Last week, Angela brought home a single yellow rose. The flower gradually opened over a few days. After breakfast, I was captivated by this rose, so out came the iPhone. This first image was processed with Snapseed to give a soft-focus edge blur.

Soft Yellow Rose

Standing next to the rose were three wooden vases, turned from Aspen wood.

Three Aspen Vases

Continuing with the yellow theme, I setup a bunch of bananas in the kitchen, before they were eaten. Processing with Shock-My-Pic gives the image a painterly look, with brush strokes as though done with oil paints.

Shocked Banana

Later that evening, the rose was lit by an overhead table lamp. Here is another soft-focus edge blur.

Yellow Rose

I made several experimental images of some of the rose images with Simply HDR.

Sepia Rose

This image got the Black and White HDR treatment, with a sepia tone.

Some more pictures from our trip to Bosque Del Apache last weekend… Soon after we arrived, we made a tour of the ponds and lakes around Bosque. These Sandhill Cranes were alerted to some action or possibly raptors, near this pond.

Sandhill Cranes At Bosque Del Apache

The following morning, we made our way out to Bosque from Socorro. The wind was really pumping. After watching the Snow Geese fly out, I captured these grasses being blown about by the wind.

Windblown Grasses At Bosque Del Apache

Later in the day, we made a tour round the ponds, observing several ducks and raptors. Stopping at one of the ponds, I made this image of the trees that were submerged by water.

Submerged Trees At Bosque Del Apache

The ponds are drained during the summer months. In the fall, water is allowed to flow into the ponds to provide a winter habitat for ducks and shore birds.

We made our way to farm road where the Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes were busy feeding. Several flocks of geese were flying in from other areas. I lowered my shutter speed to capture the motion of the wings on incoming Snow Geese.

Incoming Snow Geese At Bosque Del Apache

During the course of the day, the geese made their way down to one of the drainage ditches for a drink of water. While in the ditch, the geese were vulnerable from from predators. Snow geese are very skittish and are easily alarmed. This pair of geese were alarmed by some activity — probably visiting tourists.

Snow Geese On Sentry Duty

During the weekend, other birds that we observed included Shovelers, Pintails, Harriers, Bald Eagles and American Kestrels. We even observed a pair of Javelinas, our first sighting of this animal.

This weekend we made a birding trip to Bosque de Apache National Wildlife Refuge. We managed to arrive here before sunset. After seeing the Snow Geese return to the wetlands, the sun set illuminating the clouds.

On Saturday, I had planned to join the Denver Photowalk Meetup group that was making images of the city lights at sunset. Along the way, I got distracted by the Platte River and never made the meetup! I noticed that several power lines would obstruct the view of the skyline, so I felt that there were more promising locations! The sunset over the city was spectacular. I made this image of the clouds lit by the sunset above Speer Boulevard.

Sunset Over Speer Boulevard

Back to one of the earlier images that I made. The Cherry Creek Trail crosses the Platte River on this bridge. This bridge is for use by pedestrians, joggers and bicyclists.

Cherry Creek Trail Bridge Over The Platte River

Looking up from the Platte River trail, the sun lit up the road bridge that carries Speer Boulevard over the river.

Speer Boulevard Bridge Over The Platte River

As the sun sets, the underside of the bridge steelwork reflected the sunlight.

Bridge Sunset Steelwork

Once the sun sank behind the mountains, the clouds lit up with the red light of the setting sun. Here is one really amazing cloud formation that was present on this evening.

Clouds In The Sunset

I headed back to the light rail station by way of Auraria campus. I remember that the parking garages new the Tivoli Center provided unobstructed views of the city skyline. I made my way up the stairs to reach the fifth floor of the garage. This was one of the images that I made here.

Denver Downtown Skyline At Night

I made my way back home, had dinner and watched the Broncos play against the Patriots.

Yesterday afternoon, we had another winter snowstorm. This morning, we woke up with 2-inches of snow on the ground and branches covered with a layer of snow on the trees under clear blue skies.

Snow Branches And Blue Sky

Another view of the snow covered branches.

Snow Covered Branches And Blue Sky

The low morning sun created long shadows that showed the texture of the snow.

Morning Winter Street Scene

A few minutes later, a father and son passed by, taking their dog for a morning walk.

Walking The Dog

Within a couple of hours, the warmth of the sun melted all the snow, putting an end to the blanket of white.

On New Year’s Day, Susan flew back to London. After taking her to the airport, I headed to the gym. For aerobic exercises, I make use of the cross trainer. When in use, the instrumentation has this really cool heart.

Heart In The Gym

After working out, I noticed icy reflections in the parking lot. There was still plenty of ice remaining from the last snow storm a couple of weeks ago. The surrounding buildings reflected sunlight into the ice.

Reflection In Ice

Where the water had refrozen, the ice trapped air bubbles and formed intricate patterns.

Ice In The Parking Lot

I found this huge patch of ice that reflected surrounding buildings and the blue sky.

Icy Parking Lot

After much procrastination, I have decided to resurrect a new Project 52 for 2012. I had so much fun with the project in 2010, that I decided to do this again this year.

As the last week of 2010 progressed, I had several opportunities to make some images to close out the year. After the Christmas weekend, commuters were greeted by this cart, abandoned at the Arapahoe station.

Cart Abandoned At The Station

The fountains at the station have been turned down for the winter season and the water partially drained. On the other side of the fountain, these benches were awaiting visitors!

Benches At The Fountain

As I walked down to work, I passed these decorations hanging outside an office lobby. That’s me in the reflections of the balls — hiding behind the camera lens!

Reflections In The Balls

Returning to the station that evening, I passed by the fountains again. As usual, they are lit by lights under the water during the night hours, with the lights cycling through a variety of colors. These fountains have been the subject of several images. This time, I decided to make an image using in-camera multiple exposures, opening the shutter for each color change.

Fountain Multi-Exposure At Night

Yesterday, the sky was overcast on the eastern horizon, but still dark enough for the street lights to remain lit at 8am. I also included the crescent moon to provide some balance to the lamp.

Street Light And The Moon

Today snow was in our forecast — the first major snow this season! The day started out with clear skies and bright sunlight. During the last year, several storm drains were rebuilt with the new construction projects in the area. “Keep My Water Clean” announces one of these drains.

Keep My Water Clean

As I passed this bus shelter, the sun cast shadows on the green copper patina.

Copper Patina And Shadows

A few minutes later, I arrived at work. Within a half hour, clouds moved in from the north creating total overcast. Soon afterwards the forecast snow storm started. I looked out of the window at noon to see the roots of the maple tree outlined by a dusting of snow.

Roots In The Snowfall

At the end of the day, I walked back to the light rail station. The street lights on this parking lot lit up the snow. There was enough light to capture the sodium colored lights reflecting in the snow.

Snowstorm At Night

We have had very little moisture in the metro area since the summer. This snow storm should provide welcome relief to the trees in the area.

This is the last week of Project 52, that has kept me busy for much of the year, achieving the objectives that I set for myself. This last month has been especially challenging, mainly because I have been working during much of my free time and weekends; this made it difficult to find time to make images. I will continue to publish new images during 2011, but not as frequently.

Finally, I would like to wish everyone “A Merry New Year” for 2011.

This Christmas Eve I managed to get to Waterton Canyon. The trail has been closed since the summer and will be closed until the end of 2011 for removal of sludge that has built up over the years. However, for 6 weeks over the holiday period, the trail has been opened. I loaded my bike to make the journey a little easier to reach the weir on the Platte River before the sun went down. In previous years, December is a good time to find ice on the Platte River. I was hoping to make some images of ice, but this year has not been cold enough to create widespread ice formations.

The river has had several dams and weirs constructed over the years. Near one of the old weir sites, I pulled over. Water flowing around the concrete work left a trail of foam in the river. Sunlight reflected off the canyon walls and nearby trees to create a nice orange glow in the river.

Platte River

At this point in the canyon, the river cuts through granites and metamorphic rocks. The rock beds stand upright for much of the trail. Lichen and mosses grow on these rock faces forming yellow, green and orange patinas. I noticed that the rock face had failed on the far bank. Boulders had slid down to reveal the coral colored rock below.

Pine Tree And Rockfall

The leaves on the oak trees had lost their summer colors, turning an attractive orange-brown in the stark winter landscape. As usual, the oak leaves clung tenaciously to the branches.  At this spot along the trail, there is also a small creek that flows down to the river.

Winter Colors In Waterton Canyon

Several ducks were paddling in water near this point along the river. The rock below is covered with white guano, maybe from these same ducks?

Guano Covered Rock In The Platte River

Above the weir, the water has been dammed, creating a smooth reflective surface. The rock face creates symmetrical reflective patterns in the water. This image reminds me of an Ansel Adams image “Frozen Lake and Cliffs” that he made in 1932, but without the ice!

Reflections In The Platte River

Water flowed slowly over the weir, increasing in speed as it rushed down the concrete surface. This creates a dynamic textured backdrop to the static rabbit brush bush growing at the side of the weir.

Rabbit Brush And Weir

This image shows the laminar flow region of the water as it starts its journey down the weir. The imperfections in the concrete soon cause turbulent flow to create the white texture.

Weir On The Platte River

I packed up my gear for the ride back to the parking lot. It was a rough ride back. Although I checked my tire pressures before starting the trip, a few extras pounds of pressure would have made the ride much more comfortable!

Last weekend was another working weekend. During the afternoon, I took a break from work to visit Harlequin Plaza — about a five minute walk from the office. This is one of the sites for Museum of Outdoor Art exhibits in the area. There are several statues with a theatrical theme. These statues are distinctive because they are black in color and wear shiny golden colored masks. This one has a humongous nose.

I Like Your Nose

One of the statues is playing a horn, that is set against the blue sky.

Horn In The Sky

Here is a shiny mask.

Shiny Mask

The sun was setting in the sky while the air became much colder. Heading back to the office, there is a ditch that drains water away from the laws and parking lot. The sun picked out the orange branches of the bushes.

Drainage Ditch At Sunset

At one spot, water had accumulated in a pool, where the leafless tree was reflected. All these images were made with a Lensbaby. This is a unique lens that has one sweet spot where the focus is sharp. The sharpness falls off rapidly into a blur from here to the edges. The position of the sweet spot can be adjusted within the image.

Reflection In The Ditch

Outside the office are planters that reflect the light of the setting sun.

Planter In The Setting Sun

Usually we are accustomed to experiencing the builder and the planters as being white in color. However, the camera captures the building in the setting light that is more yellow or orange.

The last two weeks have been overload at work. On Saturday, I took a break from the office desk to enjoy the great afternoon while waiting our deployment process to complete. With camera in hand, I headed out of the office. The Cascades building across the road have several clumps of grasses planted in the flower beds.

Autumn Grasses

The low afternoon sun provided a nice backlight for the grasses. During autumn, these grasses take on a golden color.

Golden Grass

I made my way up to Samson Park, where the sun lit up the polyhedral shelter.

Luminous Polyhedron

Entering the shelter, the translucent faces took on some of the color of the deep blue sky.

White Star

Several lamp posts light the path that runs through the park. The white globes of the lights stand out against the blue sky.

Samson Park Lighting

At this point I switched to a Lensbaby. One feature of Samson Park is the “Mohawk Wind Sculpture” that I photographed in a previous post “Fall Colors At Samson Park“. This allowed me to capture an abstract image of the sculpture.

Mohawk Wind Sculpture Abstract

One of the sculptures in the park depicts a couple of lovers huddled on a park bench. Here the lady is in a state of eternal bliss.

Sculpture, In Bliss

XCelEnergy have been busy in the street installing new cabling or upgrading existing power distribution cables over the last few months. There was a construction crew busy this weekend too. A few weeks ago they completed construction that included this manhole cover that I pass everyday. The red stripe makes this feature difficult to ignore.

Energy Manhole

Returning back to the office, I noticed this array of brightly colored valves that are used to supply water to fire trucks in the event of fires.

Red Valves

Finally, it was back to the office to check on the deployment of the application. Entering the building, these trees were silhouetted against the blue sky.

Office Window Reflections

After checking on the successful deployment, it was home time!