Ann-alog, a Pixel Remix, where Ann Torrence blogs about photographing for a book on U.S. Highway 89, the greatest road trip route in America. Photography tips, locations, trip reports, and real life.

Signal indicator on an old Ford truck

I am not sure about how to think about this. According to my Google stats, two phrase tie for most referrals to my website: "explosions" and "live nativity".

I have some good news about the website - I just added a shopping cart and some products to buy! I'm starting my adventure in e-commerce with 11 different 5x7 notecards. I'll probably mix in a few sets. If there are any other images you, dear reader, would want in a notecard format, let me know. I'm working out the arrangements to offer matted prints as well.

I'm off tomorrow for Tucson on a photo expedition. I'm planning to go to San Xavier del Bac, Tumacacori, the botanical garden, and scout all the way down to Nogales.

One more thing: I've joked [sort of] that I might put the camera away if I could learn to work with glass. There isn't a hot shop in SLC, but there is one in Tucson, and they offer a chance to blow a Christmas ornament. I'm signed up for Saturday. I asked if I could bring the camera - not planning to give it up just yet.

In the canyon of Zion's Weeping Rock

I captured the underlying picture in this image in May 2005. It took me eighteen months to decide how to interpret it. My Mom pointed out the scene and asked me to shoot it. I probably would still be mulling this shot over if I weren't driving south this coming week and stopping at her house on my way to Tucson. If I'm lucky, she'll want to come along.

Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park (remix of IR and visible spectra)

Yosemite was my first national park - a high school cross-country team summer camp. The love of wild places stuck even if the running didn't. I've been to many incredible places since, but this one has my heart. R and I hiked up above Vernal Falls, ran out of time to complete the circuit around Nevada Falls before we were to meet my mom and her friends. One place I hadn't been in the park was Mariposa Grove, and R had never seen giant redwoods before. I captured the last bit of sunlight in the tree tops with the IR filter.

Sunset from Glacier Point

This was a family, not a photography trip, but we found the time to get up to Glacier Point for sunset. I have been here in mid-winter, and again in April, the last time in 1987. The changes in the park that I noticed most were seasonal - and I felt the changes in myself. I am mentally tougher on the trail and, I think, gentler in my mind. Not sure where this trail is headed; I never could have imagined it would lead me here, much better than I ever would have dreamed. Hope it doesn't take twenty more years to get back to Yosemite again.

John and Meredith's wedding rings

John and Meredith invested into their wedding ceremony all the beauty, grace and humor that they exude as a couple. It was my good fortune and great priviliege to be asked to photograph their wedding. As part of their celebration, they and their friends folded 1,000 Japanese paper cranes. Hung in groups of 25, the cranes fluttered in the breeze of friends' yard where the ceremony toook place. If they could have, those cranes would have taken flight with joy from the outpouring of love we witnessed that day. John and Meredith, Good luck to you both!

Park Avenue under the light of a full moon

I think of this picture as a moment of celestial lagniappe. I had already had a great sunset/moonrise at the Windows, and then a crazy drive to Balanced Rock for a few shots in the pink glow. But when I saw the color on the walls of the Park Avenue, I had to stop, and the non-photographers in the car were not just willing, but excited, to take a moonlit walk. It doesn't get any better than that.

This shot has been whispering to me since I shot it back in April, but I didn't have the tools to finish it until last week. I tried out Noise Ninja, a new (to me) noise reduction filter, on this image. It worked completely as advertised. Now I'm running through my mental inventory of images, like a carpenter with a hammer looking for nails to pound. Only this will be a lot more fun.

Street vendor wares in San Martin de los Andes

The drive from Bariloche to San Martin de los Andes is publicized as the seven lakes road, crossing a pass in the Andes and between all these lakes. We planned to do it as a long day trip, but R's friend Nick arranged for us to stay in a private condo in San Martin.

Thinking on one's feet: traditional Argentine tango dancers improvise their steps

The conference R attended has a tradition of wrapping up with a grand finale banquet that showcases the local culture. At the 2004 meeting in Perth, the dinner was in a museum housing contemporary Aboriginal paintings and we were greeted with a traditional eucalyptus leaf smoke purification ceremony and didgeridoo music, then a modern dance interpretation of aboriginal themes.

Sunset over the Andes.

The Andes are wide in the Bariloche area. and this is looking northward, across Lake Nahuel Huapi, and broadside from the waves breaking 6-8 feet high on the waterfront. This is the best place to see a romantic sunset, but stay in your car, out of the Patagonian wind.