On The Trail - Steve's Archives

We got up to a frosty morning today.

There is still snow on most of our yard but it's going fast.

I went shooting the sunset last night, and it was pleasant not to be standing out in the snow and wind and cold, the season is changing for the warm!

Normally Saturdays are my lazy day, at least when I am working. Today seems different to one of us for some reason. I am getting pressure to finish up some remodel work so someone else can do her work. So I will work on the other photos later Carolyn! J

Here are a couple pics for today…

My photo, last night's afterglow above Anchorage

This one is for Cheryl CEO Dropout. She has a playground photo she took posted and it reminded me I have this one. It came from Sitka last year and I don't know who took it. It is appropriately called Playground Fun.

The geese are back and the bears are out. That was the word tonight on the local news.

Rick Sinnot of Alaska Fish & Game was in the news clip, explaining about the need to be careful and take care of trash and use the right containers and so on. It is a criminal offense to feed bears here, whether by leaving trash out or having a food source that a bear gets into. A minimum fine of $100 and possible jail time goes with the offense. The food source can be lots of things, black bears are truly omnivorous, meaning they will eat almost anything. People have been busted for having bird feeders that bears have gotten into. Bird feeders!

So most of us have heard that hanging food up out of reach might be a good idea around bears. Check out this bear and the bird feeder suspended on a rope.

These images circulated the web around here in 2005, and show the resourcefulness of the black bear. I don't know the photographer so I can't give credits. 

There is an estimated 300 black bears and 60 some grizzlies that frequent the city limits. Last year 13 black bears were killed by Fish & Game when they became a threat to people. A few more were hit by cars. No grizzlies were killed, one was hit by a car.

Monday consisted of some chores, spring cleaning, blogging and…first day on the bike, as in bicycle. With almost 15 hours daylight the race is on to jamb every bit of living we can into a few short months and call it a summer season!

Toward evening I finally got around to a special photo project I have been waiting for. I wanted to photograph a painting by my friend Mandy. It is her rendition of a photo I took November 12, 2006 of a sunset. I had posted it in a series that features a mirage, which was the next photo in the series.

I asked her why she wanted to paint it and she said she saw the "wow factor" in the image. Well I relate to that, I saw it that cold day in November when I clicked the shutter with frozen hands.

So she did paint it, using oils, and she gave it her own artistic interpretation. And I think maybe the vegetation reflects a bit of where she lives in England. It sort of gives the piece her English accent just a bit. Well when she showed me a photo of it, it had the wow factor for me big time, and I expressed it enthusiastically. So she sent it to me! Yeah, big wow! It now hangs on my wall. And so I have been waiting for the right light to photograph it, and now I have been given that to, wow.

So here is the original image by Steve

The Painting by Amanda Marie Foster, a beautiful image from a lovely friend, or is it lovely image and beautiful friend? Either way I would say. This blog image is not the same as the album. I used a soft focus effect for this one in order to minimize a distracting "pattern" it obtained when uploaded. The pattern was caused by tiny bright spots in the fabric of the canvas. The album photo is therefore sharper.

And of course I had to zoom right in to show the texture I love with the canvas and brush strokes, hope you don't mind Mandy. I am not a painter, but this is amazing detail to me.

These images I put in a new album titled Sunset by Me and Mandy

Later I decided to take a drive up the hill to observe the sunset.

While I was setting up I got this shot of an old guy and his pickup. Hey that's me!

Self portrait.

The sunset, another wow. What a show!

Selected images are now in the latest album, Sunset April 16, 2007. All without any adjustments of any kind, just the way I took them.