Photographer in Colorado

Thursday started out with a drizzle. While waiting for the train at DU, I noticed that bike racks had been installed at one end of the station. This is one of several bike racks scattered throughout the city that offer bikes for hire. Soon after spotting the bikes, I noticed the train entering the station, and had to work quickly. Later while walking to the office, the drizzle turned into driving rain, drenching my clothes and filling my shoes with water. Most of the day was spent wearing socks while the shoes were drying. A tornado warning was issued that afternoon, forcing everyone to take to the stairwells. Thursday was “Bring Your Child To Work Day”, so we had several children that had made the office their playground for the day.

Denver Bikes For Hire

On Friday, while running an errand after work, I drove past Pearl Street, where I noticed some murals. After the errand, I returned to get more bicycle material! The wall of the bike store is adorned with a mural advertising their wares.

Bicycle Mural

Meandering down Pearl Street, several brick walls were painted with murals.

Where Are My Leaves?

Signs of spring were all around. This bush, covered in yellow blossoms, is located near another brick wall that has several murals advertising several stores.

Old South

This last weekend was “Doors Open Denver”, an event held downtown every year to celebrate architecture and history. I was hosting an informal Photoshop and Lightroom workshop on Saturday. One attendee mentioned the event, so Angela and I decided to take the opportunity to visit. We must have been hiding under a rock, because we had only heard about the event the day before! On Sunday, we took the light rail to downtown and took the shuttle to Union Station to collect an events program. From there, Angela and I meandered through Lodo, visiting some of the older buildings.

This included a visit to the Firehouse on Blake Street. The last time that I had been there was when our office was located there (ROIDirect.bomb, 2000). The first floor is now occupied by architects. Way back in 2000, we occupied this floor and also offices on third floor.

Eventually, we got to the Daniels and Fisher Tower. The tower houses several offices. Tours to the top floor were held on this weekend. The lobby of tower has these European classic style ceilings, in white with blue, pink and beige accent colors.

Daniels and Fisher Ceiling

Here is another view of the ceiling and one of the pillars.

Daniels and Fisher Ceiling and Pillar

We had joined an un-ticketed line of visitors, hoping to take an elevator ride to the top floor. Unfortunately, we had arrived too late to get tickets and probably would probably not be able to join the tour since closing time was approaching. We decided to bail, continuing to visit other sights. Outside on 16th Street, the D&F Tower made a dramatic reflection in the opposing building.

Daniels and Fisher Tower

We made our way towards the Platte River. Several visitors from nearby neighborhood were making use of Commons Park. Several dogs were being exercised by there owners, chasing branches being tossed into the Platte River.

After taking a break, we headed back to 16th Street, passing the Millennium Bridge. This is an interesting structure, pictured here with a streetlight in the foreground. More information on this structure can be found by searching Wikipedia.

Millennium Bridge Mast

The Tattered Cover bookstore was a port of call, where we had some coffee and cookies, and browsed through some books and magazines. After leaving, Angela stopped by this western store while I hung around. Outside the store was this clothes rack, stocked with colorful shirts.

Colorful Clothes Rack

Horses and carriages ply up and down 16th Street, waiting for fare paying customers. They were parked outside this store.

16th Street Horse (and Carriage)

Another horse appeared to be rather skittish and would not keep still. Despite this, I still managed to capture this image of his (or hers), feet and shoes.

Furry Feet

Finally, on our way back to the light rail station, we passed this street artist, busy creating a work of art. He had an array of cans of spray paint that was his media of choice. Surrounding him an audience had assembled to view his work and his progress.

16th Street Artist

We decided that next year, we would have to make an earlier start to the Doors Open event.

Earlier this week, I purchased several bell peppers at the grocery store. I took care to select some peppers that were contorted. This morning, at breakfast, I took two of these bell peppers out of the fridge. Later after they had warmed up, losing the layer of condensation, I decided to try my hand. I had been pondering Edward Weston’s Pepper No 30. I set out the peppers on a sheet of white foam core and used a reflector to fill in the shadows. I made several images with this set up on the dining table. The white background offered by the foam core was not a good idea. So I came in closer to isolate a smaller area.

Two Peppers

Edward Weston shot his peppers in monochrome. I wonder how that would look?

Pepper Number Two?

Later this evening, I reviewed Edward Weston’s image. The dark background makes a huge difference to the success of his image. I will have to try something darker the next time. The one pepper is no longer whole, having been chopped up into a salad.

Earlier in the week, I purchased a bunch of irises. Our cat, Jasper, loves to play with fresh flowers, so they were placed in a vase well out of reach. Down came the vase for some experiments. I always enjoy photographing irises; we have planted in the garden and see them bloom every spring. Irises reveal many sensual shapes — this flower was no exception.

Sensual Iris

From another point of view…

Another View

“Good Morning” greets this cheery flower.

Good Morning!

Finally, here are two irises dangling from the vase.

Dangling Irises

After resolving my calendar issues, I should be on week 14. This post is a little late — last week was busy at work with a scheduled production release. Also, one of my images was accepted at the Lone Tree Photographic Art Show; so I made sure that the framed print was submitted on time amongst the busy schedule.

Gardens were created at the Arapahoe station late last summer. The daffodils were the first plantings to bloom this spring. The last snow storm dumped plenty of heavy wet snow. Fortunately these three daffodils managed to recover to greet passing commuters.

Three Daffodils

And these ones too!

Another Three Daffodils

“Yo!” announced this piece of detritus that got stuck between the rails.

Yo!

On a previous day, I made an interesting image of this trash bin with my iPhone. So this time I decided to make an image of the same bin with the big camera. The trash was more interesting in the previous encounter!

Orange In Trash

The station benches have colorful plexiglass back rests. A fellow commuter was busy reading while waiting for the train to arrive. The evening light was bright enough to catch his form though the plexi.

Waiting For The Train

All for now.

So John (Clute) asked if I was ready for the snow — see comments on last week’s post. Yes! On Tuesday we got dumped on again with 8 inches of sticky wet snow. Wednesday we were greeted by snow sculptures in the trees. Here is our Blue Spruce.

[Note: I seem to have got ahead of myself. This is actually week 13 and not week 14… The Crane Festival must have messed with my internal calendar!]

Snowfall Sculpture

Our neighbor’s bushes were groaning under the weight of all that snow. The branches were drooping over the fence under the weight of all that snow.

Drooping Under The Weight

One of our Burning Bushes had accumulated some snow on delicate branches. A far cry from the burning red foliage that we see with the fall colors.

Snowy Bush

Wednesday was a snow day for many in the metro area. For me, it was a regular work day for me. Here are those frozen balls. What a contrast to last week’s post of the same balls in the morning sun!

Frozen Balls

The bicycle rack at the light rail station was the most impressive feature of the day — an unusual snow sculpture.

Bicycle Snow Sculpture

The ramp leading to the train has a pattern cut into the fence. The snow picked out the detail in the pattern.

Relief In Snow

The sunny bench greeted us with a Good Morning!

Good Morning Sunshine

Finally, close to the office, these trees were reflected in the pond.

Snowy Reflections

Enjoy.

This week, the weather took a wild ride — nothing unusual for Colorado. Tuesday was sunny and 60’s. Leaving the parking garage at DU, the morning sun caught these balls to cast long shadows on the north wall.

Garage Balls

On Thursday night and into Friday, the snow was back, dumping some 8 inches in the neighborhood. By Friday morning, the window in the parking garage had accumulated some snow and condensation.

Snow In The Window

Leaving work later in the day revealed 8 inches of fresh snow that continued to blow around.

Evening Snow Storm

A traffic cone had blown over in the snow. The light reflecting from the cone gave a nice glow in the pocket of snow.

Glowing Cone

Previously, I have made motion blurs of these trees. With the overcast weather, the light was weak enough that I could create blur for half a second. I like the effect of the blur on the background buildings as well as the trees.

Tuscany Plaza Blur

At the side of the building, a yellow light glows in the doorway. This entrance is frequently used by people taking refuge from rain and inclement weather. No one there Friday — they had already gone home.

Glow In The Doorway

This post is lucky thirteen. It is almost  one quarter of the way through 2010!

This past weekend, we attended the Crane Festival in Monte Vista with a group of birders from Audubon Denver. Soon after arriving, we made our way to the National Wildlife Refuge south of Monte Vista. Compared to previous years, the weather was much colder. There was  plenty of snow on the ground and ice on the wetlands. During the evening hours, the Sandhill Cranes and other water fowl fly in to the wetlands, where they are safer from predators (such as coyotes).

Sandhill Cranes At Sunset

In the fall, Sandhill Cranes migrate to Bosque del Apache, in New Mexico, where they spend the winter months.The Monte Vista refuge is one of the locations where Sandhill Cranes stop on their annual migration to the summer breeding grounds that stretch from northern Colorado, through Wyoming, Montana, Idaho to Canada.

We returned to the same location in wildlife refuge the following morning just as the sun was rising over the Sangre de Cristo mountains. The cranes were backlit against the rising sun.

Sandhill Cranes And Misty Sunrise

Soon after sunrise, the cranes flew out to fields in the area where they feed on grain and other tasty goodies. Here they fatten up in preparation for the continuing migration later this month.

Later the same morning, we made our way to the Ski-Hi center, where we joined many other birder visitors for a Raptor Tour. We climbed aboard two school buses for a guided tour to see various raptors that live in the area. The guides pointed out various raptors, including Red-Tailed Hawks, Bald Eagles (our national bird), Rough-Legged Hawks and a Northern Harrier. Along the way, we stopped at one location where two Red-Tailed Hawks had taken up residence in a nest. Here we got out our binoculars, scopes, etc to get a better view of the birds.

Birders On The Raptor Tour

After the tour ended, other activities related to birding included lectures held at the Middle School.

Monte Vista Middle School

We attended a lecture on Bluebirds in the one hall where seating comprised of yellow chairs.

Yellow Chairs

The lecturer, Kevin, showed a video of bluebirds nesting. This showed the development of a family of bluebirds from the laying of the eggs through incubation and rearing of the nestlings. Finally, after two weeks, the young bluebirds fledged. The remainder of the lecture dealt with the national effort to raise bluebirds and monitor the breeding of the species. Kevin brought these nesting boxes to show the various birds that make use of the nesting boxes. Volunteers purchase and maintain the nesting boxes throughout the year; they also monitor the progress of breeding through the season.

Mountain Bluebird Nesting Boxes

We attended a second lecture by Gail (from Hawks Aloft). She gave an excellent presentation about the various raptors that make Colorado and New Mexico their home, either full-time or part of the year. Gail was also the tour guide on our bus earlier in the day.

After attending this lecture we rejoined our group and made our way back to the wildlife refuge for the evening fly-in. The sun was setting, just catching the mountain peaks of the Sangre de Cristo range. Here we found a group of cranes feeding in front of the distant Blanca Peak, one of the 14’ers in the mountain range.

Cranes In Front Of Blanka Peak

On Sunday morning we left Monte Vista. I had eyed this unusual building at the edge of one of the irrigation ditches that are located in the San Luis valley. This appears to be one of many pump houses that may be found in the area.

Irrigation Pump House

We briefly visited the Alamosa wildlife refuge, but bird life was very sparse for this time of the year. Late spring and summer are better seasons for this refuge.Soon after we headed back to Denver, encountering a snow storm along the way.