Palmer Park

Kelly and I went hiking around Palmer Park early this morning. Not much of a hike since I was snapping photos left and right - but Kelly was feeling indulgent (thanks, baby!). It was a beautiful morning.

Here is some graffiti we saw on a cliff face.

Pulpit Rock

This weekend I hiked around Pulpit Rock in Colorado Springs to scout out possible locations to shoot Pikes Peak. From the rock and from the surrounding ridge, you can get a great view of the west side and of the Springs. You can see this iconic rock from I-25. However, this view doesn't really give you an idea of how big the open space is. Well worth a day of exploring. This picture is a view from the "backside".

Monochrome Grasshopper

In this picture, you can see how well the grasshopper is chamoflaged. This gives this photo a naturally monochromatic look.

Snow Storm

Yesterday, we had a great snow storm. It dumped about 4 inches of wet heavy snow on the area. While driving to Garden of the Gods at lunchtime, I had to thread my way thru an accident while going down an icey hill near home. Later, on the way out of the park, I was delayed by an ambulance, cops and fire truck at another accident. Some people just don't know how to drive on ice/snow.

On another front, I've updated the portraits, and family galleries as well as adding The Gauntlet (password required).

DYI Lightbox

I have a ton of pictures to process from the recent holidays. However, I took time off from the computer work, and built a DIY (do-it-yourself) lightbox to play with. It was pretty easy, and the results are decent. What do you think?

As always, click on the picture to see some others.

Art

My parents both spend a lot of time doing arts and crafts of various types. During my recent visit I tried to capture some of this art in photos. This picture is a Kestral falcon carved and painted by my father.

Portraits

I've always been most comfortable taking pictures of landscapes. I'm trying to expand my photography by taking more portraits. For some reason, I find this hard.

While I was visiting my family in Arizona, I found a spot in their house that received some interesting light about 9:00AM every morning. I think I wore my welcome thin by grabbing people and photographing them in this light. Here is one of the first - my cute niece Olivia.

San Francisco

On the day after xmas, the girls went shopping for brides maid's dresses in San Francisco. Meanwhile, David and I did the tourist thing in the city visiting the Golden Gate Bridge, Fort Point National Historic Site, the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park, the Musée Mécanique, Ghirardelli_Square, and, of course, eating clam chowder.

Here is a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge looming over Fort Point. Its an impressive view from this vantage point.

We meet up with the girls later and spent a good hour or so sitting in traffic downtown at rush hour. What a mob of people! We finished off the evening with a nice dinner and a little Jazz.

It's always nice to get back to the city, and I look forward to my next visit.

Yuba City Christmas

Kelly and I spent xmas in Yuba City with her family. This picture is of a Mandarin Orange from the tree in their front yard. Very tasty oranges!

Click on the orange to see some family pictures that I took while there (ask me for the password if you need it).

Keep checking back - I've got lots of pictures still to process from the last few weeks...