It wont be long and the flowers will be showing their colors and the swing will be swinging. Spring is coming!
The Purple Swing
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The Purple Swing -
Boyhood Memories
Lake Loveland When I was as a young boy, which was just a couple of years ago, my friends and I would ride our bicycles up the hill to this lake. We would carry our fishing rods across the handlebars with a couple of yellow jiggers, all in hopes of catching a few crappy. The lake is called Lake Loveland and has evolved from a muddy marsh, to a resource for irrigated agriculture, to a public water supply and a scenic and recreational treasure. It was completed in the fall of 1894 and filled for the first time with the spring runoff of 1895. Anyway, we would fish the south shore where the dam is lined with rocks and concrete slabs. Along the banks were large cottonwood trees with their trunks and roots providing habitat for these fish. Most of our fishing was for entertainment so catch and release was the order of the day, hoping we would have the opportunity to catch them again. Of course over time some of those cottonwood trees are gone but the city has now made the South Shore into a nice park area with benches and statues. I made a visit last week, walked along the path on the dam and took in the view of those majestic Rocky Mountains. It reminded me of those boyhood days.
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Just Before Sunrise
Just Before Sunrise On the southeast edge of the city of Fort Collins is a nature area called Fossil Creek Reservoir Region Open Space. This open space is designated an “Important Bird Area” by the National Audubon Society. It provides crucial habitat to bald eagles (in the winter) and other types of raptors, and many species of shorebirds, songbirds, and waterfowl. Just inside the gate to this area is the above tree sitting in complete solitude with nature. This tree stands as a sentinel just inside the gate area. I have always been called by this tree even before they purchased the land and developed the open space. It’s roots are set at the highest point in the area. The land surrounding this tree was once farmland has been restored to natural grasslands. The tree provides a favorite perching place for raptors. In fact, when I arrived this particular morning an owl was perched high in the branches. But before I could get setup the owl made a dive into the grass, stayed on the ground for about 15 seconds then lifted off and headed north with breakfast in hand.
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Pick It Up
Pick It Up A sign around our hotel in Santa Barbara.
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Flying In Formation
Rocky Mountain Front Range Playing with Lightroom to see what I can come up with. My post processing workflow has been simple, curves, contrast and sharpening. Tweaking with colors is not something I do very often. The other night I thought of this image and seeing what I could come up with in Lightroom with color changes. The image below is the original. What do you think?
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Smoky Mountains Revisited
Sunrise This is an image taken back in 2003 on Foothills Parkway during a week long trip to Smoky Mountains. It was my first experience visiting the park. I loved the park and am surprised I’ve not returned. It was a memorable trip in that I dropped and broke a Nikon 80-400mm VR lens so I spent the last three days shooting with my longest focal length of 85mm.
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From a Walk
I’m finding it takes more time to shoot images with this G12 than it does with my D300. It feels so awkward to me. I’m used to raising a camera to my eye, framing and shooting. This was taken on a walk around our hotel in Santa Barbara. Again I do like the quality of the images.