this, the day marked the literal (but not figurative) high point of my life–not counting of course any height obtained via air transport of some sort.

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POTD: Minimalist Moon

Minimalist Moon
Tubac, Arizona
2022

This a shot of last February’s full moon, called Snow Moon (although that title seems misplaced if you’re viewing it in the Arizona desert). This is not the kind of image that translates well into the 8 bit RGB world of the internet. (Don’t worry if you don’t know what that means, there won’t be a quiz.) In fact, depending on the quality and brightness of your screen, you may not even be able to make out the mountain range in the bottom of the image, and the image may come across as having severe posterization. (Again, don’t worry if you don’t know what that means.) But I posted it anyway as even in a poorly reproduced state, it certainly gets across the minimalist composition idea.

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