Some of Paula's Pics
Slideshow by Paula High
Just some of my photos that I have taken over time... some of my favotires to share. I hope you enjoy them. ~Paula
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Ginger 2004
I awakened Ginger from a nap. She had crawled in under my purple serape in my room... a picture a mom could not resist!
I recently learned that this one made the Explore/ Interestingness (Varies in rankings between # 320 up to 277 now) on December 9, 2004. Back then, I was new & didn't know of such things!
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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March '05 Snow Yucca
This was actually my next door (wall boy) neighbor's Yucca in the March 2005 snowstorm. He has since removed this beautiful state desert flower!
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Fire in the Sky Sandia Mts- Feb. 2004
One Morning, before I took off to get to work, I saw this sunrise out my bedroom window (and back door). Lots of virga! I love that! I HAD to snap a shot of this!
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Snap, Crackle, Pop!
Once again, from my back yard in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, (7/24) I snapped hundreds (no joke) of shots and got about 16 that actually captured lightning. I did these hand-held and using the shutter speed priority (about 60) on my Fuji S7000. I didn't upload them in order. I picked a couple of the spicier ones to show first. I darkened a couple of them in the series, to give better definition and I cropped several of them. Other than that, they are as I saw them. This was the biggest one I caught that evening... big and BRIGHT!!! July 24th, 2006
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Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Desert Paradise Bloom With Bee
A bee visits one of the many desert paradise tree blooms in my yard.
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Mystery Flower In My Back Yard
I haven't yet identified this one. It came with the yard. But oddly, last year the leaves came up (barely) from dead sticks, but there were never any blooms. This year, blooms galore! It kind of resembles St. John's Wort blooms.
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Sky-High, 1988 Adventure
From about 14,000 feet above ground or so - I took this shot from the hot air balloon I was piloting. It's looking North to the Sandia Mts.. I took off from Tome hill, near Los Lunas and I had just dropped 2 parachutists from the balloon - part of a record-setting attempt. After they jumped (losing plenty of ballast), I ascended to about 18,000 ft. MSL . A cold front began moving through sooner than predicted. I deemed it necessary to fore-go landing on that east side of the mountains where I could see that the ground winds had already picked up. I opted for what should be a slightly more gentle landing on the other side and I flew over the Manzano mountains. It was not an ideal day for "flying the moutain," but better that than tearing things up in a high-wind landing on the east side! I landed, fairly gently, near Mountainair. But the winds soon picked up on that side as well - as I expected it eventually would. It was a somewhat hair-raising and exciting flight, but I did land safely, although I had to deflate the balloon (due to the wind picking up) before the crew arrived. They found me without too much trouble.
This was shot in 1988 on film (with a friend's camera, as mine was in the shop) and my friend had the film processed at some cheap place that over-agitated the film in processing. Oh well... at least I have the image.
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Hummingbird Glow
A hummingbird at my grandmother's bird feeder on the evening of her birthday on 8-12-06
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Orange Poppies, and Pansies in New Mexico
Taken in Albuquerque Old Town plaza - Best viewed in larger size!
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Succulents at the Albuquerque Bio Park
Fuzzy succulents! Kinda cute. Again, I didn't catch his name. So I'll have to go back and look it up for certain.
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Wisteria Garden
If only I could have captured the wonderful scent for you! The fountain-like, flowing nature of Wisteria makes them one of my favorites - that and the purple, of course! This is part of the Albuquerque Bio Park and I love to come in here and sit. I also learned that there is a roadrunner nest there at the end, up in the branches above that bench. Photo on that later.
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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So Very New Mexico!
A Yucca and a chili ristra in a southwest style patio at the Albuquerque Bio Park on Easter afternoon (4/16/06). I thought it just said, "Hey this is New Mexico!"
~For those of you who didn't already know, the Yucca is the NM state flower.
I'm still sorting through the 200+ photos I took this weekend at the Bio Park and at Tingley Beach. You guys got me motivated and inspired to get out and snap a few new photos at the local spots!! haha Thank goodness for digital!!! I could NEVER have done that on film... I'd have gone broke!
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Jellyfish - July 26th, '06 Thunderstorm From East Mountains
Jellyfish in the sky!!
Yet another of the lighting shots I caught that evening from my friend's back patio. This is looking at the back (east side) of the Sandia mountains. My friend just moved into this new house a month ago. It's in Sandia Park, New Mexico (USA). He has the perfect mountains views of four mountain ranges... perfect for hunting storms!
Maybe this one was even "one point twenty-one jigawatts!" Whadya think? hehe
July 26th, 2006
~6811
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Teazer Contemplates
He contemplates running off! He doesn't usually let me photograph him, especially not up close!! A rare opportunity for sure! So he indulges mom (me) for a few minutes.
11/26/06
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Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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2003 ABQ Balloon Fiesta - A River Runs Thru It
After taking off from the Fiesta field, we flew North for a bit, before changing altitude and taking a South layer back over the field.
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta 2003
I took this as we launched from the field (with my friend & one-time instructor, Norm who was flying that day) one Mass Ascension weekend of the 2003 Fiesta.
I still can't get over how nice it is to have an all-grass field now!!! So many years on mesa dirt... we are really liking this grass thing! haha
~~This one made it into "Explore" for April 14th, 2006!! Yippee!
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Balloon-a-Moon - ABQ Balloon Fiesta 2006
I love this shot... I waited, waited, waited... until it was just right. If either balloon had descended or ascended at any point while I waited, it wouldn't have worked out. Patience really does pay off!! 10/10/06.
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Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Ginger
My younger kitty loves to pose for my camera - a ham of a different sort!
This is one of my own favorites among my photos.
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Full Moon Over Albuquerque - July 2005
Part of my July 20th, 2005 moon-rise series. The moon is rising over the Manzano mountains.
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Cathedral Rock & River
A little closer look at Cathedral Rock. I really liked the raging river in the foreground.
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Holy Cross Church of Sedona - closer
A closer view of the famous church in Sedona, Arizona. It's beautiful inside too and ohhh... what a view from there! They have a little shop in the basement too.
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Crater-licious!
Another of my June 2006 Full moon series. Eight in all (for posting) this time. I probably took over 100 that night!! Wow, is that ever hard to narrow those down and just choose a few! haha
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Botanical Garden Path
Just one of the many paths through the Albuquerque Botanical Gardens at the Bio Park.
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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That White Flower
I think many of us NM Flickrites have photographed this beauty. We all seem to get a slightly different angle.
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Lightning Waltz - 7/26/06 Thunderstorm From East Mountains
The Lightning Waltz!
Kinda looks like Ready Kilowatt & his partner dancing!
I visited my friend who just moved into a new house in Sandia Park, New Mexico (USA) and has a fabulous set of mountain views. This is looking at the back side (east side) of the Sandia Mountains. We sat on his back patio and watched the storms develop and the lightning show. I set up the tripod and experimented with time exposures. I was quite happy with the outcome and a number of good catches!
July 26th, 2006
~6841
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Thanksgiving Cresent Moon -- Nov. 2006
On Thanksgiving evening, I was on my way to my grandmother's house ( for dinner) and saw this beautiful cresant moon at sunset.
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Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Yucca Blossoms
These yucca blossoms were opening up in my grandmother's front yard, giving quite the show with multiple stalks of these blossom bunches!
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Teazer Contemplating
One of the better photos I've been able to get of Teazer, as he is usually on the move. Here on this particular evening, he sits still while watching a bird on the fence at a distance.
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Purple Wall
On my way to the Rio Grande Nature Center, I saw this courtyard wall wearing MY color! haha I had to take a photo! It's on Candelaria, near Rio Grande Blvd.
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Sunset on the Thunderstorms - May 17th, and an Angel in the clouds!
3rd photo - Sunset colorfully illuminates the mountains & plays with the verga from the clouds. A developing thunderstorm teases us once again! No rain - again. Just a show. Lightning was visiable after it got dark.
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Baby Meggy
This was my sweet Meggy as a kitten... back in the early 1980's. This is one of my favorite photos of her. Of course, it was taken on film, before the digital-days. She traveled with me as I moved around in the 1980's and 1990s. She became an excellent little traveller! She traveled through 13 different states, and lived in 6 different cities (Albuquerque, NM; Rio Rancho, NM; Beltsville, MD - then back to ABQ; then to Vermillion, SD; Houston, TX; and Austin, TX), and then back to Albuquerque again. She lived to be 18 & a half years old. She died on Aug. 9th, 2001. I still miss her very much. Like Ginger, Meggy was almost always ready for her close-up photo!
Ginger is very similar in personality and temperment to my sweet Meggy. Kind of like Meggy picked Ginger out for me, from the other side.
Meggy was born in my closet with her 4 siblings. She got her name when she and her brother (he was a black & white tuxedo kitty) ventured out of the nest for the first time. They cautiously ventured into the livingroom, where I was watching the network premiere of a movie called "The Thornbirds." The two main characters in that movie/book are Meggy and Ralph. So... here is Meggy and her brother (the only male in the litter) was given the name Ralph. Appropriate, since the Ralph in the story was a priest, and Ralph the kitty was always wearing black & white!
Photograph scanned in. Film taken in 1983.
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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December 19th, 2006 Snowstorm
And so it began, the first of the major December snowstorms in the Albuquerque area. This was at about 2pm that Tuesday afternoon. It was beginning to stick to the pavement, so we knew it was getting serious. I took a few photos and then left the office to get to an appointment that usually takes about 15 to 20 minutes to get to. That afternoon, it took me over an hour to get there!
Merry Christmas!
12/19/06
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Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Lunar Eclipse Rises Over the Sandias, 3/3/07
I had almost forgotten (shame on me!) that there was a lunar eclipse that evening... even though I knew it would be gracing us a tad late in ABQ. I saw it rise and grabbed the camera. Not as sharp as I like to get my moon shots, but it really was kinda point & shoot! You can see the end of the shadow at the top.
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Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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First Shot - Total Lunar Eclipse - 8/28/07
You get the idea. This was in totality (the peak time) of the eclipse. This was the beginning of my shoot. The clouds had obscured the moon (from my vantage point) until this part. I will post more of the in between time later.
Unfortunately, Most of the peak-time, red shots came out about like this.
The soft focus was a problem. My camera has a very hard time seeing in the dark. I always had to manual focus back in the film-days, and that was no biggie. But back then, I could see the view finder images better. The view finder on digital zoom was very grainy for this! Of course, I had to do this all on manual too, and found that in this respect my old film cameras were easier to work with. I couldn't tell, until I could see them on the computer screen, just how much of an issue it was. I think the biggest issue here was probably the exposure time... and the movement of the earth in relation to the moon. So I think most of the soft focus is due to that movement during the long exposure. :-(
So while I'm disappointed with the focus, I am glad I got the images, as I think they are still kinda neat.
I'm learning the limitations of my neat little camera and I need to learn how to adapt to some of them. I need to re-read the manual to see if there is a trick around this I don't know about. I think electronic manuals are frequently best absorbed in layers.
Oh well... good argument for that new Olympus DSLR I want so much... now to save up for it!
~9278_edited -only cropped
Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Ginger Morning
Ginger likes to sit on the window sill, look out the window, and bask in the morning sun. She occasionally peers out at me through the curtains.
11/26/06
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Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ
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Pleased with the Results
Teazer is most pleased that his assistance with the instructions was helpful! He poses for my new Olympus Evolt E-410.
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Photo by Paulena-KE5DDZ