Murray Bolesta ~ CactusHuggers

Opinion: Obesity (again) - Have shame for fatness, pride in fitness

2012-02-14T14:11:00.000-08:00

Michelle Obama has had a positive impact on the war against obesity (see link below).

Thank goodness there is progress being made. National (international, now) obesity is a problem I never envisioned when I was younger. Overpopulation, yes. Destruction of the environment, yes. But the shock came when I realized that starting around 1980 (the advent of high fructose corn syrup and the decline of smoking) this problem "ballooned" to such proportions that it's truly a disgrace, and much more important than most folks even today realize.

The implications about so many things, not the least of which is our health care costs, are monumental.
The corporate food companies are largely to blame and must be held accountable. But of course, the main problem is with the people. Folks must start, once again if they ever did, take pride in fitness and have shame for fatness.

Making obesity the new "normal" is the most frightening prospect. For older folks it may be largely too late, but it's not too late for the kids. The obesity trend must not only be stopped, it must be reversed. And not be replaced by some other vice, like going back to cigarettes.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/lets-move-she-said-and-we-have

Article: "Just Folks"

2011-11-12T19:57:00.000-08:00

(Published August 2008 in Murray Bolesta's "The Borderlands Photographer" in Tubac Villager.)

Your pesky suspicion that I spend more of my time in nature than with people might be right. My photography does, after all, focus mostly on the splendor of southern Arizona’s natural and rural heritage.

People can be the harder subject. They are also probably the most likely subject for professional photographers, since pictures of people and of the circumstances surrounding them put the bread on the table for most professionals.

Patience is a virtue when photographing a bird or butterfly, and it’s wise to show similar restraint with the people in your pictures. Your careful approach with a human subject before the picture is taken is a key to success. Having a deliberate approach versus a candid one depends on the situation. In either case, the best people photographers have a natural chemistry putting subjects at ease.

In the borderlands area, Hispanics and native-Americans make splendid human subjects; together they define this country's heritage and are naturally photogenic. Their images capture the essence of this place.

Horsemen and women also define the borderlands. An image of a galloping wild horse is timeless and evocative, and a photo of a skillful western rider atop a horse evokes a way of life fundamental to our local heritage.

People are the subject of most photography, in one way or other. Many aspiring professional photographers yearn to be journalists capturing dramatic images which will have a social impact.

A combat photographer captures the grimness of war, working in harm's way. A fashion photographer records gazelles strutting a runway wearing couture having a split-second shelf life. A portrait photographer interprets a person’s character using heightened levels of studio formality and preparation. A commercial photographer employs images of people to sell a product or notion.

The photographer must charm and relax his subject, capturing the person's essence without affectation: a genuine countenance with no posing. The subject will be within his element, enveloped in a setting enhancing a message. A series of photos will include semi-abstracts, such as a close-up photos focusing on hands, feet, face or eyes.

You’re at risk if people don’t want their picture taken. You’re safe with folks performing in some kind of public show since photos are expected unless explicitly forbidden.

Position yourself at the height of the subject; with kids, this often means you must crouch or kneel. The exception to this approach involves an intentional point using a relative angle.

Add a sense of scale by including an object next to a person. Watch that your photo doesn't become unintentionally abstracted due to lack of scale.

You, the borderlands photographer, while outdoors capturing images of our natural and rural heritage, should also exploit opportunities to add our cultural heritage to your album, in the form of the people here who represent living history.

New leaf series from my ArtfulNotions

2011-10-31T22:01:00.000-07:00

Click this link

New Tourism Guide with my photos

2011-10-27T21:20:00.000-07:00

Click this link.

Link to dotter's wedding pics (from 2010)

2011-10-26T13:23:00.001-07:00

Link:

http://cactushuggers.com/zoengarth/

Roads Caller

2011-10-22T09:48:00.000-07:00

Opinion: Ending the Iraq War

2011-10-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

(From letter to editor by another reader of Washington Post)

"Thank goodness this obscene, diabolical mess is finally over. Sincere regrets to the 4000+ American military personnel and contractors killed [and their families], and grave apologies to the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi families whose lives were disrupted or destroyed for the sake of American ego. We can only hope that someday, Bush, Cheney and their neocon brethren are brought to justice for their indiscriminate slaughter."

Opinion - Too Big to Fail

2011-10-18T13:47:00.000-07:00

Opinion: Video Gadgets Such as I-Phone & Games

2011-10-04T12:44:00.000-07:00

This technology moves people apart. It takes them further and further from each other, from nature, and from the world. It ruins their eyes and their bodies. It erodes their humanity. It's another opium for the masses. It's not good.

Article: "Close-ups in a Widescreen World"

2011-09-05T14:45:00.000-07:00

(Published July 2008 in Murray Bolesta's "The Borderlands Photographer" in Tubac Villager.)

How can the bronzed and windblown borderlands photographer take his or her eyes off of our famously widescreen panoramas to focus on the minuscule?

In the movies, a young Ava Gardner or Grace Kelly, among other starlets new to their career, yearned for a first chance to have a classic cinema close-up: a photograph of her face, or even closer, of her eyes, which would stamp an indelible impression upon the audience.

A tender wildflower against a prickly pear cactus.

This close-up had the power to make someone a star. Here in Arizona's borderlands, a simple, blown-up image can be more memorable than one depicting a wide-open panorama stretching beyond the horizon.

Today’s borderlands photographer has the chance to make a star image out of so much that resides here just out of range of normal sight. Taking the time and effort to photograph the little things yields big rewards.

Vigorous effort often is needed to reach the object or critter ready for its first great photo close-up. Bending over, kneeling down, even lying flat on your stomach with your elbows in the dirt is often the physical price to pay for a good close-up shot. The intrepid photographer always is ready to contort to achieve the right proximity.

Distance and angle in relation to your close-up subject are crucial to obtaining a great result.

A horned lizard is ready for a star turn.

Distance affects how much of your subject will fill the frame in order to achieve a high level of detail. Distance will also affect the depth of your focus zone. Angle will help capture the “good side” of your subject and create visual impact. Angle will help achieve the right lighting contrast for an artful image.

Very close-up images can become truly abstract – removed from context and hard to define – presenting an entirely new option for photographers. Abstraction provides an escape from the bounds of literal photography, setting the artist free.

The fruit of a barrel cactus provide some unexpected color and shape.

Technically, folks often use special-purpose lenses for close-up work. These “macro” lenses are designed to focus sharply on very small area, leaving the surroundings blurred. Further afield is microscopic photography.

But close-up photography doesn’t require the purchase of special equipment if you’re careful about the variables influencing depth-of-field, or focus depth. These variables include distance from subject, lens focal length, and aperture setting. An inexpensive 300-mm zoom telephoto is what I use as my “butterfly lens," allowing me to achieve the right distance to fill a frame sharply with a small subject. Also, there are many opportunities using a standard lens that comes with your camera and the close-up settings on most of today’s digital equipment.

As a borderlands photographer, you'll spend most of your time “panning” your camera across this region's expansive landscapes, but instead, go ahead and add close-ups to your mix. This will provide refreshing variety to your collection of images.

Live large by thinking small!

Opinion: A Way Forward - NYTimes Op-Ed: Dr. King Weeps From His Grave

2011-08-26T08:17:00.000-07:00

By Cornel West, August 25, 2011

THE Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was to be dedicated on the National Mall on Sunday — exactly 56 years after the murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi and 48 years after the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. (Because of Hurricane Irene, the ceremony has been postponed.)

These events constitute major milestones in the turbulent history of race and democracy in America, and the undeniable success of the civil rights movement — culminating in the election of Barack Obama in 2008 — warrants our attention and elation. Yet the prophetic words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel still haunt us: “The whole future of America depends on the impact and influence of Dr. King.”

Rabbi Heschel spoke those words during the last years of King’s life, when 72 percent of whites and 55 percent of blacks disapproved of King’s opposition to the Vietnam War and his efforts to eradicate poverty in America. King’s dream of a more democratic America had become, in his words, “a nightmare,” owing to the persistence of “racism, poverty, militarism and materialism.” He called America a “sick society.” On the Sunday after his assassination, in 1968, he was to have preached a sermon titled “Why America May Go to Hell.”

King did not think that America ought to go to hell, but rather that it might go to hell owing to its economic injustice, cultural decay and political paralysis. He was not an American Gibbon, chronicling the decline and fall of the American empire, but a courageous and visionary Christian blues man, fighting with style and love in the face of the four catastrophes he identified.

Militarism is an imperial catastrophe that has produced a military-industrial complex and national security state and warped the country’s priorities and stature (as with the immoral drones, dropping bombs on innocent civilians). Materialism is a spiritual catastrophe, promoted by a corporate media multiplex and a culture industry that have hardened the hearts of hard-core consumers and coarsened the consciences of would-be citizens. Clever gimmicks of mass distraction yield a cheap soulcraft of addicted and self-medicated narcissists.

Racism is a moral catastrophe, most graphically seen in the prison industrial complex and targeted police surveillance in black and brown ghettos rendered invisible in public discourse. Arbitrary uses of the law — in the name of the “war” on drugs — have produced, in the legal scholar Michelle Alexander’s apt phrase, a new Jim Crow of mass incarceration. And poverty is an economic catastrophe, inseparable from the power of greedy oligarchs and avaricious plutocrats indifferent to the misery of poor children, elderly citizens and working people.

The age of Obama has fallen tragically short of fulfilling King’s prophetic legacy. Instead of articulating a radical democratic vision and fighting for homeowners, workers and poor people in the form of mortgage relief, jobs and investment in education, infrastructure and housing, the administration gave us bailouts for banks, record profits for Wall Street and giant budget cuts on the backs of the vulnerable.

As the talk show host Tavis Smiley and I have said in our national tour against poverty, the recent budget deal is only the latest phase of a 30-year, top-down, one-sided war against the poor and working people in the name of a morally bankrupt policy of deregulating markets, lowering taxes and cutting spending for those already socially neglected and economically abandoned. Our two main political parties, each beholden to big money, offer merely alternative versions of oligarchic rule.

The absence of a King-worthy narrative to reinvigorate poor and working people has enabled right-wing populists to seize the moment with credible claims about government corruption and ridiculous claims about tax cuts’ stimulating growth. This right-wing threat is a catastrophic response to King’s four catastrophes; its agenda would lead to hellish conditions for most Americans.

King weeps from his grave. He never confused substance with symbolism. He never conflated a flesh and blood sacrifice with a stone and mortar edifice. We rightly celebrate his substance and sacrifice because he loved us all so deeply. Let us not remain satisfied with symbolism because we too often fear the challenge he embraced. Our greatest writer, Herman Melville, who spent his life in love with America even as he was our most fierce critic of the myth of American exceptionalism, noted, “Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges; hence the conclusion of such a narration is apt to be less finished than an architectural finial.”

King’s response to our crisis can be put in one word: revolution. A revolution in our priorities, a re-evaluation of our values, a reinvigoration of our public life and a fundamental transformation of our way of thinking and living that promotes a transfer of power from oligarchs and plutocrats to everyday people and ordinary citizens.

In concrete terms, this means support for progressive politicians like Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont and Mark Ridley-Thomas, a Los Angeles County supervisor; extensive community and media organizing; civil disobedience; and life and death confrontations with the powers that be. Like King, we need to put on our cemetery clothes and be coffin-ready for the next great democratic battle.

Opinion: Big Food and obesity are a disgrace

2011-08-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

Friends - Support FoodCorps http://foodcorps.org/ and fight the national disgrace of obesity and Big Corporate Food.

Click the above website and find out how we can all help to reverse this trend over the past 30 years when this country's health really started to go to hell.

Folks must renew pride in fitness; it's time that patriotism be equated with physical fitness.

Help out!

Article: "Vanishing Ranchlands"

2011-08-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

(Published June 2008 in Murray Bolesta's "The Borderlands Photographer" in Tubac Villager.)

Preserving open spaces in Arizona’s borderlands doesn’t always require the ultimate conservation measure of setting aside pristine landscapes untouched by development or agriculture.

A scene of wide-open freedom in a pristine valley
on the Arizona-Mexico border.

Ranchlands, whether private or leased from the government, represent an expansive rural heritage of Arizona as significant as the natural heritage of undisturbed desert habitat. Importantly, for you, the borderlands photographer, they also provide great picture-taking opportunity.

Some of the various habitats, or biomes, of the Sonoran Desert and surrounding areas here in southern Arizona have enabled ranching to various degrees of success. From desert grassland to the pine forests, grazing continues.

Photo opportunities abound within both the living and the preserved, or converted, ranchlands in our area. I describe living ranchlands as domains of folks who still lead a classic western life on a range with cattle, horses, and other livestock.

I categorize preserved ranchlands as those tracts which have been set aside from prior ranching use and allowed to revert more or less to their original natural form. These ranchlands have been protected by a wide variety of conservationist interests, from private activists to non-profit foundations and the federal government. Examples locally are Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge at Arivaca, the Empire Ranch/Las Cienegas Conservation Area at Sonoita, and the Audubon Society’s Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch at Elgin.

Historic, precious ranch structures add character
to an image of the vanishing ranchlands, here
seen in Muleshoe Ranch in south central Arizona.

What great destinations these places are for the borderlands photographer! You can't beat the wide-angle thrill of an afternoon monsoon storm bursting over the yellow grassland vista.

Constantly, the living ranchlands furnish artful western scenes, from cowboys at the corral to horses galloping to cattle grazing to spinning windmills (one of my favorites).

Further, both the living and the preserved ranchlands contain structures of character and historic significance, such as adobe barns and mesquite fences, also fertile subjects for the photographer.

Go wide! Often the wide open, sprawling country begs for panoramic photos of grasses bending to the breeze and distant mountain horizons reminiscent of western films likely made there.

Men of the range, Empire Ranch, Sonoita, Arizona.

The borderlands photographer uses a wide-angle lens or instead, stitches two or more digital shots together to seize this widescreen grandeur. He or she remembers that quality landscape shots require a tripod for maximum sharpness.

Early morning or late afternoon is best for capturing these landscapes Also, the lucky photographer shows up when there is some weather happening, when skies are filled with more than the dreaded plain blue sky. Landscape shots beg for skies filled with feature and definition. Often the drama of ranchland skies is the highlight of a borderland image.

At day's end you'll have recorded a very fine part of America's heritage. And finally, when you leave for home, after immersing yourself in big-sky country, don’t forget to close the gates!

Roads Caller

2011-08-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

Article: "A Mission to Photograph"

2011-08-06T16:28:00.000-07:00

(Published May 2008 in Murray Bolesta's "The Borderlands Photographer" in Tubac Villager.)

Churches are photogenic, especially ones that are heritage subjects. But they don’t have to be ancient or elaborate to be good photo subjects. Denomination aside, in this article I’m using the word “church” in a generic sense and I’m visiting some large and small regional buildings purely as architectural photographic destinations.

The mission at Tumacácori is the supermodel of the

borderlands region: the camera loves her from any angle.

The serenity, charm and visual splendor of any house of worship, whether it’s a church, synagogue, mosque, or other form of this structure, derives from its inspirational purpose and the attention given to its design and maintenance. These structures either contain works of art, or are themselves works of art.

So, naturally, they make great photo subjects. In the Arizona borderlands, some of the original European colonial religious structures sadly are gone or have been reduced to lumps of clay. Others have been stabilized and protected, and there are a few which are remote and hard to protect, so their access is restricted.

These remnants usually aren’t very good photo subjects anyway, since lumps of adobe or mounds of earth don’t amount to much visual impact. The most notable restorations are at Tumacácori just north of the Mexico border and, near Tucson, at San Xavier.

A great little church in a troubled

place: the border town of Sasabe.

These two structures, Mission San José de Tumacácori, and Mission San Xavier del Bac, are among the most photographed structures in the borderlands region. They’re so popular, in fact, that they amount to a photographic cliché, like Grand Canyon.

But I’ll do it anyway, since they have such significance to you, the borderlands photographer. Briefly, the facts are as follows: I’m not an expert on the Jesuits and Father Kino, so I’ll say little about history; there are at least four different ways to pronounce “San Xavier”, so take your pick; San Xavier is still a fully functioning parish church within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson; Tumacácori is administered by the hardy souls of the National Park Service.

These structures merit photographers' attention because they’re so striking that it’s hard to take a bad picture of them. Just point and shoot.

San Xavier may be the greatest gem in Arizona, and Tumacácori is the next best, with its semi-restored frontier splendor and the dramatic backdrop of the nearby Tumacácori mountains and the slightly more distant Santa Rita mountains.

Currently, visitors to San Xavier are a bit disappointed because the west bell tower of their “White Dove of the Desert” is ensconced by scaffolding and sheeting. Visitors want to take a postcard-perfect picture of the structure with a sunset or rainbow background, and they can’t. (Plans are in progress to remove the scaffolding on the west tower, and to begin similar work on the east tower if funding permits.)

But the inventive photographer to San Xavier soon finds more opportunity than just a frontal view of the main structure. For example, inside. This mission is the rustic equivalent of a major European cathedral with artworks throughout the interior. Capturing this detail requires a tripod and the right camera time exposure to compensate for the dim light. Regular flash is inadequate.

Outside the church, the photographer avoids the scaffolding by focusing on other parts of the building and grounds, such as the rear of the complex, the courtyards, mission school, the Mortuary Chapel and, of course, people. The Hispanic and native-Americans residing in the area surrounding the mission who work, worship, or school there can themselves be some of the best photo subjects.

St. Augustine Cathedral in Tucson, Arizona.

Farther south, the folks visiting Tumacácori, on the other hand, are mostly tourists, so the best trick there is to avoid them in your viewfinder completely and wait until they pass!

Truly, just about any angle at Tumacácori can provide great images. Different times of day multiply the opportunities using natural light and the resulting shadows. The smooth curves of the plastered adobe walls on the main structure and out-buildings yield results that make any photographer feel like an expert.

I mustn’t forget some other churches in the area. The large St. Augustine Cathedral in downtown Tucson recently underwent minor improvements. More modest area churches are St. Rita in the Desert in Vail, and structures in the tiny border villages of Sasabe and Lochiel.

While the smaller buildings are less imposing as architecture, the skillful photographer can exploit the charm of their design and milieu, using creative camera angles to prove these churches are as photogenic as any others in the borderlands region.

Roads Caller

2011-08-02T21:58:00.001-07:00

Opinion: Conflicted About Nature?

2011-08-02T15:15:00.000-07:00

Re: NY Times article "As We Seek Nature, We Wall It Out"

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/02/opinion/as-we-seek-nature-we-wall-it-out.html

We're not conflicted at all about wild nature. The preponderance of human activity screams the conclusion that we "like" nature and feel sorry for it, but we won't let it get in the way of human "expansion." Thus, its inexorable decline and destruction.

Tamed and cultivated nature is another matter.

Article: "Sonoran Moods"

2011-07-17T09:48:00.000-07:00

(Published April 2008 in Murray Bolesta's "The Borderlands Photographer" in Tubac Villager.)

Isn’t the Sonoran desert grand?

It's not just big, having a range northward almost to Prescott and southward across the border to the tip of Mexico’s Baja California. I also mean fabulous and awesome.

Being one of you, a borderlands photographer, it’s a bit hard for me not to capture images common to the Sonoran desert. A venerated subject of nature photography, the Sonoran desert includes archetypal landscapes and the saguaro cactus. The iconic image of the Saguaro is clichéd, but for the purpose of my column this month, so what! The saguaro is grand, and enduringly popular.

That said, my photography often veers away from Sonoran images, dwelling instead on scenes in higher-elevation zones of the Santa Cruz river area, such as the mesquite-bosque, desert scrub, desert grassland, and riparian zones of this region. Sonoran images are well covered already by other photographers, and besides, our borderlands region offers so many diverse alternatives. However, the nearby Sonoran expanse begs my interpretation of it.

The village of Tubac lies on the eastern edge of the Sonoran desert, near a transitional grasslands area bordering the Chihuahuan desert farther east. I feel a bit sorry for points east since, by and large, they don’t have the saguaro and appear sparse without it!

Threats to the Sonoran desert are many and extreme. Ignorant and greedy development is foremost, and illegal border activity, off-road vehicle abuse and invasive species such as buffelgrass add to the crisis. Currently, freeway by-pass construction is a major threat in Pima county which must be fought vigorously.

But even with all the stress imposed by humans, the Sonoran desert still provides a world of unique photographic subjects, including vast open spaces with few scars yet, carpets of seasonal wildflowers and thousands of native American sites of photogenic rock art, most of which are still secret.

Broad expanses.

Among trackless open spaces nearby is the Tohono O’odham Nation. This native American land is a giant slab of southern Arizona which, in a way, is another Sonoran desert national park which will never be developed (except, of course, at the edges with casinos). You should go visit this vast place. If you do, and want to head into the back country, you will need a permit that’s available by calling tribal headquarters in the town of Sells. Here, your landscape photography should often feature the sky, especially during monsoon season. The desert's clear blue skies do actually become tiresome; the clouds of the brief stormy seasons create the most awesome skies available anywhere on the planet, providing the drama of color and texture to the sky.

Wildflowers.

Wildflowers are among nature’s most popular desert photo subjects, under the right conditions of moisture and temperature. February and March are the best times for Sonoran wildflowers and, locally, some of the best places to see them are Picacho Peak State Park, Ironwood Forest National Monument, and of course, Saguaro National Park, which is split into eastern and western districts. I often visit the eastern district’s southerly-facing Hope Camp Trail for a multitude of wild blossoms. Seasonal snow runoff provides an extra benefit: streams and waterfalls.

The big guy.

Another wildflower, the big one, is the Saguaro blossom which blooms later, peaking in late May. Also, saguaro oddities are a favorite photographic subject in the Sonoran desert. The strange and fantastic shapes of the arms of mature saguaro, including the rare crested saguaro, a mutation, have infinite variety. Once you’ve found something unusual, it’s best to work carefully on the angle of your photo to capture the odd shape in the best way, often upward with the sky in the background to provide clear contrast.

Archaeological sites.

Rock art can be found in Ironwood Forest National Monument, but you must search for it, as sites are not officially marked in order to preserve them. If you discover pictographs or petroglyphs, never touch them or walk on them. Just take lots of photos from a short distance. When you do, make sure plenty of light exists to highlight the faded artwork, preferably in open sunlight or with flash. Rock art often creates fine black-and-white images and these can be improved by increasing contrast to elicit the patterns clearly.

Be careful.

The open Sonoran desert involve risks existing throughout this region, only more so. To paraphrase "Duke" Wayne, everything in this country either sticks you, stings you, or bites you. I never wear shorts while hiking even on the hottest days. The primary danger is rattlesnakes, and 80 percent of bites happen in the lower legs. You might consider buying gaiters, or lower leg chaps, designed to be snake-proof. The other 20 percent of bites are in the hands and arms, so always be careful where you reach. There’s no treatment for rattlesnake bites except anti-venom administered by medical personnel.

Roads Caller

2011-07-16T14:37:00.001-07:00

Article: "Bees, Butterflies and Blossoms"

2011-07-16T13:57:00.000-07:00

(Published March 2008 in Murray Bolesta's "The Borderlands Photographer" in Tubac Villager.)

This month’s topic is a very manly one. It's “mucho macho.”

Real men love bees, butterflies and blossoms. Now, spring is just around the corner in the borderlands and very few photo opportunities during the season will surpass the vivid beauty of this topic.

In a way, this article is a sequel to last month’s, which was about birds, since bees and butterflies provide a similar delight and challenge to the borderlands photographer.

Bees are bathing in a saguaro cactus blossom's pollen. How

can they fly like that?

I enjoy taking close-up images; some of my favorite shots are close-ups. One of my books is on this month’s topic [link]. Close-up photography reveals a whole new world that escapes most humans. Also, there are probably more opportunities for capturing striking close-up images than for landscape photography – there’s simply more content available, if you look for it.

In close-up photography, the subtle play of light and shadow and shape combines with a rainbow of colors coming from your subject, creating a universe of options. As with bird photography, the subject’s surroundings can turn a bee, butterfly, or blossom photo into artwork.

To me, butterflies are as beautiful as birds and probably easier to photograph. Getting close to butterflies for good shots is not as difficult as with birds, since generally they don’t scare off so easily. There are exceptions, of course, and some butterflies are skittish subjects for portraiture.

I use a zoom telephoto lens for taking most butterfly photos. I’ve come to call it my “butterfly lens” since it allows me to position myself at just the right distance from the critter to fill a frame, while providing narrow enough depth of field, or focus area, for the image to have a blurred background. This background is what can produce a fine image, when your subject itself is well focused. The background may be filled with color, shadow, and light but blurring it allows the photographer to highlight the photo’s central subject, the pollinating critter.

Bee and prickly poppy blossom.

In borderland Arizona, I started out taking cactus blossom pictures, which is common. While a flower by itself can be a great image, a better composition is a picture that combines a shot of a flowering plant with an energetic pollinator. This does require patience to achieve the right composition. The position of the critter should either emphasize its pollinating function or its inherent beauty, or both.

A bee or butterfly which is hovering is the best, requiring a high camera shutter speed. Technically, butterflies don’t really hover, so catching them in flight with the camera is sometimes harder than capturing a bee.

A dazzling blooming ocotillo and friend.

There are many specialty lenses used for close-ups. By and large, they are called macro lenses. Whichever lens you use, depth of field is the key to these images. Your focus depth should be enough to highlight the subject but narrow enough to blur and simplify the background so that it’s not too “busy” and doesn’t distract from the subject. When using a zoom lens, the farther you zoom, the less depth you get.

Many artful shots, as distinguished from reference shots, don’t require the subject to be entirely in focus. With butterflies, it’s important to have a clear image of the head and antennae and proboscis (or “tongue” which sips nectar). With flowers, often just parts of them are required to be in focus, such as the stamen and pistil together, or several petals.

The wings of butterflies are the highlights of the show, and it’s good to remember that the undersides of wings sometimes are not as striking or colorful as the top of the wings.

Dragonflies and damselflies are very fine subjects, too. These critters are delightfully delicate; it's best to get their entire wings focused if you can, in order to highlight the detail. Improving your odds is the fact that dragonflies and damselflies are more patient posers than bees and butterflies.

Finally, for the amateur naturalist in borderland Arizona, the scientific identification of a photo’s subject is a big part of the fun. Field guides exist en masse to help you with this, and can be used for taking notes while you shoot, or better, back at the ranch with your finished pictures in front of you. I often use the internet for reference. For identification of any critter, it’s best if you achieve shots from different angles, and for flowers, you should include shots of its stem and leaves for quicker identification.

Good hunting.

Roads Caller

2011-07-11T20:57:00.001-07:00

Article: "Birds in Action"

2011-07-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

(Published February 2008 in Murray Bolesta's "The Borderlands Photographer" in Tubac Villager.)

The high season for birding is upon us. The next few months are a peak time for our feathered friends, and for those human friends who visit southern Arizona to witness the spectacle.

I’m neither a bird expert nor a specialist in bird photography. But I have grown very fond of them since moving to the borderlands.

The birds I’ve photographed are mostly common, either as permanent residents of this area or as migratory visitors. I don’t spend a lot of time hunting for a particular bird to fill an objective, but instead I roll the dice and take what the day provides. Common birds make great photo subjects.

Ash-throated Flycatcher

Patience is a virtue when taking pictures of birds. Many photo professionals use blinds and sit and wait like a hunter. My style is an impatient one: I’m a marauder with my finger on the shutter like a gun's trigger. Generally speaking, a hunter's luck is improved by venturing outdoors a whole lot. When arriving at a likely spot, try sitting still and waiting (unlike me) in one spot for 20 minutes or more. Let the birds come to you.

Mr. & Mrs. Acorn Woodpecker

I’ve built a selection of bird images due to living near Madera Canyon of the Santa Rita mountains. In south-central Arizona, the geographic sphere of this newspaper, Madera Canyon with its creek is a major birding destination. Any place with a spot of water in this area will support plenty of winged creatures, as long as there also exists good native tree and brush habitat.

Apart from Madera Canyon, some other central borderlands birding destinations are: the lush cottonwood-willow riparian environment of the Santa Cruz River, especially from Rio Rico north to Tubac; the river’s Sonoita Creek tributary from Patagonia downstream; Aliso Springs, Puerto Springs and Sycamore Canyon in the Tumacacori Highlands area, and Arivaca Cienega; Bog Hole in the cinematic San Rafael Valley, Parker Canyon Lake and the famous Ramsey Canyon near Sierra Vista.

Next I'll list a few tips I learned the old fashioned way. These tips mainly involve getting as close as possible to your prey. As mentioned, let the birds come to you.

Use a telephoto. I’m not really big on hardware, as in comparing the length of my lens to the other guy’s, but one piece of equipment is necessary for taking pictures of birds, and that’s a telephoto or zoom telephoto lens. I use zoom telephotos, either a 70-300 mm or a newer 80-400 mm vibration-reduction (VR) lens. The latter lens is a heavy brute and its effectiveness beyond the older lens is marginal. Some birders use the new binoculars with built-in cameras.

A Roadrunner, "peacock of the desert."

Specialists in bird photography employ even more powerful and expensive lenses which bring in huge amounts of light and magnification, and require a tripod or a monopod. (In Alaska long ago, I met a bird photographer using a very long lens mounted atop a contraption that was built for holding a camera as if it were a rifle or machine gun, complete with grips for both hands and a gun-like trigger.)

My style is a rapid-fire one, always on the go, with no tarrying about. So, I don't use a tripod at all for birds. I’ve blurred many a shot that way, but I’ve also achieved other great ones which wouldn’t have been possible while lugging a tripod. The VR lens mentioned above is made for that, heavy as it is. My style is to photograph while trekking actively in the wild, avoiding controlled circumstances.

Beauty is close up. Even a common bird looks extraordinary if you can get right next to it. You’ll discover that a plain bird, or the female of a species which is usually less resplendent than the male, displays wonderfully delicate patterns of feather texture and color when viewed in extreme close-up.

Orange-crowned Warbler upon landing.

The eyes have it. In the movies and fashion photography, the eyes of the subject are the focal point of the universe. This applies no less to bird photography. If you have a telephoto, you should often be able to get in close enough to capture the bird’s eyes. A point of sunlight reflected from dark eyes is even better. The points of light are tiny but they add dynamic charm to the image. Larger birds of prey such as owls and hawks have the most gorgeous eyes. Capturing them in a picture is mandatory.

Direct sunlight can be good or evil. The best part of birds is their feathers. The way to exploit this beauty is to achieve a side view of the critter using uniform lighting from direct sunlight. Bright sunlight highlights a bird's spectacular feather colors and textures. Luck is needed to avoid the high contrast of direct sunlight and shadows caused by objects and the bird's position. For some bird and hummingbird photography, flash is used; high dollar equipment includes flash extenders.

The surroundings and circumstances make the art. As you acquire more experience, you'll master the skill of capturing a bird with perfect light and clarity, and yet, the image may be static. This is a reference photo. An art photo, to make a distinction, will use the qualities of the milieu, such as colors, shapes, motion, or shadows, to create an effect which enhances the overall image.

Action pictures are best. Good pictures with motion often are the hardest to achieve. In your art photo, the bird will be doing more than just sitting and resting on a twig or fence post; it'll be hunting or flying or playing with a mate. This dynamism will add a flash of borderlands magic.

Roads Caller

2011-07-06T18:48:00.001-07:00

Article "A Charm Not Yet Lost"

2011-07-05T20:28:00.001-07:00

(Published December 2007 in Arivaca Connection.)

My motivation was strictly commercial. Working for the highway department, I was planning a new freeway from Nogales to Yuma along the international border, which will double as a border wall.

The border wall (in 2007).

If this sounds farfetched, you haven’t lived in modern-day Arizona for very long.

For me, in reality, there’s nothing more charming and anachronistic than an international border fence which is comprised of a couple strands of beat-up barbed wire designed to keep the cattle in check.

A day-long rocky photo-trek, demanding of one’s ankles and all the rest, satisfied my photographer’s curiosity and need to chronicle the length of a fabled canyon, in its fall-color splendor. Most of all, it revealed an international border monumental in its political magnitude but archaic in its appearance.

Believe it or not, I’m hesitant to talk about it, since in current-day Arizona, just mentioning an existing length of this old fence begs fate to bulldoze it overnight for something much bigger, and uglier.

Poets will write with more eloquence about the societal ugliness that surrounds a border wall. They’ll write about the wall as a symbol of many things, of the failure of governments or the futility of this or that. But I prefer a naïve conclusion that says that I’m coincidentally witnessing a era of wall-building that is but temporary, in the span of the natural world.

I believe gullibly that the entire proposed border wall may yet not be built, due to an imminent new federal administration. And, I believe that if it is built, the wall will eventually be taken down (but probably not in my lifetime).

Yikes! My toe was an illegal immigrant to Mexico.

Trekking to the border inside the depths of the legendary Sycamore Canyon, of the Pajarita Wilderness, took me through a day of complete solitude. On that day not even a nature-lover was to be seen on my path. The only mega-fauna I encountered was what appeared to be a Mexican cow having scooted northward under the creek-span of a decrepit border fence.

A 10-hour round-trip forced march of rock-hopping and bushwhacking propelled me the 11 miles to this fence, with stops for photo-taking, of course. Rewarded by the raw spectacle of the canyon around every turn, I passed the test of endurance. Satisfying also, was the sight of a charming little wire barrier at the mouth of the canyon, marking the international border, and, by its unimposing quaintness, symbolizing so much more that is being lost.

Roads Caller

2011-07-04T17:56:00.000-07:00

Article: "I'll Stick to Butterflies"

2011-07-04T17:41:00.000-07:00

(Published September 2007 in Arivaca Connection.)

There is risk to trekking alone in the wilderness. Most experts advise against it. The risks are of no laughing matter, and I treat them seriously. By far the greatest risk is one of accident and not being able to summon help. My cell phone, which I use only for emergencies, is of course worthless in the more remote borderland areas. When I’m a few feet from the interstate, it starts working. I would need a satellite phone.

As a gentle nature photographer, I’m basically a chronicler of tadpoles and beetle larvae. The hardships of trekking remote areas are rewarded by the discovery of unique photo-opportunities. Photographers, when working, do not hike, and that’s why they often go alone. Hiking implies steadiness. A photographer’s pace is maddeningly erratic to normal people. Transit time is wasted time, so getting to places is often speedy and harrowing. Then, once a “photo-op” is found, the lingering in the heat can often be too much for companions.

I was by myself mid-day August 19 in Pine Canyon, which runs roughly north from Atascosa Peak near Ruby Road towards the Tumacacoris. Pine Canyon runs into Peck Canyon, which separates the Atascosas from the Tumacacoris. Just finished photographing a large (during monsoon) waterfall, I decided to climb up the ridge above the waterfall and perch for lunch. While there, a hundred feet above the canyon, I finished lunch quickly since I was hungry and, moreover, the one-half submarine sandwiches from Safeway are now only 3 inches long, so lunch went down quickly.

Reflecting on this, I was suddenly disappointed to hear voices. Solitude is a goal and reward of being a nature photographer, and nothing interferes with nature photography like people. Glancing down to the waterfall where I had just been, I saw that several young men had just come down the same canyon I was going up, but I had missed them by being on higher ground, while they had passed below me.

They rested for a time, but it was brief, because in their business transit time is also wasted time. I realized they were all young hale Hispanics, probably not out to admire the wildflowers. They carried neither water, food, nor supplies, only huge packs of contraband. They all got up and then I pulled out my telephoto lens.

They started to head out from the shade and I snapped some shots. They marched off towards Peck Canyon and perhaps east to the area between Rio Rico and the town of Tumacacori. I then waited a bit, headed the opposite direction, and trekked out over the ridgetops, a task twice as hard but probably more than twice as safe. I eventually lurched back to my truck, and then to Ruby Road, on which I flagged down two young serious border patrol agents to whom I gave my report. What the agents did with the information, including GPS coordinates, I don’t know. I assume they used their radios to call it in.

Press: "Art in Wilderness"

2011-07-04T17:22:00.000-07:00

The book I did in collaboration with Sky Island Alliance and several other artists & musicians, 2007.

Roads Caller

2011-07-02T13:57:00.001-07:00

Article: "Photo Composition: Positioning Yourself"

2011-07-02T13:35:00.000-07:00

(Published December 2007 in Murray Bolesta's "The Borderlands Photographer" in Tubac Villager.)

As this column has begun to explore, borderlands Arizona is chock-full of photo opportunities that, if political, would make a presidential candidate blush (almost).

The critters and plants around the home are close-in targets for the camera hound, and local watery places, though scarce, can provide even greater access to colorful natural prey for capture by the camera lens.

These are dove eggs in a nest built on top of the stump of a dead

saguaro. I snapped this photo in the Ironwood Forest National

Monument, northwest of Tucson. Seeing the mother fly away as I

approached, I could guess that a nest might be there. It was

up high at about my chin height, and by raising my camera

above my head, I took a picture of the scene with a nice perspective.

I then rapidly departed, allowing the mom to return.

Going near or far, the position in which you put yourself – your body, if I may, can be equally important to creating a photograph that stands out from the rest. Moreover, positioning the camera away from your face can often lead to a much better shot as well.

Away from your face, you say? Yes, many photographers, no matter how much of a beginner they may be, learn that holding a camera (or cell phone camera) up over your head when you’re in the middle of a crowd can mean an unobstructed shot of that sports play or of the celebrity walking by.

A good example of variations in a photo

made possible by subtle body movements,

either vertical or horizontal, is in this panel

of five pictures of the same

Rufous-crowned sparrow perched on a

cholla. I took these pictures with a telephoto

lens near Amado in the Cerro Colorado

Mountains, and I changed my position

only a foot or so in any direction.

Yes, the bird cooperated by staying in one place!

The borderlands photographer will learn that critter shots will often be best when taken at eye-level of the critter. So, whether it’s a Gila monster or a Gila woodpecker, it pays to adjust your height, if possible, to be on the same level as the critter.

So, when talking about reptiles, for example, this means that you must get down and dirty to get a dramatic shot, instead of the more common angle from the normal human standing position.

This normal human standing position is often the bane of the good photograph. A little physical discomfort may be required; in fact, professional photographers learn quickly that being self-conscious about their physical position is not a good career move. If that lizard or snake (providing you’re not too close) is on the ground ahead of you or on a rock, then getting down on your knees is often required.

This is one reason always to wear long pants when photo-trekking in borderlands Arizona. The overall reason to do this, to paraphrase John Wayne, is that when you head outdoors, everything in this country either sticks you, stings you, or bites you.

But getting on your knees is actually not low enough, sometimes. A truly ground-level shot of a low-flying or low-hanging critter may require you to put that camera right down on or near the ground, without you looking through the eyepiece.

Many shots, such as the one of the sports play I mentioned earlier, will require you to just guess at the angle, and then press that shutter button many, many times. This is one beauty of digital photography these days, allowing you to take dozens of shots, many of which will be bad, and then just review the screen and erase the worst ones. If the shot turns out clear but the horizon is slanted, you can always crop it later on a computer.

This dragonfly had perched himself on the end of some tree twigs in

Madera Canyon. The first photo has a cluttered hillside background.

By bending down a bit and aiming upward, I was able to capture the same

subject with a clean background of sky which helps the viewer focus

on the critter, achieving a more striking result.

The same ground-level lens-pointing guesswork applies to any other angular situation, including seeing around corners and taking a high-level shot downward (such as in this article’s bird nest picture). In fact, for those of us getting older, holding the camera away from your face sometimes prevents some hard physical bending which can be arduous at extreme angles.

Even subtle movements of your position can improve results dramatically, especially if you keep in mind the background of your picture. This article’s dragonfly picture changes significantly by forgetting human-height during composition, and moving the camera just a foot or so downward and aiming upward.

Composing an image usually starts with finding a subject, but you should always keep in mind the background of your picture too. If you’re lucky, as with this article’s bird pictures, some backgrounds offer a multitude of options. Experiment by moving yourself up or down, or sideways just a bit, and you’ll see the difference it can make.

Roads Caller

2011-07-02T09:32:00.000-07:00

Article: "Heading Out? Head to Water"

2011-07-02T09:18:00.000-07:00

(Published November 2007 in Murray Bolesta's "The Borderlands Photographer" in Tubac Villager.)

In last month’s column we discussed borderlands Arizona nature photography as it pertained to backyard nature. Much is to be said about opportunities in your backyard for those who are camera-enthused.

A backyard has many of the photography benefits, and few of the risks. Natural habitat in many of the local developed neighborhoods is plentiful enough to attract many plants and animals of southern Arizona’s native and visiting species alike. Indeed, the super-natural care and watering that many of our backyards enjoy can attract even more of southern Arizona’s denizens than elsewhere.

San Rafael Valley - Bog Hole. This valley is often mistaken for the Midwest, and has been used as the setting for countless movies. It’s one of my favorite places in borderlands Arizona. Bog Hole is a state Fish & Game property, and is partly artificial due to a wide dam.

But from time to time, the call of the wild entices the borderlands photographer to venture beyond the home and into the surrounding untouched lands that still exist nearby. This call to venture forth comes from our proximity to many great wild places, one of the enticing features of this place. A venturesome new resident, eager to put a camera through the paces, often will research nearby spots that have superb opportunities for outdoor photography due to their status as a desert oasis.

One rule of photography is to surround yourself with multiple opportunities, which watery areas can provide. No matter how good a photographer you are, your chances improve in these places that a frame or two will be truly special.

Reputation and a map may lead a borderlands photographer to well-known area spots such as Sabino Canyon in the Catalinas, Patagonia Lake near Nogales, the cienega at Arivaca, Ramsey Canyon near Sierra Vista, Agua Caliente Park in east Tucson, or Brown Canyon beneath Baboquivari Peak where the water is often just below the surface, and where exists one of only two natural rock bridges over a waterway in southern Arizona.

San Pedro River – Hot Springs
Canyon/Muleshoe Ranch.

The quarry for this intrepid photo-trekker often will be birds, since southern Arizona is such fertile ground for sighting hundreds of species which converge or live here. Water attracts all other types of critters, of course, as well as wildflowers and everything else which makes a picture even more special than a typical desert landscape shot. When you encounter cattails, fish, and frogs, you know that you’ve found a source of year-around desert water.

Watery spots for photography are just about everywhere after a rainfall, or snowfall. Often the best time to go out is right after a storm passes. The aroma of wet earth and flora are enough to entice most people outdoors by itself.

Rainfall, of course, often brings out the best in the land and borderlands Arizona is no exception to this rule. Ocotillos sprout leaves almost immediately and wildflowers can spring up quickly, given the right overall conditions.

For many of my images, borderland Arizona’s precious, fragile spring waters are the lifeblood. They give birth to the hue and substance of the area’s natural beauty. A vestige of their earlier forms, southern Arizona’s spring waters often sink into the parched ground within a short distance of their surface origin. But these tiny and charming wild waters of Arizona continue to sustain vibrant wild life, enchanting those who discover these hidden spots.

What a major topic water is! It is Arizona’s most important topic, and is the West’s most important topic, and is fast becoming the most urgent one for the planet.

Some local watery places, such as Sonoita Creek or the Santa Cruz River, are now flowing above ground mostly due to the effluent from wastewater treatment plants. Most of the natural flow of the Santa Cruz River, and that of many other Arizona rivers, disappeared decades ago due to the lowered underground water table from increased agriculture, mining, and urban development. Along with that flow went much of the riparian habitat supporting the plants and critters that borderlands photographers now seek. Even CAP water, brought here by canal all the way from the Colorado River, robs this habitat: the lower Colorado riparian areas and delta have been mostly decimated to provide this water to us and millions of others.

Wild yellow Columbine at Sycamore
Creek near the Arizona-Mexico border.

The San Pedro River is one of the few Arizona rivers still battling to avoid such a fate. When folks wonder how much development Arizona can eventually support, I tell them my answer is sadly simple. The rivers tell me that the natural capacity was already exceeded long ago.

But engineering and good science often is able to stabilize or re-create small patches of watery habitat necessary for wild things to flourish. An example is the Sweetwater Wetland in Tucson. Some even argue that old ranch stock-tanks support more wildlife than simply letting things go back to nature.

Discovering watery spots in the borderlands area can sometimes require a very arduous hike involving no trails whatsoever. Prior research is needed to determine how tough things are going to be, in relation to your capabilities. Many readers might not be able or willing to reach such places. Preparation must be made, too, for a safe journey for yourself and for your camera equipment. Many rules exist and you should follow them, including the foremost rule: always carry plenty of water. Second, always watch for rattlesnakes and become paranoid about where you put your hands and feet at all times. Always tell someone where you’re going.

Other rules are to carry a cell-phone, which may or may not work in some of these places. Carry a knife, toilet paper, a first-aid kit, a GPS or topographical map, and for your camera, a container easy for protecting it and retrieving it when needed. Also take cleaning equipment for your camera. Multiple camera lenses may be necessary for birds versus landscapes. Finally, I’ve found that in addition to sturdy boots or wet/dry trekking sandals, your best buddy is a small clean towel, to use with some water to freshen up in the field.

Threats to these places are, bluntly, staggering, and I’ve included references to some groups waging the battle.

Sorry, I’m not going to make it too easy on you by divulging exact directions. Finding places builds character. Men love to ask directions, don’t they?

Roads Caller

2011-07-01T10:49:00.001-07:00

Article: "Lochiel Lamentation" - More Scars upon Southern Arizona

2011-07-01T09:16:00.000-07:00

(Published April 2007 in Arivaca Connection.)

When I arrived in Arizona only three years ago, Lochiel, and the entire superb agricultural San Rafael Valley east of Nogales, represented an intoxicating turn backward in time, to a more distant and perhaps innocent Arizona, a rural and remote place that remained relatively unscarred by heavy hands.

Sometimes called a ghost town, Lochiel’s residents would

probably not consider themselves as ghosts.

Sure, there was the great and colorful ranching history that had its missteps with overgrazing and degradation of Arizona’s previously vast cienegas, or wetlands. There were scars left by mining, too, some of them gigantic as a result of the open-pit method. But in my mind I forgave these defacements of nature because these economic activities were part of Arizona’s heritage, just as boundless open spaces were part of this heritage.

As soon as I began to get serious about turning my camera to the land, sky, and their critters, however, I rapidly began to become aware of the tremendous threats to Southern Arizona. It seemed that every time I discovered a new place, there immediately occurred an impending attack upon it. Massively wasteful exurban sprawl at Red Rock next to Ironwood Forest. Proposed new open pit mines from outside interests in the Santa Rita Mountains and eastern Santa Cruz County. A proposed freeway through pristine San PedroValley.

Lochiel had a road bulldozed through its center, which

follows the entirety of this new vehicle barrier to

the river and beyond. What additional fencing is to come?

I concluded with dread that Southern Arizona is under attack. Whether it comes from unsustainable development techniques or invasive species – plant or human, it is not to be minimized – the natural and rural heritage of Southern Arizona is under massive attack. I further concluded that Southern Arizona is no longer a place to be exploited, it is a place to be preserved. And I’ll probably spend the rest of my days coming to terms with that.

Lochiel has such a great history: the place where Fray Marcos de Niza, the first European west of the Rockies, passed in 1539, mining, ranching, and Pancho Villa. And the charm of the beautiful valley drained by the Santa Cruz River south into Mexico before it turns northward back to the U.S., a river segment which still has natural-flowing water. Also, more recently, for the movie buff, the Lochiel area is a place of film locations with “Oklahoma” and John Wayne’s “McClintock”. Most recently, it is a place of conservation with the San Rafael Ranch State Park and other preservation efforts.

The bucolic valley can be seen beyond Lochiel, and the border (a simple cattle fence to the right of the cottonwoods) the way it looked two years ago.

The dilemma of illegal border crossings is a complex one based in politics and social, legal and international policies. From an environmental point of view, the effect of walls on our border can have the intended effect of limiting vehicle and human traffic which scars the land deeply. But, as these pictures show, walls, depending upon their attributes and accompanying features such as roads and lights, can be massive problems in themselves.

A charm is lost, but other things are gained. One thing is certain, however, and that is that the cost of installing these walls is only exceeded by the cost of removing them. If all political and social causes of our Mexican-border wall construction were suddenly erased, who would then pay to erase the walls and their scars?

Roads Caller

2011-06-22T20:40:00.000-07:00

Article: "Photographing Back Yard Nature"

2011-06-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

(Published October 2007 in Murray Bolesta's "The Borderlands Photographer" in Tubac Villager.)

A mule deer fawn on my front "lawn."

By way of introduction, this column is a proud new addition to a fine publication. The Villager was founded at about the same time as I began my photography in borderlands Arizona. Perhaps a gap was filled in both arenas. In any case, they tell me that in the laws of physics, a vacuum automatically will be filled.

The Villager trumpets the village of Tubac and its environs in much the same way that I celebrate borderlands Arizona and its natural, rural, and cultural heritage. The virtues of the village, its talented residents and merchants, and this area, are many and worth shouting about to the world. But, as one concerned with the preservation of those qualities, I walk the fine line, perhaps as this newspaper does, between exploitation and conservation.

Publicizing and romanticizing a particular area and thus, attracting attention to it, has always been a double-edged effort, with the risk of stimulating economic activity which degrades the original charm and gentle qualities. Hard-working realtors know this: the more you build, the less you have of what you built on and for, except money. Using up land makes the remaining land more valuable. They tell me that’s economics.

House cat versus wild Bobcat.

As a nature photographer writing this column I’m guilty as charged, referring to places that may or may not be “secret”, and which eventually could bear the brunt of increased visitation over time, perhaps a little influenced by my words and pictures. These places, including your backyard, do not stand to benefit from the economic impact of this visitation. If they had their way, they'd be left alone. That’s what I believe open spaces want, if they could voice an opinion, and that’s why I chose to celebrate them as a core element of my borderlands Arizona photography.

I try, in my way, to preserve what’s left of open spaces. This is the 21^st century, after all, and not the era prior to the Civil War when ranching had not yet gone a bit overboard in its belief that borderland Arizona’s grasslands would last forever. It’s not, either, the era around 1940 when this area witnessed a surge of Hollywood film-making as when Gary Cooper filmed “The Westerner” near modern-day Green Valley, with a wild and unimpeded Santa Cruz Valley and Madera Canyon clearly visible in the background.

A javelina. Isn't he cute?

This is a late era in borderland Arizona’s history, witnessing a distressing amount of economic activity based primarily, as always, on the exploitation of local natural resources. But luckily, for the outdoor enthusiast, many of these attributes begin a few feet from your front door and still extend way out over the horizon. Arizona, even these days, is a place where wildness meets your backyard.

Sun-drenched borderlands Arizona is a place that scientists call a bio-geographical transitional area, the site of a confluence of many climate regions. Further, this area showcases the “biotic communities” defined by extremes of elevation, from the low desert scrub to the high mixed conifer forest. This brilliant mixture forms an unexpected diversity for the borderlands photographer, and the signs of this mixture show up in your backyard.

A backyard here, I think, should remain natural, without grassy lawn or plants that are not native to this area. In any case, many residents live in neighborhoods that generally contain more water and plant habitat than the surrounding natural wild areas. Even if your plants are native, they probably receive more tender loving care than they get in the wild. Therefore, you have visitors who want them.

A tiny pincushion cactus
near my front window.

The critters that come to enjoy your neighborhood often don’t know what they’re in for. A land of plenty seems at hand for them, and they go for it. But they might get a bit too close for comfort, and encounter a moving vehicle, a fire department officer summoned to extract them, or some other official whose job is to serve and protect the human species.

More often than not, though, if you let the wild critter sniff around and eventually continue on his way, things will be fine.

So far, this has been my experience. My backyard has been a delight for a photographer. Further, I’ve benefited from a special early warning system telling me that something’s out there: my cat. When my nose is buried in a book and I’m ignorant of outside activities, my cat often makes some strange noises and I then know that I should grab a camera.

A horned lizard.

Backyard borderlands Arizona photography has one great advantage. It’s convenient and nearby. No strenuous and sweaty treks into the outback are necessary. Photography is a fine excuse to get outside, even if it’s just to your yard.

You are the borderlands photographer, and you should remember one important rule. You must always have a camera ready and convenient. That is, it must have a charged battery and, if digital, have some space left on the card, and if film, have a roll inside. With critters especially, the first chance you have to take a picture is almost always the last or best chance. Your camera is a six-gun.

All images in this month’s column were photographed by me in my back (or front) yard in the "hip and happening” community of Green Valley.

Roads Caller

2011-06-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

Article: "The Art in Wilderness Experience"

2011-06-15T19:21:00.000-07:00

(Published January 2008 in Murray Bolesta's "The Borderlands Photographer in Tubac Villager.)

Nature photographers can take heart: the eminent organization Sky Island Alliance is progressing with a bill in Congress to protect the Tumacacori Highlands area by converting the formal status of that land to wilderness.

A “sky island” is defined as a mountain range isolated by valleys in which other ecosystems are located. Opportunities for the borderlands photographer are high and mighty in such a place.

Wilderness designation for this landscape will be an important achievement that is not accomplished every day, in Arizona or elsewhere.

As part of this effort, several artists, including me, were asked to be part of an art-in-wilderness campaign, with one of the outcomes being a 100-page book, “Art in Wilderness”, including two CDs with music and poetry.

Personally, I call myself a photographer, shying away from using the “A” word. Among nature photographers, this is a topic of some controversy, to put it politely, and not necessarily regarding me personally, of course, but regarding the profession. For a nature photographer, art comes from nature. Nature is art.

Art in wilderness, then, is wilderness as art. My borderland photos reflect, as in a mirror, what nature generously provides. They frame, as in a window, bits and pieces that happen to stand out at a particular moment.

The new book is now available by mail order from the Alliance’s website "www.skyislandalliance.org" Please support this group with your purchase and donations.

Nature is the mother of us all, and I think we treat her very poorly. The Sky Island Alliance folks are examples of humanity trying to slow down, just a little, the damage happening all around us, attempting to preserve bits and pieces - remnants - of our heritage.

Last year those talented artistic folks were brought together in the Tumacacori outback to commune with nature (a wholesome process) and discuss the fragility and momentousness of this borderlands region. In addition, communal inspiration was sought for the tasks ahead, both preservation and publication.

Tumacacori Highlands, for those of you with a map, comprises the Tumacacori Mountains, the Atascosa Mountains, the current Pajarita Wilderness, and the new Pajarita Wilderness Addition. (The Pajarita section will retain its name.) Peck Canyon separates the Tumacacori Mountains to the north and the Atascosa Mountains to the south. Pajarita exists south of Ruby Road (route 289) to the border and protects the area’s crown jewel, Sycamore Canyon.

Sound complicated? Just look westward, you Tubac residents, and that’s the place. Yes, with all of those homes sprouting up on that side with the Santa Rita and San Cayetano views to the east, there is actually going to be a boundary to that development. It’s called the Tumacacori Highlands Wilderness.

How can wilderness coexist so closely with all those homes? Ask the folks in the Tucson foothills living near designated wilderness right above them in the Catalinas. There are a lot more homes there, too.

In any case, borderlands Arizona will be graced with another such place. And yes, there’s concern from folks who’re accustomed to grazing, hunting, and off-road motoring action on that acreage.

Notwithstanding those activities, all I’m qualified to talk about is photographing the raw untrammeled beauty of the land and natural life that sits on it. For me, the significance of this area surfaced a while back when the Pueblo Colorado Zoo asked me for an image of mine for their exhibit of the “sky islands” featuring an extinct bird in these parts.

Go photo-trek the Highlands! It’s a challenging jaunt: one of the area’s few ‘formal’ trails is the one from Ruby Road up to Atascosa Peak, a good vertical workout for those so inclined. For all you bushwhackers, southern access is available along most of the length of Ruby Road, and Camino Ramanote in Rio Rico. To the north, the Puerto Canyon hunters’ access road near Tubac is a good place to start.

The Tumacacoris often appear harsh, stark and bleak, and do not display the lushness of mountains in climates farther north. But deep within them, for the hardy photo trekker, are watery secret places like Aliso Springs, Puerto Springs, Bartolo Canyon, and Pine Canyon, that support a multitude of colorful wilderness life. And somewhere, perhaps, roams a big wild jaguar cat, an iconic symbol of what can be lost here.

Rock-hopping to Mexico via Sycamore Canyon recently, I saw no big cats but was rewarded around every bend with a rugged and inspiring natural charm not yet lost in borderlands Arizona.

Roads Caller

2011-06-14T20:37:00.001-07:00

Article: "Summer Canyons and Secret Waters"

2011-06-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

(Published June 2009 in Murray Bolesta's "The Borderlands Photographer" in Tubac Villager.)

Shade and water. Where in the borderland wilderness can you find both at the same time?

My friends Sam and Cass have just moved to this area, intent on becoming true desert rats and nature photographers. Further, they stubbornly insist on achieving success with minimalist frugality: "I wonder how far we can go in photography with cell phone cameras? Let's stretch the technical limits."

Yes, that may be a stretch for Sam and Cass, but with some input from me, they eagerly seek momentum. “Murray, where should we go first?” The borderland’s secret canyons can provide plenty of shade and water for the adventurous nature photographer. Both can mitigate the ferocity of a first trek in summer.

Vertical walls shelter a hiker from the intense sun, but provide a challenge to the photographer. That challenge, high contrast between shade and sunny areas, is almost insurmountable, even with cell phone technology, I tell Sam and Cass. “Try photographing in either shade or sun first, but not both.”

Further, not all canyons have the soothing effects of water, and not all canyons with water have flowing water. Any water, however, is capable of multiplying the opportunities for good pictures, I explain. “Th e fl ora, fauna, and reflections are where the action is.”

Some popular canyons in this area are Sabino and Madera. “Why not there?” I ask Sam and Cass.

“We don’t want crowds” they answer.

“Show us some special, secret spots.”

Well, you won’t necessarily find traffic jams in Sabino and Madera Canyons in summer, I tell them, but if you seek a wilderness canyon experience that’s nearby, I know a few spots.

“Like where?”

I think for a moment. “You want special, secret spots. If I told you where they were, they wouldn’t be secret any more. I may have to blindfold you.”

Secret watery canyons are nearly a dime a dozen in the borderlands. The Tumacacori Mountains; the Pajarita Wilderness on the border, the east side of the Santa Rita Mountains; farther east by the San Pedro River and the Galiuros; back west at the Baboquivari Mountains.

These canyons are where the intrepid summer photographer will find water and life and drama. But few trails will greet him or her. Sam and Cass have it both tough, and easy. Th e tough part is learning how to hop rocks for hours on end. Th is requires supple ankles and knees, and stout boots with rigid soles. Th e easy part, for them, is the light load of carrying cell phone cameras, as contrasted with the two clunky bricks strapped around my neck.

Water is perpetual in some of these places. Summertime, starting late June, is when the monsoon begins in the borderlands, so that’s when water may be plentiful in all of them, flowing rapidly or trapped in pools.

June is really hot – the hottest month of the year. Sam can’t believe this, and asserts that July and August must be hotter. He hasn’t seen the cooling effect of monsoon clouds and rains, which are brutally absent in June.

Sam and Cass are fearless, and that troubles me. Apart from falling and spraining a vital body part, a canyon trekker can have close encounters with rattlesnakes in the summer. I warn them that the only treatment for snake bite is back in the emergency room, quite a distance.

Showing my friends the lower-leg chaps, or gaiters, that I wear, Cass thinks these are overkill. I respond that “kill” is the operative word. Did Sam and Cass charge up their cell phone cameras? Off we go to begin the journey of two new desert rats.

Roads Caller

2011-06-14T19:49:00.000-07:00

Article: "No Faux-tography!"

2011-06-13T19:16:00.000-07:00

(Published January 2010 in Murray Bolesta's "The Borderlands Photographer" in Tubac Villager.)

Here’s a New Year’s resolution for you, the borderlands photographer: Don’t succumb to temptation.

With the proliferation of digital image technology, it’s easier than ever to abandon purity for manipulation. It’s so easy, and so cheap, in fact, that there is little effort required to transform a perfectly good photograph into an awful one.

“Convento y Calabazas” – my original

photo of the grounds of Mission San José

de Tumacácori.

My friends Sam and Cass moved to southern Arizona earlier this year, determined to become accomplished art photographers using only their cellphones. This is a medium, they say, that is already sweeping the art world in major cities like New York, with gallery shows devoted to I-phone use of the many software “apps” for image creation.

Sam and Cass are enthralled by the burgeoning world of digital enhancements, and argue that digital technology does nothing to harm art; it’s quite the contrary.

This type of discussion pays many salaries of art educators and critics across the globe. Manipulation? What manipulation? A tool is a tool. Art is what sells. Anything goes.

Photography has two phases: pre-hit-the-shutter and post-hit-the-shutter. In the past, it was more critical than it is today to get things right during the pre-shutter phase; this fabrication mostly involved using filters, and still does. Among nature photographers using filters, the great Ansel Adams was a masterly craftsman of filtered images. His pictures of blackened skies shot at mid-afternoon attest to that.

Exhibit B: The result of Mom’s first

outing with the Fujica in 1952, sort of

ruining the pictures due to having no

training with “all the knobs and stuff.”

Also the negative got washed

through the laundry.

In photography’s post-shutter phase, the old-fashioned photographer’s darkroom, now replaced by the digital darkroom complete with a hunched geek (like me) staring at a flat-screen, was routinely the scene of all sorts of interesting developments.

Foremost among these common techniques were dodging and burning, both also employed by Ansel Adams. These procedures involved manipulating the light of the photo enlarger. With the film negative suspended over photo paper lying on a flat surface, and the light of the enlarger turned on, dodging blocked that light from selected portions of the paper. Burning applied more light to selected areas of it. To obstruct light from the enlarger, anything could be used, including a piece of cardboard or your sweaty paw.

Many other technical variables entered into the equation to produce the desired result. Choice of camera and lens and film, use of a hand-held light meter, choice of exposure duration, choice of aperture setting, choice of photo paper, and choice of chemicals and duration of their use were all part of the artful calculus of photography.

Exhibit C: The very famous Civil War

photographer Matthew Brady visited

Tubac, Arizona, with Abraham Lincoln

and took this picture right after the war

on vacation.

No more! It is now effortless to produce art.

But doesn’t effort and skill correlate with value? “Lighten up,” Cass smiles. “There’s a world of opportunity with software.”

Yes, I think, the opportunity to overdo it by anyone with a wrist quivering over a mouse. The most common example: the oversaturation of contrasts and colors. It’s the photographic equivalent of the obesity epidemic.

The dreaded mouse eliminates
creative techniques. Through-the-viewfinder photography, or TTV, briefly was a mechanical process. A digital image was created using a contraption linking a new camera to the viewfinder of a very old camera. Why would anyone argue with such things? I don’t – they require inventive effort and neat materials like duct tape.

Exhibit D: Grandpa accidently ran over this

picture with the Rambler and spilled

battery acid on it too.

The problem is that now you can digitally simulate these effects in a blink of a gnat’s eye while bent over the keyboard, with no effort at all.

The new-generation TTV is my favorite. With it you can apply a lot of nice dust and scratches to your clean, unblemished image. First you start with a good picture, and then you go ahead and ruin it. Or, you can start with an unremarkable image and cover up the mediocrity with dust and scratches.

Ultimately, when the dust settles, will classical photography outlast digital mania? I think not. A thundering herd of fads threatens to overrun the poor old purist, lumbering along in a rut.

Exhibit E: This negative disappeared for

many years after the summer car trip to

Arizona and was discovered by Uncle Bart

in the trunk wedged under the spare tire.

Trying to convince Sam and Cass that, in my quest for purity, I’m not being arrogantly self-serving, I entered a figurative courtroom of artistic reason. I showed them six images, vile exhibits of excessive cruelty to a good picture, my painstakingly composed photo of Mission San José de Tumacácori.

Sam studies the photographic atrocities, raises an eyebrow and declares earnestly, “Hey, these are great – you should sell 'em!”

Exhibit F: The outcome of Sister Clara’s

first attempt at age nine with film

in a shoe box taped shut and using mom’s

sewing pin to make a hole.

Article: "Abstracts of Nature"

2011-06-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

(Published May 2009 in Murray Bolesta's "The Borderlands Photographer" in Tubac Villager.)

The beauty and drama of the borderlands region can move a photographer to distraction. He or she can venture beyond the literal scenes and open a new world of abstraction.

An aerial view of the Santa Cruz River in

Mexico illustrates the potential of sharp angles.

For you, the creative and imaginative borderlands photographer, while trekking through southern Arizona in search of meaning and solace, a fresh vision can leap from an otherwise conventional viewpoint.

There’s nothing prosaic about a photo of an historic mission or a monsoon sunset or a pair of deer on grassland or a cactus flower with a bee on it. These are wonderful images which simply are a bit more common.

Viewing the scene in front of you with an unorthodox, abstract vision can require you to isolate a small section of it, by zooming or leaning or, later, cropping the frame. It can mean eliminating the surroundings or context of the subject, removing the milieu.

Disconnecting a subject from its context is one of the hallmarks of the abstract image. The things that surround a subject often define it, so these things should be removed, to some degree. Deciding what to keep defines composition and can result in a striking abstract photograph. A saguaro cactus standing on a slope with other cacti is just that, and really no more. But choosing a particular specimen and emphasizing one view of it can turn the plant into much more.

A thunderhead over the Santa Ritas appears
impossibly fluffy.

You may evoke an image of something that the subject of the photo is not. In doing so, you create a more intriguing image and you keep the audience guessing. The abstract style involves treating the components of scenery as individual elements. Natural elements can be rendered nearly unrecognizable. Shape and form take priority. Elements can be juxtaposed for comparison or contrast, isolated by extreme close-up, reduced to silhouettes by underexposure, and so on. Normal rules, such as focus and shutter speed, may not apply.

A furled agave of Cochise Stronghold beckons
the imagination.

Two of the easiest techniques of abstract photography are close-ups and water shots. In close-up photography, the minute detail that appears is normally invisible to the human eye, and thus can be a delightful discovery. With water, the reflections and distortions created by it can provide an illusive effect of fantasy. Abstract photography is about presenting an image with no clear subject; it leaves more to the imagination. I’ll add a note about “pure” nature photography which is what I do. It’s without software manipulation. That “photo manip” is rife with opportunity for abstractness, and as a technique it employs lots of people, but is outside the scope of my comments. Instead, I try to exploit the abstractness that comes naturally.

A few months ago I wrote about photography of urban abstracts; personally I find the opportunities for abstract photography in urban settings to be more numerous and thus less challenging. Angles, straight lines, and man-made lights tend to multiply the options in the urban setting.

To create an abstract image in nature you will experiment with color, contrast, and form. Lose the constraints of a conventional view when creating such images. Try black-and- experiment with camera movement and slow shutter speeds and shadows and extremes of contrast.

And go ahead and make mistakes – it’s a snap for most of us to do this with a camera. Learn from the errors; skill is required when trying to replicate your mistakes.

The borderlands photographer can be set free by embracing the artfulness of abstract images and escaping the limitations of literal and reference photography.

Article: "February's Frost"

2011-06-12T07:04:00.000-07:00

(Published February 2010 in Murray Bolesta's "The Borderlands Photographer" in Tubac Villager.)

My name’s Murray. How do you dew?

Clinically, the dictionary tells us that frost is formed when surfaces are cooled underneath the dew point of the adjacent air, and that a dew point varies by temperature and barometric pressure.

Artistically, frost provides a splendidly novel subject for you, the borderlands photographer, in a geographic place where those variables of meteorology don’t often occur.

Anyone who has migrated to southern Arizona from the northlands knows what frost is. Those folks may give this topic a cool reception and so, turn a cold shoulder to it. Frost reminds them of the clenched fist of winter, the icy grip of a season best forgotten. In the borderlands, winter is more of an abstraction; perhaps that’s why people retire to here, do you think?

When frost does occur, it’s only for a moment. A nature photographer knows that most opportunities are fleeting: “found” circumstances form the basis of his or her work. So, one must go out and find frost. I find it often in February, and I find it in Arivaca.

A charming, historic borderlands hamlet where the coffee and the folks are warm, Arivaca is the site of a section of Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, the Arivaca Cienega. Cienega, as you may know, means wetlands. A wetland, as you may know, is where the action is at for many desert photographers. Because a wetland is wet.

Arivaca remains a bit isolated due to a long winding road west from Interstate 19 in the Santa Cruz River Valley. About 35 years ago the road was paved at roughly the same time as the valley’s interstate construction. The protection of the land of Arivaca Cienega is a story unto itself, as is the town.

For now, be satisfied with a short discourse on the glories of photographing the frost of the boardwalk of Arivaca Cienega. This boardwalk, unsurprisingly, is made of boards. These boards attract frost, as do the grasses of this place.

You may want to chill out if you worry about the frigidity required for good frost pictures. A nature photographer is a hardy beast who nevertheless takes consolation in the late hour the sun rises in the winter. If you hoist yourself from the downy comfort of your bed and arrive in Arivaca just before sunrise, you’ll meet the challenge of the moment.

As the borderlands sun rises, so melts the frost, quickly. So get out there and be completely prepared as any photographer must be. Capturing frost in a camera, as in all photography, is an exercise in capturing light. However, our frost is more subtle than northern frost, and so, is more of a challenge. Anything involving water in the borderlands is more fleeting and preciously tiny.

Find an angle and a subject which emphasizes the high contrast of the frost crystals and the reflection and refraction of the rising sun. Avoid your footsteps, handprints, or other marks on the virgin frosted surfaces. In other locales, glass surfaces such as a window pane, provide transparent opportunities for capturing intricate, delicate patterns of frost, but now, we are out in the wilds of Arivaca Cienega, with no windows.

So the focus is on the planks of the boardwalk and the grass that surrounds it. The reflected pinpoints of light on frost and melted frost can test your camera lens’s “bokeh.” Bokeh comes from a Japanese term and is the rendition of out-of-focus points of light, or the character of the blur. The size of these blurred points of light is a result of distance and your lens’s focal length setting. The optical quality of lenses impacts bokeh; a perfect soft-edged circle is considered ideal bokeh.

A charming bonus can be earned by finding critters on frost, or their tracks. These critters don’t mind so much being up early and out of their warm beds. The intrepid nature photographer uses them as role models in the pursuit of morning quarry.

Article: "Urban Abstracts"

2011-06-11T14:36:00.000-07:00

(Published March 2009 in Murray Bolesta's "The Borderlands Photographer" in Tubac Villager.)

“Truth and beauty leap from both the abstract and the concrete.”

This tidbit of wisdom has emerged from countless philosophical photographers, clad in multi-pocketed gadget vests, stalking nature and city streets for prey both wild and tame.

As far as concrete is concerned, my camera has bagged many a beast leaping from cement, mainly kids on their skateboards or bikes. Concrete can be a thing of beauty to more than just a construction guy.

City streets yield a lot of opportunities for capturing abstract images, and even you, the intrepid and resourceful borderlands photographer, who devotes most of his or her time trekking our abundant natural areas, can discover enough urban landscapes nearby to supplement your wilderness portfolio.

The main differences are straight lines (seldom found in nature), people and, yes, concrete. Any village, town, or city has these and one of the best is The Old Pueblo.

Downtown Tucson has wonderful shapes and colors and action which cry out “abstract.” Geographically, I’m referring broadly to the area around Congress Street, the historic districts just north and south of it, (especially Barrio Viejo) and the famously funky 4^th Avenue farther to the north.

Any borderlands photographer who’s worth his salt-cedar will spend plenty of time at these spots, as they are the low-hanging fruit of local urban image-making. Especially in the afternoon.

But first, a few words about abstract images. As you may know, most of the photography I sell is pure borderlands nature photography; that is, depictions of recognizable area features unaltered by trickery. This is rather conservative. With abstract photography, the world is your plaything. All constraints are stripped away.

The recognizabilty of local landmarks or organic subjects is often the first thing to be removed from an abstract image. To me, an abstract photo is almost always a close-up or medium-range picture. Close-ups, as I’ve discussed in earlier articles, offer an infinite opportunity for image-making that many photographers ignore. New worlds suddenly appear before your nose.

Removing a subject from its context is one of the hallmarks of the abstract image. The things that surround a subject often define it, so these things must be removed, to some degree. Deciding what to keep and what to remove defines the art of composition and can result in a striking abstract photograph. Keep the audience guessing.

To create an abstract image you will experiment with colors, contrasts, and shapes. Lose the constraint of “naturalness” when creating such images. Try black-and-white; try odd camera angles; experiment with camera movement and slow shutter speeds and shadows and extremes of contrast.

Use these techniques to accentuate into hyper-reality the patterns and textures you discover in the urban setting. Focus on a subject indirectly by taking a picture of it via a second source, such as a reflection in a window, mirror or shiny metal object.

Do some night-tripping of the fantastic lights of neon; turn off the flash and maybe use a tripod or monopod or a high ISO setting. As in all photography, light is your entire universe and using it an urban setting has, in my opinion, many more opportunities for creative artwork. Artificial lights, heavy shadows, and bright reflections can form the basis of a striking image.

Abstracts in nature are boundless as well, but patterns, angles, and those man-made lights of the city do multiply the options.

And then there are people. While most shots in nature often try to avoid the human image or the very hint of humanity’s influence, abstract photography of people, whether on the streets of Tucson or elsewhere, is a subject that could fill volumes. With people, ask permission and try to be candid (not an easy combination).

For now, suffice it to say that you, the borderlands photographer, while spending much time recording your vision of our natural heritage, should consider hitting the city streets.

Equipment for abstract image-making matters less than for other photography. Knowing how to use what you have is what matters, and of course, developing “the eye”. Technology has (unfortunately for some) become the great democratic equalizer in photography, as in many other pursuits. The point about making abstract images is that sometimes cheap cameras produce a more appealing result than expensive ones.

And go ahead and make mistakes – it’s a snap for most photographers to make a mistake. Learn from them. A shutter speed or a camera position that you would normally consider to be wrong, can produce a great abstract result. In this situation, skill is needed when trying to replicate your mistake.

When in Tucson exploring Barrio Viejo, your photos might exploit color and a late afternoon sun, as many older structures are painted with splendid hues which can be combined with deep shadows to make a striking image.

While stalking the streets of Tucson’s 4^th Avenue, great colors often are seen in wall murals, but black-and-white photography is often best in this place. Try to be cool when taking pictures in the city: keep in mind that not all images need to be taken with arms up and squinting through the viewfinder.

Step away from reality a bit and you can have an abstract photo; or, you can abstractly interpret a subject as hyper-reality. In any case, those subjects often can be discovered by the adventurous borderlands photographer while trekking the urban outback.

Article: "Love in the Desert"

2011-06-10T17:25:00.000-07:00

(Published February 2009 in Murray Bolesta's "The Borderlands Photographer" in Tubac Villager.)

Valentine’s Day can inspire even the most grizzled borderlands photographer to reflect on the gentle topic of love, becoming mawkish with sentimentality.

I won’t claim a romantic mastery of this topic, and there isn’t exactly a shortage of discussion of love, even by photographers who are customarily mute and surly. But we’re in the season, and in the mood, so why not go for it. The task of capturing love in the desert with a lens can take the borderlands photographer into fanciful flights of lyrical abstraction and visual symbolism.

Literally finding love, as in two potential soul-mates (both with Nikons) stumbling across each other in some remote canyon, is not necessarily what I mean in this article. (However, serendipity of this sort is not outside the realm of possibility, so don’t give up hope. My luck, though, would be to encounter a well-armed border agent on patrol.)

Instead, the nature photographer’s task is to capture the pastoral equivalent of an urban romance, to record a backcountry symbol or token of the act or existence of love. Mother Nature gives us so many examples.

It’s motherly love in the extreme.

The borderlands photographer’s Valentine mixture of outdoor photos should include images reminiscent of love, tugging on the heartstrings of the viewer and creating a vivid and compelling picture.

These include symbols reminiscent of a heart. There are lots of these to be found in nature, from cacti to leaves to shadows. Symbolic also, are intertwined vines and closely-matched pairs of just about anything.

For the photographer, pairs of critters are a bit fewer and farther-between than a single one. A compelling photo of a solo animal, whether a bird or a mammal, is often hard enough to achieve. But from time to time a photographer will catch a pair close enough together to suggest affection in their behavior. Togetherness between any critters, displayed peacefully, is almost always a Valentine winner in photography.

The true emotion of love between critters is a notion I’ll leave to be pondered by others, but an instinctive appearance of such behavior, or an imitation of love, especially in the wild, is a goal of many nature photographers. The “awww” factor rises exponentially for any wildlife photo depicting tenderness or intimacy.

Taking the study a bit further afield, and still in our glorious borderlands outdoors, one can explore abstracted tangents of love, such as the pastoral nurturing of the land by a gardener tilling a row of heritage crops at Tumacacori Mission, or the compassion symbolized by a barrel of water left in the Ironwood Forest by humanitarians to aid desperate migrants.

Further, the painstaking stabilization of a crumbling adobe structure is a depiction of love for our borderland cultural heritage. Mother Nature’s monsoon rainfall to replenish a parched desert landscape is also a powerful nurturing symbol. For you, the lonely photographer wandering from mountain to valley, discovering these actions and symbols and recording them via the camera, can help replenish your own spirit and all those who share your love of borderland imagery.

Article: "Shades of Gray"

2011-06-09T20:07:00.000-07:00

(Published January 2009 in Murray Bolesta's "The Borderlands Photographer" in Tubac Villager.)

Yes, Virginia, photography is art. Art, in any medium, is to a large extent personal and subjective, as is the choice of whether a photographic image is to be presented in color or black-and-white.

This topic is broadly discussed within the academic standards of artistic merit, but the question of monochrome versus polychrome resides ultimately in what suits your overall style, objectives, and particularly, in what suits a specific image.

In the winter season of this month’s article, many outdoor subjects lend themselves to black-and-white photography due to the comparatively subdued quality of nature’s pigmentation during this time of year, even in southern Arizona. In fact, a color image of Madera Canyon’s snow and trees, for example, may appear not to possess much color at all.

Before digital technology, photographers made up their minds about color or black-and-white before they started shooting. Now this choice can be done afterwards, with the click of a computer mouse.

Digital technology makes the process easy (far too easy) but in the film world there have been many great photographic papers and films manufactured specifically for black-and-white images. As in color photography, this “older” technology still produces superior black-and-white results, in the opinion of many professionals.

Likewise, color, or colored, images have undergone experimentation since the early days of photography. Sepia tones (originally done by adding a pigment to the positive print of an image as a preservative) and other artificial, after-the-fact coloring techniques have been used to varying degrees of success both in photography and cinema.

With digital trickery you can have both color and black-and-white in the same image. Does anyone remember the lackluster “colorization” phase of black-and-white movies played on television? Conversely, using mono and polychrome together can be used for artful emphasis. Just remember the transitions in “The Wizard of Oz.” The basic principle, of course, is that tones of color influence an image’s emotional tone.

Using monochrome may compliment your image and enforce your message. The common perception is that a black-and-white photo is “moody” and its focus is on shape, shadow, texture and composition. Color photos impress the viewer when the ranges and nuances of color are a main point of the image.

Ultimately the question one asks is: Does color truly contribute to the image? Black-and-white strips distractions from an image and can portray a subject in its more pertinent bare essentials.The borderlands photographer can experiment with subjects which lend themselves to black-and-white. He or she should look at them side by side to determine which is best. Often something striking and profound about the photo’s subject appears more clearly and simply in black and white.

As a nature photographer, I try to keep my processing simple: I do very little to alter the original image, using only a fraction of what digital technology offers today (I should be given a discount or refund).

Brightness and contrast are among the few things I adjust in the digital darkroom, especially in black-and-white.

Texture and contrast are ultimately the keys to success in much black-and- white photography.

From the lines in a person’s face to stylish architectural abstractions of shadow and light, monochromatic imagery is often essential for an artful, meaningful result. Moreover, increasing the contrast in a black-and-white photo is often a technique with sure-fire success.

As a nature photographer, I can say that in most nature photography, color is the point of the picture. In photographic portraiture, which is the livelihood of many other photographers, a monochromatic image is often best for depicting the texture of a person’s character.

Deep shadows in nature photography are often to be avoided because they add nothing to the result but a great swath of blankness. However, in black-and-white images, shadows are essential: shapes and angles that shadows define can produce a winning result.

One argument for monochromatic images used to be that color images fade more quickly on paper. However, the technology these days with archival paper is such that this borderlands photographer himself will fade much sooner than the color on the paper! There are so many other reasons to expand your black-and-white photography – you’ll be impressed by the artist within you.