Photographer in Colorado

A few weeks before leaving for Iceland, we made reservations for the Golden Circle tour. The tour includes a visit to Þingvellir, Geysir and Gulfoss. This is a popular tour that many visitors make because of the close proximity of these locations to Reykjavik. Þingvellir is the site where the first democratic parliament was formed in the year 930. The Geysir Geothermal Field is the location where geysirs (or geysers) got their name. Gulfoss is a spectacular waterfall.

Most of the day was overcast with lots a rain — nothing unusual for Iceland during September and October. Iceland is located on the junction of the North American and European tectonic plates. Þingvellir is located right on the rift that is formed by these tectonic plates. We stopped here at the Visitor’s Center where the wind was howling! We then moved on towards Geysir, arriving at about noon. Angela and I made our way to the geysir “Strokkur” that typically erupts every 5 minutes. I set the camera for continuous shooting and managed to make an image of peak of the action.

Geysir “Strokkur” Eruption

This was my third trip to Iceland, so I was not concerned about missing any images. After having lunch, we headed to Gulfoss. The word “foss” is Icelandic for falls. The water flowing into the Hvita river is melting glacial waters from the nearby Langjökull glacier.

Gulfoss Waterfalls, 2017

The river flows down over a series of ledges that forms the upper falls and then flows over the edge of the huge lower falls the feeds into a chasm.

Into The Chasm, No 1, Gulfoss

Here is another image looking down into the chasm.

Over The Edge Of The Chasm, Gulfoss

The volume of water flowing through Gulfoss is astounding. The total annual precipitation in Colorado probably represents a few minutes of the flow at Gulfoss!

Upper Falls, Gulfoss

This volume of water can really only be appreciated by visiting the falls, as Angela soon discovered.

Angela At Gulfoss

Before leaving for Iceland, one of Angela’s friends had mentioned visiting the hot springs at Blue Lagoon. Investigating further, we decided that it was pricey. We selected this particular Golden Circle tour (operated by Sterna) because it also ended with a visit to the Secret Lagoon. Water in the pool is fed from geothermal springs that supply natural hot water to springs. I made this panorama of the pool area after we spent a 1/2 hour in the pool.

Secret Lagoon Springs, Fluðir

The hot springs are also used to warm greenhouses in the nearby town of Fluðir. Across the river are greenhouses where tomatoes are grown.

Greenhouses Along River, Fluðir

After our swim in the hot springs, we headed back to Reykjavik at the end of the day.

In September this year, we made a trip to Iceland. After arriving in Reykjavik, we headed towards the old harbor. All the flights from Denver arrive at about 6:30 am. So we were looking forward to some breakfast. After parking the car, we walked to the Cafe Haiti, located in the Old Harbor area. This is one of the houses in the area with some art on the street fence.

House And Street Art, Reykjavik

During breakfast, we decided to join one of the Walking Tours of Reykjavik. The tour that we joined was run by the city. We made online reservations for the tour later in the early afternoon and slowly meandered through the streets of Reykjavik to the tour group.

Outside the old school, I found this huge puddle at the side of the street; it had been raining earlier in the day. The house across the street was reflected in the water. I managed to make this image just before one of the city buses drove through the puddle. I had to run back away from the street to avoid being drenched with the spray!

Reflections In The Street, Reykjavik

Tomas was the leader of our tour. Here is an image taken while he was introducing himself and outlining the itinerary for the “free” tour.

Reykjavik Walking Tour Guide, Tomas

During the tour, Tomas provided an excellent history of Iceland and Reykjavik, as we were walking through some of the neighborhoods close to the city center. The yellow house below is covered by sheets of corrugated steel. This is typical of the very old houses in Reykjavik. The older houses have been constructed from timber. Corrugated cladding is used to protect the underlying wall timbers from the cold winters. Newer houses are constructed from concrete walls and do not require cladding.

Older Housing District, Reykjavik

I found this artwork etched into the window panes of another house.

Window Art, Reykjavik

Towards the end of the tour, we passed behind one of the oldest schools in Reykjavik. Here, there is a parking lot, where students and teachers park their cars. With all the cars in close proximity, there is no space to move a car from the back of the lot without moving cars out of the parking lot. Tomas explained that drivers have to put their contact details on the dashboard. When someone needs to drive out, for an early appointment or event, they need to contact the other drivers to have them move their cars!

Parking Lot Behind The School, Reykjavik. Let’s get my car out of here!

The final stop of the walking tour was the city hall. Outside city hall is this unique statue that has been titled “The Unknown Bureaucrat”.

Unknown Bureaucrat, Reykjavik

Inside the city hall, there is a large relief map of Iceland. Tomas gave an overview of the island, identifying various points of interest. These tours are free, but the guides are happy to receive a tip for their efforts. Tomas made a very entertaining tour for all of us. We gave him a generous tip.

The annual Crush Festival took place in the Rino District this last weekend. Our night shoot Meetup Group had organized to make photographs of the event. It was good to meetup with the group again. After outlining a plan of action in one of the parking lots, we headed out to find some new muralists and their murals.

The murals were not only confined to building walls in the street and back alleys. This is no longer a yellow bus!

Not A Yellow Bus, On Larimer Street

Earlier this year, I visited the alley where the mural below was made. The mural has changed! While setting up camera on a tripod, the image on the back of the camera looked like a car — purple grill with two headlights.

Mural With Twin Portholes

Maybe it is supposed to be an illusion? The two porthole windows form a clever part of image. An eye in the lizard (?) on the left, and an eye on the human face on the right.

Nearby I found a line of spray canisters sitting on the wall. Twelve of them, and — yes — I counted them!

Twelve Spray Canisters Sitting On The Wall

This artist — I’m guessing he is D!nkc — since he was adding his logo to a mural on this wall. He was one of many artists that made use of scissor lifts to reach the top of the building walls.

D!nkc At Work, Rino District

Looking back along the alley, D!nkc was busy at work. Setting up the camera for another image, I captured a couple of photographers too. That looks like Sean in the foreground. This image looked better as a monochrome image.

Alley Muralists, Rino District

After dark, several artists had to continue to work with headlamps. In this image, the alley looks like a riot of color.

Working Under Headlamp, Rino District

Further down the alley, another artist was on a scissor lift. In this image, the street light in the alley cast his shadow on the wall. This image really works much better as a monochrome image — the shadow is more pronounced.

Shadowed Artist, Rino District

Finally, I headed back home, passing the parking lot with the truck mural painters. Stopping at the parking lot, this artist had made considerable progress on the image of the eagle.

Eagle Artist, Rino District

A fun evening!

This weekend was the annual Crush Festival in the Rino District. Our night shoot Meetup Group met for this event last night. Here are some images that I made before our group met. In this image, this lady was busy painting a mural on the side of a truck that was parked in one of the parking lots.

Lady, Painting The Lion

Many of the murals in the Rino District appear in the back alleys. Several groups of muralists could be found working on their art. This muralist was busy putting finishing touches on this dragon.

Muralist And Dragon, Rino District

“The Letter S”. Another muralist adding finishing touches.

The Letter S

Murals in this area typically cover a huge area for the buildings. This artist was putting finishing touches to what appears to be bubbles. I am guessing that this artist is Gordon Pryor, from his tee shirt!

Muralist At Work, Rino DIstrict

Nearby these spray canisters were parked on the top rungs of a ladder — ready for access by artists on platforms.

Spray Canisters On Ladder

This striking mural grabbed my attention with its’ hot colors. Several spent spray canisters were parked in the alley.

Spent Spray Canisters

Most of the murals were created using spray paints, so these spray canisters could be found in the alleys.

Soon after making this image, I headed over to join our photo group. To be continued…

Last week, Angela visited Chatfield State Park and related how many birds were seen at Chatfield. Apparently some 80 Pelicans were sighted. This morning, I headed out at sunrise. The sky was hazy from wildfires that are burning to the north and west of Colorado. Out near the sandbar, were a few Pelicans that I managed to capture.

Pelicans At Chatfield State Park

Returning to the parking lot, several children found some “ducks”. A family of Common Mergansers were swimming rapidly away from the kids! In this image, are 7 immature Mergansers following after a parent who is outside the frame.

Common Merganser Family, Chatfield

One Merganser turned around, in this image.

Common Merganser, Chatfield

There is also a pair of immature Cooper’s Hawks a few hundred yards from where I had parked. As I approached, I could hear their calls. Apparently they are still too young to hunt for themselves, and were calling to their parents for food. The first hawk, was close to the parking lot, and quite visible.

Cooper’s Hawk No 1, Chatfield

While observing, I heard a call from the second hawk, that was in a tree about a hundred yards behind me. I successfully captured an image before the hawk took flight.

Cooper’s Hawk No 2, Chatfield

By this time, the park was becoming more crowded as people arrived to celebrate a day in the park for Labor Day. Time to go!

Monday, August 21, was the Great Eclipse of 2017. I made the trip to the Sandhills of Western Nebraska to experience the totality of this solar eclipse. This image is a composite from a timelapse of the event that represents a images from 10:30am – 1:20pm (MDT).

Great Eclipse 2017, Merged Timelapse

I made a timelapse sequence of 95 images shot at 2 minute intervals. The image above was made by selecting images 4 minutes apart from the sequence; this allowed a gap to show between each sun image. I had to adjust the camera position of the final frames because the sun would be off the frame. This was shot with a 50mm zoom setting with 16-stops of neutral density filters.

It would be really great to include some foreground elements in one of the frames. I camped at the road-side. The following panorama image was made just after sunrise. The Sandhills were spectacular, but there was not much gain in elevation of the rolling hills and no trees. The timelapse would have required a wider angle setting to include foreground, but with smaller sun images. So I opted to include just the sun.

Nebraska Sandhills Sunrise Panorama

My location was about on a dirt road, about a mile from the highway. This was about 20 miles north of Scott’s Bluff. I researched this location, as well as a second location across the state line in Wyoming. My choice was an excellent location to view totality.

After the eclipse had started, I made this panorama. On the left are two visitors, Jay and Sally, from Minnesota. On the right edge are two tripods with two cameras attached.

Great Eclipse 2017, Nebraska Sandhills Panorama

Further along the road were more visitors viewing the event. During the course of the morning, there must have been about 50-100 cars parked along several miles of this dirt road. A couple of visitors had 8-inch reflector telescopes with solar film. I got the opportunity to view the sun shortly after sunrise in one scope, and the end of the eclipse in the second scope.

Great Eclipse 2017, Visitors Along Road

We were waiting to experience the totality of the eclipse. As totality arrived, cheers could be heard from several visitors along the roadside. I made the following image of the sun’s corona, streaming out from the sun. This was an awe-inspiring sight and event!

Great Eclipse 2017, Corona

During totality, it was very dark, except for the sun’s corona and the horizon; the entire horizon was lit with an orange glow in all directions.

While making images with the second camera, I got to see the “Diamond Ring” as the sun emerged from totality. I was fortunate to capture the first diamond ring in this image.

Great Eclipse 2017, Diamond Ring No 1

A couple of seconds later, I got another spectacular diamond ring, with light streaks and some lens flare included in the following image.

Great Eclipse 2017, Diamond Ring No 2

As the eclipse passed, people left the site. I continued to wait for another 1-1/2 hours for my timelapse sequence to complete before I packed up.

Fortunately, most of the traffic from the Scott’s Bluff area, had dissipated by the time the I left this location. There was plenty of traffic on my way back home, but I made good time driving at the highway speed limits. I returned by way of Kimball and Sidney, where traffic was moving smoothly. Closer to Denver, I left the highway to make some images of the sunflower fields near the DIA airport.

This is the time of year that sunflowers are in bloom. A few weeks ago I found some sunflower fields to visit but the flowers had weeks to go before blooming. On Saturday, I made my first trip to this location, where the flowers had started to open. Here is the first image for 2017.

Sunflower 2017, No 1

I then decided for another image of this plant. In this image, I took care to include the entire leaf at bottom left in the frame.

Sunflower 2017, No 2

I found a sunflower that had not opened fully. One can see a hint of yellow in the center of the budding flower. Also, if you look carefully, you may be able to see a ladybug near the bottom of the flower head. Sunflowers have really attractive leaves. The white veins add lots of contrast and texture to the leaves. Something that I want to explore this summer.

Sunflower Bud, With Ladybug

The back of the sunflower head, and the thick stems are covered with hairs that add texture the to plant.

Sunflower Opening

Another image look at the side of the flower…

Sunflowers, No 3

In this image, I included three sunflowers.

Three Sunflowers

Enjoy. More to come later.