Photographer in Colorado

Yesterday was First Friday Artwalk, so this saw me on Santa Fe. Visiting one gallery, I noticed reflections of a pair of oil paintings on the windows. Waiting for art lovers to walk past, I made one image that captured a boy’s shadow.

Artwork Reflections And Shadow

Santa Fe Blvd still has holiday lights hanging in the trees. In this image, I defocused the lens to get nice big lights in the image. I made several images that included passers-by on the far side of the street.

Street Lighting On Santa Fe Blvd

In one of the galleries, a lady had a large selection of pastels laid out in her studio. In this image, a defocussed image shows an abstract pattern of the colored pastels.

Pastel Abstracted

Down in the basement, there were pottery studios and exhibits. I found a “bowling alley” in one of the studios.

Bowling Alley?

And, along one of the walls, was a line of broken hearts.

Broken Hearts

Back upstairs, was a collection of glazed hearts hanging from a frame…

Black Heart And…

In another gallery, there was a sign posted outside the studio that read “Please Do Not Enter – In Session”. I wonder what was behind the veil that covered the studio entrance.

What’s Behind The Veil

While having a coffee, I was drawn to the lines cast by the shadows of a fence along the street. In this image, I tried to capture the color contrast between the green and orange lighting that lit the scene.

Fence, Shadows And Light

I enjoy visiting the galleries, seeing the art work and meeting some of the artists. I am always inspired to make images of my visit.

We had a snow storm last week with freezing temperatures at the start of the week. The fountains near Araphoe Station were pumping warmer water. With the cold air, this created mist around the fountains of water.

Arapahoe Fountains At Dawn

The nearby office building reflected light back into the fountains, highlighting the mist.

Misty Fountains, Arapahoe Station

A couple of days later, I noticed the shadows cast on the marble-clad building where I work.

Shadows On Building No 1, Greenwood Village

I made this image to include a tree with it’s shadow on an adjacent building.

Shadows On Building No 2, Greenwood Village

Regards.

Bosque del Apache is a winter migration destination for thousands of Sandhill Cranes, Snow Geese and many other species. In early December, I headed down to Socorro, New Mexico, so that I could attempt to make some images of the birds. I visited this pond each morning to make some still images of the cranes and geese. On the final morning, I only captured videos of these birds.

Both species spend the nights in the ponds to evade predators. After dawn, cranes and geese fly out to feed in nearby fields. Sandhill Cranes typically depart from the ponds in family groups of two to four birds. Snow Geese typically depart as one huge flock. When the geese take out, they sound like a jet plane at takeoff.

This video was the first project that I made using Final Cut Pro. The original video clips were recorded at 4k with a Fuji X-T2. This video took 6 to 8 hours to make while I was learning Final Cut, with lots of mistakes!

During the first week of 2018, I made several images. So let’s kick of the year in style! For the last 15 months or so, a new office building has been under construction near Arapahoe Station. The building is nearing completion and this week construction workers continued to perform work on the windows.

Construction Worker, Greenwood Village

There are three new buildings at this location. The one in the foreground is the oldest, having been completed several years ago. The new building stands behind. The third building that was completed two years ago is out of the frame.

Reflections In Office Buildings

Friday was the First Friday of the month, so I headed to the art galleries on Santa Fe Blvd. In one gallery, the exhibiting artist was busy painting on a canvas.

Artist At Work, Santa Fe Blvd

This afternoon, saw me downtown next to the South Platte River. While taking a break, shadows of passing pedestrians were cast on the concrete wall in from of me. This image, of a lady with smartphone, was the best image. Within a copule of minutes, the wall was in total shade.

Shadow, Girl With Phone

Across the Platte River, the railings along the trail created interesting reflections in the calm river waters.

Reflections In Platte River, Downtown Denver

Best wishes for the New Year. Have a Merry New Year!

Continuing with my trip to Bosque Del Apache. On the third morning, I managed to capture a pair of Snow Geese after they had taken flight for the feeding grounds.

Snow Geese In Flight, Bosque Del Apache

Later in the day, I found a Great Blue Heron, waiting to capture a meal along the bank of the irrigation channel.

Great Blue Heron, Bosque Del Apache

The American Kestrel is the smallest of our raptors, about nine inches in length. I found this little falcon perched on a bush while hunting for his next meal.

American Kestrel, Bosque Del Apache

Leaving the refuge, I stopped by the ponds near the entrance. After the sun set behind the mountains, the golden light of  sky was reflected in the water. I waited for this Sandhill Crane to walk through the golden light, creating a silhouette.

Sandhill Crane Sunset Silhouette, Bosque Del Apache

During the few days around Socorro, I saw three Greater Roadrunners crossing the roads. On the third and final morning, I was heading towards the exit of the refuge. Noticing a hump at the roadside, I slowed down and reached for the camera. After rolling down the window, I stopped to take a look through the camera. Yessss. A roadrunner. This was the best of the half dozen images that I made before this fun bird ran into the bushes.

Greater Roadrunner, Bosque Del Apache

This image made my day! After packing away my gear, I headed back for the return trip to Denver.

Two weeks ago, I headed down to Socorro, NM, to spend some time developing skills at photographing birds. At the entrance of Bosque Del Apache (a National Wildlife Refuge site), is a pond where many Sandhill Cranes and thousands of Snow Geese spend the night. The cranes usually gather in quiet family groups. The geese are always chattering away, creating a cacophony of sound. About sunrise, these birds leave the safety of the ponds to feed at other parts of the wildlife refuge. I made the following image of a pair of cranes as they took flight, leaving the cacophony of the ponds.

Sandhill Crane Pair, Bosque Del Apache

As a pair of cranes passed in front of the mountains, I made this image of these magnificent birds in flight.

Sandhill Cranes In Flight, Bosque Del Apache

Later in the afternoon, I found a Pied Grebe, swimming and feeding in one of the ponds. These birds dive to find food under water. After surfacing, I made this image as it looked at me.

Pied Grebe, Bosque Del Apache

On the second morning at the ponds, the water was lit by pink light reflecting off the mountains. I made this image of the Sandhill Cranes standing in the pond.

Sandhill Cranes Before Dawn, Bosque Del Apache

Close to the main tour loop entrance, several White Crowned Sparrows feed around the bushes. One of the sparrows was perched on the bush, catching the morning sunshine.

White Crowned Sparrow, Bosque Del Apache

That completes the first of the images that I captured.

Most of the day trip to Djupavik and back was under overcast skies. Skies started clearing on the return trip to Saeberg. As the sun dropped in the evening sky, I knew that we would have a spectacular evening. Looking south along the fjord, the moon was lit by the setting sun. Spectacular!

Moonrise Over Fjord, Saeberg

At the hostel, just as the sun was setting, we were talking about northern lights. I then looked out of the window, and there were the lights. That was the signal for all of us to head outside! I made this image looking out from the east side of the hostel, where the lights filled the frame.

Northern Lights, Saeberg, No 1

I grabbed my Fuji, that had a 12mm lens attached and headed out to the west side of the hostel, looking out over the fjord. The lights swept up vertically above in this image.

Northern Lights, Just After Sunset, Saeberg

There was still plenty of light remaining from the sunset, just above the horizon. It was most unusual to see the northern lights with such a bright sky!

For exposure settings, the first image was made at 640 ISO, 20 seconds, f/5.6 with a 24mm lens on full-frame sensor. The second image was made at 800 ISO, 30 seconds, f/5.6 with a 12mm lens on APC sensor. During previous visits to Iceland, I made images at 400 ISO, 20 seconds, f/5.0 with 24mm on full-frame sensor. The key to making these images is to use an exposure of no longer than 20 seconds. A wider lens would allow longer exposures without star trails.

These images really made for another great day in Iceland.