Bill Montgomery's Photoblog

June 2010

2011-06-13T23:25:00.004-04:00

That's about a 20' drop Alex is about to swing out over. This is a quarry at White Rock, IN. Alex's idea. Worth the trip.

June 2010

2011-06-13T23:13:00.003-04:00

This is a lamp pole at a rest stop that was wide enough to block out the sun from a respectable distance. Oh, the glory of everyday things.

June 2010

2011-06-13T22:39:00.003-04:00

I took a different road to St. Meinrad and thought I'd stop at Blue Heron Winery to get a gift for the evening social. On the way up the hill, there was a sign that directed me to a "Celtic Cross". Sure enough, there was a 20' stone with a magnificent sculpted cross in it. And the sculptor, Greg Harris, was working not 100 yards away.

May 2010

2011-06-13T21:27:00.005-04:00

Catfish at the Dallas World Aquarium. Visitors are checked for tartar sauce at the entrance.

April 2010

2011-06-13T21:11:00.003-04:00

This was a scene outside a guitar show. I asked her permission first. People who dress that colorfully, don't usually have a problem with cameras.

April 2010

2011-06-13T20:40:00.003-04:00

You never forget your first crazy Texan. This is the wall in Jon's garage. I took a picture so I wouldn't tip him off by staring. I met Jon at work when I overheard him talking about a Flaming Lips show. Jon would also take me to my first NASCAR event.

April 2010

2011-06-13T20:26:00.003-04:00

This is Thunderbird Lake in Oklahoma on my way to my first or second visit to St. Gregory's Monastery in Shawnee.

July 2009

2011-06-08T08:19:00.004-04:00

One of my last shots in Kentucky was Eric walking back to his house in the end of day twilight. He looks like I felt.

May 2009

2011-06-08T08:13:00.003-04:00

This is a cave near Hidden River. The river flows out of one cave and into another not more than a few hundred yards away.

May 2009

2011-06-08T08:08:00.002-04:00

But before I move to Texas, there's time for one more crack at the Sheltowee Trace. This is south of Natural Bridge. Not far, because there had been an ice storm that winter that nocked a lot of trees down across the trail. Slow going.

April 2009

2011-06-08T08:05:00.004-04:00

I made an attempt to save that field. Couldn't do it. Heck with it. Look at that sky!

April 2009

2011-06-08T08:01:00.002-04:00

This was my first visit to Plano. I'm on my way to see Steve and Sarah when this beautiful storm blows up.

March 2009

2011-06-08T07:36:00.003-04:00

This is a really boring shot if I try to look at it objectively. But this was the view from where I would stand and smoke so I spent a lot of time contemplating this scene.

January 2009

2011-06-08T07:32:00.004-04:00

My apartment complex in Bowling Green bordered on a pretty spectacular vacant lot that was zoned industrial.

January 2009

2011-06-08T07:29:00.003-04:00

Water vapor from caves freezes when it contacts the surrounding vegetation. That's part of my apartment complex in the background.

December 2008

2011-06-08T07:17:00.002-04:00

St. Meinrad Chapel on a winter morning.

July 2008

2011-06-08T07:07:00.004-04:00

Channeling Jerry Uelsmann at Natural Bridge.

July 2008

2011-06-08T07:03:00.004-04:00

I found this guy sheltering in some fencing at Natural Bridge. Haven't seen one before or since.

July 2008

2011-06-08T06:58:00.006-04:00

Well, let's just make it a Lepidoptera series. That bumble-bee looking creature is actually a hawk moth.

July 2008

2011-06-08T06:53:00.005-04:00

One of the most common butterflies in Kentucky. I have dozens of shots of them but this is the one I wanted. Thank you St. Meinrad landscapers.

May 2008

2011-06-08T06:22:00.004-04:00

One of the many ways to die on a rainy afternoon in a cliff-filled state park.

May 2008

2011-06-08T06:17:00.006-04:00

This is from Lover's Leap in Natural Bridge Park . Why do they always call these types of cliffs "Lover's Leap" and not "Depressee's Drop" or "Suicidal Swan Dive"?

Mayt 2008

2011-06-08T06:11:00.005-04:00

Just this evening someone mentioned my Red River Gorge pics on Facebook. Those weren't even the good stuff.

April 2008

2011-06-08T06:00:00.004-04:00

This is St. Meinrad's Seminary in Indiana. Always a sight for sore eyes. I'm not a graduate. I just like it there.

June 2007

2010-07-30T13:08:00.005-04:00

Back in Louisville, Yellow-crowned Night Herons (Nyctanassa violacea) have taken over the old neighborhood. This is a chick that fell out of the nest. That's guano on the sidewalk. Occasionally you find whole fish.

May 2007

2010-07-30T12:58:00.006-04:00

Wait a minute, it's May and this is Wyoming. Where did the teacher go? Home. The school did not renew his contract and he is on his way back to Kentucky after 8 years in California. There was nowhere else to go. I gave that school everything I had. A lot of people did. Most of them gave up or were fired for not giving up. Let their accreditation board sort it out.

April 2007

2010-07-30T12:50:00.003-04:00

Cabin fever often sparked mutinies and classroom takeovers. Once they get my yardstick away from me - anything goes.

late March 2007

2010-07-30T12:42:00.004-04:00

When the going gets tough, the not-so-tough wait for everyone to leave for spring break and then they go wine tasting. I think this is on the road to Nevada City.

early March 2007

2010-07-30T12:13:00.004-04:00

And nothing will make you dead-er than standing beneath an eave when one of those monster icicles from the third floor cuts loose.

February 2007

2010-07-30T12:04:00.005-04:00

Nothing makes a diminuitive person seem smaller than a Tahoe snowdrift. That sounds strangely familiar.

January 2007

2010-07-30T11:44:00.004-04:00

But I wasn't going to last much longer at SVA. The conditions; physically, psychologically, and financially; were brutal. I had interviewed in Denver for an overseas gig in November. In January, I went to New York to interview for the New York City Teach program. I thought I was a shoe-in for both. But, I'm not posting this from New York or Tokyo, am I? This is the hotel I stayed at in NYC.

December 2006

2010-07-30T11:20:00.004-04:00

These students are playing a math game with tournament implications. The game was Math Blockout from Critical Thinking (where I used to work part-time). That device in front of the screen is my precious touchscreen laptop with the screen folded all the way down.

November 27, 2006

2010-07-30T11:04:00.002-04:00

On the way back to California; this was a storm moving off to the north at the rest stop in the Utah salt flats

November 22, 2006

2010-07-30T11:01:00.003-04:00

If you have a hot tub, Roxie has been, or will be, in it. This is in Kentucky during a Thanksgiving trip to see family.

November 14, 2006

2010-07-30T10:57:00.002-04:00

I set this up one smokey morning, which may help to explain the grin on the student's face. The idea was to show God telling him to do his homework.

November 4, 2006

2010-07-30T10:51:00.004-04:00

Not that any months at SVA weren't busy but November that year was especially so. Roxie's biology class let me tag along on a field trip to Monterey. You can never get tired of Monterey.

October 2006

2010-07-29T21:10:00.005-04:00

OK. Back to snapshots. Bear o'clock was usually closer 3 am when they would visit us on their way to or from the County Dump on the next ridge. But it was always an exciting time when they would come early and prowl around the campus. Most of the really good shots were missed because I would forget that I had a camera.

2010-07-29T20:59:00.003-04:00

This was was an unfinished project; and there were a lot of those that year. This is the sky I want. but the landscape needs work.

2010-07-29T20:44:00.002-04:00

I remember driving up Tioga Pass Road a little ways. I can't believe I drove far enough to see Half Dome, but there it is. Unless there's two of them.

2010-07-29T19:59:00.004-04:00

I guess we're not out of the "art" woods after all. Roxie took a geology class at a local junior college and I tagged along on a field trip to the Mammoth Lakes area. This is a stream that drains some hot springs. I think the springs were brine even because this was in the neighborhood of Mono Lake. The rain shield and caustic soil chemistry keeps much from growing except right where the water flows.

September 2006

2010-07-29T10:24:00.005-04:00

This is Donner Lake from Donner Pass. Little did we know that we, too, would be trapped here that winter.

August 2006

2010-07-29T10:06:00.005-04:00

... and reluctantly take guitar lessons from Master Shredder, Kemal Tarhan (left), who was interning with the rec program at SVA. That's Derya Guclu pretending to have to separate us.

July 2006

2010-07-29T09:55:00.003-04:00

It was July, the kids hadn't arrived in numbers yet. I had time to hike, bike, think, stoke the boiler in the dorm, diagram the SVA network...

late June 2006

2010-07-29T09:42:00.005-04:00

Squaw Valley Academy was my my 2nd interview for a job following graduation - and one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made. I had an offer on the table for more money than I'm making 4 years later and I walked away because I've always wanted to teach. In the background, you can see one of the ski runs for Squaw Valley.

June 2006

2010-07-29T09:23:00.004-04:00

I graduated from CSU the same month my son graduated from high school. I flew back to Columbus for his ceremony but had some time to kill so I went to the COSI museum where some children were being made to pass around a large Blattodea.

May 2006

2010-07-28T18:24:00.004-04:00

Our last year in Marina was in an apartment right on the bike path that followed the coastline of the bay. Those were beautiful days.

April 2006

2010-07-28T11:05:00.003-04:00

This is an unretouched photo of my nephew, Noah Tyler Montgomery-Rigdon, lacing up his skates before he scored the first goal of his soon-to-be-illustrious career.

February 2006

2010-07-28T10:55:00.004-04:00

While we lived in the Monterey area, we were members of the Aquarium. We also participated in the beachcomber program to collect data on beachcast fauna for MLML in our final year there. This is a Snowy Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) on probably our last visit to the aquarium before we moved in the summer.

January 2006

2010-07-28T10:33:00.004-04:00

This was actually a turning point in my life. This was taken from a guest room at New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur. This is where I discovered the liturgy of the hours and finally found some peace after 25 years of being a Christian without a church. I still visit churches but my home church convenes every time my prayerbook opens. Which, after 5 years, I can say is still satisfying. As I grow deeper, the liturgy grows deeper. I still look forward to my prayer times.

October 2005

2010-07-28T10:22:00.003-04:00

This was from a story about women serving as pastors in the area. This is the Rev. Christine E. Shiber serving communion at First Methodist in Pacific Grove.

September 2005

2010-07-28T09:57:00.002-04:00

I Fall of '05 I got involved with another local weekly and needed a digital camera. My old Minolta Srt had too much sand in it anyway. From here on, I think I have enough images to make this more of a month-by-month chronicle rather than a gallery of my best "artsy" shots. For instance: This is Roxie trying out Skype for the first time in our apartment in Marina.

2010-07-17T12:08:00.006-04:00

Yes, he jumps, but he gets lost in the trees a little and I prefer the way that the trees and the granite swoop your eye right to where he's standing. No, I would not be jumping off of any rocks that day. "Living vicariously" is the term. July 2005

2010-07-17T11:56:00.002-04:00

I don't remember if I ran out of batteries or forgot my digital camera or what, but this is a scan of Alex being awed by Yosemite in July 2005. I had to shoot fast before he climbed out of sight.

2010-07-17T11:29:00.005-04:00

But the truth of the ocean that day lies somewhere in between. This was taken at the Elephant Seal Concentration Camp in Cambria. There was actually a concentration camp in California if you dig into my older posts. I think I'd like to retire on a beach protected by barbed wire. June 4, 2005

2010-07-17T11:18:00.004-04:00

I messed this up somehow. This is the same ocean as in the previous post. I think it was the white in the foam messing with the meter. But I really wanted that margin between field and ocean that you can get when there's a high cliff wall on the beach.

2010-07-17T10:57:00.002-04:00

This was Sunday, June 4, 2005 in Cambria. I have ten entries in my plant taxonomy log dated this day. the guy on the right is Bruce Delgado of Marina, CA who's very helpful to know because he manages the BLM lands that surround CSU Monterey Bay. He was also helpful enough to run for mayor of Marina. This is a plant walk that I was invited along on. I was out of my depth. These guys carry Jepson manuals and have microscopes set up in their living rooms.

2010-07-17T01:09:00.003-04:00

I believe this is Cerro El Chinero on the road south to San Filipe. July 2004

2010-07-17T00:41:00.003-04:00

The last strength of the Colorado is drained off by irrigation ditches. This is near the end. I approached as close as I could by car. At one point, I finally found a stream bed where the pooled water advanced no further in midsummer.

2010-07-17T00:12:00.005-04:00

This is a species of Agave that I didn't identify or record. I'm not even sure where I was.

2010-07-16T22:55:00.004-04:00

I forget the name of the campground south of San Quentin but it's a pretty nice place with an even nicer bar. I hope I can still remember where it is next time I go.

2010-06-06T22:51:00.003-04:00

North of El Rosario, Baja Norte.

2010-06-06T22:42:00.003-04:00

This is a Cirio (Idria columnaris) in Baja Norte. They grow nowhere else in the world. Allegedly, they're also called "boojums" but there's usually no one to ask what they're called.

2010-06-06T22:37:00.003-04:00

Pelicans on Punto Chivato in Baja Sur. The "beach" is actually a volcanic flow that creates a flat rock terrace where the pelicans rule. The flow is studded with fossil shells and sits above high tide by just a few feet.

2010-06-06T22:27:00.002-04:00

The second Baja trip in July 2004 was one of my most treasured experiences. I felt like a child again or like a space traveler on a new planet. This was in Baja Norte. Mile after mile of spectacular vistas of freakshow plants and tortured geology.

2010-06-05T11:33:00.002-04:00

Another beautiful hillside in Henry Coe Park. January 2004.

2010-06-05T11:29:00.003-04:00

Dead trees, moss, atmospheric haze. They all seem to conspire.

2010-06-05T11:27:00.002-04:00

You could catch a bird with silk that thick.

2010-06-05T10:17:00.003-04:00

Most of the frames I shot in January 2004 at Henry Coe Park were of the ground. There was always something happening on the ground.

2010-06-05T10:13:00.003-04:00

Henry Coe Park is a great place. Not just for the landscapes and peace but for the textures. There is so much geology and moss and water and oak. I would hike here even if I couldn't see any of it.

2010-06-05T10:03:00.005-04:00

The gravel in the foreground isn't the near shore. It's the stream bed. When water is that clear, it can be confusing.

2010-06-05T10:00:00.003-04:00

It just goes on like this for miles. And this is rush hour.

2010-06-05T09:55:00.003-04:00

When you drive through California hills with those old oaks on them, the temptation is to stop the car, climb a hill, and just lie down for awhile. Henry Coe Park in January 2004 was a good place to do that.

2010-06-05T00:31:00.003-04:00

There was a fire near the road in Yosemite a few years before this was taken in January 2004. Controlled burns are a good idea. None of these trees are supposed to last forever. Not to mention the fuel build-up beneath them. They've solved that problem in a different way in Hetch Hetchy.

2010-06-05T00:22:00.003-04:00

I was going to make it a self-portrait and call it, "Maroon and Half Dome".

2010-06-05T00:06:00.005-04:00

I love Ansel Adams - but not enough to resist ripping him off. This was my first visit to Yosemite in January of 2004 and I think I shot all of 8 frames. Everything's been done.

2010-06-04T21:28:00.004-04:00

The Momma Lisa. Grandmother and grandson in October 2003. Does her mysterious half-smile mean that she's about to laugh or that you have only seconds to live. I took this in a hotel lounge during an infrequent intergenerational meeting. See? I do take pictures of people. They just can't be smiling.

2010-06-04T20:27:00.003-04:00

Cincinnati from the air in October 2003. The wing is pointing at NKU, where I went to school back in the dark ages. It's strange to look at a picture that contains everywhere you wandered for 6 years. I guess you can always accomplish that with Google satellite maps. They're so flat, though.

2010-06-04T17:29:00.005-04:00

Another shot from Pinnacles in March 2003. The first time I went I hiked the old volcano tubes and saw almost no water. The second time, I took a different trail and there was water everywhere. So green. Typical California - heaven and hell, 100 yards apart.

2010-06-04T16:51:00.007-04:00

Nothing makes a diminuitive person look smaller than a good-sized tree. This is my wife, Roxie, looking for a good place to hide a pot of gold in Pinnacles National Monument near Soledad in March of 2003.

2010-06-04T15:39:00.004-04:00

San Luis Resevoir near Los Banos in March of 2003. You can see the high water mark on the hills across the water. I don't remember what the black dot was in the sky. Probably a bird.

2010-06-03T14:23:00.004-04:00

This is Point Lobos in March 2003. I have this in my living room (8x10) as is, so I'm not going to mess with it. The temptation is to add a horizon, but there's something unearthly about not having one.

2008-05-13T19:25:00.005-04:00

This was the view on campus from Spring 2002 until they ran me off in Summer 2005.

2008-03-20T01:24:00.005-04:00

This is the last of the '01 Cali Trip stuff. We went as far north as Tahoe and then over to drink our way through gold country. It was a long time till we saw this part of the state again. Too long. This image still doesn't have the punch that I wanted but I'm tired of waiting on me to get it right.

2007-12-14T21:06:00.002-05:00

If an eroded building facade grabs your attention, driving by this one at highway speed will just about cause an accident. This is the Butte Store just a few miles south of Jackson on 49. It's on the east side of the highway. The sun was setting through the trees on the other side.

2007-12-14T20:17:00.003-05:00

This is Letharia vulpina, staghorn lichen. I think it's a fungus, though. This is one of my first plant photos in California. I hadn't even gone back to school at this point. This first caught my attention in the Sierra foothills. It's an almost day-glo green color. I overexposed it but the photo has sentimental value to me. You never forget your first California lichen.

2007-12-14T19:53:00.001-05:00

I think this is near Calaveras Big Trees between Arnold and Dorrington.

2007-12-14T17:53:00.004-05:00

This is definitely in the Alabama Hills area east of Lone Pine. The dirt road in the foreground is similar to the one in the last post. It's said that they used to shoot Westerns out here. This could also be the set of most of the Star Trek planets.

2007-12-14T13:17:00.004-05:00

I'm not entirely sure where I took this. I think that this is one of those dirt roads in the Alabama Hills east of Lone Pine. We were just driving 395 from Randsburg to Carson City. We'd been in California for a little over a year and felt like we hadn't seen any of it except the Bay area. So, In January of 2001 we made a big loop around the Sierras. The passes into Yosemite were closed from the east so we spent most of out time on 395.

2007-12-14T12:35:00.004-05:00

These are the mountains to the east of the Manzanar camp. They're also in the background of Dorothea Lange's photograph of the flag in the central compound.

2007-12-14T11:27:00.002-05:00

This was taken in January of 2001 at Manzanar. I knew Adams had shot there and I wanted to see how much of the site still existed.

2007-12-13T11:55:00.003-05:00

We were moving into our room when this tree showed up in the middle of our ocean view. I didn't mooch this expensive timeshare off of my father just to look at a pine tree. After a couple of days, I was in love with it and made this montage. We're still friends.

2007-12-13T11:50:00.003-05:00

This was made using a special effect that I call "get cheap photo-processing, montage the prints by hand, and then scan them in directly from a photo-album page." I'm sure there's a photoshop plug-in for it somewhere.

2007-12-13T11:23:00.002-05:00

Sunrise2

Looking north up the beach into the past.

2007-12-13T11:01:00.002-05:00

Sunrise1

This was taken in Februrary of '94 at Hilton Head Is., SC. Sunrises on the beach were a stirring childhood memory. I try to recapture them whenever possible. You can find another sunrise. You'll just never have those child's eyes again.