Photographer in Colorado

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.

Last Saturday, I made trip to the Eastern Plains. This year I navigated the county roads between Kiowa and Calhan, basically making a zig-zag route between the two towns. In the distance, about a mile away, I noticed what appeared to be an abandoned ranch house.

Abandoned Ranch House On 85 Road

Many of these houses are constructed from brick with lathe and plaster for the interior walls. Lathe and plaster was the construction technique that was precursor to sheet rock or dry wall that we use today. Walking around the house, I noticed that much of the ceiling had collapsed over the years. Birds were also nesting in the attic.

Inside The Abandoned House

Then there was this really cool artifact — an abandoned piano. Here is a close-up of the remains of the keyboard. I wonder how much music came from that piano.

Abandoned Piano

Compared with the Front Range, the prairie is flat. Outside, across the road, is this amazing view of the prairie. There is just a hint of Pike’s Peak on the horizon. Recently it had rained in this area — the road had few tracks since the rain and the pool across the road had accumulated some water.

Pool On The Prairie

I made my way to the pool, where a hazy sun reflected in the pool. Composing carefully, I position the sun directly behind the tree and cut our the distant horizon.

Reflection In The Pool

It was time to move on. Nearby was a pond close to the road. As I approached, a pair of ducks took flight and headed away at speed. By this time, the clouds had partially cleared to reveal more blue sky. I like this image that shows a typical western scene — the pond in the prairie under a big sky. At this location, apart from ducks, there were Red-Winged Blackbirds and Meadow Larks. Both birds have a distinctive call that is heard on the prairie during the summer.

Pond And Big Sky On The Prairie

Finally, I reached Calhan, and headed east a couple of miles. Here a ridge overlooks the town and the low-lying prairie. I waited at the spot until the sun set. Here I captured a panorama of 5 images made with an iPhone that was stitched together with the Autostitch application on the phone.

Sunset Near Calhan

This was a great sunset to end a fabulous day.

Saturday night was time for the Illuminate Workshops night shoot. The location for the Meetup group night shoot was at Garden Of The Gods. I made the point of arriving well before sunset to make some images during daylight — it has been some 10 years since last visiting this location! Back then, I never made any photographs at this location.

Garden Of The Gods, No 1

This was one of the first images that I made as an HDR from 5 frames. I made several stops along the paths that surround these sandstone monoliths making several HDR images so as to retain detail in the shadows.

Garden Of The Gods, No 2

During the summer months, these monoliths are home to hundreds of Swifts. These birds spend much of the time flying and only rest when they nest in holes and hollows in the cliff faces. While strolling the paths, one can hear their calls high above.

Garden Of The Gods, No 3

As the sun set, I made my way to the parking lot to meet the other photographers in the Meetup group. I stopped along the roadside to capture this image as the sun caught Pikes Peak, in the distance, and the tips of the nearby monoliths.

Garden Of The Gods Sunset

After meeting the rest of the group, we set off to a location for a group shot. After the group shot, I made several images at night.

Night Sky At Garden Of The Gods

This was probably the best image that I made after sunset. I was happy to capture some the stars, with short star trails. When shooting at night, it helps to bring a powerful flashlight to assist with focusing. I only had a small headlamp that was not really powerful enough for lighting a more distant focus point. As a result, I missed many images (and mis-focused many images). This is not really an issue with street scenes that have many point sources of lights. Just as well that I arrived well before sunset to make some decent images!