• HDR,  sunrises

    Inspiration

    Sunrise Along County Road 13

    It’s my belief passionate photographers have a voice inside that suggests ideas for images. These ideas randomly present themselves at the strangest moments: driving the car, taking a shower, dreams in the middle of the night, scrambling eggs, reading a book, etc. Some we remember and some fade off in the darkness of forgotten moments. Some inspirational moments are to motivate us, make us take action. The above image was just such an inspiration.

    The inspiration came to me on a Saturday afternoon. The Idea was for a Sunday morning sunrise shoot. I knew about where on County Road 13 I wanted to setup and what time I needed to be there. Other than that I did not have any specific vision. I knew there were trees and fence posts that I could include in the image. I would not know what I’d come home with but I needed an image. It was also about experiencing a morning sunrise not. Probably more importantly, I needed to take action of that voice. As these small trees are on private land I needed to shoot from the bar ditch or road. I walk up and down the dirt road for places to setup. The temperature was a warm 34 degrees compared to the single digits we had the previous week. The cold was invigorating even though my fingers were aching when I finished. It’s not an image I will print but it was just what I needed. I followed the inspiration.

  • HDR,  quotes,  sunrises

    Edward Abbey

     

    Arapaho Bend Natural Area

    “One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast….a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.”― Edward Abbey

    Not so sure about his promise but I can sure relate to the rest of what he says.

  • HDR,  quotes

    Hundreds of Times

    Golden Sunset

    “Landscape photographers should have a sense of adventure. Get out there yourself and explore. Stay off the beaten path and be instantly better by being different than the rest. Creativity can’t be taught by someone. It comes from doing, observing the results, analyzing them and doing it all over again, dozens or even hundreds of times.” 

    Dan Jurak

    A few years ago I coached in a midget football program for 5th to 8th graders and had a blast. Our goal was to teach them the basics of the sport: stance, blocking, tackling and sportsmanship. But one of the most interesting aspects was the difference each individual had in learning. There were those who had it the first time, those who were not going to get it and those who were going to need hundreds of times. I learned I belong in the later category: hundreds of times?

  • HDR,  landscape,  quotes,  sunsets

    County Road 19

    Evening sunset taken a couple of weeks ago on County Road 19, just east of Fort Collins.

    Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do.

    Wendell Berry
  • HDR,  landscape,  sunsets

    A Place of Quiet

    Words fall short when expressing my feelings when I visit the Pawnee National Grasslands. There is this quiet. The only sounds are the wind, the birds, maybe a cow mooing in the distance, my footsteps and my breathing. None of the sounds of the city can be heard, the ones we are accustomed to hearing and are almost expected. The vastness of this landscape has a way of making me feel small and insignificant, yet I feel so much a part of it. It’s an ecosystem all its own, one many people never experience. This is a land where no plow has turned the soil. There is not much of that left in of the short, mixed and tall prairies. This is cowboy country where small dark specks in the distance are grazing cattle. It’s a place of quiet.

    The second image is an HDR version of the first image using three exposures; metered and plus and minus one stop. The preset used was Landscape Balanced. This one is more appealing to me but not as true to what I saw when taking the image.

  • clouds,  HDR,  landscape,  sunrises

    Cattail Chorus Ponds

    Sunrise within the city limits at the Cattail Chorus Ponds

    I had planned on sleeping in but the internal body clock went off around 4:15 am. Tossed and turned then decided to grab the camera and see what the morning sunrise would offer. The nature areas within the city provide some wonderful opportunities for quiet and wonder as the day begins. I headed for the Cattail Chorus Ponds as it’s been a while since visiting the area. A smile came across my face as a meadowlark greeted me when I stepped out of the car. As I walked to the ponds I could feel my pants getting wet from the morning dew. The last time I was out there was about four years ago so there was a lot more growth along the banks than expected. Never the less, I found a rock to sit on along the bank and take it all in. I waited and I smiled.

    This is an HDR experiment. The image was taken with my D300 and a Tamron 17-50 mm f2.8 lens. The metered exposure was at 17 mm f16 @ 1/60. It is a series of nine (9) images exposed at 1 stop, then processed in HDR Efex Pro. I chose Full Scene Compression preset and lowered the tone compression then adjusted exposure and contrast/tone in Lightroom. I would like you to let me know what you like and don’t like about the image.

  • Arapaho Bend Natural Area,  HDR,  landscape,  natural areas,  sunrises

    Morning Colors

    Morning at Arapaho Bend Nature Area

    I’m one of those “morning” people who rises before the sun and on most mornings have a cheerful mood about me. It seems I always have been. Those few times I slept in late were during younger years when the party life, booze and loose women were the priorities of my life. After experiencing the suffering each of them offers, I’ve wised up and no longer consider the party life or booze to be that important. Loose women, well there seems to be the need for more suffering in that area.

    Anyway, the gist of this post is about morning colors. I enjoy the whole experience of a morning sunrise. Being there, taking it all in. Getting soaked. Hearing the sounds of nature awaking. Smelling the musty woods around me. The expectations of the colors as the sun breaks over the horizon. But, sometimes there are no colors or they’re more subdued. Well, a couple days ago I rose at 4:40 am and headed to the Arapaho Bend nature area. If you look closely, just behind the trees, you can see just a bit of orange glow. Ah, morning colors!

  • HDR,  landscape,  Plants/Nature,  trees

    Happy 4th of July

    Yesterday’s evening in the lowlands

    Sorry for posting another image of trees and another fence post but they seem to be everywhere I look. I did make a drive north of town last night and found some interesting areas I will need to search out. Seems like lots of potential for images. I do hope everyone enjoys their 4th of July!