ducky

just ducky

a joke not worthy of delivery

plus, it stings just too much..... (sniff)... okay, here goes....


Q. How do you get the professional photographer off your front porch?

A. Pay him for the pizza.


argh!

a photographer goes into a bar

Kathy B. Requests....

...more Cosmo! And more Cosmo she shall have. Just took this out in the backyard. And no, that's not a subtle way of jabbing at Michiganders about AZ weather!

a knobbly cactus for your consideration

Not just any cactus, darn ya! A special, superknobbly saguaro ("sah-wah-roh") cactus that Dawn dutifully found and shot at dusk last night. When Dawn works at dusk, all hell can break loose! The picture isn't quite as dusky as it really was because she got all tricky with a long exposure. For a saguaro to have any "arms", let alone many like this, it must be very old. For more info on the mysterious saguaro, read on here!

the werefish

Did you know that Dawn has the mysterious, nay supernatural, power of transmorgrification!?! That's right. She can turn from human to fish, from fish to human. Step right up, step right up! Amaze your friends! Disturb the feint of heart! Horrify small children and the elderly!

Still, it's cuter than a werewolf!

Just for MerryBerry! (but you can look, too!)

That McCain sketch I mentioned (in a comment like a mile below!)

permit me to elaborate

In Arizona, a lot of stuff goes on on the side of the road. What do I mean by that? Well, for instance, people sell things. Things like oranges, puppies, tamales, furniture, art, vehicles, kitty condos, mattresses, turtles, firewood, etc. etc.

People also perform. Especially on Mill street in Tempe (the Ann Arbor of the desert). This is at least the fifth "guy with a guitar" I've run across. They are out there, but oftentimes, you barely hear them. There was also an entourage of punkers making some sort of sound, but they, too, were surprisingly quiet.

I'm going to guess that this town doesn't require a permit for anything "side of the road" related. Maybe I'll get out there and sing lounge tunes in my best Dean Martin.

i shot the pigeon (er, mourning dove)...

...but i did not shoot the deputy pigeon (er, mourning dove). This little stinker was in the backyard today. So I shot him. Just for looking at me the wrong way. That's right. Don't mess with me. Or I'll shoot ya.

Of course, it'll just be with my Canon.

White House in Tech Dark Ages

this is interesting... about the young, tech-savvy Obama team stepping into the technological backwaters of the White House.

he keeps it cool

the cowboy and the baby

A little something different from Equestrian Center Day. It should probably be on the other blog, but I'm putting it here.

Pulled this off with the new lens accessory. I like the tone and the softness, not always something I want in a photograph. But sometimes it really works.

riding the rails like a pair of hobos

rode the light rail

Monday, Dawn and I rode the brand new light rail system (read, above-ground subway) into downtown Phoenix, near Chase Field. All the hubbub about the Arizona Cardinals (going to the Superbowl, mind you) and we end up by the baseball park! Anyway, about a block away from that, I took this picture of some new additions to the PHX skyline.

just a new cutey

Just a new, terrific shot of my beautiful wife. Some of you may know her as friend, daughter, cousin, aunt, sister, or perhaps arch-nemesis. I, for one, am sticking with "beautiful wife."

rather than be redundant....

Hello~

It's generally been a dull week. However, I did get out and do some shooting at the brand new Queen Creek Horseshoe Park and Equestrian Center, yesterday. Didn't get as much as I hoped for (not like at the skydiving joint!) but I got a few interesting shots. I'm saving most of them for the photo blog.

So if you're jonesing for some pix, head on over to the other site. Oh, and check out the new composite pages for art, family, kids, sports, events, real estate, and portraits at the Ron Warren Photography website.

wide open road and a big sky

Lots of wide open road and big skies here in Arizona. You don't have to go very far to find either. And we didn't go far to find this...

Clouds, on the other hand, are few and far between.

Business Fair

On Saturday Dawn and I set up a booth at a local Business Fair.

Here's Dawn being all adorable and just chomping at the bit to tell folks about our conscientious service and top-notch quality. Or to push the sugar coma of candy we brought. Chocolate makes the world go round, not photography! Everybody knows that!

good advice...

behind enemy lines

This image (Dawn's, btw) makes me think of paratroopers dropping behind enemy lines, say in France, during WWII. The shape of the parachute is all wrong, but I'm not gonna split hairs here. It's just damn moody and cool!

landscapes

Up for a little Thursday arty-farty action? Good! Couple of landscapy deals from last weekend.

First one from Dawn. Every once and a while we run across a field of trees that just don't look like they belong. They don't seem to be desert trees and they seem to be dead. Yet, row after row of neatly planted dead trees. If anyone knows what's up with that, let me know.

Then two from li'l old me:

This last one was just down and across the street from a prison (somewhere around Picacho or Eloy). When we drove past, there were guys in orange jumpsuits sitting at some picnic tables. We didn't take their pics, but maybe once I get my spy lens! Or maybe not even. Sheesh, the incarcerated can be a touchy bunch.

Black and White and Red All Over

Old school riddle: What's black and white and red (read) all over? A newspaper. Modern version: What's a newspaper?

I find it unbelievable that any actual paper newspaper is still in business. Almost nobody subscribes anymore and except for pre-holiday sales inserts, who picks a paper up at the non-existant newsstand? Where do you get your news from? 'Net? TV? Radio? Other? See what I mean?

Wow. Where did that come from....? 'Cause I started with the words "black and white", that's where. Which leads me to today's photo offerings.

Some nifty b/w nature from Dawn:



and some rural decay from me:

Lemon Chicken with Olives

Okay, Dawn coyly left Real Simple Magazine laying open yesterday to the page with this recipe. So, maybe sometimes (about once a decade) I can take a hint. I made it. It was pretty darned good. The cumin really gave it most of its unique flavor. Click here for the Real Simple link.

The mag suggests serving with rice, potatoes, or bread, but I made some medium shell noodles on the side. Here's the recipe.

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons lemon zest, plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Kosher salt and pepper

1 1/2 pounds chicken cutlets, thawed

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 shallots, thinly sliced

1 cup pitted green olives

1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

1/2 cup dry white wine (such as Sauvignon Blanc)

Mix the flour, cumin, zest, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper on a flat plate. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and dredge in the flour mixture.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken in 2 batches until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.

Wipe out the skillet and return to medium heat. Heat the remaining oil. Add the shallots and cook until soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the olives, parsley, lemon juice, and wine and bring to a boil. Return the chicken to the pan, nestling it in the olives and shallots. Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes.

Divide among individual plates, spooning the olives, shallots, and any sauce over the top.

Yield: Makes 4 servings

taggin'?

She must have been doing forty when she saw it, her name in lights as it were. A screeching halt left five feet of rubber on our deserted piece of highway. Like a photojournalist in a warzone, she leapt from the car, camera in hand, ran to the dilapidated building dodging landmines (used diapers?) all the way, to strike a pose for freedom. Or at least the freedom to run around the desert and pose for pictures with grafitti.

Admit it, this image is now burned into your brain like those soldiers with the flag at Iwo Jima, isn't it? Funny how history is in the mind of the beholder.

"people are falling from the sky"

"I have to let you go now, people are falling from the sky!"

That's what Dawn said to her Mom on the phone as we approached Skydive Arizona in elegant Eloy on Saturday. It's a pretty cool site.

First you hear the airplane go by at 13,000 feet or higher. If you watch very carefully, you can see a smattering of black dots escape and trail behind the straining machine. They don't do much else for what seems like a long time. Just a bunch of dots against the clouds like black pepper on mashed potatoes against fine china.

Then one by one, each dot swoops away and transforms like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis and the sky is filled with a visual percussion of flourescent colors. Like a dozen unique rainbows indignant at having to share the atmospheric pallet with their siblings.

Then, before you have fully appreciated the spectacle, the butterfly storms into the landing area like a peregrine falcon on the hunt only to pull up short at the last second, legs stretched to terra firma and the canopy of colorful nylon collapses into just another fluffy pile of fabric and string, spent dreams and smoke.

Here are some of Dawn's terrific pix:

Now, THIS is funny!

i just don't see what's so funny

about this picture:

Yesterday we went explorin'. Down through Coolidge, past Casa Grande, and into Eloy, which you might know, is where we willingly jumped out of an airplane almost 11 years ago. So we revisited Skydive Arizona, thinking that it would be good for some colorful pictures. We both got lots of great pictures that I'll be posting (here or on the photo blog) over the few days.

Dawn is of the unfathomable opinion that this picture is somehow amusing. Go figure!

ASU Polytechnic

Went with Dawn to ASU Polytechnic, today. She needed the library for a test to shore-up her AZ teaching certification. I needed to tag along and annoy her. Took some pics of the campus.

Looked like some sort of student center...

I don't know what this is, but I'll tell you it isn't right side up. Do you know which way it goes?

flowing waters

Tried an experiment yesterday. A longish exposure to get flowing water to look flowy, smooth and milky. Here's what I ended up with. It was a full sunshine midday shot. I know I should have waited until dusk, but.... darn it.... I like to eat dinner around dusk!

handsome fella

Found this handsome fella in Florence, AZ a couple of days ago. Florence is the next town over to the east (fifteen miles to the east) and is the county seat. But there isn't much there except some prisons and some homes.

But I did find this guy in front of a store on Main Street that sells Indian items. Best image of my whole visit to inconspicuous Florence, AZ.

Next time, maybe Florence, Italy! OK, maybe not next time, exactly, but sometime.