Photographer in Colorado

During the winter months the banks of the South Platte River are often lined with ice and snow. Last weekend, I spent an afternoon near Foxton on the banks of the river to make some images before the ice melts at the end of the season.

Sharp Ice, Platte River

As the sun dipped below the hills, sunlight was reflected off the rocks to create golden reflections in the river.

Golden Reflection, Platte River

Working my way along the riverside, I found several places where the flowing water created tunnels through the ice.

Ice Tunnel, Platte River

Water flowing down the river creates smooth milky surfaces when tumbling over the rocks.

Water Flow, Platte River

Water splashing up from the river freezes along the river banks to create icicles. Here the boulder has accumulated enough ice to create a skirt with icicles hanging down.

Ice Skirt With Icicles

Last night about a dozen photogs from our meetup group (Illuminate Workshops) met at City Park to brave cold. We met at the steps looking towards the city.

Denver Winter Skyline From City Park

After the sun went down, I went down to one of the balls that surrounded the circle. In this image, I got down low to emphasize the long shadow and included the park bench in the background.

Ball And Bench

The city lights lit up the overcast sky with a pale orange light.

Orange Sky Over City Park

We made our way down to the lake. By this time, the sky had turned a deep blue. In this image the orange sodium light contrasts with the blue of the snow and sky. Snow continued to fall, leaving trails and a glow around the streetlight.

Light From The Lone Streetlight

Nearby this tree had many branches trimmed and removed. This tree greeted us with limbs spread wide open.

Here Are My Branches

We stopped by the playground where the park benches had a light coating of snow. In the background, one of our fellow photogs was making an image of the playground. My image below was exposed for 13 seconds — I was amazed that this photog had stayed so still for the duration of the exposure!

City Park Bench

Several paths in the park had frozen footprints. I stopped to make an image of one area, where the snow had accumulated on the ridges of ice to outline the prints.

Frozen Footprints, City Park

That was the last image of the night. By this time it was so cold that feet and fingers were frozen… So I headed home for a hot dinner to get warm again.

This last week has been one of the coldest weeks in 2014. We had sub-zero temperatures for a couple of days and below freezing for most of the week, with a snow storm or two thrown in! Walking to work, I pass by a landscaped bank that is lined with bushes. During the spring and summer, the bushes are covered with leaves. When it snows in the winter, the leafless bushes are half-buried under snow. After leaving the shade cast by an office building, the sun casts shadows that reveals the texture of the snow covering the bank. In the following image, the sun revealed the ridge line that I used as a leading line to the buried bush.

Snow Ridge

Further on, I found a red “cone” that cast a long shadow from the low angle of the sun. The sunlight also brought out the surface texture of the snow bank. In reality, the cone is a red flag planted in the ground to indicate the presence of a cable running underground.

Red “Cone”, Buried In Snow

During the week, the snow slowly started to melt creating icy conditions. At the light rail station, an area was marked off for construction with red “Danger” tape. Again, the low sun revealed the texture of the snow and footprints.

Danger

A traffic cone was planted nearby to warn commuters of potential dangers. I made this image looking straight down over the cone. During the commute, I tinkered with this image on my iPhone. This was given the “tangled” treatment with Tangled FX. This app also boosts the red and orange colors during processing.

Tangled Cone

The last couple of weeks has seen a variety of weather conditions. The weekends were warm and sunny. Then a snowstorm came through. Walking to work, I passed this snowfield near the light rail station.

Three Bushes In The Snow Field

A few days later, we had another snowstorm during the day. Walking back to the light rail station, I noticed how bright the city lights were, reflecting from the snow. While walking, I made this long exposure that rendered various light trails.

Light Trails, While Walking

A couple of days later, the sky had cleared. The Ciber building was reflecting the morning sunlight into the shadowed street. This morning I made an infrared image to capture the reflections and clouds against a dark sky.

Reflections From The Morning Sun In Infrared

The next day, another storm had moved in. During the evening, the sky was lit orange from the glow of the streetlights. While waiting for the train, I made this image at the station.

Light Rail Station, Snowstorm At Night

At the end of the work week, we had another snow day. This bike had been chained to the bike rack at the light rail station for a few weeks. Returning to the light rail station, I decided to make this image before it disappeared!

Abandoned Bicycle In The Snow

On the way to work, I pass by the Chinook Tavern every day. At this time of year the long angle of the sun and its direction, casts long shadows from the entrance. During the winter months, the outdoor umbrellas are encased in colorful orange covers.

Chinook, Long Shadows

The Arapahoe Station builds reflected the blue sky in the windows. This contrasts with the red umbrellas along the sidewalk.

Red Umbrellas And Blue Sky Reflections

On Friday, there was a huge wave cloud formation over the metro area. While waiting for light rail, I made this image of the wave cloud.

Wave Clouds Over Greenwood Village

After riding the light rail, and arriving at University of Denver station, sunset had arrived.  Rushing up to the parking garage, I made this image that shows all the blue, purple and reds caused by the setting sunlight in the cloud formations.

Wave Clouds At Sunset

Looking across to the University, the clouds were lit by orange light from the setting sun.

Wave Clouds Over DU

In winter, these clouds can be a precursor to a big storm. That night it started snowing. On Saturday morning we were greeted by an accumulation of 3 inches of snow in our yard.

After leaving work on the last day of 2013 yesterday, I passed by Samson Park. A wave cloud had formed along the Front Range. The sun had just dropped below the cloud to light up “The Dome”. Here is the the last posted image for 2013.

Dome At Sunset, Samson Park

After returning from the gym, I set out to make the first image for 2014. Our rose bushes typically die down during the winter. In some years there are some dried flowers remaining on the bushes, complete with petals. I pruned several sprigs from the rose bushes and set up some lighting in the basement. I made several images of different sprigs, but this image of the yellow rose was the best image.

Dried Rose, New Year

The sprig was lit by a single flash through an umbrella on the right side with a sheet of white styrofoam used as a reflector on the left.

Have a Happy New Year for 2014.