Tulips in bloom in Denver’s Civic Center Park:
Nothing of profound significance here, I just liked the pattern these were planted in.
So it’s been a few years, but the Ice Castles folks have again set up shop in Colorado (as well as at 5 other sites in North America). Here’s a particularly blue shot from this winter’s “castle” in Dillon:
Some tips for you, should you be able to visit one… Continue reading
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat — a twin-engine, variable-sweep wing fighter in service with the U. S. Navy from 1974 – 2006.
Apple blossoms herald the end of winter in Colorado.
A quick shot in my back yard with an Olympus E-M1II, and an M.Zuiko 60mm macro lens. EXIF: f/5.0, ISO 320, 1/125 sec
Looking to the west in Rocky Mountain National Park…
This shot looks up Moraine Park (a glacier-cut valley) to the continental divide. The peaks here are relatively low — only getting up to a bit over 12,000 feet above sea level (Colorado has many “14ers,” 14,000 foot tall mountains, further south).
We recently did a bit of family travel — on our way from Denver to Phoenix, we were fortunate enough to have relatively clear skies and a late afternoon flight. Perfect for some aerial twilight photography of various spots in Colorado and the four corners region of the U.S.
First up for you, Colorado Springs (top of frame) seen over the snow covered Rampart Reservoir, not far west of town.
Colorado Springs is one of those places I normally see while driving through (in this case, on I-25) — from that perspective, the mountains form a wall to the west of the city. But from above, the fact that the mountains are essentially a (tall) rumpled plateau is much more evident.
A while back, I bought a used Olympus E-PM2 off eBay and had it converted to full-spectrum usage (i.e., I had the anti-IR filter removed from its sensor). Add an IR filter to its lens, and you can get some interesting effects with the setup — so I took it up to the mountains to the Breckenridge International Snow Sculpture Championships:
After split-toned processing, this is an infrared image of the “Dia de Muertos” snow sculpture, created by a team from Wisconsin. This sculpture won the “Artists’ Choice” award this year, well-deserved if you ask me. The level of detail that the sculptors could achieve with packed snow is impressive.
Apparently to stick his tongue out at me:
Or, maybe he’s just a big Miley Cyrus fan? At any rate, let this image serve as a reminder to always keep your camera in your lap when venturing into an area with active wildlife. We took a family trip up to Rocky Mountain National Park (in northern Colorado) this past weekend, and not far inside the park’s gate, we spotted this stunning bull elk grazing just off the far side of the road.
By the time I’d pulled over and retrieved my camera from the car’s back seat, our visitor was up on the road, crossing over to our side. I only had time to fire off a couple of hasty shots (through the closed driver’s side window) before he was behind our car entirely. Thank heaven for auto-focus.
The elk’s expression is, of course, hardly majestic. But you know how bad they are about following direction…