VW Bus in Bisbee

Marty CohenArizona, Bisbee7 Comments

VW Bus in Bisbee

The corrugated aluminum door on a closed down auto mechanic’s garage

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Bisbee Arizona is an old copper, silver and gold mining town south of Tucson, near the Mexican border. Mining ceased in the mid-1970’s. It’s also known for mining Bisbee turquoise, although that operation has ended as well. It’s a classic “Old West” mining town that has become an artist’s community and its architectural and historic heritage has been preserved.

The VW Bus was painted on the corrugated aluminum door of an auto mechanic’s shop that has been closed down and is for sale. At first glance, it’s so realistic it looked like it was going to drive out of the garage’s doorway. But, of course, the paint peeling off the door gives it away. I don’t know who the artist was but she or he did a great job. For future reference, the garage sits next to the Red Shoes Hair Salon, a photograph of which will be posted later this week.

The photo was taken with a Canon EOS 40D, EF17-40mm f/4L lens, 1/30 sec at f/16, ISO 400 on SanDisk Extreme IV Digital Film.

The Saguaro and the Ocotillo

Marty CohenCactus, Flowers, Landscape, Tucson4 Comments

The Saguaro and the Ocotillo Cactus

Saguaro and Ocotillo Cactus at the Saguaro National Park, Tucson Arizona

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While on a drive through the Saguaro National Park in Tucson, we stopped at a lookout turn off. Along side the parking area were these two cacti, a beautiful Saguaro with its majestic arms and behind it an Ocotillo Cactus in bloom with its brilliant red flowers.

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The photo was taken with a Canon EOS 40D, EF17-40mm f/4L lens, 1/90 sec at f/13, ISO 125 on SanDisk Extreme IV Digital Film.

Sedona From Airport Mesa

Marty CohenArizona, Sedona7 Comments

Sedona from Airport Mesa

From the mesa you see Chimney Rock, Capital Dome and Coffee Pot Rock.

To get the full impact of this image,  click on it to enlarge it!

Two weeks ago we were traveling in Arizona. One of our favorite places, and our home for five years, is Sedona. In this image, you see the magical red rock formations that we never took for granted while living there. This is a view from atop Airport Mesa with West Sedona nestled beneath the rock formations. It was a beautifully cloudy day and we did get rained on while up there. But the view was magnificent and the clouds added so much to the image. Timing, luck and patience are the good friends of photographers.

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The photo was taken with a Canon EOS 40D, EF17-40mm f/4L lens and a polarizing filter, at 1/90 sec at f/16, ISO 200 on SanDisk Extreme IV Digital Film.

Super Moon Rising

Marty CohenCarmel Valley Ranch, Full Moon, Moonrise20 Comments

Be sure to scroll down as there are 3 photos in this blog post.

May 5, 2012 – The Super Moon rises over Carmel Valley

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A “Super Moon” is a full moon that looks especially large. The moon appears that large because it is as much as 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than the other full moons of 2012. This occurs when the moon reaches its closest spot to the Earth at the same time it is in its full phase. The moon takes an elliptical path around the Earth with one side, or perigee, about 31,000 miles closer than the other, or apogee. As such, this is also called a “perigee moon.”

As a full moon rises, it often appears to be orange in color. The reason for this is that as it is rising, the light from the sun must pass through the most Earth’s atmosphere as it illuminates the rising moon. Some of the blue part of the spectrum gets filtered out by the Earth’s atmosphere. Then the light has to come back through the atmosphere to get to your eye. This last trip causes some reddening color change to the moon. As the moon rises further, the moon’s light passes through less of the Earth’s atmosphere and the color begins to disappear.

May 5, 2012 – The Super Moon 20 minutes after moonrise in Carmel Valley.

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The Super Moon at 35 minutes after moonrise in Carmel Valley.

May 5, 2012 – The Super Moon 35 minutes after moonrise in Carmel Valley.

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There were no artificial modifications of the size of the moon relative to the hillside. It really looked that large! All the photos were taken with a Canon EOS 40D, Sigma APO 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Lens. The top photo was at 164mm, 0.7 sec at f/16, ISO 400. The middle image was at 403mm, 0.3 sec at f/16, ISO 400. The bottom photo was taken at 500mm, 1/20 sec at f/19, ISO 400. With these type of photographs, I certainly learned to appreciate the value of my tripod and cable release.

The Bell Tower at Tlaquepaque

Marty CohenArchitecture, Arizona, B+W, Sedona4 Comments

The Bell Tower at Tlaquepaque

This bell tower is at the Tlaquepaque Center in Sedona near the bridge that crosses Oak Creek. The shopping center is fashioned after a Mexican village and is a very beautiful place to visit, shop and dine. Here is a link to its interesting history.

This photo was taken with my Canon 4OD DSLR, upladed to my iPad and processed with the SnapSeed App.