New Year, New Challenge

It is good to start the year with a new challenge.  Picacho Peak is a nice hike with some rolling hills to start with.  I have tried to make it all the way to the top a few times now.

That is about 3.1 miles according to the trail map.  It starts getting steep at about 2 miles and I have made it about that far several times.  They have steps in some places, but it is still quite a workout.

It was a great day for a hike and I was able to talk my youngest son and my Dad into joining me.  It was nice and sunny but with a breeze that kept it from getting too warm.  It is a bit bleak in the desert with little vegetation save some the cactus.   I can't wait to go back there again later in the spring after we have gotten some rain and there are some flowers blooming.

Well, we tried, but we only made it about 2.1 miles before we decided to turn back.  The altitude where we turned around was over 600 feet higher than where we parked, but there was a lot more up and down which left us pretty wiped out.   We decided to try it again in a couple months and get an earlier start to see if we can make it all the way to the top.

So how did you start out 2010?  Any New Years Resolutions? 

My First Photowalk

A few weeks ago a friend reminded me that Scott Kelby's second annual worldwide photowalk was coming up. We decided to sign up for the one in Scottsdale.

It was still over 110*F when our walk stared that evening, but there was still good turnout as we gathered at the fountain. Our walk leader Kim gave some brief instructions for safety and then told us to look for different perspectives. I had aleady decided to start out with my wider-angle lens instead of my zoom. That was an intentional choice to try and experiment with a new perspective for me since I usually leave my 200mm zoom on most of the time.We started wandering along, taking pictures of flowers, walls, reflections in windows. All the things I had not paid much attention to even though I had worked in the area several years before. I took the oportunity to take a self-portrait using a store window reflection.


I even did some window-shopping and found a photographically-themed shirt:
I had noticed a sculpture driving by a few weeks before, but didn't think to ge closer until my friend mentioned there were mirrors on the inside. I think it looks like looking into a giant kaleidascope.

While the image Scottsdale likes to portray is one of affluence and glitter, there will always be those that choose to put their own stamp on things with graffiti.


Then the dust-sorm rolled in. It is hard to capture the mood of a storm like his, but I like how the white of the clock tower contrasts with the brown dust rolling in behind it.


After spending some time chatting with other photographers at the gelato store, we headed back to the car, but stopped to grab some pictures of the fountain where we started. I had to use my tripod otherwise I would have felt it was a waste of energy to carry it around for the whole walk. I like the way this one worked out and may submit this as one of my 2 entries for the contest.


What do you think? Leave me a comment here, shout at me on Twitter, or head over to Facebook and leave me a comment on my Fan Page there. Always looking for more people to become fans on FaceBook, so drop on by.

Technical Notes
These were all shot with my Nikon D60 in RAW/NEF with my little lens (as compared to my 200mm zoom that I usually use). As far as post processing, I did some cropping and straightening and a white balance adjustment on some of them. Otherwise, they are SOOC.