August 2022

A Splash of Color
Nogales, Arizona
2022

Much of Nogales is drab and dreary looking, but there are notable exceptions.

Pattern and Texture
Bighorn Canyon, Montana
2021

I was tempted to move this interesting wavy-patterned stick to a plain background to photograph it, but then realized the material it was laying on was the perfect complement to it.

Too Trusting
Bozeman, Montana
2022

This fledgling pine siskin (at least I think it’s a pine siskin and a fledgling), and some of it’s siblings have been hanging around below our bird feeder, picking up sunflower seeds that the messy eaters above kick out while eating. These ground feeders are way to focused on eating and not on caring who or what was around. I’ve had to stop the lawn mower for them because they don’t move until I’m almost on them and I have to be careful not to step on them when walking around in that area. I was able to take this picture without a telephoto lens and only minimal cropping of the image because this bird didn’t care that I was down on the ground within a couple feet of it. That they are so careless or fearless might explain the big chunk out of this one’s upper beak.

Tanking Up
Bozeman, Montana
2022

We’ve had just a couple of regular visitors to our hummingbird feeder this summer, but one recent night I counted seven at the feeder at one time. A birder friend told me a few days later that some of the male hummingbirds were already migrating south, so I figured some of those travelers had just stopped at our feeder to refuel for their journey. That would explain why the next night we were back to just two hummingbirds.

Dinnertime
Bozeman, Montana
2022

Dusk seems to be prime time for dinner at our hummingbird feeder.

Patriot’s Dream #76
Nogales, Arizona
2022

A flag sticking out of a trashcan–a poignant symbol for our time.

A Story of Desperation
Nogales, Arizona
2022

If you weren’t standing on the street where I was when I took this photo, it takes a bit of explanation to understand its context. This tangled mess of razor wire appeared to have been been pulled down from it’s regular coiled place atop the fence on the roof of this building along the US/Mexico border. Tangled in the razor wire is a frayed rope that had been thrown over the fence from the Mexico side. At the end of the rope is a torn jacket, also tangled in the razor wire. Just out of the photo to the right hand side of the photo, but very close, is an official U.S. entry port from Mexico. No matter how I try to imagine the story of how this scene got to be the way it is, it comes up a sad tale.

I Hear You Knocking But You Can’t Come In
Nogales, Arizona
2022

Another architectural feature of downtown Nogales, which abuts the international border with Mexico.  Immigration issues abound on our southern border, but that fact is still operative suggests that this kind of fencing effort is at best of dubious effect. To twist a phrase, it’s just putting ugly lipstick on an already ugly problem.

Not What It Used to Be
Nogales, Arizona
2022

There is a lot of the “not what it used to be” going on with the buildings in downtown Nogales. This former Woolworth store is now simply called La Tienda (the store).

Love for Lease
Nogales, Arizona
2022

Thanks to Cole Porter, I’ve heard of love for sale; in Nogales however, money can’t buy you love, you can only lease it.

The streets of downtown Nogales were quite empty the day I was walking around photographing so it was quite serendipitous that I was able to capture this amazingly color-coordinated woman passing by at just the right time.