Rodeo weather'd out, sort of

Well the Taos Rodeo was scheduled to start a 2:00. Don't know which genius decided to do it that late as we enter monsoon season with afternoon storms. At 1:00 the clouds darkened, lots of lightning and thunder (a small forest fire started in Tres Orejas (three ears) about 25 miles away, smoke visible). We decided not to sit on metal bleachers under a metal roof, so we skipped the rodeo and hungry, we ate at 3:00 as the sun came out, of course. (Penne with crushed spicy Italian sausage and roasted red bell peppers and garlic-parma toasted bread).

Rodeo etc

Oh well, the localrag said the Rodeo Sundaty started at 7:00 and a checker at the store said 9:00 so we grabbed the gear and headed over about 9:30 to an empty arena. It starts at 2:00, and now that we are in monsoon season it is likely to be muddy. Why why why?

We watched probably the best western ever made, me for about the 30th time, last night. "Once Upon a Time in the West" with Henry "Frank" Fonda playing the most despicable character in his career, capable of shooting a young boy and kicking the crutches away from a cripple, causing him to fall. Charles "Harmonica" Bronson seeks revenge on Frank, and Jason "Cheyenne" Robards plays a gunfighter. Rounding out the cast in Claudia "Jill" Cardinale. If you are into serious photography, besides the story this movie is an artistic gem. Most of the movie was filmed in Monument Valley. Many scenes look like rear screen projection but they are not!

Oops!

Well, I took a roll of Agfa 400 to the Taos rodeo parade and developed it following Agfa's rules. Underdeveloped! Tried a test roll and good good results. We thought the roll(s) may have travelled to Siberia and back, but not in carry-on. Today for the rodeo I am using Fomapan 100.

I'll post after I develop it.

It's not the Macy's Day parade!

We went to the Taos Rodeo Parade, all 10 minutes of it. Great small town fun with most lining the street waving to their friends or kids on horses. Got to get into my straightjacket now!

Agfa APX 400 today with the 21mm lens and orange filter.

Coyote!

I went outside this AM and found myself scaring a coyote off our porch. He/she was too fast for me to get my camera. We put out water these days and the coyote had been drinking.

This weekend is the Sheriff's Posse Rodeo and the parade on the Taos Plaza starts at 10:00 so we'll head there for photo ops.

My straightjacket

We recently got one of the bags you stick your arms in to load film into the developing container, so this AM I grabbed a completed roll, put my tools and tank stuff in and three minutes later I was ready to develop. The shots were taken yesterday and include a local B&B that asked us to shoot their grounds.

Santa Fe

We drove to SF today and had drinks at the beautiful Inn of the Anasasi just of the Plaza with a good friend. He's a well known person to be named at a later date who moved away from LA to escape the constant gawkers. Good fun.

Morning ride

We went out early this AM, first to a nearby B&B with gorgeous grounds, not far from us. We have driven by the Adobe and Pines thousands of times but never worked our way in thru the trees to find it until Wednesday. The owners are happy to have us walk around and take photos for eventual cards or larger sized photos.

We also drove up thru Llano Quemado and found a cute small church.

Tornado!

Wednesday I was looking NW from our house as the winds got high. We can see the north end of the Taos Country Club and I saw what appeared to be a dust devil. I joked with Sue "tornado" and then I could see the faint snake headed up a thousand feet. It lasted long enough for Sue to get a cell phone picture. It probably gave golfers excuses to take mulligans!

I was in my birthday suit about to take a shower when I noticed a large gecko (#3) staring at me from the tub. He/she couldn't get out and probably got in on the tumled marble tiles. I put clothes on, got the mesh waste basket, flipped it in and took it outside. Maybe it was afraid of the tornado?

Bonne Chance! wins a challenge

My photograph Bonne Chance! as seen on our web and on Redbubble won a challenge called "Crazy Paving" and has finished second twice!

Gordon

The great gecko invasion

Northern NM, in fact the entire state as well as Arizona, have been hot and dry this spring. Humidity is typically 10-12% and people start talking if it reaches 20%. Taos has banned all outdoor cooking except on gas grills and although we are not in the town we adhere to the rule.

The dryness has driven little geckos inside searching for water. Two trapped so far and returned to nature near where we have water pans for the animals. We feel like we are in a GEICO commercial!

We are moving into monsoon weather and the hope is "rain, then lightning".

Gordon

Hi! Welcome to our blog

Hi!

I have been remiss and am just starting our VistaBWTaos blog. We do BW photography using our two Leica M6 and three lenses (21, 50 and 135mm). Generally we use Fomapan or Agfa film at 100 or 400ASA.

What we saw on June 21st:

We left in late morning and drove from Ranchos de Taos towards Talpa and the Sipapu Ski area. This took us over US Hill, about 9,000 ft but the smoke from the fire near Los Alamos limited photos a bit. Stopped at the base at Sipapu. From there we went east towards Mora and got nice shots of old churches. Taos is celebrating "Return to Sacred Places" this summer so these are apropos.

We came back through the same route but went down toward Penasco. We stopped at the Picuris Pueblo and took shots of the old church. The clouds were building and the filters really enhanced the sky.

The ride is a real yin/yang with the rundown look of Talpa to the beauty of Sipapu, and back down to rundown houses near Mora and on the Pueblo.

We do our own darkroom work. We just got one of the "straight jacket" bags for loading film during the day, so Monday night we had our shots from the day! We also enlarge up to 11x14.

Gordon

We show at the Taos Art Museum (home of Russian painter Nicolai Fechin who left Russia in 1923). We have many pictures in the gift shop.