AfricanKelli

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November marks my sixth month in Colorado; in celebration — I’m devoting 30 days to photographing my new city, Denver.

I live near the Highlands; it’s the latest neighborhood of Denver to be gentrified. And I love it. I’m a sucker that way. Brick bungalows, great coffee shops, yoga studios, used bookstores and community gardens. If I get a chance to buy a home in this town, I hope it will be within this community.

~K

I took a road trip with friends this weekend to Aspen and Snowmass. It was great to explore a new piece of this glorious state. Around each corner was some great shot — something bright, aesthetic, eye-catching, gorgeous. We climbed Independence Pass, curled through canyons, looked up at the Maroon Bells, gasped at the height and power of the rivers — surging with snow run off, and marveled at the natural beauty of Colorado.

Quirky Aspen is at first glance pretentious like Scottsdale. But at second glance, it really isn’t. (It’s a shallow view of Scottsdale, too.)  There is flash and flare — Hermes, Prada, Gucci — and plenty of fancy restaurants with fancy people sitting outside enjoying tiny, overpriced glasses of wine and tiny, overpriced plates of whatever you can imagine. At closer look, Aspen is down to earth lovely like Bisbee. A farmers’ market with mason jars of honey, homemade jewelry, candles, stationery and dogs of every size and shape closed several of the busiest streets Saturday. It was particularly loud this weekend with a large food festival in town. And yet, the shops were full of locals who were incredibly kind. The wine shop man, the boot store employees, the thrift store volunteers — all remarkably welcoming during such a busy, noisy time. I overheard one local telling another, “Just wait until the Brazilians leave. They donate their skis every year. Score!”

I look forward to returning with more time to hike and photograph the stunning mountains that surround the town. And maybe enjoy one of those tiny plates and glasses of food too.

~K

The Rebel is back in action.

~K

I splurged on a point and shoot camera a couple weeks ago. It’s tiny, silver and fits in the pocket of most pants. I purchased this camera to take on hikes, long runs and to keep every day in my purse with the SLR is just too much to lug around.

And I’m so glad I did. While I shouldn’t be splurging on anything other than packing tape and giant Sharpies at the moment, I’ve already thoroughly enjoyed this new toy. Coincidentally, my running schedule has fallen off precipitously with three weeks left to move. My life has been a steady stream of WORK 11 HOURS, CRAM FACE WITH FOOD, SLEEEEEEEP. WAKE UP AND EAT. Rinse and repeat.

So while I haven’t been doing much photographing while running, my little camera has become my CRAM FACE WITH FOOD companion. I will always see food as art.

And lunch yesterday with Charlie at the Cherry Cricket provided the perfect opportunity to mildly embarrass yet another friend by photographing our food.

If you are an SLR photographer and have an extra $100, I cannot recommend this camera highly enough. At Costco, I found the best deal.

{Also — the test and interview went really well. It has been a long time since I’ve been that nervous, but I think I did well. We’ll see!}

~K

Hiking in South Mountain this weekend with a friend, there was little color. The desert is on the cusp of blossoming, but isn’t quite there yet. We had to find hue where we could:

I am going to miss my desert, especially the smell after a hard rain, the saguaro blooms in May and the cactus wrens. It is such a harsh, strong, gorgeous landscape.

~K

I took these photos! Which just goes to show you, even a complete fool with a good camera and far too much courage can get some fun shots traveling Africa.

Giraffe are not native to Malawi. They were imported to one of the parks I visited. They are the most majestic animals I’ve ever been near. The zebra were skittish, but curious too. The hippo were like fat mobsters just waiting for me to make one rude comment about their Italian grandmothers so they could storm the beach and have a snack. The wildebeest, cape buffalo, warthogs and monkeys all looked at the camera with complete boredom. I was interrupting their spring feast and they couldn’t be bothered.

But the elephants! Well, the elephants were huge and terrifying. Their size and power is something you cannot imagine until you are within sight. The elephant I photographed is a teenage male in musk. Testosterone is pouring out of the glands on his face. The poor thing desperately needed some loving. (His “fifth leg” was abundantly clear, as Matt so eloquently put it.) Typically when male elephants have this surge of hormone, they return to the herd to make babies. But for whatever reason, this teenager was babysitting several young ellies. I could only imagine a pimply faced kid, sulking at a park watching his younger brothers.

The night we spent in tents at Majete National Park was particularly noisy when this angry teen came trumpeting through the camp. They say elephants trumpet. Really, it sounded like he was snorting, crying and screaming for relief. The rest of the jungle fell immediately silent.

I truly wish I’d studied forestry and was working as a ranger in Africa. To be in that setting daily would be a dream.

Even their butts are perfect! God, I love Africa.

~K

It’s the craziest thing, being tucked in to bed in my tiny home in the middle of a 3 million person city. The silence is making me sad. In contrast to the chorus of tree frogs that sang me to sleep each night and the staccato of bird song to which I woke to each morning — I’m so surprised how very quiet this American life of mine is.

This tree shaded my bedroom windows. It is the perfect tree — large limbs reaching toward the sky in a dozen directions, home to a handful of bird nests.

I miss this tree. And the giant hardwoods down by the river. And the flamboyant trees in full fiery orange glow. And even the dumb, non-native eucalyptus trees that line the roads on the tea estates.

I’m in a bit of a post-vacation funk, one that can only be described as self-absorbed and pathetic. All the same, I’m looking at my holiday photos with such desire to return! Take more! Feel that African sun warm my face and the rain cool my flip flopped toes. Alas, this is as close as we are coming today to those glorious gardens, where I spent days reading, day dreaming and watching the butterflies and dragonflies compete in one triumphant pageant of biology.

~K

My friend Amanda taught a photography class Saturday. I was the only one who didn’t have my camera in manual mode by the time class rolled around, but I’m trying. We stood clustered in the shadows of Gilbert’s Liberty Market, listening as Amanda patiently and kindly explained aperture and a handful of other technical photography terms.

(Look at how long her hair is again!)

Manual photography to me is a lot like math and poetry. It is completely overwhelming and makes me feel like I don’t get the bigger picture. (No pun intended.) So it was by complete surprise that after 30 minutes of listening, asking questions and playing with my settings that I actually understood what aperture meant.

I was sent home with some homework — don’t just slap on the fixed 1.4 mm lens and be okay with the blurry results. Instead, play with the aperture and see what I could do. With weekend food prep on the list, here is one such experiment:

Far from perfect, but I’m starting to get it. I will tell you, watching the others in the photography class made me wish I had a better camera. I’m dreaming of an upgrade, a tripod and a more functional camera bag.

And most certainly a handful of hours with my new photography mentor to figure out the rest of the buttons. Er, settings.

~K

*Additionally, two other lovely items to point out from this adventure:

1. Have you had the cafe au lait in the giant bowl at Liberty Market? If you live in the East Valley, enjoy mild coffee and a warm breakfast, and like to feel French on occasion — may I suggest ordering one of these to sip on the patio? Delightful. I wish I lived closer and could just this more often. (Side note: I envision a kitchen with many cafe au lait bowls one day. This is actually something I’d consider collecting.)

2. I love that my girlfriends can take one look at me, figure out something is brewing and come up with just the right things to say to make me go home and think, feel loved and be prepared to make a change for the better.

I love this juxtaposition of tender and ferocious.

~K

So, I’ve been waiting a bit to post some fun photos of Shelley and her three young ones:  Vincenzo, Paola and Olivia. (My God, how gorgeous are those names? Perfectly matched, as you’ll see.)

Look at this mama go! Feeding the twins at the same time. She’s a great mama, and once again it is such a delight to watch my friends become parents. But then again, how easy is it to love these baby birds?

Right? Squishy little adorable Italian bambinas!

Their big brother is just as sweet, but far more mobile and therefore harder to get good photos of. I adore them all.

~K