On Route 66, just outside of Kingman AZ where summer daytime highs reach above 90 °F (32 °C) frequently, but rarely exceed 107 °F (42 °C). It’s nice to have old time air cooling. Just throw open a window and watch the curtains stand tall and firm whenever a breeze refuses to blow.
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Ash Meadows
My wife and I have a habit of just getting in the car and driving. We call it being “spont” – short hand for spontaneous. One Sunday we ended up at the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in the Mojave Desert, approximately 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas NV. It is a wetlands in the middle of the desert. They have unique species and a unique ecology. The Ash Meadows Amargosa pupfish, lives in these waters that warm up to 92 degrees and the pupfish can survive in water only a half-inch deep. They survive in all sorts of difficult conditions, but ultimately they still need water.
For more of my work, please visit Photos By Emilio.
This is a replica of the Chrysler Building. It is about one third the size of the original. It is not part of the New York city skyline in New York City, New York. It is part of the New York-New York city skyline in Las Vegas, Nevada.
They do not make Chrysler automobiles in either building. I do not know why it was ever called the Chrysler Building but I’m sure if you’re really interested there is probably a paragraph or two about it in Wikipedia.
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The commercial vessel Nostromo receives a distress call from an unexplored planet. After searching for survivors, the crew heads home only to realize that a deadly bioform has joined them.
-IMDb synopsis of Alien(1979)
For a split tone version of the image that reminded me of the doomed spacecraft in Alien, please click here.
Sailed this day nineteen leagues, and determined to count less than the true number, that the crew might not be dismayed if the voyage should prove long. ~Christopher Columbus
My two week self-imposed period of mourning has made me realize several things. You can read about them on my personal blog, if interested.
After the first week, I thought maybe it would be nice to get away from everything for a couple of days. And how fortuitous? Groupon had a deal on a short weekend cruise that was pretty darn cheap. I mean, I thought cruises were in the thousands of dollars. Imagine my surprise when I saw the price! That Groupon sure is good. I called on Tuesday and asked if they had any openings for Thursday, and they did. The cheapest cabin had no windows. I figured that was OK because we wouldn’t be in the room much.
So we drove down to Long Beach California. And there she was, the Queen Mary. We boarded just before 4 pm and were taken to our cabin, which was surprisingly roomy. And surprisingly dark when you turned off the lights. At 6 pm the ship’s horn blew and we were off. But I felt nothing. Such a smooth ride. Unbelievable. I commented to my wife and she started to crack up. About a half hour later she was able to gather enough breath to tell me the Queen Mary has been moored since around 1967. She’s a hotel and museum (not my wife, but the QM). And she’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Well, no wonder it was so cheap! We stayed for two days. I will come back to the boat and our experiences there in several future posts. But the one memorable moment was, the first morning I heard through the walls what I took to be a baby sniffling or crying. Then I realized it was the sound of the next door occupants enjoying each other! The walls are paper thin because the white noise of the engines when at sea would usually mask such connubial bliss!
No longer!
Canon EOS Rebel T2i 1/50 sec at f/4.5, ISO 100 18 mm
My wife does not understand my fascination with garbage. To be honest, neither do I. If someone can help me out here with a response to her query, I’d be forever grateful. Well, maybe not forever, but a quip or off the wall retort would be most welcome. Why am I sitting here on this filthy concrete street, setting my camera on it’s tripod, to document a back alley in Las Vegas? Why am I not out front where the neon facade promises action, adventure, excitement, rather than sitting here feeling the damp and cold seep through my jeans?
“The most important thing for me is to walk the little alleys of the city, to find the little alcove where someone is cooking something, and just watch them do it. That’s my idea of fun.” ~ Yotam Ottolenghi
Canon EOS Rebel T2i
1/80 sec at f/4.5, ISO 400
18 mm
“Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle!” ~ Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland
It is difficult to judge the scale of this without some kind of reference. But the door was only about 4, maybe 5 feet high. That is what made me think of Alice In Wonderland. I have never read any of the Alice books. But when I was researching quotes, I decided I want to read them. Or at least one of them. Any suggestions?
Canon T2i
1/30 sec at f/14, ISO 100
24mm (EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6)
“Many people believe that introversion is about being antisocial, and that’s really a misperception. Because actually it’s just that introverts are differently social. So they would prefer to have a glass of wine with a close friend as opposed to going to a loud party full of strangers.” ~ Susan Cain
Susan Cain is the author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. How does this pertain to the image above? Simple. A close friend and I took a recent trip to Napa County. California wine country. This is the exterior to one of the tasting rooms we stopped at. Actually, we started out from Las Vegas with our wives who decided to stay in San Francisco rather than join us for the day. I admit I did have a different quote I was going to use but when I saw this one I said to myself, “that’s me”! It’s also Chris and Cee at their respective blogs 61 Musings and Cee’s Photography. It’s also, probably, a lot of other people who might even be reading this right about now.
Please click on the image to view a hi res version and visit Photos By Emilio for mostly color images of my work.
I was looking for a quote to go along with this image and came across:
“Black people lived right by the railroad tracks, and the train would shake their houses at night. I would hear it as a boy, and I thought: I’m gonna make a song that sounds like that.”
Not knowing much- OK, not knowing anything at all- about Little Richard, I listened to some of his songs. And everything seems to sound like the rythm of a train running behind his vocals; Tutti Frutti, Long Tall Sally, Good Golly Miss Molly, Lucille, Rip It Up….
Here, just give a listen!
Red Square Restaurant and Lounge
To view the original image in color, please visit Photos By Emilio
Monochromia 
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