Clouds

.
I think more than anything else, I miss the skies of New Mexico. The sharp turquoise and the ever changing clouds that sail by as if they have somewhere important to be.

Here in California, the skies may be blue, but it's a pale comparison to the skies of New Mexico. And there are so rarely any clouds worth speaking of.

But today,
I looked out my window
and much to my surprise, I saw this.

Well, not this exactly.
My camera was up front,
so I took this with my iPhone,
using the Hipstamatic App.

I'm still not sure if I'm a fan
of this kind of photography.
It seems to be quite popular these days,
making new photographs
look like they were taken
with an old plastic lens camera.

Realizing that the clouds
weren't going to float away,
I went and got my camera
and took this shot.

Not a great shot,
but I love the clouds so much.

Then I started playing with it a bit,
desaturating the landscape to where the clouds
were as wispy as could be.

Once more,
softened,
giving the setting a gauzy look.

I do so love photography
and manipulating images in the computer.
It makes me feel creative.

I have to wonder,
if I had been into photography
when all of this was done in the darkroom,
would I have been so enamored?

I wonder . . .

Back to the clouds.

In a short time,
the white puffs were evolving into this.

As the sky darkened,
my attention was drawn elsewhere.
We have the most amazing
Japanese maple tree.
Up until the recent wind storms,
it was heavy with leaves
sporting a striking shade of red.

Now,
most of the leaves have blown away,
with just a few left to remind me
of the former blaze of color.

That's it for today.

I'm going to bed
and dream of New Mexico skies.