Past and Future

At the Colorado Cattle Company.

Breakfast

Breakfast at Maroon lake.

Waldo Canyon Fire II

This is the last image I took of the Waldo Canyon Fire. A few minutes after this was taken, we had to evacuate. For the rest of the week we stayed with some wonderful friends well south of the fire.

We got back safely home on Saturday. I feel extremely fortunate.

Sadly, more than 340 houses were destroyed the evening that this photo was taken. My heart breaks for all those families who lost their houses. If you are interested in helping those effected by this fire please point your browser to http://helpcoloradonow.org.

Waldo Canyon Fire

It seems like all of Colorado is burning. This is a 16-shot panorama from the Waldo Canyon Fire. The photo covers almost 90 degrees from west to north and up and down.

Maroon Bells III: Clouds over Bells

The sunset reflected on the clouds above the Maroon Bells.

Be sure to visit SkyWatch Friday!

Maroon Bells II - Alpine Glow

Pre-sunrise view of the Maroon Bells.

Maroon Bells I

I've seen a lot of amazing photos of the Maroon Bells. It's said that it is the most photographed place in Colorado.

After spending only a few days in the area, I can safely say that no photo has ever come close to capturing the magnificence of this view. I think that my lower jaw is still laying of the beach.

Two Seasons of Grass

Early and late summer versions of grass.

Different Perspective

The last post was a view of Pike's Peak and some of the rock formations in the Garden of the Gods. In that image the rock formations really dominate the image framing the peak.

Today's photo is also of Pike's Peak and the Garden of the Gods, but from a very different and distant perspective. In the lower right quadrant of the image are the rock formations of the Garden of the Gods.

This photo is a panoramic consisting of 6 images stitched together.

Shadow Sandwich

Here is one of the frames from the time lapse experiment that I posted about last week. One of the things I learned is that one need not take the photos at the full RAW camera resolution in order to create an HD video. I glad that I didn't know that when I made the time lapse. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to have a full resolution version of this image.

Flare

I used a little arch in the formations to create this star burst flare (actually, 2 flares, can you see the smaller one?) during a recent sunrise in the Garden of the Gods.

Be sure to visit Skywatch Friday!

Time lapse experiment results I

I've been wanting to do time lapse photography for a long time. After watching the sun rise and light up Pikes Peak and the Garden of the Gods many, many times. I thought that it would be the perfect location.

This is my first attempt. I did this to test out equipment, software, and techniques. I've got lots to learn.

I took 60 photos at 1 min intervals. I had to throw out the first 16 because they were basically black. One of the things I need to learn is how to handle this transition between night and day.

The video was created to display the photos at a rate of 1 per sec.

Intimate Landscape

One way to cure photographic ennui, is to photograph new subjects, or old subjects or locations in new ways. This photo was taken at a spot that I've photographed many times, but always on the grand landscape scale. I purposefully returned to this spot to see the area in a new, and hopefully unique way.

Big Mountain, Bigger Sky

I got bored recently with photography. Or maybe, I should say I've gotten bored taking pictures of the same old thing. I mean how many photos of Pike's Peak and Garden of the Gods do I need?

I guess the answer is more! Truthfully, I never get bored of watching the many faces of the peak. I just have this personality that gets obsessed with something and focuses a lot of time, energy and learning on that thing (photography, a game, dancing, poker, birding, etc). I devote myself almost solely to that subject. At least until the next interest comes along. It's all about ebb and flow. Time to catch that wave again.

Be sure to visit Skywatch Friday!

Peakview

Pikes Peak crowned in clouds, hidden by red rocks at Garden of the Gods

Great Sand Dunes

Sand dunes and Sangre de Cristo mountains at sunset. Great Sand Dunes National Park, Co.  This photo is of the extreme south western portion of the dune fields from near the entrance.  See map.

I arrived at the Great Sand Dunes for a weekend of camping, hiking and photography to find about 4 inches of fresh, heavy and very wet snow.  The skies were extremely overcast, but it was fairly warm.  Great blobs of snow falling off the trees filled the air with wet plops.

I didn't get many good photos, but I did hike to the top of High Dune (650ft above valley floor).  I went early in the morning and found the icy crust of snow on top of sand to be fairly challenging hiking.  I also scouted out a number of likely locations for some other shots.  I can't wait to return!

Johnny O

Late post today. Here it is the first day of my sabbatical, and I spent all day doing chores. Included in that was processing some pictures taken at the 2009 Belvedere Blues Festival. As stated in Saturday's post, I was invited by one of the organizers to take pictures of the event. The organizer knows my wife, and I sent him some pictures that I took at the Brew Ha-Ha festival from earlier this year (click here for one photo). I guess he liked them.

It was very flattering and a very intimidating. I think that I'm a good landscape photographer, and I'm trying to learn how to photograph people. But the idea shooting three days at a festival was a bit overwhelming.

All in all, it has a great learning experience. I also got to see some great bands as well.  This is by far the best musical experience I've had since leaving Austin, TX. This photo is of the very talented Johnny O Band out of Boulder, CO.

Be sure to visit Monochrome Weekly.

My Ears are still Ringing

Last night, I went down to Belvedere Blues Festival in Canon City, Colorado to take photos. The goal of the festival is as fundraiser dedicated to improving the quality of life in Fremont County, Colorado.

The first band I saw was Colorado Spring's Jake Loggins Band. Jake Loggins, the lead guitarist is an amazing guitarist and singer.

I took around 600 pictures of the first two bands (and crowd). This photo of Desmond Washington and Noel MacFarlane is my favorite so far.

Before I head down today, I think I'll buy some ear plugs. Its tough standing in front of those speakers!

Ballons

Labor day weekend in Colorado Springs means the Colorado Balloon Classic. This year was the 33rd edition of this balloon festival. Apparently, its the largest and longest running balloon festival in the rocky mountain region.

I attended the event on Saturday. Unfortunately, the weather was such that they canceled the mass ascension. However, they did inflate most of the balloons. Watching a lot of crews inflate their balloons was very interesting.

Although I've lived near a few different balloon festivals, this was the first time that I've actually attended one. Walking around in a field surrounded by a dozen or more inflated hot air balloons is an impressive experience. Anybody out there with a balloon willing to give me a ride? :)

That was my world this weekend. Be sure to visit My World Tuesdays

Calibration

The sun rises on the distance peak behind the ruins of an abandoned mine near Leadville, CO.

What color is this photo? On my home system, it is a nice Sepia toned image. At work, its a bit of a sickly radioactive green color... Hopefully the monitor at home is the correctly calibrated monitor! Perhaps its time to get the necessary hardware to properly calibrate my monitor.

In other news, I'll be out in the sticks in and around Glacier National Park all next week. So, I will not be able to post anything next week (I can almost hear the wife cheering). But, hopefully, once I return, I'll have lots of new photos. Have a great week everyone!

Be sure to visit Sepia Scenes!