Adios Albuquerque, Bonjour Berkeley!

 

Has it been an inexcusably long time since my last blog post?  Yes.  Do I have an excuse?  Of course!  July has marked the beginning of a remarkable journey in which I have bid farewell to my hometown of Albuquerque, and hello to a new life in California.  My journey to Berkeley has been to pursue a Masters degree in Architecture, and begin an odyssey into a new chapter of my life.  My mom and I loaded up a moving truck, I took the reigns, and we drove across the country to sunny California!  I will have to say that one of the most strenuous parts of any move involves the packing and unpacking of stuff.  The unbelievable amount of stuff that one accumulates over the course of many years can be nothing short of overwhelming.  Without having too much of this 'stuff' to pack, I somehow still ended up with boxes upon boxes piled in my apartment.  Very slowly these boxes are being unpacked; and I am attacking them with the same ferocious procrastination as I attack most things. 

Beauty and the Badlands

 

Several weeks ago, Mike and I took an excursion West to El Malpais National Monument, just outside of Grants, New Mexico.  El Malpais, otherwise known as "The Badlands" is an expansive landscape of beautifully carved sandstone, jagged fields and tubes of lava, and captivating ice caves.  On this particular trip we traveled to the Natural Arch and the sandstone bluffs, overlooking basalt lava fields that stretch out as far as the eye can see.  It was a beautiful day to visit, albeit a bit windy for my taste being so high on the bluffs.  Regardless of its forbidding moniker, El Malpais is a powerful and stunning place, and a ceaseless reminder of the beauty to be found in New Mexico.

Seasonal Switch-Up

If there's one thing you can count on in Albuquerque, it is the unpredictability of the weather.  Spring not only shepherds warmer, longer days and relief from bitter winters; but also wild weather fluctuations.  It is also not entirely uncommon for the mid-year snow storm to blow into town, and turn things upside down.  This climactic curiosity came about in mid May, when a snow storm rolled over the Sandia Mountains and left a decent dusting of fresh snow.  Luckily, I was caught in the middle of it, and was able to experience a high-desert snow storm in the throws of Spring.  Photographs taken with Minolta XE-7 on FujiPro 800z film.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Last week, a story aired on the local news that a vandal in the Albuquerque area had been apprehended and made to pay to restore the buildings that had been damaged by his colorful graffiti. Albuquerque is no stranger to tagging and street vandals, however this was a different story. Artist Ernest Doty is being accused of unauthorized graffiti on several buildings in the downtown Albuquerque area; a charge I strongly disagree with.

The Final Days

A Star Among the Rest, originally uploaded by Design.Her.

One of the last photos for the month long photo-a-day project. The subject this time was the umbrella plant in my house that sits just beneath a skylight. The natural light really compliments the shine of the leaves and reminded me of a star burst or fireworks.

As pleased as I am with myself for making it through a month and sticking to the goal of one photo a day, there has been something nagging at my patience that came to pass a few days ago. As some that live here in New Mexico may have heard, and participated in; there was a photography contest organized by the state's tourism department, and the grand prize was a very attractive sum of ten thousand dollars. That sounds good to just about everybody, and particularly good to a recent collage graduate with bills piled to the sky.

Having gotten excited at the prospect of winning that much money for one photo, I gathered all of my photos from trips around the state and narrowed the pool down to the five best. I logged onto the website, made myself a profile, and continued to load the limit of five photographs. The next step led me to a page with the dreaded loading bar which read "please wait while we process your photos." So I waited. And waited... and waited........

Once I had waited for a few hours, I sent an email to the support center of the competition asking if it was normal to have such a long wait time. After letting my computer stay on this page for DAYS I closed the tab and waiting for an email.  I got a response email from the competition, two days after the deadline! In it, they told me that they were sorry for the inconvenience and that my photos were not submitted.

I'm still pretty sore about the whole thing. I mean, I'm no Ansel Adams, but I would have liked to at least have a chance at winning the grand prize.  So my only recourse is to just keep shooting, and hope that another opportunity pops up to get some exposure.  Let's hope!

Joyeux Anniversaire

Joyeux Anniversaire, originally uploaded by Design.Her.

Today is the welcome to another year on this Earth; here comes twenty three! My mom, my sister, and I went to the bosque to take some photos today, birthday balloons in tow. They were remarkably patient with me as we stumbled and walked precariously through the fallen leaves and roughage. We all took some pretty close calls when a seemingly steady surface turned out to be a sinkhole of leaves. They were good sports, and I cannot thank them enough for being such amazing helpers.

Maggie - "How does the photo look Miranda?"

Miranda - "....you look.... cool."

Oh, teenagers.

Not only was today my birthday, but also the anniversary of getting my camera one year ago. The last year of photo taking has been such a great adventure. I have learned so very much and developed a love for photography. I hope my camera and I have many more years of photos.

Farewell to Twenty Two, originally uploaded by Design.Her.

This was taken yesterday to celebrate the last day of being twenty two. 

Pride 2010

To the Beat of One Drum, originally uploaded by Design.Her.

My first, and certainly not last, Gay Pride parade. I have either not been able to go before, or had to watch the parade from work. Either way, I was very excited to go this year! The weather was beautiful, and the spirits were high. Mike, Tara, and I staked out a pretty good spot; and Mike and I got to shooting.

Everyone was so fabulous, posing for the camera. Some hamming it up, others showing just how fierce they could be. I must say, I've never seen so many boobs and butts in one day. For that matter, it was a very successful event.

For just about half an hour, Central Avenue was lined with rainbow clad onlookers, joyful parade participants, and [best of all] CANDY!

Albuquerque, stay PROUD.

Bad Romance, originally uploaded by Design.Her.

The Lady is a Tramp, originally uploaded by Design.Her.

The Skipper, originally uploaded by Design.Her.

United Colors of Pride, originally uploaded by Design.Her.

David and Goliath, originally uploaded by Design.Her.

Summer Satisfaction

Summer Satisfaction, originally uploaded by Design.Her.

The past few days we have experienced record breaking temperatures in the city and there are very few options for cooling down. With the mercury hitting 100 degrees and above, I would love to live in a swimming pool. Although I don't have complete access to any large pools of water [this is a desert after all], There are some other ways to cool down.

Walking a couple of blocks to Gecko's to enjoy a couple of cape cods and tasty tapas was a welcomed chill out from the hot day. This photo was part of the June photo-a-day project, but doesn't it just look so good? Mmmm... may just have to go grab another.

Kobold

Kobold, originally uploaded by Design.Her.

Not too long ago I screen printed a shirt for Mike with his band's logo, but never got around to photographing it. Here's the result in all of it's glory, on the person it was made for.  We went to the parking structure just across from the architecture building, catching the end of the sunset.

This was not only my first time having a model to help me photograph my screen printing, but also my first real practice using my new strobe. This photo I had an sb600 camera left, and am pretty pleased with the outcome. 

To check out some of Kobold's music, head over to itunes:

White Sands on a Whim

Lone Ranger, originally uploaded by Design.Her.

Mike and I drove down to White Sands National Monument this week to take a little day trip. The tunes were great, the snacks were plenty, and the scenery was beautiful.

It was my first trip down to White Sands and I had a blast. It's nice to have cool sand between your toes without having to drive for hours to California. Had a really great time shooting photos and running up sand dunes with Mike.

We rain into several little critters there, along with tracks of animals that we never saw; and tried to leave the stink bugs alone.  I highly recommend staying for sunset, especially during a full moon.  Although we didn't quite get a FULL moon, it was still gorgeous.  To the West there was the setting sun, and the East hosted the [almost] full moon rising. 

A few photos are up on flickr, and more to come.

Daddy Long Legs

Daddy Long Legs, originally uploaded by Design.Her.

Traveled up to the Sandia Crest with Mike to catch the sunset and take some photos. At almost 11,000 feet in elevation, it's usually pretty chilly compared to the valley below. However, this day we were able to get away with shorts and t-shirts. We're tough :P

Mike got some pretty nice shots that I hope he uploads to his flickr photostream. I, on the other hand, had a flash with dead batteries and I wasn't nearly as brave to crawl out onto the edge of the mountain. This is one of the more tame examples of the leg sprawl.