Stickleaf Flower at Lisa Lake

MyMrMallory's North Rose

First year to bloom, and beautifully.

Primrose at the Airport

April 21 Sunrise and the Bluebonnets at the Airport

White Bluebonnets Around the Wind Sock

Sunrise Over My Plane

Cowboys at Sunrise

Foggy Sunrise Over the Pond Along Highway 25

Saint Jo's Countryside Blooming Trees and Bushes

Caverns of Sonora

     My photography tour guide, Bill Sawyer, light painted some of the cavern for us three photographers. We both felt particularly enchanted by the way the photo of this stalagmite looks.

Another light painted photo that I enjoyed making, in particular, shows a drapery-type speleothem, with the unusual red color nearby caused by Mr Sawyer's hand as he covered his flashlight to control the amount of light cast on the crystal. 

There are so many formations and rooms in the Caverns of Sonora that made me feel in awe. Here I show the straw-like formations that hang from the ceiling light painted by Mr Sawyer. 

Where ever we decided to go inside the Caverns, I insisted on returning to Halo Lake. 

Various formations near Halo Lake, including the war clubs. 

Draperies as if on fire near Halo Lake.

Crystals grow and grow in the live Caverns.

The Sponge Room.

Popcorn-like speleothems.

The Crystal Palace lit by Mr Sawyer's flashlight.

    What a dream photography tour at the Caverns of Sonora. I had phoned them only a couple of weeks ahead of time to sign up. Both Bill Sawyer and Louise had recommended that I take the regular tour so that I could make notes on the various rooms and formations that I would like to photograph. Good suggestion, as it turned out in my experience.

    Arriving on a Thursday, I took the regular tour with Betsy as a guide. I carried a camera with a normal lens -- cameras are encouraged -- and took so many pictures that my memory card filled up, only with a half hour into the tour. I had to learn to restrain myself after I deleted some of the pictures of the first part of the Caverns. So in awe I felt by the crystal formations.

     On Friday, I again took a regular tour, and again with Betsy as a guide. This time, my camera had a long lens, giving me a chance to explore some close up shots. Betsy did beautifully with her cellphone camera, and I learned from her that I should next time bring my macro lens. The Caverns are live, still growing, and we can make images of droplets as they hang from stalactites, or as they fall upon a stalagmite, as Betsy recorded with her time lapse capability. She gave me some tips and hints and suggestions, all of which I appreciated and wrote down. By the next day, the day of my photo tour, I felt informed enough -- and I had simmered down enough to quit taking so many pictures! -- that I knew what to ask of Mr Sawyer. 

    To my delight, Mr Sawyer loves to light paint. Thus, many of my photographs look all the more special after making them as he held his flashlight, moving it back and forth over the formations, creating unique images. 

    In spite of my newly developed restraint, I returned home with close to 1,000 images. Going through them took me all week. So many that I printed are not shown here. 

    Speaking of printing: I consider printing my own images a great part of the joy I find in photography. By using an Epson P800, both Ilford and Red River papers (and being rather persnickety about the quality of the image) I have become a better photographer. In viewing the prints, which are of great quality from the Epson and these papers, I can see some of the mistakes I make during the process of capturing an image. My images have greatly improved. 

    The Caverns are on my schedule again, next time with an emphasis on macro photography. I am eager to return. 

The Peacock at the Caverns of Sonora

Watching Art

Admiring Tlaloc and His Frogs

Dallas Museum of Art.

The Visit of a Falcon 900 EX at Kickapoo

Sipping coffee at the FBO, I looked outside the windows.

Naturally, camera in hand, I strolled outside for the opportunity to make an image. 

The beacon remained lit in the dreary morning.

       Later on, I positioned myself at the end of the runway, at an angle just so, that when the Falcon took off I could include the FBO in the photograph. I noted later that the Falcon had attracted visitors, some in the gray vehicle, and some standing near the fuel farm. 

      The Falcon lifted up right away, and climbed rapidly to the south.

Little Willys on Clay Soil

Infrared Wintering Tree and Mesquite

Red-tailed Atop a Cross and a Waning Moon

The Ears on the Mule Deer

Burrowing Owl on a Fence

Digital Painting of Antelope, Cranes, and MyMrMallory

View of Dallas from 4,000 Feet

     In his beautiful Bonanza, Uwe flew Dotti and me to Love Field. We could see from the air the Margaret McDermott Bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava.

Francisca Efgenia Melendez y Durazzo at the Dallas Museum of Art

      One of the charming things for me to experience at a museum is the curiosity that I see in its visitors. Here, my sweet friend uses the magnifying glass to further study one of the works of art at the Dallas Museum of Art's wonderful exhibit, Women Artists in Europe from the Monarchy to Modernism. 

      Drawn to the miniature oil paintings by Francisca Efgenia Melendez y Durazzo (1770 - 1825), I learned that at age twenty, she became an Academic of Merit. Shortly thereafter, she became the artist for the Court of King Charles of Spain. The portraits we viewed at the exhibit show her work painting the members of the king's family. The work is framed together with letters to her requesting certain details, such as "eyes that show more smiling." Though the language written on the letters harks back to the Eighteenth Century, I could still understand what the message said. Spanish is a beautiful language, and having the opportunity to read it gave me an added embellishment to the experience at the Museum. 

     My attempts to photograph the moment a visitor studies a work of art serve to challenge my skills with my camera. With low light and a moving subject, I have to quickly compose after adjusting my settings. This time, I used my X-T3 from Fujifilm with a 35mm lens. I could have made much better images if I had focussed more deeply as a photographer; instead, I focussed on the wonderful exhibit, the wonderful women whose work I viewed and inspired me, which made capturing moments of secondary nature. Sometimes, enjoying the experience, such as this one, can overcome my passion for capturing a beautiful moment. I can feel those times by now, and allow them to wash over me, inspiring me for the future.

Cirrus SR20 on a Foggy Morning

Visitors at the Fort Worth MoMA

     While taking in the exhibit of Laurie Simmons' photography at the Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art, I noted a visitor wearing a particular shirt. The matching colors attracted me. Here, the visitor and his friends have just viewed "The Mess," by Laurie Simmons.

Moonrise Over KCWC and My Plane

The full moon rises over KCWC, January 20th, 2019. The sun eventually eclipsed the moon that evening.

    At Kickapoo Airport, as the sun set, the moon rose. I captured several images to make a panorama, hoping to achieve a view that reflected reality, as I saw it that evening. Wide angle lenses make the moon look very small, which I did not want to do in my image. And so, I used a 110mm lens on my GFX 50s, exposed several images by panning, and then blended them in PhotoShop. I borrowed the reflection from the windows in another image to highlight the building, and then straightened the beacon tower.

     At eleven o'clock that evening, I photographed the eclipsed moon with the Nikon P1000 at 1000mm. I hadn't noticed that the camera has a moon icon as one of its scene modes (in addition to the bird mode). I turned the knob from manual mode to moon mode, just to experiment. The camera rendered a beautiful exposure, as I show above. I'm convinced that when I'm out and about with this particular camera, I should allow it to do all the work when documenting scenes.

Quiet Post Moorise and Sunset Over Kickapoo Hangars

Sunrise Over Gray County Cattle

      The small, dark spots in the distance of this lovely view are Charles' cattle munching in a healthy pasture. 

Below the Dam at Duck Lake

    While on photo safari with Clay, we came upon the scene I show above. In processing the RAW image in PhotoShop, I emphasized the water and the road going into the distance. I love these kinds of images and I especially love finding them.

Dawn Over the Pond at Horse Camp

      Every once in a while, Clay will take the time to show me a location for photography. I like to call those times "photo safaris." Unless I feel sick or the weather is extreme, I don't miss the opportunity to tag along. 

     At six o'clock, we made our way to a pond at Horse Camp, the one with the huge dam, and waited for the ducks to arrive. The sunrise looked muted and gave the sky and the mirror-like water some color. The electrical posts provided some interest, too, for my picture. 

     We saw a pair of Buffleheads, and a few Northern Shovelers, teals, and I think I may have seen some mallards. The ducks, as they arrived, zoomed over us. Their wings made a zooming sound that fascinated me. 

Sunset Over Kickapoo FBO

     While waiting for MyMrMallory to return from San Angelo, in the cold 22-knot winds from the north, I stood beside the FBO at Kickapoo with my camera on its tripod. The beacon did not light up until he touched down on the runway, so I merged the images together to create the lights. In using the Nikon Z7 and the 35mm Elegant lens from Kipon, I thought of myself as a tad eccentric in my choice of equipment, seeing as how I don't have the capability to use the extraordinary auto focus of the Nikon kit lens; but then, I enjoy all manual with great technology. The idea for using the Kipon lenses came from a post in Nikon Rumors Web site (Where There's Smoke, There's Fire). Eventually, I hope to have the Nikon 24-70mm lens made for the Z-series cameras.

     The practice of photography can bring one such joy. The banker John Safer, also an artist, passed away very recently (1922 - 2018). In his obituary, the writer James R. Hagerty quoted him as saying, "If you don't have any grand ambitions in art, you shouldn't be doing it." It sounds too absolutistic to me and yet, it sounds exactly right, too, about how I feel about my art.

TBM Taking Off

Taking the opportunity to practice photography, I stood at the edge

of the grass along the taxiway. A TBM has a speedy roll,

and so must the photographer and her trusty XH-1 camera and 100-400mm lens.