Day Seven of Seven

Day Seven of Seven Days of Black and White

For the last day of this project, I chose this image of Metal Man, aka Photog, aka my muse. I shot “Photog” in Tucson, where I found him standing there with his camera pointed. He’s a life-sized sculpture created from sheet metal. He and I spent many hours together. I talked; he listened. Ha! I photographed him from every angle possible, short of me lying on the hot concrete to get him from the bottom up.

I added the text to his lens because of the origin of the word IMAGINE …

mid-14c., “to form a mental image of,” from Old French imaginer “sculpt, carve, paint; decorate, embellish” (13c.), from Latin imaginari “to form a mental picture, picture to oneself, imagine” (also, in Late Latin imaginare “to form an image of, represent”), from imago “an image, a likeness,” from stem of imitari “to copy, imitate” (from PIE root *aim- “to copy”). Sense of “suppose, assume” is first recorded late 14c. Related: Imagined; imagining.

After all, isn’t that where any image comes from? The imagine-ation?

Be good to yourself and each other. Namaste’

 

 

Day Three of Seven

Day Three’s image is a Harris Hawk, spied one morning as I was watching the sunrise with our beloved dogs, Daisy and Foxy.

I zoomed out as far as I could so that I didn’t scare it off with movement. Fortunately for me, I had my camera handy. You’re not surprised, are you? Haha!

Was he looking at me while I was looking at him? Maybe. Eyes like a hawk …

 

Day Two of Seven [Video]

Day two of my week long series of images in black and white.

This particular image is of a Peruvian Cereus, which only blooms at night. You can see it happen in real time during this 2-min. video. Enjoy!

When we first moved to the “cactus ranch,” I thought this was just another variety of cactus. I had no idea what this plant would do until I saw the pods forming and, wow, do they grow fast! I was up early in the morning to catch images before they closed up.

This particular morning, I got up a little late but managed to capture it before it closed and was gone for good. I have to say that I truly loved the natural wonder of this cactus. It had (I counted) 27 blooms of beauty. I miss it!

Be good to yourself and each other. Namaste’

 

Kind of a Metaphor

While looking for a specific image today, I came across this one that I took on July 14th, 2014.

July usually marks the beginning of monsoon season in Tucson, which is something we all looked forward to seeing. The rains would come sometimes with a fury and relieve the sweltering summer heat. I always found it so exciting to see it happen so I practiced looking up at the sky every day.

On this particular day, as I looked up, I couldn’t help but notice the sheep and the dog. And I laughed because to me it looks like the sheep wasn’t about to succumb to being herded.

Kind of a metaphor for us humans, isn’t it?

Something to think about.

Be good to yourself and each other. Namaste’

Coming Home

I’m a big fan of K. D. Lang. My favorite song of hers is Coming Home.

When I hear it, I get a lump in my throat because it makes me think of coming home to Tucson. I do love that place! It has always felt like home.

The warm weather, the Catalina mountains, the sentinels of the desert known as Saguaros, the friendly people, the streets I used to drive to see my Mom, the high-drama sunsets, monsoon season … all combined to make it my home.

 

Be good to yourself and each other. Namaste’

TBT

Well, my dear readers, it’s Throwback Thursday again. I hope this finds you all well and thriving.

This image is from my days in Tucson. So hot there now that I won’t be going back until winter. Can you blame me????

It’s hard to get a perspective of how large this stone thunderbird is. It’s on a busy road and I didn’t have a lot of time to get the image without getting run over … ha!

I am inspired by the artist who did this, especially what is inscribed under the wings:

“The eyes of the future are looking back at us. To protect what is wild is to protect what is gentle.” (Truth).

Namaste!

Cactus Ranch

My throw-back Thursday image is one that I really love. It makes me a little homesick for the desert and the Catalina Mountains I saw every day. I think I took them for granted. Sorry!

When I first got my Nikon camera, I played a lot with settings and this image is one that came out pretty good, I think. The sun was starting to set on the mountains and peering through the storm clouds that were gathering for a summer rain that evening.

We called this place the cactus ranch because it was eight acres of cactus; all shapes, sizes and varieties. But even cactus has it’s own beauty.

Be good to yourself and each other. Namaste’

Cactus and Caddies

Going through my photo archives today, I found images of two of our “past life” cars. Both of our Cadillacs were purchased from a friend of my Mom’s who took excellent care of them.

1993 Coupe De Ville

The Old Saguaro

1997 El Dorado Coupe

I have a penchant for giving our cars names. The Coupe De Ville was GRACE. And the El Dorado was LADY PEARL. Such great memories of my life in Tucson. My Mom and the lady who sold us these cars are both gone now along with the Caddies. But life moves on and so do we.

We estimated that Saguaro to be approximately 500 years old because each arm takes 40-50 years to grow. Amazing! We dubbed it Woody’s Hotel because of the woodpeckers who raised their babies in the holes.

Be good to yourself and each other. Namaste’

Look Up

Looking closer at this image I shot at the zoo in Tucson a while back, I see the lesson about life that nature provides if we just pay attention.  “Look up” they seem to say and “give praise to our heavenly Father.”  “Give glory to Mother Earth for sustaining our life here.”  (We as a species need to treat her with more love and respect). Namaste’

 Regina (Reggie) Arnold is a “flunked retirement” entrepreneur, co-author of The Art & Science of Recruiting, an award-winning photographic artist, and photo blogger

TBT Bicycle Bones

I hardly ever do Throwback Thursday because I usually forget until Thursday is gone. I hate it when that happens 🙂

So today I decided to participate (because I remembered). Ha!  This image is one that I had always wanted to capture each time I drove by it.  I call it Bicycle Bones. The problem was that it’s on a very busy street in Tucson and I never was able to stop on that busy street.  So one day I decided to go into the cross street and wait for the traffic to whiz by long enough to make my break onto the road.  After waiting for a long time, I finally got my chance. I pulled out, rolled down the passenger window and took my shot, alternating between watching the rear view mirror for traffic and zooming out to get the image … call it multi-tasking. Sure was fun! I think my “photog” guardian angel had my back.  Namaste’

Regina (Reggie) Arnold is a “flunked retirement” entrepreneur, co-author of The Art & Science of Recruiting, an award-winning photographic artist, and photo blogger.