New Covenant

Friday Food Foto (v. 12)

Huevos Rancheros - New Mexico style (again)

Yes, from one of my favorite haunts, Socorro's restaurant, Hwy. 84, Espanola, NM. I can't seem to get away from the Huevos Rancheros which is, indeed, a fantastic breakfast. Fried potatoes, pinto beans, corn tortillas smothered, this time, with New Mexico RED chili, onions, cheese and, in true New Mexico fashion... fried eggs on top.

Enjoy!

Abstract Wall & Sky

Detail of the Fog Signal Building, at the Piedras Blancas Light Station, near San Simeon, CA.

Blue, deep blue, cloudless sky, on a mild winter's day on California's Central Coast. The environment, typically bound under fog, clouds, or wind, betraying itself. Calm, before the storm.

Enjoy the moment.

It will not last.

- image © 2008 A. R. Lopez

Abstract Lily

Calla lily, after the rain. Shot with a 25mm extender on a 50mm 1.4 Canon lens.

Shades of black, and shades of white, moving, turning, shifting.

- image © 2008 A. R. Lopez

Reality Feline

A local cat, at a living history museum, in Santa Fe Springs, CA.

With fine tuned hearing, a keen sense of smell, and claws within its quiet paws, the cat is designed for stealthy predation. Such exquisitely engineered handiwork. The fingerprint of God.

- image © 2008 A. R. Lopez

Abstract Crate

Crates and bins, behind a fish market, on a fisherman's wharf, Port San Luis, CA.

Colors, shapes, lines, angles. Subjective beauty in the common, unattractive things of life.

- image © 2008 A. R. Lopez

Blue trash can, elementary school, New Year's Eve

An empty elementary school on a weekend, this past fall. A dented trash can, painted blue, and a shadowed planter.

What of this past year?

- image © 2007 A. R. Lopez

One man's ceiling,

is another man's floor. - Paul Simon

In the dry, desert air of Chloride, Arizona; rusted junk, or hidden treasure?

- image, © 2007 A. R. Lopez

On the power of the photograph

Read Michael Yon's post, Consumer Reports: Geared for Combat, which gives a rundown of the cameras he's used to take the many photographs of Iraq over the past few years. He's put many of those photos up on that post.

Reality Sunset Marina

A small marina, adjacent to the Morro Bay State Park, in Morro Bay.

The first weekend of October, near sunset, we took a walk along a spit opposite the docks (see Google Maps). The air was cool, and calm. And it really was about as peaceful as the image shows.

- image © 2007 A. R. Lopez

Reality Textured

Detail of a K37 class steam engine locomotive, for the Cumbres & Toltec narrow gauge railroad, in Chama, New Mexico.

This particular locomotive was not in service and was sitting in the trainyard, awaiting maintenance. The "K" in the designation refers to the type of axle arrangement. Such engines have a wheel 2-8-2 arrangement in which the front and back 2 wheels are not driven by the engine. Evidently the arrangement allows for a more efficient placement of the firebox. The "37" in the designation refers to the 37,000 pounds of pulling force.

Despite the massive power such a locomotive unleashes, when it is in full operation, it is in no way immune from the bondage of corruption. Cracked and peeling paint, rust eating its way across the metal. Left alone, it will decay into nothing.

I was recently honored to have this image featured in the WeeklyShot category of Texture.

- image © 2005 A. R. Lopez

I am a blacksmith

There is a living history museum, a California State Park, just north of Santa Barbara, that we frequent every so often. It is one of the 21 California missions established by the Spaniards in the late 1700s and early 1800s. A visit to Mission La Purisima is an enchanting adventure, back in time, which is enhanced by the regular events held on the grounds in which docents, in period costumes, perform the daily tasks one would have seen, back in 1820.

Besides the bread baking and tortilla grilling, there is soap and candle making, some working looms, and a bona fide blacksmith at work. From the Santa Maria Times there's an interesting slideshow, highlighting the work of, and person who is, the blacksmith - Moises Solis. Take the time to watch:  I am a Blacksmith (by Ian Vorster).

Note: I have posted several photos of Mission La Purisima at Imago Articulus (see here, here, here & here).

A month-long wildfire, from space

The Zaca Fire, burning for over a month, and having already consumed over 60,000 acres, as seen from NASA's Agua satellite.

Abstract Courthouse

The McKinley County Courthouse, in Gallup, NM, (Google Maps) on a summer evening, this past June. Every night, during the summer, Indian dances are performed nightly at the courthouse square. We had arrived a few minutes early and, to pass the time, I wandered off with my new 50mm lens (and a polarizing filter).

This particular shot is of the recent addition to the courthouse (by clicking on the Google Maps link above, you can see the extent of the addition).

By using the polarizing filter, I was able to generate an image that, when converted to black & white, has a near black sky. I chose the off-angle composition at first due to the limitations of using a straight 50mm lens combined with a 1.4 conversion factor on my DSLR; but after playing around with different angles, I ended up liking the alternative perspectives I was getting.

I was honored to have this shot featured, recently, at WeeklyShot for the category, Light & Architecture.

- image © 2007 A. R. Lopez 

Reality Shorebird

Shorebird along the Morro Bay Estuary.

image © 2007 A. R. Lopez

Abstract Emerging

A California Golden Poppy not yet quite at full bloom, on a late April day, at Montana de Oro State Beach, near Morro Bay, California.

These flowers will close up at night or when the sky is overcast and the temperature cool. They are, to be sure, fair-weather friends. Typically, the best shows of blooms tends to occur after an ample and steady rainy season. However, they are a drought-tolerant species which means that even in the midst of a drought, such as we find ourselves in this year, there will still be blooms to see.

Perhaps their drought-tolerant hardiness betrays their fair-weather attitude towards displaying their beauty?

image © 2007 A. R. Lopez

Abstract Zen

Calla lily, in black & white.

Sometime close to Christmas, 2005, I shot a series on several calla lily flowers in my backyard. Most of the shots I kept in color, however this particular shot seemed to call out to be imaged monochromatic. I decided to go with a tighter crop, excluding a full shot of the flower, as well as shooting the image with a vertical orientation. One of the things I like best about the image is the general flow, from top to bottom, of white to black.

I was fortunate to have the image selected to be featured in the weekly contest Weekly Shot under the category of Zen. Being a concrete-sequential thinker, I sometimes have a difficult time addressing topics such as... Zen. The idea (and the photographic results) seem to be a bit too subjective in nature and much too open to personal interpretation. That said, how does one actually get an image selected as indicative of Zen? Is it simply a matter of the consensus of other subjective opinions as to what constitutes Zen? Who is to say that this image qualifies as Zen in the same manner that another image would qualify for the category Hands?

Perhaps, just perhaps, the spiritually stagnant secular notion of Zen is but a glimpse of the enigmatic experience of Joy as expressed by C.S. Lewis, in the quote,

The very nature of Joy makes nonsense of our common distinction between having and wanting.

Joy, as defined by Lewis (and, in many respects, the Bible), is not equivalent to happiness and it certainly isn't equivalent to fun. While Zen, as an attainment of awakening, may attempt to understand Joy, such an attempt is bounded by the ever present limitations of our human existence.

Maybe, as Lewis said,

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

Weekly Shot Feature

Image - © 2005 A. R. Lopez

A Creative Commons use of one of my photos

One of my photos of the Cumbres & Toltec Narrow Gauge railroad has been used in an article on Globalization Lock-in at Policy Innovations, an online magazine promoting fairer globalization.

Reality Morro...

The volcanic plug known as Morro Rock, located in Morro Bay, California. Shot near sunset on April 20th.

About 21 million years ago, this particular piece of real estate was volcanically active. Morro Rock is the last in a series of nine volcanic plugs - lava which has cooled and hardened in a vent - that stretch in a line inland from the coast. It seems that the lava source remained stationary while the crustal plate moved. Hence, the series of nine volcanoes.

Today, Morro Rock protects Morro Bay, a fishing and tourist town on California's central coast. Beach Boys fans should be familiar with their mentioning the town in one of their California Saga songs. Near the bay is an estuary, along with a bird sanctuary which is home to many varieties of migratory birds.

Despite the drought that California has suffered this past year, there was a slight "rainstorm" the night before and morning of this particular day. Although predictions were for rain to continue throughout the day, by mid-afternoon the sky was left filled with only the storm's remnants, as pictured above. As the sun was setting, the air was cool with but a slight breeze, and shorebirds were busily feeding along the water's low tide edge.

What a wondrous time to behold an aspect of God's glory.

Image © 2007 A. R. Lopez

If you insist...

No Comment...

Reality Self...

A photo of a photo being displayed on my Canon SD-600 (i.e., a self-portrait).

The theme for WeeklyShot, recently, was Self-Portrait. In an attempt to get beyond shooting my shadow, or my reflection (e.g., in a mirror), I happened to think of a shot of a shot. So, while at my parents' for Resurrection Day dinner, I shot a series of hand-held, arm-length "self-portraits". Later on that day, at home, I set up my Canon Rebel XT on a tripod and positioned myself holding the SD-600 with my image blaring out. After setting the focus and angle, I tripped the camera via a hand-held remote. Once I was satisfied with what I'd shot I downloaded the images to my PC and cropped the final version, while also desaturating everything except the LCD image. My minimal efforts paid off in that I was one of those featured for the week.

Such detailed attention to ourselves. It's no wonder we are a vain species.

image © 2007- A. R. Lopez