• architecture,  Avian,  Canon Powershot G12

    Everything Changes

    December 5, 2011
    Flying Around

    I love nature. I love being in nature, listening to it, smelling it, learning from it. Yet, I spend a lot of time venturing the streets of the city with a camera. Light is what gives our images power. The direction and reflection of light will show us the lines and curves of a building. These lines will hopefully direct the viewer to see, and feel, what we felt at the moment of capture or bring forth whatever feelings from their life’s experiences. Now add a bird against the blue sky and everything changes. But it’s still all about the light.

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  • architecture,  Barn,  Canon Powershot G12,  window

    Something’s missing ….

    December 4, 2011
    Red Barn

    This is one of those images taken after driving by then turning around to go back. After loading up the image in Lightroom, I wondered what had really pulled me to stop. I do this so often and it seems without thinking, not that I’m known for my thinking. My first answer is the color: red. Red is a powerful color for me and against the white windows it is even more pronounced. I took several compositions, a few with only two windows and one with only one window. However, all of the images seem to be lacking something. What I felt when taking the image is not the same. I’m thinking (there I go again) there needs to be another subject. I would like to have seen a pitchfork or garden hoe leaning up against the barn. Maybe the farmer. Anyway, I can go back and ask the owner if we can add a prop or two. So, here’s the red barn.

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  • animals,  landscape,  trees

    To my enjoyment ….

    December 2, 2011
    The Farmers Two Trees
    Cottonwood Grove
    The Buck

    On Wednesday it started snowing sometime after 11:00 pm and continued until midday. The silence of a snowfall during the night allows us to awake to a new world, one covered in a blanket of white. For me watching a snowfall is a thing of beauty but there is something special when a silent snowfall surprises you in the morning. And, I accept, that along with all this beauty in nature comes the cold and wet, which is its way of sustaining this world of ours.

    So I grabbed the camera and braved the icy roads. I had no particular plan but let my intuition guide me. I traveled north and east on 120th in search of the farmers two trees and they were still there. After a few frames and letting the cold air invigorate my soul, I drove to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. I wanted to take in the beauty of the grassland and cottonwoods in their winter white.

    To my enjoyment, not far from the cottonwood grove, I found a nice buck and four does in search of food, while off in the distance a solitary coyote entered a group of trees.

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  • clouds,  landscape,  Pawnee National Grassland,  sunsets

    Road trip

    December 1, 2011
    Pawnee National Grasslands

    I made a short road trip with the new wheels. I drove up to the Pawnee National Grasslands, about 280 miles round trip. So I tested it with some highway miles and rugged dirt roads. Gas miles was good: 28 miles per gallon. It handles well both on the highway and the dirt roads.

    It has been several years since I visited the Grasslands. I hope to make a few more trips up there. It is one area where we have not taken a plow to the native grasses. The grassland is large with just over 193,000 acres. I notice a large quantity of wind turbines and oil wells I don’t remember. A little research uncovered they are allowing a limited amount of developed facilities. The area is also know for its birding with several species, especially during migration. Forest service roads allow for easy access to most areas of the grasslands and lead to many hiking trails. These trails will lead you to the Pawnee Buttes. I’m gonna have to make more trips up there.

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