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Annular Solar Eclipse

Sunday 20-May-2012.  A solar eclipse passed directly over Albuquerque an hour before sunset.  There were viewing parties all over the city.  We headed out to the west edge of the city, along the top of Nine Mile Hill, expecting to have a quiet evening with a few coworkers.  We weren’t anticipating hundreds upon hundreds of cars lined up along the barb wire fence.  Some people had high-powered telescopes, others had pinhole cameras made from boxes of cream cheese.  I was armed with my Nikkor 70-300mm lens and a Variable Neutral Density filter.

There are plenty more photos, but for now, here is the money shot.

River of Lights 2011

Every year in December the Albuquerque Botanical Gardens transforms at night into a museum of light sculptures. Some pieces are animated and even animatronic. Krista and I have been meaning to go for years, and finally went with our friends Michael and Lauren.

Thanksgiving 2011

For Thanksgiving, Krista’s family – her parents Keith and Gail and her sister Erika – came to Cleveland to celebrate with my family. We visited the Cleveland Art Museum and various places downtown.

El Kookooee 2011

El Kookooee

New Mexico has its fair share of boogeymen: La Llorona, the wailing woman; Zozobra, ”Old Man Gloom”; the Chupacabra, the goat sucker; and El Kookooee, the Boogeyman. These supernatural apparitions bring with them bad luck and ill will. New Mexicans respond by burning them in effigy.

The burning of Zozobra, marking the beginning of Fiestas in Santa Fe, has grown into a major event that draws thousands. El Kookooee, though much smaller, has grown quickly in recent years. The event takes place on the last weekend of October, deep in the south valley of Albuquerque. Schoolchildren design the effigy each year, and each year local artists construct the boogey man per the children’s specifications.

El Kookooee, like Zozobra, is blamed for the ills of the world, and people are eager to place their fears and worries at his feet to kindle his flame.

I, though, think of Kookooee less as a demon and more as a vessel, a sacrificial lamb. As he ascends to the night sky as embers and ash, he carries our worst habits away with him.

Thanks, Kookooee, for bearing our burdens for us. We will meet again next year, when we Burqueños have amassed another heap of problems to unload onto your fiery altar.

The Trees at Furnace Run

Krista and I visited Cleveland on Fourth of July weekend for a wedding, a birthday, and a trip to Cedar Point.  At Furnace Run Park, I took the first shot I’ve been really proud of in quite some time:

The Trees At Furnace Run

Equipment:  Nikon D300s, Tamron 17-50, edited in Aperture 3

Cleveland Animals

I went home for Christmas for the first time in a few years. There was snow everywhere, and the birds and animals stood out against the brilliant white. Armed with my dad’s 80-200mm lens, I took hundreds of shots just from the back door of our house. Dad and I also walked on the towpath along the Ohio Canal and I managed to snap a few birds there.

Hanging of the Greens 2010

Every December, the University of New Mexico celebrates The Hanging of the Greens, an event to welcome the coming winter. The university president invites the community into the President’s House on campus for hot chocolate and cookies, but the main event is the thousands upon thousands of luminarias (or farolitos, if you hail from Santa Fe). These simple decorations – a candle in a paper bag filled with sand – are a New Mexican tradition.

Full Moon – October 2010

There was a full moon on Saturday, and a clear, crisp night.  I had my 200mm lens, but no tripod, so I just bumped up the ISO as much as I could and shot this freehand:

Click for full size

It’s not perfect – by no means a crisp, clear shot – but it turned out way better than I thought it would.

Dia de los Muertos – October 2010

Every year, the National Hispanic Cultural Center has a community event for Dia de los Muertos – the Day of the Dead:

Each year in observance of Día de Muertos, the NHCC invites students, teachers and general public to create and display ofrendas (altars) in honor of loved ones, pets and community leaders who have passed away. This installation of ofrendas is always beautiful, engaging and respectful of the traditional celebration. This year, the installation includes an ofrenda created by artist, Jacobo de la Serna in remembrance of bicyclists that have lost their lives on New Mexico roads. Artist, Catalina Delgado Trunk designed an altar for the community to bring their offerings and remembrances on the evening of November 2.

In addition to the ofrendas, the event had an arts and crafts portion where attendees were invited to decorate sugar skulls, make papercrafts, and to screen print their own tshirts.  Here are my photos.  All were taken with my dad’s 50mm lens.  Even though it’s 30 years old, it still takes some amazing shots.

Pyramid Peak – Gallup, NM

For Krista’s mom’s birthday this July, we went hiking to the top of one of Gallup’s highest points – Pyramid Peak. It was a great hike with spectacular views, even despite getting lost on the way down, and Krista’s mom smoked the rest of us youngins.