At this time of year, I usually take a walk through the neighborhood, usually in the evening after work, and sometimes at the weekend. Last weekend I chose a different route, where a bridge crosses one of the local “ditches”. Close by, there are several large sumac bushes that we covered with bright red berries.
Sumac Berries In Winter.
Crossing the bridge, there is a collection of love locks attached to the bridge. That red lock just grabbed my attention, so I made this image of a cluster of three locks.
Love Locks On Neighborhood Bridge.
The route continued through the hospital and then to Harvard Gulch Park. Sometimes, I head down to the stream that flows though the gulch. Here that are some interesting rocks that have pink and gray coloring.
Rocks In Harvard Gulc
The edges of the gulch are covered with long grasses that reach down to the water’s edge. During the winter, these grasses, turn pale yellow and make a great monochromatic image.
Winter Grasses Along Harvard Gulch.
The park is separated from a golf course by this long fence. Looking up the fence, there was a hint of blue sky behind mostly overcast skies. Another candidate for a black and white image.
Fence Along Harvard Gulch Park.
Reaching the top of the fence, I decided to shoot another image as the fence curved to the right.
Park On The Left, Golf To The Right.
From here, I headed across the park. Close the the far edge, was a huge patch of snow and ice, that had been melting during the course for the day, forming a pool of water and ice. Gaps in the ice, where water had melted, allowed nearby trees to be reflected in the pool.
Icy Tree Reflections, Harvard Gulch Park.
Sometimes I take a detour through one of the alleys. In one of these alleys is this colorful scarecrow.
Scarecrow In The Alley.
It was close the sunset, so that was the last image of the day.
This winter, we have had several snow storms in the Denver area, with the mountains receiving even more storms. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to head into the mountains, near South Park, where I hoped to experience some storm action! Heading out on highway 285, as I approached Bailey, the storm was dumping snow on the mountains south of the town. I left the highway to find a location above the town that offered a clear view to the south. The soft filtered sun lit up some snow clouds in the valleys to the south.
Winter Storm Near Bailey.
Rejoining the highway, I headed up Kenosha Pass and on towards to South Park. At Como, I left the highway to join the dirt road that leads to Boreas Pass. At this point, there was some clearing of the clouds that allowed the blue sky to peek through. Stopping there, I made the following image.
Winter Storm At Como.
For grins, I decided to head towards Boreas Pass for some more exploration. At the base of the pass, the road was closed for the season — typically this would be from November through to May. Boreas Pass was once the route of the narrow gauge railroad that connected the mountain mining town of Breckenridge to Como. Stopping at the roadside, I made this image. The falling snow progressive reduces visibility into the distance. This results in a nice layering of the mountain ridges receding into the distance.
Snow Storm At Weston Pass.
Heading back, I rejoined highway 285 and headed south. There are large areas of South Park that did not have snow covering the ground. The mountain grasslands had turned into a pale yellow, as in this image. It was great to see the contrast between the yellows and blues whenever a patch of blue sky opened up in the clouds overhead.
Storm Over South Park.
Looking back towards the west, a snow storm was raging near Weston Pass.
Storm Brewing Near Weston Pass.
Soon it was time to head back. I made my way towards Hartsel and Fairplay. Along the road was a sign to Tomahawk State Wildlife Area, that is located on a ridge above the park. This needed some more exploration, so I headed up the dirt road. By this time the sun was getting low, close to sunset. From this location, I could make out the Collegiate Peaks in the far distance. A the sun dropped lower in the sky, the clouds started turning yellow from the setting sun.
Storm Over Collegiate Peaks.
A few minutes later I started to head back. From this point, I was driving in light to heavy snow for most of the journey home.
Continuing with my visit, I made this image near the Hemingway parking lot. This area appeared to be popular with rock climbers — they were busy climbing the granite rocks that are on the left side of the image. I like this image as a black and white monochrome image because of the long shadows of the late afternoon.
Boulders Near Hemingway Parking Lot.
Earlier that same morning, I found this bouquet of flowers that were growing from a fracture in the shaded side of a granite boulder pile near Quail Springs.
Bouquet Of Flowers In Fractured Boulder.
While visiting the Cholla Garden, I made several images of the Teddy Bear Cholla. Could not resist those spiny needles backlit by the afternoon sun.
Teddy Bear Cholla, Backlit Limb, Joshua Tree NP.
The old parts of the cholla plant have turned a dark-brown color. Hidden in the shaded, dark side, of the plant, were some bright spiny needles. These were complimented by the colorful remains of the flowers and cholla fruit.
Teddy Bear Cholla, The Dark Side, Joshua Tree NP.
About half an hour before sunset, I found a location where there was a Yukka plant and Joshua tree casting very long shadows on the ground. The sun was about to star setting behind the hills to the left, so I hurriedly setup my camera. I made this image about five minutes before the sun disappeared behind the hills. By the time I had reached the truck, about 100 yards away, this area was in shade.
Five Minutes Before Sunset, Joshua Tree NP.
The following morning, I made my way to Quail Springs, heading towards a valley where Joshua Trees stretched out into the distance. This was one image looking back towards the path that I took.
Sunrise Near Quail Springs.
I stopped by another Cholla bush that was catching the light of the sunrise.
Cholla At Sunrise, Joshua Tree NP.
Most of this area of the park had lots of live Joshua Trees. However, I did find this dead tree in the shadow of a slight ridge in the ground.
Sunrise Near Fallen Joshua Tree.
After returning to the truck, it was time to leave for Oxnard, where I had another visit scheduled for the afternoon lunch break!
A couple of weeks ago, I stopped at Joshua Tree National Park while on a road trip to California. It was late in the day when I arrived at Yukka Valley, so by the time I headed into the park, the sun had already set. The next morning I headed to the park, arriving just as the sun was rising above the granite hills. I made my way along a trail where I found this yukka plant, adorned with a long stem that flowered in some earlier season.
Yukka At Sunrise, Joshua Tree NP.
The park is named after the Joshua Tree. Here is one of the first images that I made of a Joshua Tree that morning.
Joshua Tree At Sunrise, Joshua Tree NP.
I found a pair of Joshua Trees. In this image, the sun was low in the sky. Moving around, I made sure that the sun was located behind the trunk of the tree and created a silhouette of the two trees.
Joshua Tree Silhouette At Sunrise.
The higher elevations of the park are formed over granite intrusions. I found this granite boulder lit by the morning sun against a wall of granite that had vertical fractures resulting from erosion over the ages.
Granite Boulders, Joshua Tree NP.
This was my second season visiting the park, so I headed down a track that led to Wall Street Mill. While exploring the area, I had a familiar tapping sound. Soon I discovered this Ladderback Woodpecker feeding on bugs in a Joshua Tree. The woodpecker was working up through the tree, allowing me to approach closely. Soon the bird reached the tree top, where it perched awhile before finding another tree.
Ladderback Woodpecker On Joshua Tree.
At a lower elevation of the park, which is much warmer that the higher Mohave Desert area, is the Cholla Cactus Garden. On this visit, I reached the garden in the afternoon, when the sun was low in the sky. The Teddy Bear Cholla look like a forest of cactii! I like how the low sun lights the cholla spines in this image.
Cholla Garden, Joshua Tree NP.
I made another closeup image of one of the cholla plants.
Teddy Bear Cholla Closeup.
I had decided to leave the macro lens at home for this trip. However, I did bring a Lensbaby lens that allows a softfocus image to be created. It also had a limited macro capability. I used this to get close to a shaded area of one the cholla, where the remains of the flowers and fruit were located.
Teddy Bear Cholla Fruit.
Teddy Bear Cholla have nasty spines. Occasionally, a ball of spines fall from the cholla, and roll around the ground. One got attached to my boot so I had to work it off without touching the spines. They can be very painful! In this image below, I decided to focus on the distant cholla heads, leaving the closer cholla soft and fuzzy.
Backlit Cholla, Joshua Tree NP.
As the sun sank lower in the sky, I headed to a location where a roadside Joshua Tree cast long shadows on the tarmac road. This road was especially busy at that time of the day, so I made several images. This was one of the images made in between the passage of vehicles along the road.
Joshua Tree, Road Shadows.
I did manage to capture some with cars passing, but those were deleted!
Here are some of my favorite images for November. Arriving at First First Art Walk, I passed by an alley where there was some new paintwork! These are some murals from the alley.
Alley Mural, No 1.
This is the second one in the pair.
Alley Mural, No 2.
The roll-up door, maybe a garage door, was recently replaced. This mural lost its body!
Alley Mural, Where’s My Body?
During one of my evening walks through the neighborhood, I pass by a parking garage. The low sun lit up the floor with warm evening light in between the shadows caused by the pillars.
Parking Garage, Streaming Sunset Light.
This month was a quiet time for the birds along the South Platte. A lot of summer migrants had already moved away, and the winter visitors had not yet arrived in numbers. However, I did find this female Gadwall, and was happy to capture an image of her spreading her wings.
Spreading My Wings, Female Gadwall.
Later in the month, the Mergansers arrived. This male Hooded Meganser was enjoying the setting sun lying on a boulder in the middle of the river.
Mount Elbert is a great location to visit for fall colors. The forest road starts close to a pine forest and then passes up through an aspen forest at a higher elevation.
Fall Colors Along Forest Road, Mount Elbert.
The previous night it had snowed on the mountain peaks, with rain showers at lower elevations. I chose to capture the aspen tree tops against the background pine and aspen forests. There is a light covering of snow at the top of this image.
Aspen Leaves, Mount Elbert.
In the depths of the forest, one often finds odd boulders under the trees. There was an occasional breeze that afternoon. There were also large cloud banks that moved through the sky. There was a thin long blade of grass that was moving in the breezed. I waited patiently for a cloud bank to provide overcast lighting. When the breeze to paused, I managed to capture this image.
Boulder In Aspen Forest, Mount Elbert.
Close to this location on the forest road is a beaver pond that I frequently visit. During the fall, the pond reveals abstract patterns as the colors are reflected in the water.
Reflections In The Pond, Mount Elbert.
Once the leaves drop, they become a carpet of yellow. Looking straight down, I captured an image showing some of the leaves. Soon the leaves turn brown and start to decay, so I included them in this image.
Fallen Aspen Leaves, Mount Elbert.
Looking towards the base of Mount Elbert, I was fascinated by the layering of the colors in the forest. In this image, there are alternating bands of color from the pine and aspen forests.
Fall Color Layers, Mount Elbert.
After returning home via Buena Vista, I took another forest round that passes several ponds. More reflections as the reeds and grasses at the edge of the pond were reflected in the water. I also included some of the reflections in the pond from more distant aspen trees.
Pond Reflections Near Buena Vista.
In this final image, I included more detail of the grasses and bushes across the other side of the pond. I like the way that the grasses are mirrored in the water.
This year, I made a few trips to the mountains to capture some of the fall colors. While camping, I made a trip to Ohio Pass, where I found these grove of aspen trees, with a mix of green and yellow leaves, growing on the scree slope.
Fall Colors, Ohio Pass.
Early the next morning, I headed to Mill Castle about sunrise. Last year, I discovered a great location at Mill Castle during the late afternoon drive. So this year, I made a repeat visit in the morning.
Mill Castle Forest Road, No 1.
The trees were full of birds, and many chipmunks were running along the fencing and up the trees. I did not have a long lens, so no attempt for any bird photography.
Mill Castle Sunrise.
Walking along the forest road, I found this location where the road disappeared into a tunnel formed by the trees.
Mill Castle Forest Road, No 2.
Later in the day, I headed to Kebler Pass. Aspen forests often have ferns growing below the trees. I have never made any decent images in previous years, but managed to get a couple of images during this trip.
Ferns In The Aspen Forest, Kebler Pass.
The ferns turn from green to yellow to brown. This year, I was a little early, so the ferns were a pale yellow. After a week or two, the ferns turn a brown color.
Ferns In The Aspen Forest, No 2.
That was a great trip, until I got a punctured tire later in the afternoon. After mounting the spare, I headed back to the campsite and dinner. It turned out that the tire was totally written off!
A couple of years ago, I entered some images into the Lenswork publication for the “Seeing In Sixes” book. These images were made at the bridge where I-25 crosses the South Platte River. This is a great location to shoot, especially late on a sunny day. The sunlight is reflected from the river to the underside of the bridge, creating some great patterned patches on the bridge structure. Also, the ripples on the surface of the river create some interesting patterns when lit by the low sun.
Bridge, Arch Reflections.
Bridge Arches.
Arch Detail.
Arch Detail.
River Reflections.
River Reflections.
These images did not get published. More importantly, I enjoyed the time photographing at this location and taking the time to process for consideration.
