mogollon rim

Snow Trees

Posted on November 13, 2015 by kritterspaw

The Forest Service seems to close the roads the minute we get snow… and keep them closed until Spring. So we jumped into action immediately after our first snow storm, and went directly to the Mogollon Rim to see if we could capture the Rim in snow. Unfortunately, the fog rolled in, and the view over the rim was a complete whiteout. Check out my First Snow pix on kritterspaw.com.

What do they say… one closed door leads to another open door. In my case fog lead to some very cool Snow Trees with the last remnants of fall color on pristine snow in an eery fog. It reminded my of an enchanted forest.

Fall Colors

Posted on October 22, 2015 by kritterspaw

We were quite anxious to go out and get Fall Color photos this year… but we have been so consumed by our projects that it nearly passed us by. We had friends come up from U.K., and they gave us the excuse and opportunity to make the journey to the rim to enjoy Fall and it’s gorgeous bounty.

Actually, the leaves were nearly gone. I think they snapped into color just as we got that big cold front and wind that moved through… then brushed them right off the trees onto the ground and against trees making for interesting juxtaposition.

Every year brings something new. Now that we live somewhere with 4 seasons we can take full advantage of it and enjoy all it has to offer.

Mogollon Rim stars and sunset

Posted on October 3, 2015October 3, 2015 by kritterspaw

We were at the rim the other day… doing some leaf peeping. No major color changes just yet… so we’ll just have to wait, and go back.

We did see this cool little horny toad, have a nice dinner and watch the sun set and stars come out though.

Dinner Out

Posted on July 25, 2015 by kritterspaw

I freely admit I like to enjoy a nice dinner out. It’s gotten a little harder now that we live off the beaten path. So I have to rely on my own cooking skills.. which is something I can easily live with.

The best dinner out we enjoy these days… is the one we take with.

We pack up our grill and our picnic basket, our cooler, the dog (Journey), and the camera… and we’re off. It doesn’t much matter where we go… it all in the journey… and the views.

This evening we watched the sun set over Mogollon Rim. I think we had the best view in the house.

Story Telling

Posted on December 3, 2014December 6, 2014 by kritterspaw

I mentioned that I had the fortunate opportunity to have Moose Peterson critique some of my photos. While we was very kind and even called my photos great (woohoo), and suggested that I had good technique an composition, he noted that I needed to work on my story telling. When I think of story telling, I think of portraits… photos of people doing something, action, great expressions, expressing a moment in time. I get that good portraits may use shallow depth of field to blur the background to highlight the subject. But how do you do that in Landscape and Wildlife photographs?

While I am not comfortable taking photos of people, I do understand that they had great depth (sense of size) to a photograph, and tell a story of that place. Here I caught two young adults mid catch at Woods Canyon Lake.

Expressions, if you can capture them, are worth a thousands words. Whether you anticipate and wait for it, or just get lucky. Here you can hear the oohs and ahhs of my friend and husband as they revel over the magnificent fall colors we were fortunate enough to enjoy.

Or the tender moment between a deer mom and her little one.

Thanks, Moose. I’m working on it.

Mogollon Rim Sunrise

Posted on December 3, 2014December 6, 2014 by kritterspaw

We did an outing to Mogollon Rim for sunrise yesterday. The sunrise is around 6:30am, so we made our way to the rim hoping for some good cloud cover. I love the layers of color and depth the Rim offer. I found sunrise difficult though, as it was too dark… then too light. Next time I need to scope out a specific area and go back knowing already what I want to shoot… then just wait for the perfect light. And bring my tripod!

Overlooking East Clear Creek

Camera Settings: sRGB vs. Adobe RGB

Posted on December 1, 2014December 1, 2014 by kritterspaw

I was fortunate enough to go to Photoshop World in Vegas this past September. It was a valuable experience on my levels. I signed up for a Portfolio Review, where for $25 you bring 15 – 20 pix and they pair you with a photographer in your same category (Wildlife in my case). I was delighted to find myself sitting next to none other than Moose Peterson himself. Wow! His wildlife and aviation pix are legendary. Let’s just say, I had most certainly heard of him before!

Moose was very kind with his critique, though very humbling. Photos that I thought were, while maybe not world class, at least good… didn’t make the cut as far as Moose was concerned. I went home a little deflated, but encouraged and inspired to do better. He explains his philosophy that no ‘critter’ shot should be tampered with, not even cropped! Just when I’m finally getting better at Photoshop. Well… I reserve the right to consider that approach, as I freely admit to the occasional crop or exposure adjustment. Hmmm.

One very interesting comment he made was relative to my camera settings. He took one look at the picture posted here, and suggested that my camera settings were on sRGB and I should change them to Adobe RGB. He looked at one photo, and by that alone, declared my camera settings. You can see that? Really!? I was stunned. He explained that sRGB is 256K of colors, while Adobe RGB is 14 million colors, hence the ‘monotone’ look of my buck picture. Wow! Of course the first thing I did when I got back to my room was check my camera settings. He was dead on. I was set on sRGB. I instantly re-set my camera to Adobe RGB.

A little research online tells a different story. Adobe RGB is best if you are going to print. sRGB is best if you are emailing. But, then you can find any answer you looking for online, irregardless of what you want it to be. For me, I have it set on Adobe RGB, and I’ll be leaving it there, unless I learn something compelling to change it.

Posted on November 25, 2014December 5, 2014 by kritterspaw

I could do a whole book on Mogollon Rim, and maybe I will.

I am lucky enough to call this magical place my backyard. So it’s no coincidence that you’ll be seeing more photos of this picturesque terrain. We take photographic journeys and lunch outings to ‘the rim’ on a regular basis. Notably some trips are a bust and the photographs are less than inspiring, but they are always good practice, peaceful, and relaxing.