Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Seeing, Feeling, Expressing...photographically
Last week was spent co-teaching a National Geographic Photography Workshop in Santa Fe.  Been teaching these for over ten years now.  If memory serves me, this would be close to number sixty.  Over the years the photography schedule and locations have remained the same.  Last Thursday Ghost Ranch.
Time and again, the question arises..."How do you return to a familiar location and see, feel, and express it in a different way?"
Is it the light?  Time of day? Season of the year?  The moment?  Very often the phrase...sense of place is tossed around.
Does the photographer become part of the equation?  Often I will slow students down in a workshop.  Suggesting they take a moment to not only see but more importantly to feel.  

Feel the moment.  Feel the place.  Then express.  Is the expression literal or conceptual?  The answer can only come directly from the heart of the photographer.  Been there many times...always feels different to me.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Friday, September 8, 2017

Breakin' from the Radio Waves...Back on the Highways

You never know who you might run into walking down the street.  Today on the way to the KMRD studio heard my name being called out.  Turned to see two traveling' bikers.  Took a moment...then I knew they were some brothers from across the border in Canada.
Joe and Mike are on a blue highways road trip across from Ottowa to the Southwest.  Perfect timing for a radio chat about Travelin' and the Freedom of the Road.  Cllck on the play arrow to hear the show.
Signin' off from the radio waves and getting back on the highways.  Final show.  Great way to end.

 BUT....Stay tuned here for new Blue Highway photo stories.  Comin' to you from those two laners across America.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Thursday, September 7, 2017

On the Road Again
There are times when photography and riding a motorcycle are one.  All the senses are connected.  A machine made from many parts now filled with life.  It carry's me across the country.  Wind on my face.  Sun warming my back.  A good day to be alive.  Tune into Talon's Tips and Tales Friday September 8, at 11 am MT on KMRD-FM 96.9 streaming live on www.kmrd.fm/listen for my final show, Freedom of the Road, On the Road Again.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Heading' West to the BIGGEST Camera in the West
New Mexico US HWY 60 West.  Sun on my back.  Highway feelin' so smooth it's like floating across the landscape.  Headed West lookin' for the big camera.
Rule of the Road #1.  Always stop, make a u-turn if necessary, whenever you come across something you didn't see originally on the map.  Abo' is one of three ancestral sites making up what are called the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument.  In the stones of the Abo' pueblo ruins are faint echoes of the communities that lived there 300 years ago.  The people forged a stable agricultural society with roots back as far as 7,000 years.  A major trade center with a population of more than 10,000 before the influences of the Spanish explorers.  After 1670 pueblo life was radically altered and the villages were abandoned, the pueblo people dispersed.
Magdalena, NM gateway to the VLA. Very Large Array, or simply the BIGGEST camera in the west.  Kickstand down at the High Country Lodge.  Better described as a "classic 60's type motor court".
Complete with modern day conveniences.  Always lookin' for a place to hang my leathers.  Never seem to get much use from the microwave or fridge.
Rule of the Road #2.  If a storms approaching park as close to room door as possible.  This provides for easy access to move the bike into the room under severe weather conditions.
Magdalena is known as "Trails End" for the railroad spur which was build to transport thousands of head of cattle from the west.  Heading west out of town after a "real cowboy" breakfast at the Magdalena Cafe US HWY 60 was the main route for an early morning cattle drive.  
Twenty-two miles west of Magdalena in a high mountain plateau are 27 dish antennas each 82 feet in diameter, weighting 230 tons.  The Very Large Array.  The BIGGEST camera in the West.  What is it?  How does it work?
The VLA is a radio telescope that makes detailed images of astronomical objects by collecting and processing the radio waves they naturally emit.  The radio waves are processed into digital images.  By studying these radio images, astronomers can see things invisible to optical telescopes.  The 27 dish antennas all work together as a single system.  The dishes are on rails in a Y-shaped configuration.  They can be moved to a maximum span of 22 miles.  When they are spread out they act like a wide angle camera lens.  Brought together, they form a telephoto lens.  Here's the big one.  A central supercomputer takes in data equivalent to 2.3 billion Tweets per second and performs 10,000,000,000,000,000 mathematical operations per second.  Now that's a lot of tweeting!  Pretty awesome stuff going on at the VLA.  Found ice on Mercury, making major contributions to understanding that billion-light-year-across empty "hole" in the Universe, and exploring the mysterious central region of our own Milky Way.  Way cool...or far out!  One BIG camera to say the least!
Heading back east on HWY 60 turned north on HWY 41.  Another, u-turn.  Just north of Moriarty spotted a field of various antennas, what appeared to be a deserted building with a paint peeling sign. "Ionosphere - Communication - Experiments".  Thinking this could only be in New Mexico.  Ancestral Puebloans studying the stars, the BIGGEST camera in the west making photographs of billion light year away regions, to a single individual lookin' to communicate with whoever may be out there.  

Nothing better than two wheels, a camera, and a two lane highway.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Friday, September 1, 2017

A camera for the starsThe BIGGEST camera in the West. Hear all about it and more on Talon's Tips and Tales.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Thursday, August 31, 2017

BIGGEST Camera in the West
Tune into Talon's Tips and Tales on Friday September 1 at 11am MT on KMRD-FM 96.9 streaming  live at www.kmrd.fm/listen as I travel down the blue highways of New Mexico in search of the BIGGEST camera in the West.  Along with a story of the camera I will have a chat with a special guest, Nancy, who will be sharing her experiences and thoughts about the stars.  It will be about as "far out" as you can get!

BTW: stay tuned here for the complete upcoming photo essay of an amazing road trip in search of the Icon for Science and New Mexico.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Friday, August 25, 2017

12 Reasons to Ride a MotorcycleA chat on the radio today about myths, legends, and biker rules of the road. Click the play arrow for some thoughts and moto music to get your motor runnin'.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Four Wheels Move the Body...Two Wheels Move the Soul
What is it about riding a motorcycle?  Tune into Talon's Tips and Tales on Friday August 25 at 11am MT on KMRD-FM at 96.9 streaming live at www.kmrd.fm/listen as I chat about 12 Top Reasons to Ride a Motorcycle, 13 Things More Dangerous than Riding a Motorcycle, and the Unwritten Rules of the Road for Bikers.  All mixed together with a special selection of moto tunes to get your heart to thumpin'.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Friday, August 18, 2017

Click the play arrow to listen to Talon's Tips and Tales interview with writer / photographer Morgan Smith.  Morgan shares his in depth story of his six year on going project Invisible Women.be strong, be safe, Talon

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Invisible Women
Tune into Talon's Tips and Tales on Friday August 18 at 11am MT on KMRD-FM 96.9, streaming at www.kmrd.fm/listen for the compelling live interview with writer / photographer Morgan Smith as he shares the story of his Invisible Women six year ongoing project.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Friday, August 11, 2017

Norman Mauskopf, Photographer:
Miss today's Talon's Tips and Tales radio show and interview with Norman?Click on the play arrow to hear it now!

be strong, be safe, Talon

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Latino culture in northern New Mexico
Tune into Talon's Tips and Tales on Friday August 11 at 11am MT on KMRD-FM 96.9 with streaming at www.kmrd.fm/listen for my live interview with Santa Fe photographer Norman Mauskopf.  In 2011 Norman published Descendants, a pictorial exploration of the Latino culture in northern New Mexico - its ancient traditions, landscapes and ethnic diversity.  We will be chatting about the concepts and development of a documentary project.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Friday, August 4, 2017

Times They Are A Changin'

Missed today's Talon's and Tips live radio show?  Click on the arrow to heard it now.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Thursday, August 3, 2017

Like a storm on the horizon...The Times They are a Changin'
Sometimes a good documentary can really get you to thinkin'.  Tune into Talon's Tips and Tales Friday August 4 at 11 am MT on KMRD-FM at 96.9 streaming live on the web at www.kmrd.fm/listen to get your thinkin' movin'.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Friday, July 21, 2017

A picture is worth a thousand words
Joe Long has spent his life time speaking the language of photography through his imagery.  From his early days in his high school camera club, studying photography with Fred Archer and Ansel Adams in Los Angeles, running a busy successful commercial photography studio in NYC for 25 years, to teaching and sharing the wonder of photography with students.  Tune into Talon's Tips and Tales on Friday July 21 at 11am MT on KMRD-FM 96.9 streaming at www.kmrd.fm/listen to hear Joe share his amazing journey in photography.
be strong, be safe, Talon
Joe Long, Photographer
Missed Talon's Tips and Tales today?  A great chat with photographer Joe Long.  Click the play arrow to listen to the show.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Friday, July 14, 2017

Talon's California Dreamin' show.  Click on the arrow to listen if you missed it!

be strong, be safe, Talon

Thursday, July 13, 2017

California Dreamin'
Sun, surf, music, and hamburgers.  What makes the Southern California beach scene unique?  What's the wave of the future for the Golden State?  Tune into Talon's Tips and Tales Friday July 14 at 11am MT on KMRD-FM 96.9 streaming live at www.kmrd.fm/listen as I share some travelin' stories and music from the place I was born and raised.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

What's in your frame?
As photographers, we are a bunch of individuals always on the move.  Lookin' here, lookin' there.  Lookin' for the interesting, lookin' for the unique.  What if you stopped, plunked your butt down in one place.  Just hung out.  What would you find in your frame?
You might notice these photographs are not the plains of New Mexico.  Yip...you noticed right.  Last week made a trip to California.  Up above the highways cruising through the airways.  A flight to the beach.  Travelin' none the less.
The beach is amazing environment.  You can sit and stare at the waves for hours on end.  Watch the continual parade of folks arriving or leaving.  After watching the waves for an undetermined amount of time, the thought came to mind of framing what was right in front of me.
Quickly the beach story began to develop within my frame.  The tide changed.  The light changed.  The people changed.  I was sitting in the same place.  Hadn't moved.
Next time you are out and about think about plunkin' it down and takin' in the world with your frame as it moves around and past you.  Might be a whole new perspective.

be strong, be safe, Talon

BTW:  The So.Cal. beach could not be a more perfect place to spend endless days with my beautiful wife Nancy.  As they say in California....way cool dude!

Friday, June 30, 2017

Talon's Tips and Tales - Breakin' Up, Packin' Up, Grizzly Bears, & Unusual Cocktails
 Miss today's Talon's Tips and Tales radio show with Debby Pearson sharing the adventures of her solo motorcycle ride from Colorado to the Arctic Circle?  Well fear not.  Click on the "play" arrow above.  Sit back and listen to the whole story!

be strong, be safe, Talon

Thursday, June 29, 2017

Breakin' Up, Packin' Up, Grizzly Bears...and Unusual Cocktails
Women riders in the United States number more than 1.2 million.  Women surveyed indicated that "fun and recreation, sense of freedom and nature/outdoors" are the top three reasons they choose to ride.  Debby Pearson has traveled via motorcycle throughout this hemisphere.  One of her favorite adventures is a solo ride from Colorado to the Arctic Circle.  Tune into Talon's Tips and Tales on Friday June 30 at 11am MT on 96.9 KMRD-FM streaming live at www.kmrd.fm/listen as Debby shares tales of breakin' up, packin' up, grizzly bears, and unusual cocktails on her 10,718 mile solo adventure to the Arctic Circle.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Friday, June 23, 2017

Talon's Tips and Tales - Travelin' Man - Travelin' Light



Miss today's Talon's and Tips radio show?  Click on the arrow to hear the stories and music of Travelin' Man - Travelin' Light.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Travelin' Man - Travelin' Light
The urge to travel begins as a far-off yearning with a dream to change where we are.  That yearning is the beginning of a journey.  Tune into Talon's Tips and Tales Friday June 23 at 11am MT on KMRD-FM 96.9 streaming on the web at www.kmrd.fm/listen for stories and music about movin' down the highway travelin' light.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Friday, June 16, 2017

Talon's Tips and Tales..Cameras Don't Make Pictures...People Do
Missed today's radio show with Reid Callanan?  Click on the play arrow to listen to the interview with Reid.  We chat about how Cameras Don't Make Pictures...People Do.

Thanks for listening.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Cameras Don't make Pictures...People Do
Reid Callanan is the founder and director of Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, located in Santa Fe, NM.  In addition to his responsibilities leading The Workshops for the past 27 years, Reid is also a passionate photographer and teacher.  Tune into Talon's Tips and Tales, www.KMRD.FM/listen, on Friday June 16 at 11am MT for a live interview with Reid as we chat about his 40 year love affair with photography.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Friday, June 9, 2017

Talon's Tips and Tales - Defining Freedom 

If you missed the radio program on Defining Freedom you can listen to it now by clicking on the arrow.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Thursday, June 8, 2017

Defining Freedom
"The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint."  Tune into Defining Freedom with music and words.  Set your dial to Talon's Tips and Tales Friday June 9 11am MT on KMRD-FM 96.9  streaming live at www.kmrd.fm/listen to hear the story.

be strong, be safe,

Talon

Friday, June 2, 2017

The Power of Photography

Be strong, be safe, Talon

Thursday, June 1, 2017

The Power of Photography
Keeping the focus.  Photography is a powerful medium.  As strong as a single image maybe, photography contains the power to bring together people, places, and things.  Tune into Talon's Tips and Tales, www.KMRD.FM/listen, on Friday June 2 at 11am MT to hear how photography can reach beyond the boundaries of a single frame.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Don't Fence Me In
Down the road from Madrid is a longtime cultural feature of Northwest New Mexico.  Eaves Movie Ranch began life as part of the fifteen hundred acre Rancho Allegre, a cattle ranch owned by New Mexican businessman and native Texan, J. W. Eaves.  Starting in 1962 with the television series Empire, the stunning scenery of the Eaves Ranch began to lure film and photography production companies, including several famous Marlboro ads.
In 1969, Hollywood arrived at the ranch to film a big budget western called The Cheyenne Social Club, with Jimmy Stuart and Henry Fonda.  Director Gene Kelly (Singin in the Rain) collaborated with J. W. to build a large western town, later named the Eaves Movie Ranch, as a film set for the production.  When word spread of the new western set near Santa Fe, Hollywood came rushing in. Thomas Wingate, actor and manager, of Eaves Movie Ranch will be with me on Friday May 26 on KMRD-FM 96.9 at 11am MT.  Tune into Talon's Tips and Tales at www.kmrd.fm/listen to hear the history and little known stories of this famous movie location.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Ridin' The Mother Road from Switzerland
Four riders rolled into the shop in Madrid today.  Christina, Daniel, Marlies, and Maunzio had rented Harleys in Chicago and were ridin' the Mother Road Route 66 across the US to California.  Nancy had a great time hearing their stories and adventures of the road.  "We are riding slow, taking in every piece of landscape, town, and individual we can meet."  Without a doubt, the perfect way to see America and the classic road across our country.  Thanks for stopping by and sharing your stories.
be strong, be safe, Talon

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Gold Records in Clovis, NM
Norman Petty is known throughout the world as a recording pioneer hidden away in Clovis NM.  Country and rock artists who recorded at Norman's studio include Roy Orbison, Buddy Knox, Jimmy Glimer, Waylon Jennings, and Buddy Holly just to name a few.  Tune into Talon's Tips and Tales on Friday May 19 at 11 am MT on KMRD-FM 96.6 Madrid and www.kmrd.fm/listen for the story and music of this independent music producer who in the late 1950s and early 1960s created and shaped modern pop music as we know it today.

be strong, be safe, Talon

Monday, May 8, 2017

Lookin' for Buddy on US HWY 60
Out in eastern New Mexico old US HWY 60 runs across the grass covered plains as far as the eye can see.  A classic two laner.  Ridin' with the wind.  Lookin' for Clovis NM on the horizon.  Why Clovis?  Heard Buddy Holly cut his records there.
Stop for gas in Vaughn, NM.  Old stations resting along the road.  Been a while since they have been pumping gas here.
In Fort Sumner meet Derk from Canada.  Both of us looking for gas.  He's been on the road for two months zig-zaging across the US.  "Been in some really F@#%ing  bad weather, F@#%ing wind, F@#%ing rain...but sure having a F@#%ing good time".  So few words, so many meanings.
 Kickstand down in Clovis.  No wif-fi last night.  Morning breakfast at the Foxy Drive-In.  Three generations of the same family since 1958.  Heard Buddy Holly hung out here.  Must be getting close.
Just down the street from the Foxy spot the Norman Petty Recording Studio.  Meet Shirley and Ken Broad.  They promised Norman and Vi Petty to keep the original spirit of the studio alive and intact.
Walking into the studio is a step back into the 50's.  This is not a museum.  Feels like Buddy just finished a session.
If only the mike could talk.  What a story to tell.  Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, Roy Orbison, The Roses, Bobby Vee, The Fireballs.  All their music filling the studio.
Keyboards ringing out Peggy Sue.  Fender Stratocaster guitars filling the air with rock and roll.
Buddy Holly's original Fender amp.  How many gigs it traveled to.  How many fans yelled, screamed, and danced to the music it shared.
Norman Petty recorded it all on original reel to reel tape decks.  Single track recordings.  Complete takes.  No edits. 
David Bingham of The Roses sitting in the control booth.  He sang and played with Buddy and many of the best in the country.  So many stories he shared.
Down a narrow hallway, behind the studio, a small apartment with kitchen. Norman wanted all the recording artists to feel comfortable.  To be able to relax after a session.  Recording was done from around midnight to sunrise.  Why, no traffic on the streets.  Only the sounds of real rock and roll coming from the studio.
In search of Peggy Sue.  Found it all in Clovis NM along a two lane highway called US HWY 60. New Mexico's best-kept secret.  Norman Petty's recording studio home of the "Clovis Sound".
Headin' west from Clovis back to Santa Fe.  Open road.  Peggy Sue ringing in my ears.  Only in New Mexico.

be strong, be safe, Talon
 

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Sonora Rally 2017 - David Pearson
David Pearson started riding in Canada when he was 14 years old.  He talked his dad into purchasing a moped.  He immigrated to the US over 25 years ago.  In his 20's he started off-road motorcycle racing.  Nearly 30 years later, he continues to race enduro and off-road rally events.  This past March David finished 4th overall at the Sonora Rally 2017.  The Sonora Rally is a four day grueling rally race across Mexico.  Tune in Friday, May 5, at 11 am MT to Talon's Tips and Tales streaming at www.kmrd.fm/listen when David will share the thrill, challenge, and breath taking moments of this demanding rally.  You won't want to miss it!

be strong, be safe, Talon