Traveling

I'm in Austin today on a business trip. I managed to pop down to the State Capital and take some pictures. Hopefully, I'll get some more chances to practice my photography while I'm here.

In the meantime, here's a shot I took a few weeks back on a very cold and foggy day. I liked how the ice crystals were building up on the edge of the oak leaves.

Tennessee Pass Cookhouse

Kelly, Craig, Aysen, and I spent the morning cross country skiing at Cooper Mountain. For lunch, we had some amazing food at the Tennessee Hut Cookhouse. The cookhouse is actually a Yurt that can be found out on one of the trails. Everybody liked the Salmon, strawberry and brie sandwiches. I highly recommend having lunch or dinner here. The food very tasty and the service is excellent!

While the rest of the gang continued to ski after lunch, I hung out at the Tennessee Pass Nordic Center watching a band – "Sharise and the Gentlemen’s Club". They were a lot of fun.

This picture is shot from the Nordic center looking out the backdoor.

Click here to see more.

Sunrise at the Garden

I left the house before the sun came up this morning. It was -8 C and there was not a cloud in the sky. My objective: to get a shot of Pikes Peak lit by the rising sun. I did get a few shots like that. I'll post one later. This shot is of the gorgeous morning light on some of the rock formations in the Garden of the Gods park.

Pikes Peak from Ute Valley Park

This shot is of Pikes Peak from Ute Valley Park, near where I live. This park is amazing. There are many places within the park that can make you feel as if you're in the middle of nowhere.

I often go there at lunchtime to walk. Yesterday, I followed a small stream through a tight, overgrown canyon. I was hoping to glimpse some birds. However, the wind was fierce. I’m sure the birds were hanging on for dear life.

Taekwondo Fighting

Here's a video made up of some shots taken at my nieces' (and their mum) Taekwondo test.

Update 2-20-2009: The pictures were taken at the Hubble ATA Masters Academy in Sierra Vista, AZ. Click here to visit their website.

To see more photos in this blog, click here.

Lions, and tigers, and bears! Oh, my!

Two good things happened this week: 1) I got my new Canon 70-200mm F/4 lens this week, 2) Kelly and I got Monday (President’s Day) off as a holiday. To honor this, we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and Will Rodgers Shrine. I thought that the zoo would give me a great opportunity to explore the capabilities of the new lens. It’s a great lens – very sharp. The only downside, is that I now feel the need for a 400mm lens (or maybe, a 600mm).

Here’s a shot of the Silver Back Gorilla at the Zoo. I wouldn’t look happy either, if I was stuck in a cage… I suppose that it is good for the species - educating us humans and setting up breeding programs. But I feel for the individual animals.

Spotted Towhee

Here's a picture of a Spotted Towhee. It was a foggy, very cold day. Its amazing these little guys can survive the this kind of cold. Usually, these birds stay on the ground, scratching around for food. Perhaps this little fellow flew up into this tree to escape the neighborhood cat.

Sunset over Pikes Peak

Last night I hiked up onto a ridge in Ute Valley Park to take some sunset shots. The sun set behind Pikes Peak, throwing the face into shadow. About 15 minutes later, the clouds lit up. I was not sure that I could capture a shot that included both the foreground (in deep shadow) and the clouds. I was correct - no single shot could handle both. Knowing this ahead of time, I bracketed my exposures. At home I fiddled around with the RAW files and was able to build a 'poor man HDR' image using two different RAW files from one bracket set. My imaging software, Photoshop Elements, does natively support HDR.

The result is not perfect, but not bad either. This technique is definitely one keep in the toolbox.

Rework

Here's a shot I took at the Paint Mine's park near Colorado Springs. Although I liked the original, I thought it lacked some punch. Here's a slight edit of the photo. I reset the black and white points, removed some color cast and added a little sharpening. I think this is pretty good...

Self Portrait

I was playing around last night trying to take a self portrait. I think this one is kinda interesting. I converted it to black and white and added some noise. Kelly tells me she thinks it makes me look mean! Whaddya think?

America's Mountain

One of my favorite things about living in Colorado Springs is the great views of Pike's Peak. It is such a dominating aspect of the scenery around here. There is not a day goes by that I do not take time to look the mountain.

Another great thing about the Springs, is all of the great city parks. This photo shows Pike's Peak early in the morning from the middle of Palmer park. Palmer park is a great place to run, hike and mountain bike.