Month: January 2012

Wednesday January 4, 2012

Post author By Woody
Post date Tuesday January 10, 2012

TAOS NEW MEXICO – It’s become clear to me that occasional ski lessons aren’t going get me to a reasonable level so I decided to focus elsewhere. One of the nice things about Taos is that there are other things to see and do within a reasonable driving distance. Today I visited Earthship homes outside of Taos. According to Wikipedia:

Earthship homes are primarily constructed to work as autonomous buildings and are generally made of earth-filled tires, using thermal mass construction to naturally regulate indoor temperature. They also usually have their own special natural ventilation system. Earthships are generally Off-the-grid homes, minimizing their reliance on public utilities and fossil fuels.

Here are some images, again taken with my Panasonic:

On this day on year ago: my office.

Tags Taos

Icon Landscape

Tuesday January 3, 2012

Post author By Woody
Post date Monday January 9, 2012

TAOS SKI VALLEY AND TAOS NEW MEXICO – Maria, Alexander, Laura and I snowmobiled in the morning, guided by a local legend and egregious name dropper called “Big Al”. Really fun racing up and down the mountains in two-cycle engine exhaust miasma. Here’s the village in good light and Maria.

Later in the day Laura and I drove down to Taos and visited the Taos Pueblo, one of the most photographed and painted sites on the face of the earth. From an editorial standpoint I’ve had failure of self control here.

On this day last year: a clear day in Connecticut.

Tags Taos

Landscape

Monday January 2, 2012

TAOS SKI VALLEY, NEW MEXICO = Laura, Alexander and I snow shoed up into the Wheeler Wilderness Area. Images taken with my Panasonic.

On this day last year: dense fog.

Tags Taos, Winter

Interior Landscape

Sunday January 1, 2012

Post author By Woody
Post date Sunday January 8, 2012

TAAOS SKI VALLEY NEW MEXICO – A pensive moment at the Bavarian Inn.

On this day one year ago: portrait.

Tags Taos

Events and holidays Family and friends

Saturday December 31, 2011

Post author By Woody
Post date Sunday January 8, 2012

TAOS SKI VALLEY NEW MEXICO – We’re staying at the Bavarian where we celebrated New Years Eve with some friends who have built a house here. A family party image with my Panasonic.

On this day last year: Maria in a nun costume. The scary thing about this was that Maria went to convent school and actually knows how to act like a nun.

Tags New Years

Recreation

Friday December 30, 2011

Post author By Woody
Post date Sunday January 8, 2012

TAOS SKI VALLEY NEW MEXICO – We made it to Taos. Our children, Alexander and Francesca, are excellent skiers. They started at age 3 and are at a very high level at this point. In most ski resorts they disdain actual runs, preferring off piste with a guide or instructor. Taos is a little different – there’s a bumper sticker that says “Taos – a four letter word for steep”. That pretty much summarizes it. They are in heaven. Maria is also a terrific skier. Laura is a beginner and is tackling lessons with great spirit. I haven’t skied that much since my knee replacements – I’m taking lessons to see what I can recover. At my current state there’s actually not a way off the mountain that I can ski.

The great thing about Taos is that it has snow, and spring skiing conditions in December. Midday it’s in the low 40s (F). Here’s lunch at the St. Bernard. All images from the trip are with my Panasonic – my travel kit when I’m concerned about size and weight (I actually thought that I might shoot on skis) or iPhone.

On this day last year: wind carved snow. Shot with my Hasselblad.

Tags Skiing

Landscape Transportation Travel

Thursday December 29, 2011

NEWARK AIRPORT – This is one of those dreaded (photo-wise) travel days. Remember? I generally struggle to find an interesting image in airports, cabs and the like. Well actually the iPhone helps a lot – it’s always at hand and post processing apps provide entertaining (in reality silly) modifications of images. Who said that the photo-a-day gig has always to be serious.

We flew Southwest Air to Albuquerque. The “we” is me, Maria, Alexander and his wife, Laura, and Francesca. A three hour drive put us in Taos Ski Valley, one of the highest and frankly most difficult mountains in the US. Anyway here are two images taken in the aircraft as it prepared for takeoff. iPhone images. The first percolated and the second grunged up slightly.

On this day one year ago: Windswept field. In last year’s image from this date I used tilt to decrease the apparent depth of field:

Tags Aircraft