Fallen Petals

 On a walk in Northwest Portland.

Shopping in Downtown Portland

 

Clouds over 13th

 Brooding geometric atmospherics in Portland.

Union Station in Black and White

Yesterday's photos (plus a couple more), using the "420 Punchy and Contrasty" preset in Lightroom Classic to convert  from color to monochrome.

Union Station

 Passenger and freight station in Portland's Pearl District.

Birds in a tree at night

 Crows in a tree at night outside our condo in Portland. For full realism, this needs sound.

Buiidings and Branches

Brightly colored buildings behind branches, seen while wandering around Portland. Sort of like calligraphy on a painted surface.

 

Pearl Buildings

 Details of buildings in Portland's Pearl District.

Back in Portland

 Back in Portland, I took these photos on a walk in the South Blocks between downtown and PSU.

Ubehebe Crater

We left Death Valley after visiting the spectacular Ubehebe Crater. 

"Ubehebe Crater is a large volcanic crater 600 feet deep and half a mile across. This is a Maar volcano, created by steam and gas explosions when hot magma rising up from the depths reached ground water. The intense heat flashed the water into steam which expanded until the pressure was released as a tremendous explosion. The western cluster of maar volcanoes was the first to form, then the southern cluster, followed by Ubehebe—the largest of them all—possibly as recently as 2,100 years ago. Cinders from these explosions cover much of the surrounding area." (National Park Service) 

Salt Creek and the Death Valley Pupfish

 We left Death Valley after visiting Salt Creek and the Ubehebe Crater. The pictures below are from Salt Creek, with the little pupfish in the water.

 From Wikipedia:

"Much of Salt Creek is usually dry at the surface and covered by a bright layer of salt which was created by many flooding and subsequent evaporation of water that periodically flows at the surface. Over time the small amount of solutes in the water accumulate to form this linear salt pan. Another part of salt creek runs with brackish water year-round. It is here that the last survivor of Lake Manly resides; the Death Valley pupfish.

"The Death Valley pupfish is a small, silvery colored fish with 6–9 vertical dark bands on its sides. It has an average length of 3.7 cm (1.5 in), with a recorded maximum of 7.8 cm (3.1 in).[2]

"The males, often appearing in larger sizes compared to females, turn bright blue during mating season, April through October. The females, along with premature pupfish, tend to have tanned backs with iridescent, silvery sides. Both males and females have plump bodies with rounded fins, a squashed head and an upturned mouth.[3] The pupfish can withstand harsh conditions that would kill other fish: water that is 4 times more saline than the ocean, hot water up to 116 °F (47 °C), and cold water down to 32 °F (0 °C)."