Category Archives: Arizona

May 2017 Sunset Photos

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After talking about knitting for the past few weeks, I wanted to give everyone (Including myself) a break from posting about sewing and knitting.

When I bought my new camera few months ago, I wanted to see how well my camera took photos of sunsets. I thought I’d have at least a few chances to take photos of sunsets, but, unfortunately, the weather conditions were not perfect for a pretty sunset or I missed the chance for a variety of reasons. On May 29, 2017 I was able to get outside and take photos of a beautiful sunset.

I’m very pleased with the way the camera took photos of the sunset. My old camera took sunset photos clearly, but the photograph colors began to look off in the last two or so years. Even if I edited the colors in Photoshop, the colors were off. This time, once I adjusted the contrast in Photoshop, the colors looked the same or very similar to the way they did in real life. I think the colors my old Sony couldn’t take photos of was hot pink and orange, but my new Cannon took photos of the clouds with hot pink and orange. This makes me so happy because it improves my ability to take good photos of sunsets with more true to life colors.

That’s all for now! Thank you for reading!

 

New Camera and Desert Test Photos

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After five and a half years of loyal service, I realized my main camera, a Sony Cybershot, was dying. I knew it was having problems in 2013, but I was still able to make it work and do what I want until last year. While at the Renaissance Festival, I realized it was really having problems and was draining the battery even though the camera was off. I tried new batteries, but nothing worked. I also had problems with it focusing and zooming in when I wanted it to. So, it was time to get a new camera.

After a lot of debate, I decided to get a Cannon Powershot. After getting it, I began playing with my new camera and took photos of a cactus blossom, a tree blossom, and fruit on a barrel cactus.

After taking these photos and editing them, I was very pleased with the way they turned out. Since I didn’t take many photos the first time, I took more photos around the desert to see how far I can push the camera before it starts to have trouble taking photos.

After I took this set, I discovered my camera’s image stabilization stops working after zooming 60x. My camera has a standard 40x zoom, but it can go up to 160x. I think the stabilization of the camera will be fine if I use a tripod, but it’s something of note when I’m carrying the camera around and need it to zoom that far. Also, it has problems focusing on the plants in the foreground when taking a close up of them. My Sony had the same problems when I take close up flower photos, so it’s something I’m used to. Still, it’s something annoying I need to remember if I want to take close up flower photos.

Over all, I’m very pleased with my new camera and find it a good replacement for my old Sony. I still need to test the Cannon to see if it will take photos of stars at night, but, since it behaves like my Sony, I believe the Cannon will be able to take photos at night just fine.

That’s all for now! Thank you for reading!

Arizona Renaissance Festival- March 11, 2017

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The 2017 Arizona Renaissance Festival is over for the year and I have some more photos I took while there to post and talk about.

The weekend of March 11th and 12th was Time Traveler’s Weekend. It is my favorite of the themed weekends at the festival because there is a Tardis from Doctor Who in front of the front gate and there are Star Wars characters from the 501st Legion in the festival. It’s always amusing to see the storm troopers serve as body guards of the royal court or Darth Vader watch the joust.

Like the last time I went to the festival, I mostly took photos of the joust. I was intending on taking photos of other acts, but I ran into problems with my camera’s batteries so I couldn’t take photos of anything or anyone else. In addition to this, I didn’t stay the whole day. It was unseasonably hot (Over 90 degrees Fahrenheit) and I didn’t want to over exhaust myself. As usual, I had a great time and I’m glad I went on this weekend!

That’s all for now! Thank you for reading!

January 2017 Sunset Photos

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Sorry about not posting in a few weeks. I’m still playing catch up with my side projects due to the stomach flu I had a few weeks ago. Since I’m not done working on them yet, this week’s post is about some photos I took of a sunset in January!

I took these photos after a winter storm on January 24, 2017. I’m happy with the way the photos I took that day turned out. In addition to these photos, I also took some other photos that will be used for future fabric designs. Right now they are not available for sale or public viewing, but once they are I’ll make a post about them!

That’s all for now! Thank you for reading!

Arizona Renaissance Festival- February 12, 2017

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Last week I got sick with a nasty stomach flu so I was unable to sew, draw, or basically do anything besides rest. Because of this, my blogging plans for the next few weeks are going to be off by at least a week. While I work on my sewing, I decided to write a few posts about photos I recently took. Well, photos took before I got sick. XD

On February 12th, I went to the Arizona Renaissance Festival. Last year, when my family member died, I decided to go on multiple days to the festival because I have the freedom on the weekends to do “fun” things this year without elaborate planning that will end up not working out in the end. So, although I didn’t have a costume ready to be worn, I didn’t mind because I already planned to go on other weekends. :)

On this weekend I ended up not staying as long as I normally like to because I was starting to not feel well. I think the flu was starting to creep up on me back then, but it didn’t make me so ill I couldn’t do things until last week. In spite of this, I was able to take photos of the festival. Continue reading →

2016 Peach Tree Blossoms

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I was so busy earlier this year that I forgot to post photos of this year’s peach tree blossoms!

Since the temperatures in Arizona were unseasonably warm, the peach trees bloomed a month early. Other plants bloomed early as well, but the peach trees where the ones that drew the most attention from bees, butterflies, beetles, and even a hummingbird. Although I was unable to take pictures of all the animals visiting the peach trees, I still have some very nice pictures of the blossoms!

Since I took so many pictures of the blossoms, I’m posting a few here. The rest can be found in my Flickr albums for February 2016 and Mach 2016 nature photos. Since I normally put all the nature photos I took during that particular month in the albums, you will probably see photos of different blossoms and sunset photos in it. Enjoy the photos!

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2016 Arizona Renaissance Festival

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In March, I went to the Arizona Renaissance Festival. I try to go every year, but due to a family health emergency, I really didn’t feel like going this year. I thought I’d skip this year, but I ended up going anyway. I also went with a friend, which was the first time I went with a friend in years!

Since my mind was focused on the family illness and I wanted to enjoy spending time with my friend, I didn’t feel like dressing up and I didn’t take as many photos as I normally do when I’m at the festival. I do have a few, most are located in my 2016 Arizona Renaissance Festival on Flickr, but here a few of my favorites…

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Saguaro Cactus Blossoms and Fruit

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If anyone knows about when the Saguaro cactus bloom, they probably think it’s odd I’m making a post about the Saguaro blossoms in the last half of June is a little odd. Saguaros like to bloom in May, not June, but thanks to the unseasonably cool temperatures for May the Saguaros are blooming a little late this year. Some of the Saguaros around where I live already bloomed back in early April and their fruit already fell off, but those particular Saguaros have a track record of blooming early and their fruit falling off early as well.

Back in May, I was too ill from the pain my growth spurts caused to go out for a walk to the Saguaros that were blooming and take photos. And in June I was too busy working to go and take photos of the Saguaro blooms, but a few days ago I was able to go out and take photos of the Saguaros that still have buds or the blooms have now become fruit.

The photos are not as impressive as it would be if I took photos of the blossoms in full bloom, but hey! I’m glad to get photos of this year’s blossoms at all! I also took some photos of the ribs of a cactus that fell over this past winter and the discoloration to one of the Saguaros has after the major freezing this past January. (The frost didn’t melt until past 10 AM, which is so weird for the deserts of Arizona!)

I hope you enjoy the photos!

Kearny Brush Fire Sunset

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Due to growth spurts recently, I decided to make some posts about photos I’ve recently taken!

On June 17, 2015 a brush fire started near Kearny, Arizona. It was a very serious fire because it was very close to the town of Kearny and threatened (And burned a few) buildings and threatened the town. Fortunately, the fire remained in the river bed near the town and didn’t change direction. As of June 21, it the fire was 75% contained. (I have yet to hear anything more about the fire since then)

I do not live in or near Kearny, but where I do live I could see the smoke from the fire start and, while the fire was not contained, I could smell the smoke from the mesquite trees that burned. (It smelled like I was standing next to a smoker filled with mesquite wood)

Because of all the smoke in the air, the sunset on June 17 was really pretty. After seeing how the sunset looked, I ran outside and took photos. This was the first time I took photos outside in two months and, to my surprise, I was out of practice. I did get several photos that turned out nicely and decided to post them.

None of the photos are of the fire or the smoke bellowing from the fire. Just the sunset and desert.

All the photos in this post are from Flickr. Clicking on the photos will take you to the Flickr page of the photo.

Enjoy!

June 2015 Nature

June 2015 Nature

June 2015 Nature

June 2015 Nature

June 2015 Nature

2015 Spring Blossoms- The March 6th Version

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It’s that time of year when I make a post of all the flowers and blossoms I find near my house. The plants began to blossom a few weeks ago, but they slowly began to get more and more flowers. Since I’m not sure how much they’ll blossom this year, I decided to take photos before they either fall off or the plants die.

I’m sure there will be other plants blossoming in the future but I’m not sure when that will happen. Once it happens, I’ll take more photos and make another post with the new photos.

All the photos in this post was taken on March 6, 2015. (Thus why this post is “The March 6th Version”) All the photos are linked from Flickr and, when clicked on, the photos will take you to the photo on Flickr.

I only got photos of two blossoms near my house. The first blossom the brittle bush blossoms…

March 2015 Nature Photos

March 2015 Nature Photos

And the last are the peach tree blossoms…

March 2015 Nature Photos

March 2015 Nature Photos

March 2015 Nature Photos

March 2015 Nature Photos

March 2015 Nature Photos

March 2015 Nature Photos

March 2015 Nature Photos

March 2015 Nature Photos

March 2015 Nature Photos

March 2015 Nature Photos

March 2015 Nature Photos

March 2015 Nature Photos

March 2015 Nature Photos

As you can see, I took more photos of the peach tree blossoms compared to the brittle bush blossoms. This is because the brittle bush are still sparse with blossoms compared to the peach trees. The peach trees always have more blossoms, but I was hoping the brittle bushes would have more blossoms than they have right now. Maybe next week they’ll be in full bloom.

I’m also waiting for the cactus to blossom. The saguaros don’t blossom till May but there are barrel and other cactus that bloom earlier in the year. I saw one cactus starting to grow buds, but the growing has been slow so I don’t expect them to flower for at least a good two weeks. Maybe a little longer.

Well, that’s about it for my blossom photos from March 6th! Thank you for reading!