Photographer in Colorado

We have these really great Cosmos plants in our garden. I have always loved these plants since I first encountered them in South Africa. A few years ago,  we planted a handful in a flower bed. Every year, I harvest the seeds for the next season. Now, they even seed themselves. Every year we have a bank of Cosmos plants that grow 5 to 6 feet tall and flower in the late summer.

After listening to a podcast on macro photography last weekend, I decided to try some different techniques. My favorite podcast is “The Candid Frame“. This is just the best photography podcast out there. The podcast that I listened was an interview with the photographer Mike Moats. You may also find this on iTunes.

Red Cosmos

Cosmos flowers come colors that range from white to pink to red and dark purple. This is one of the dark ones.

Red Cosmos, No 2

Most of our flowers are purple, pink or white. I often like to make flower images from the side, or backlit from below.

White Cosmos

Here is a backlit image.

White Backlit Cosmos

Some Cosmos flowers even have white petals with red tips, but I did not make any images of those. One of the other bushes that we have is the Blue Spirea. Every year these bushes hosts dozens of bees collecting nectar from the blue flowers.

Blue Spirea

There are at least three species of bees that are attracted to the blue flowers. This include the little indigenous green bees, the giant bumble bee and many of the common honey bees. Recently the general bee population has been distressed, so it is great that we support a small population here.

This last week, Angela and I had planned to be on vacation along the Niobara River in northern Nebraska. However, the wildfires in this area caused the trip to be canceled. We decided to do fly fishing in Gunnison. After spending three days in Gunnison, we stopped at Salida on the return journey home. After parking, I spotted a mural and was immediately attracted to make this image. It appeared that there were several products illustrated in this mural over the years.

“Refreshing”, Mural

As we made our way through the town center, I found these kayaks that had been strapped to the wall.

Nine Kayaks

While in Salida, we strolled along the Riverwalk. The Riverwalk is located along the west bank of the Arkansas River that flows through Salida. Outside the Public Service building is a colorful tree sculpture. I decided to gjve this the image the Simply HDR treatment.

Tree Sculpture

After strolling along the Riverwalk, we meandered around some stores. Inside a book store, was this colorful bookshelf.

Colorful Bookshelf

Angela motioned me the backyard located at the rear of the bookstore — she knew I could not resist making an image here.

Book Store Backyard

Across the street were several horse sculptures. For this image, I used Snapseed to convert the image to monochrome and added a frame.

Iron Horse

Also across the street was the fire station. I liked the reflection of E-114 in the water puddle on the concrete driveway. So E-114 got the Simply HDR treatment to enhance the reflection.

E-114

The trip to Gunnison was an enjoyable but unplanned vacation destination.

Yesterday we took a walk along the South Platte River to view some of the bird life. There were plenty of mallards and swallows, but fewer other species. We did manage to see a great blue heron and several night herons. At one spot, where we saw a night heron, we had stopped by a bush with some wildflowers. While making some images, I noticed that there were several bugs that had climbed into one of the flowers. In one clump of flowers, I had counted 9 bugs — too many to capture in one image.

Bug On Wildflower By Platte River

Here is another image given a black and white treatment with Snapseed.

Wildflower Near South Pliatte River

Further along were some thistles. The fine hairs were difficult to see in the original image, so I tried ShockMyPic, to render the hairs like paintbrush strokes.

“Shocked” Thistle Along The South Platte

Several milkweed plants grow close to the banks of the Platte River. Here I found a red bug crawling over one of seed pods.

Red Bug On Milkweed

I noticed another plant that had three seed pods. I converted this image to black and white to reveal the texture of the seed pods.

Milkweed By The South Platte

Later in the fall, these seed pods dry out and split open, releasing hundreds of seeds. These seeds are attached to very fine white hairs so they can be carried by the wind. I wonder whether the hot weather will cause the pods to open sooner this year.

With the hot summer that we have been having this year, we have not had the mass of wild flowers that we have had in past years. Yesterday I made a trip to Shrine Pass to seek out the wild flowers. In previous years there have been prolific wild flowers in this area. Heading west out of Denver, the weather became more overcast. By the time I got to Shrine Pass, there was a slight drizzle at the top of the pass. Not to be discouraged, I headed down the pass. Several forest roads run through the area so I picked one that looked interesting and stopped. Walking up the road, there were a few wild flowers along the creek that flowed beside the road. I decided to try some in-camera multiple exposures on one of the flowers.

Wild Flower Multi-Exposure At Shrine Pass

Nearby was a Cow Parsley plant that was flowering. Another multi-exposure treatment.

Cow Parsley Multi-Exposure

The Eagle Creek flows down the pass. I enjoy making images of flowing water, so this was an ideal location.

Eagle Creek Below Shrine Pass

Since this was my first trip to Shrine Pass, I decided to explore the area some more, so I drove down the pass. The road ends in the quaint and interesting town of Redcliff. I drove a little further, reaching highway 24. This last week there was a huge pothole that developed in the road above a disused railroad tunnel; the road has been closed for repairs.

By this time it was getting late so I headed back up Shrine Pass to a spot that I had eyed earlier. I climbed up towards the aspen forest until reaching this flat boulder.

Boulder At Shrine Pass

In the valley below, low clouds were slowly making their way up the pass. Climbing on the boulder, gives a great view in the incoming clouds.

Incoming Low Cloud At Shrine Pass

After weeks of hot cloudless skies, the low cloud was welcome. Here we see the cloud above the pine forests.

Low Cloud In Pine Forest

Waiting while, the clouds eventually reached the aspen forest above me.

Aspen Forest In Low Cloud

With the approaching sunset, light was dropping fast, bringing an end to a great day.

This weekend we had a welcome relief from a few weeks of toasty weather — three days with lot’s of rain! This weekend was also the annual Cherry Creek Arts Festival. This is one event that we always try to attend. Friday, waiting for the rain to clear, I was parked next to this bright blue car. The rain streaking down the window added some interesting blurs.

Blue Car In The Rain

The rain in the windshield ahead of me had much more water streaming down. This created more distortions.

Raining In The Parking Lot

We returned to the Arts Festival today to see the rest of the art work. Here is a really amusing sculpture that we found titled “What are we waiting for?” – obviously the question asked by the little guy at the back of the line. This is a good angle to view the line of figures – but not the best angle to view the gesture of the second figure from the right – “I don’t know”.

What Are We Waiting For

After viewing all the great art, we meandered back through Cherry Creek. Passing a hat stand, I noticed these three colorful hats.

Three Hats In Cherry Creek

I could not miss this bright yellow hat.

Yellow Hat, Made In China

I stopped to chat to a cheerful lady nearby — we discussed the festival and how the overcast weather made the experience more pleasant. This colorful umbrella echoed her sentiments!

Colorful Umbrella

Driving back home, we were greeted by another rain shower – a great end for a rainy weekend.

Last week was time to make some more infra red images. Walking to work, I pass these two lights — street light and traffic light — every day.

Street Light And Traffic Light

Further down, the sidewalk passes under an avenue of trees. Looking upwards, the leaves of the trees always look good against a deep blue sky.

Trees And Leaves In Infra Red

Later in the week, we got plenty of clouds. This was good news this summer. We have had several really toasty summer days in the 90’s and 100’s. The firefighters in Colorado Springs and Fort Collins were working in extreme heat conditions. The clouds helped to bring cooler weather into the Front Range. The Ciber building appears to be in the clouds.

Ciber Building In The Clouds

Finally, an image of the dome in Samson Park.

Dome In Samson Park

For more information on Infra Red Photography, refer to my post here.

On Saturday, I made trip to Pawnee Buttes to join the Front Range Photography meetup group. The buttes are located in the Pawnee National Grasslands. The grasslands are also home to a wind farm. I made a stop here to capture some images of the wind turbines. About two weeks ago, the High Park Fire forest fire started west of Fort Collins and continues to burn. The sky to the east of Fort Collins was full of smoke. I made this image of the wind turbines with the sun shining through the smoky sky.

Wind Farm And Smoke

I arrived a little late at the trail head for the Pawnee Buttes. I missed the rest of the group and proceeded to hike towards the buttes — maybe I might catch up with the group.

Pawnee Butte And Grasslands

Continuing on, I met two photographers who were part of the meetup group. It turned out that the remainder of the group decided to drive to a different area of the grasslands; these two had decided to hike to the buttes.

Pawnee Butte

At the base of the butte, I found some interesting plants that had established roots in the cracks of the soft rock.

Plants Below The Butte

I continued on the trail to the eastern butte. The smoke trail had moved northwards, revealing the blue sky and some high altitude clouds.

Trail To East Pawnee Butte

I like the composition of the three lines – cloud, smoke and trail – balanced by the butte on the left. At this point it was time to turn back to the trail head so that I could arrive before total darkness. As the sun set, it passed behind the smoke and the clouds. I positioned myself to capture a silhouette of the western butte and turbines against the orange sky.

Sunset Over The Wind Farm

Looking up, I noticed the sun lighting up the high level clouds against the blue sky – an image not to be missed!

Sunset And Cloud

That was a great way to end a great day.