How do warm colors make you feel? For me, they bring a smile to my face, excitement and happiness. I often use a warming filter on my camera because I like my colors a little warmer in most instances. This may come as no surprise to you, as I scurry south every winter to get more of the warmth! My favorite time to do photography is the late afternoon and early evening. It’s not only that I’m too lazy to get up early, I prefer the warm light! Bladderpod in Joshua Tree National Park The desert is full of warm colors. Even in the wintertime, you can find warm colors in the sunsets, the red rock ..read more

“There’s a sunrise and a sunset every single day, and they’re absolutely free. Don’t miss so many of them.” – Jo Walton Sunrise/moonset at Bosque del Apache, New Mexico Good advice. Tucson SunsetSunrise in central New Mexico Thanks to Ann-Christine of the Leya blog for this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, Illustrate a Favorite Quote or Poem. Sunset in western Arizona The post Sunrise/Sunset appeared first on Rambling ranger ..read more

Drama – some people thrive on it. They seem to need drama in their life to give it spice, to make it more interesting. But as for me, I’ve always taken the alternative view. I try to avoid unnecessary drama in my life. I’m not alone. When I googled “What does drama mean?”, I got the answer,  “Drama typically refers to conflict, tension, or emotional upheaval in interpersonal relationships or social situations”. Hmmm. Good thing to avoid. A gull is bringing unnecessary drama into a poor whimbrel’s life. But the Oxford dictionary’s definition of drama is much more benign – “an exciting, emo ..read more

It’s a year in review, the best of 2023.  For this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, we were asked to show no more than 12 of our favorite images from the past year. Wow, that’s a hard choice. It wouldn’t be a Rambling Ranger Best of post without at least one wildflower! Easter Sunday in the Cathedral Hills, Grants Pass, Oregon I couldn’t do it. Too many favorites. So I tried to narrow it down from the 112 I’d picked out of my files to just the ones I had never published. I still had far too many. My favorite B&W image of 2023. That’s probably because I’m STILL processing 2023 imag ..read more

Last chance is the theme for the final Lens-Artists Photography Challenge of 2023. Tina asks us to include those photos taken in 2023 that we haven’t published yet, that didn’t fit in with the other themes. So this post is kind of random, an assortment of images that I like, but that are maybe not for everyone. They’re mostly not the grand scenic stuff. (That’ll be the next post.) Hank, one of my favorite kitties I’ll start with a portrait of Hank. Hank was my favorite of all the kitties I’ve ever pet-sat for. I spent all of last winter hanging out with him. Living Potpourri You’ve seen me pos ..read more

Well, it’s almost Christmas and Winter Solstice is only a few days away. Kind of reminds me of a Dar Williams song, “Christians and the Pagans”.  (Give it a listen) There’s a line in that song, “And you find magic from your God, and we find magic everywhere, ” I’m a pagan at heart, it’s nearly Winter Solstice, and I do find magic everywhere, especially in the natural world. So here are a few of the places and things I find magical. Mountains A magical alpine landscape I’ve always been a mountain girl, and it’s not only the big peaks that are magical. I’m in love with the alpine, the land ..read more

For this week’s Lens-Artists Photography Challenge, Patti invites us to explore empty spaces in our photography. Empty spaces can draw more attention to our subject, as it does in this wildflower photo. Empty spaces draw attention to your subject. In wildlife photography, leaving a lot of empty space in front of your subject gives them room to move. Empty space gives this meadowlark plenty of room to strut his stuff. Or empty spaces can be used in landscape photography to evoke a mood or illustrate the vastness or wildness of a place. Possibly my favorite place to capture emptiness in landscap ..read more

It’s tricky. Sometimes you can see them and sometimes you can’t. But once you do, you can’t unsee them. I’m talking faces. Faces and other features, mimicked in rock outcroppings or trees. Can you see a fish face in these rocks? I’m on the road this week. Since I am visiting Face Rock State Scenic Viewpoint in  Bandon, Oregon today, I thought it might be fun to share a few of my images with “spirit people’ in them with you. I know I’ve published this one before, but it’s such a perfect “tree spirit”. Face Rock even has a Native American legend attached to it, so a lot of people have given ..read more

Housesitting on Orcas Island this winter was a new experience for me, in many different ways. It was the first time I’d lived in an oceanfront property. I really enjoyed that! That is an experience I wouldn’t mind repeating! This was also the first time I’d lined up a housesit that lasted the entire winter. This was my winter housesit. There were a lot of reasons why staying in one place for a big chunk of time seemed like a good idea. I had a lot of projects that I needed to really focus on, instead of letting myself get distracted by the next adventure. Although most of those projects are st ..read more

I’m a nature photographer. It’s what I do. I go wild for my photography. I go wild for photography! John of Journeys With Johnbo chose this week’s Lens-Artists Photography Challenge, “The Road Most Traveled”. He asks us to showcase whatever style of photography is our go-to, our favorite, our road most traveled. Fall colors on the Denali Highway I don’t think I can define a particular style as my go-to, but I can definitely define a genre. I do nature photography – to the almost total exclusion of any other kind of photography. Nature photography is my genre. I guess that makes me a bit of a o ..read more