A spark of light....

What's your favorite part of a fireworks display?? Anybody like the end the best? You know, where they throw everything they have left and you get bombarded with explosion after explosion, one right on top of another?

Those of us living in the general area of Ft. Collins that noticed (must of been REALLY busy if you missed it) were treated to just such a light show. Even though it was only a monochromatic (yes, Virginia, I know big words) show, it was definitely a much larger display - at least from my vantage point.


Imagine being a celebrity standing in front a huge paparazzi crowd, Flashes going off everywhere you look. The sky lit up all over the place, but never at the same time. I'm struggling to find the words that describe what I watched last night. Left, right, up down, in front on the side, behind me (you can tell when they hit behind you, the houses you're looking at suddenly get bright).


And it rarely hit the ground. Most of the time I saw the sky go bright as lightning struck between clouds somewhere in the distance, and sometimes I got lucky enough to see fingers of lightning flicker in the clouds right in front of me.


Ran and got my camera, tripod and remote trigger and tried to capture what I was experiencing. It's hard to capture and show how dynamic the light show was. And cause the show was all around me, I kept running from the back of the house to the front. Kept thinking the really GREAT lightning strike was happening at the window I wasn't.


Finally figured out that most of the exciting stuff was happening to the north, and settled down in my bedroom to watch the show. Kept ripping off image after image. Tried different shutter speeds to see if there was a "best" setting to get great images. Seems there isn't. Or, at least, not that you can count on. I settled on 15-20 second exposures, and that seemed to be the best all around.

The end of a fireworks show lasts only a few minutes at best, right? THIS show went out for over an hour! And during the entire time that I was watching, there were only 2 strikes that hit the ground - at least, that I could see from my vantage point. The first image in this series is one, and..... TA DAH!!!!!!! My best shot....


The other thing that amazed me is how fast clouds grew, joined, separated, and basically morphed into different shapes.

The only time I've seen clouds move and shape that fast was the day the tornado hit Windsor... THOSE clouds were booking!!!

Think Aroma...

The last time we were here I shared some shots from our walk on the Poudre Trail. Well, I finally finished all the notable images! First one up is an irrigation ditch that splits off some of the water from the Poudre river. Remember that water dam in the last post? If you walk over and stand just above them you get this when you look east...


But on to something sweeter smelling - This was one of 2 flowers hanging out among all the weeds. Of course, with my immense expertise I can categorically deny that this little guy is a weed too!


And remember these "weeds"? My sisters and I, like most every kid, used to get a kick out of picking them, and blowing them apart, much to the dismay of our Dad. Nestled amongst the yellow flowers it just grabbed my attention.


Sun hit this weed (Geez, where's all the flowers, man?!) just right, creating an interesting contrast between shadow and light:


Ok, who can tell me - weed or flower?! I liked the shared diagonals, and how the little spider-web-like fibers glow and stand out...



Ok, so this isn't quite the same aroma all the other images bring to mind, but it WAS kinda cool to see them sitting there watching all the joggers and bikers and what-not walking by... It's a ying-yang thing - in order to really appreciate the sweet aroma of Flowers (ok - weeds, but still) you gotta experience the other realm of aromas, doncha?!


Enjoy your day - nope, I'm mean it - that's no bull!!!! (lousy pun?!)

All Manner of Things

This morning's walk took Skittles and I along the portion of the Poudre Trail that runs between CR-17 and CR-13. It's a winding section, tracing the Poudre river in some parts, and just meandering when it isn't. It's a mixture of open areas, lakes, and sections filled with trees. It's a great area to walk!


We were about a 1/3 of the way through the open area when we ran into this rare treat. in the 14+ months we've been walking here, this is only the second time we've seen a deer.


He/She (do you notice a pattern emerging here?) was just grazing on the hill when we crested a small rise. She stood and watched us as I slow-walked as close as I dared. After a couple minutes, she jumps and heads off just before a jogger came into view on the other side of the path. Caught me by surprise, and I couldn't get the camera trained on her for a good shot.

That area of the trail is also the home of a large family of prairie dogs, and on the way back home I got a rare chance to get close and shoot their lookout.

be sure to look Left and right now!!

Animals and nature seems to be the theme here, right? Well, let's switch gears and throw in some man-made interest. I mentioned the trail follows along the Poudre in some parts, and there's an irrigation control point that splits off part of the water to feed the farm lands to the south. Water is running strong with all the rain we've been having, and I grabbed a couple different perspectives of the dam...



I didn't bring my tripod or ND filters so I'll have to go back again and slow down the exposure to turn the water to silk...

This morning's walk was a bumper crop of great shots. I'm going to have to spread them out into multiple posts as I manage my way through them.

In the mean time, hope you enjoy these!!!

The Art of Taking Off

Couple days ago Skittles and I were walking around Windsor lake and, for a change, had lots of opportunities to work on my bird techniques. There were Pelicans, Seagulls, and little black birds with red eyes that drop under the water in one spot and pop out a couple minutes later somewhere on the other end of the lake (ok, that's an exaggeration).

This sequence of shots of the pelican taking off intrigues me in general, but also when you consider those long legs disappear somewhere once the bird is in full flight...

I heard a commotion and turned to see him (her?) prepping to fly off. By the time I got the camera up and put the focus point on him he'd gotten this far into the air.


He got a full down-stroke in and I managed to catch his wings at their peak:


Then I got lucky and caught him in mid-push. Something about this shot appeals to me...


And of course, this is my favorite "In Flight" shot, even though he's flying away from me.


The whole morning, every bird I caught was flying away. I have a ton of butt shots, but it was still a great outing.

If you're a bird aficionado you'll point out the last shot is not the same bird. And you'd be right. This bird's butt shot was the best of the whole morning, and I figure legs tuck in pretty much the same on all these guys, so in the name of beauty, a little artistic license was allowed...

A slight distraction...

It's not green, so I decided to post it separately. I mentioned at the end of my previous post that my girl Skittles stuck by my side, off leash, whenever I stopped to take a picture.

Well, that's mostly true. She DID get a little overexcited when we ran into this less-than-little distraction:


This shot was actually taken some time after our initial encounter. THIS is what she looked like for my first shot:


Can you guess why??? When I first noticed the turtle, I also noticed Skittles getting a bit too interested. Before I couuld grab her she tore off to meet a new friend. I focused on getting her back by my side and calm (didn't take long, she just wanted to say "hi").

Ok, dog is calm, sitting and staying where placed, so I wander over and get this closeup head shot. Backed off and waited with my girl till the critter calmed enough to stretch out, at which point she decided she'd had enough of us and took off into the bushes.


With any luck, we'll get to see her/him again. ... .... Uh, by the way, anyone know how to tell the male from the female? Without flipping it over?!

Did a little research when I got home - it's a common snapping turtle. The web sites on these guys say their fast and dangerous... a friend read that they tend to be crankier on land. Right about now I'm thinking - MAN is Skittles lucky or what?! She was right on top of it before I could recall her, and had time for a couple sniffs before she returned.

I'd call that lucky....

A little green

Every time I go out without my camera something cool happens. Take it with me and nothing.... However, that ole cliche that there are exceptions to every rule??? And then there's the rule about not shooting beyond 2 hours after sunrise...

This morning I kept being struck by patterns of light,. Here's there's a deep stand of trees that the sun broke through into a small patch of grass:

Further down the trail I saw this branch stretching out into the light:


But this little tuft of "cotton" hanging on for dear life...


And I couldn't resist a little creative processing on this one... Overboard???


Here's the cool part.... My girl Skittles stopped, and sat and waited patiently every time I stopped to take pictures. This becomes more than cool when you find out she was not on a leash!

Let's get started

Ok, let's get started... A good friend threatened to twist my arm off if I didn't stop sending images via email and start a blog. Since I need my arm for shooting as much as for computer work, thought it prudent I follow his advice.

So, I'm going to try to shoot often, and post here rather than sending emails, and leave it up to you if you want to see them.

Next up, my first real post...