Sunday, February 24, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
In the Garden of the Gods
A few days in the Colorado Springs area gave me the opportunity to photograph something different. Garden of the Gods is a free city park uplifted 25 million years ago and eroded to the present beautiful formations. I'd been there before, but never had time to explore all the trails and walkways.
Scouting the park for shooting locations the first day and returning a few times during my short stay enabled me to capture several images. I arrived before dawn to capture an image with Pikes Peak in the background only to find the mountain hidden by clouds until well after sunrise. It's only a 2 hour drive from home, so I'll be returning and perhaps get that image I wanted.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Setting Moon over the Forbidden Park
Shooting the moon again. This was a couple of days ago, the 24th, just after sunrise. Capture at 1/50 second, f/29, ISO 400, focal length 100mm. The rocky hilltop in this image is part of a future state park, still in the planning phase, not yet open to the public. Forbidden, while I grow old. CO State Parks, are you reading this? Hurry!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Carnival Time! I and the Bird, edition #67
I was happy this morning to see my recent post on the mountain chickadee was included as a stop in the tour. I slid my submission in on the deadline date here, but by Trevor’s time in Australia, I was late. Create your bird related posts and submit them (on time, please) to nds22 (at) cornell (dot) edu by Tuesday, February 5th for edition #68 of I and the Bird at Biological Ramblings. Aren’t blog carnivals fun?
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Mountain Chickadee: Wintering Close to Home
The little mountain chickadee is often a photographic subject for me in winter. This one posed for a portrait view behind a rail covered with snow. Then, it perched on the feeder hook as the little nutchatches often do. The mountain chickadees seems comfortable with me and the camera as near as about 8 ft. Any closer and I send them flying into the nearby trees. Both of these images were captured with a 100 to 400 lens from about 10 feet.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Chalk Cliffs, Moon, Mt. Princeton
This wide angle image was captured in early morning sub-zero weather from just outside our room at the hot springs the last week of December. You see part of Mt. Princeton on the right and Mt. Antero on the far left with the chalk cliffs of Mt. Princeton at the center and the moon above. The moon called to me to come out with the camera and tripod in the wind and cold. Fingers and toes cried for me to go back inside even though I wore boots rated for the temperature and ski gloves while out. You may click the image to see it a bit larger.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Mt. Princeton
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Orchids - white dendrobiums
Colorful Landscape - It's All About Light
The photos in this post were all taken this morning within about two hours time. Up before dawn and watching the pretty clouds in the west, I thought it might be a good morning for a colorful dawn light glowing on the clouds and Lions Head. I put the wide angle on the camera and positioned the tripod as the first of the pink began to show up in the clouds.
Later, with early sunlight on Lions Head I changed position to photographed trees still in shadow against the brightly lit rock of Cathedral and Lions Head. Where the earliest sunlight on Lions Head produces red and orange, a bit later the light reflected from the rocks is more yellow in color as seen below.
An hour later heavy clouds almost fill the sky and filter the light. The color in the photo below is so muted I could have got almost the same shot in black and white.
Yet, the day is still good for color photography. When zooming in to photograph birds or flowers, or just about any close up of a subject, better color and detail is possible with overcast skies or filtered light rather than direct lighting. I put the wide angle lens away and switched to a macro lens to photograph orchids blooming in the house in the soft, cloud-filtered light from a window.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Winter Sunset
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Happy This Year, 2008
I've been busy enjoying time with my family who are on holiday from work and school. A few days at our favorite hotsprings, a day of playing in the snow at a nordic center, and just hanging out at home reading, relaxing, and keeping the fire burning. There have been a few images captured, but I haven't looked at most of them as I'm on holiday, too. Happy New Year.
Friday, December 28, 2007
I and the Bird #65
This is my second time to have a post in an edition of I and the Bird. Thanks to wren at Wrenaissance Reflections for suggesting it to me the first time around.
If you'd like to participate in the 66th edition of I and The Bird, please send the URL of your blog post to the next carnival host, John, at bornagainbirdwatcherDOTcom with the words "I and The Bird" in the subject line. The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, Jan. 8.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Battle Scarred Mule Deer
Thursday, December 13, 2007
pygmy nuthatch
With more snow in the forecast, these little birds seem to be stocking up today. I know that some bird species hide a stash of seeds. At the rate the seed is leaving my feeders today, it wouldn't surprise me to find these birds hiding the seed somewhere. They seem too small to be eating it all.