• clouds,  landscape,  mountains,  sunsets,  trees

    Visiting Four Friends

    March 15, 2015
    One of my four friends
    One of my four friends

    I drove out to County Road 15 to visit my four tree friends I hadn’t seen in several months and I was hoping to watch a sunset with them. My ulterior motive was because I needed to get out of town and listen to some quiet. With very little wind made for even more quiet to take in. Some friends or the trees, Meadowlarks, were putting on a beautiful concert for us and filled me with some of that joyful stuff and giving me goose bumps. My four friends sit along the road in an unplowed field. One is right along the road and the others sit off a short distance. Along with them are a couple of large clumps of bushes. I need to find out what kind they are.

    I’m not sure who told them I was out there but I was blessed with more visitors than just the trees and Meadowlarks. Two large formations of honking Canada Geese flew over and added to the concert. A Red-tailed Hawk stopped by, perched its self on a telephone pole and kept an eye on me. Using my binoculars I watched a great Horned owl fly from one of the trees to a telephone pole before taking off to the north. It must have been dinner time for those guys (gals). A white-tailed deer stopped as she crossed the road to check me out then bounded over the fence. I assume she went to tell someone about the strange dude. Fifteen minutes after the sun set behind the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains the sky began to take on slightly orange glow then pink and then turned bright red. We had our colorful Colorado sunset.

    Front Range Sunset
    Front Range Sunset

    It was a good evening. I enjoyed seeing my four friends. I enjoyed the concert. I enjoyed the sunset and felt it was all well worth my time and money. I’m glad I left when I did because as I drove away the fragrance of skunk began to drift in my window. Those were visitors I did not want to encounter. 🙂

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  • landscape,  mountains

    Time on the River

    October 3, 2014

     

    The Artist
    The Artist

    Time in nature can be for healing and calming the soul. While on my drive up the Poudre Canyon the other day I came across two people who were finding time in nature, one and artist and one a fly fisherman.

    photocrati gallery

     

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  • architecture,  clouds,  Documentary/Street,  landscape,  mountains,  National Parks,  Rocky Mountain National Park

    Estes Park and RMNP

    August 18, 2014

    This is a small park area along the river.
    This is a small park area along the river.

    I decided to make a drive up to Estes Park yesterday. My intent was to grab a coffee and sit along the river to read and write. The thought crossed my mind to maybe have lunch before coming back. I ended up driving up to Trail Ridge Road. What a glorious day to make that drive. Last Fall Estes Park had a flood come through the town and wiped out most of it. Here are a few images. The city is built along the banks for the Big Thompson River and has been a tourist attraction for years. I am amazed at how well it looked. Lunch was probably the best turkey/bacon wrap with a pesto sauce to die for.

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  • landscape,  mountains,  sunrises

    Pastel Colors

    August 26, 2013

    Sunrise on the Colorado Front Range
    Sunrise on the Colorado Front Range

    This past Saturday morning I rose before sunrise and drove out to a favorite location to enjoy the morning sunrise. I like this location for several reasons. There are some isolated trees in a farmers field that I enjoy working into some images. There are two wetland/marshes where I can find plenty of red-winged blackbirds and yellow headed blackbirds feeding on insects during the early summer mornings and evenings. On this particular morning I had walked through an open fence and into the farmers field about 20 feet, setup my tripod low the the ground and started pressing the shutter. The sun was just starting to crest the horizon when I heard a vehicle stop just behind my car. As I stood up I noticed it was a police car. I grabbed the camera and tripod and walked over to meet him. He was friendly and just checking on my car which was parked off the road and gave me a warning that I was on private property. I quickly went back to my previous location in time to shoot the sunrise. It is always good for us to turn around and look to the west just as the sun begins to rise as the sky can present us with beautiful pastel colors.

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  • clouds,  mountains,  sunsets

    Same Sunset, but Different

    June 1, 2013

    Sunset at Arapahoe Bend Nature Area

    This is almost the same image as the one I posted a few days ago, but different, and to me, much more realistic of what I saw. The difference is one is an HDR composite of five images while this one is a composite of three images (All one stop differences). In all honesty I was not comfortable posting the previous image because it was not what I saw and that halo around the sun was awful. Yet, I worked on that HDR image as if there was something I was destined to pull out of it. Never happened. I am much more pleased with this one. So, I’m still learning about the positive and negative aspects of HDR. It intrigues me so I will see what creativity can come from it.

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  • Canon Powershot G12,  Cityscapes/Urban,  mountains,  Plants

    My Kind of Morning

    May 14, 2013

    Dandelions

    I saw this group of dandelions along the bike bath at Rolland Moore Park yesterday and just had to stop and take a photo. I find it strange how some people call them weeds and others don’t. I actually rode on a part of the bike trail I had never been on before. At the far west end the trail is the Spring Canyon Community Park. Wow, was I surprised at it’s size and beauty. It is nestled up against the foothills so the view is awesome. I found a picnic table situated among a butterfly garden and journaled for a while. I loved listening to a couple of meadow larks calling to each other. I think this will be a place I come to visit more often. Anyway it was my kind of morning.

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  • landscape,  mountains

    Not Again

    March 16, 2013
    Horestooth Reservoir

    The above image I took along the east side of Horsetooth Reservoir yesterday evening of the Galena Fire. It is way too early to begin having forest fires, especially after last year. They suspect this was cause by man which makes it even more painful. Let’s hope we do not have the same season as last year. In the lower right portion you can see some of the flames as the flare up.

    Looking North into the Fire

    This image is taken from the south looking north towards the fire. This south end has several homes and the harbor area for the reservoir. As you can see the smoke is drifting to the east and settling on the city of Fort Collins. Everything smells like smoke and we can find ash on our cars in town. Have a super weekend.

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