Another excellent piece of art from the 2013 Denver Chalk Art Festival:
It’s a chalk interpretation of “Steamnocchio” by Fabricio Moraes — his award-winning 3D CG steampunk adaptation of the Pinocchio story. Â Check out Fabricio’s other work, too — he does some great stuff!
The Denver Chalk Art Festival is always a colorful (if crowded) experience for photographers.  This year, it happened to coincide with the Denver Comic Con — so it was fitting that the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design (RMCAD) contributed this work based on cartoon / sci-fi characters:
One of the hallmarks of RMCAD art works is their use of reflectors to turn a curved artwork into something that is visually straight when seen from just the right angle. Â If you look carefully, you can see the bottom edge of their reflector in the top third of the above image.
In spite of fitful weather, we headed downtown yesterday for the 2012 Denver Chalk Art Festival. This was one of our favorites (reminds me of our kiddo’s response to a camera):
Normally the weather’s pretty cooperative by this time of year — it’s generally hot, but dry. This year, for some reason, we’ve had alternating hot & dry / cool & wet weather for the past few weeks. Saturday night, we got nailed by some fast-moving thunderstorms.
So most of the chalk artists lost Saturday’s work (in full or in part), and had to do major repairs on Sunday. Pretty impressive for a day’s work, I’d say…
Some tiny little flowers I spotted during Doors Open Denver 2012, at the Governor’s Residence:
These were tiny little things (maybe 1/4″ across) and were located just off the side of a pathway — glad I spotted them!
The Denver Museum of Nature and Science is a fun place to skulk around in, should you ever be in town. Aside from all the great natural history material on display, the building itself has been added on to more times than I can count — leading to some interesting interior architecture.
I made this image in one of the building’s atriums (atria?), that once was a courtyard but since has been closed in and covered with a glass roof. Polished metallic wall tiles lead to interesting reflections and intersecting geometries.
If you’re about ready for a little break from all things Maya, here’s a shot from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science — it’s of a miniature carving (roughly 10″ tall) by Vasily Konovalenko titled “Painter:”
If you’re wondering why miniature sculpture is in a natural history museum, it’s because Konovalenko’s carvings are entirely made from gemstones. Here’s this little guy’s bill of materials from the placard:
Shoes: black jasper
Pants: jasper
Shirt: lapis
Apron: white jasper
Hat: jasper
Face & Hands: jasper
Eyes: sapphire
Floor: agate
Bucket: petrified wood, cacholong
Brush: agate, amethyst quartz
Seen at the 2012 National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado:
Captured on a photowalk through the Denver Botanic Gardens:
Every year in December, the Denver Botanic Gardens puts on a “Blossoms of Light” show — it’s always a great display, although generally also a bit cold. But if you bundle up and carry a spare battery in your coat’s inside pocket, you’re good to go!
Oh yes, and don’t forget a tripod too — this is a 2.5 second exposure (at ISO 800 for minimal noise). Fortunately there are plenty of turf areas along the paths, so you can set up a tripod without blocking traffic or damaging the plants. But no commercial photography (i.e., stock shots for Getty) unless you want to fork over a $350 fee to the Gardens…
Another fun shot from the 10th annual Colorado Dragon Boat Races here in the Denver metro area:
We were fortunate this year in that the weather was clear and bright (if a bit hot / muggy too…). Some years it’s been overcast and sporadically rainy, not so good for photography of all the wonderful color.
Seen at the 2010 Denver Chalk Art Festival.