• Plants/Nature,  sunrises,  trees

    Saturday Morning

    September 17, 2012
    Sunrise

    This past Saturday morning I woke waaayyy before dawn and unable to get back to sleep. I pulled myself out of bed, dressed and headed out the door. The mornings are getting cooler, it was 43 degrees with plenty of dew on everything. It wont be long and the dew on the car will be turning to frost. I drove farther than usual and found the above scene just inside the Weld County line. I setup my tripod right next to the fence, in the bar ditch, with a small farmhouse just behind me. I enjoyed the next 30 minutes and had the added pleasure of hearing the farm animals stirring. I really had to good laugh when the rooster started crowing his little heart out.He was pretty darn loud. I’m pretty sure most of the county was awake by 6:52 am. Cock a doodle do.  🙂

    A little angel on the fence post watching the morning sunrise

    On my way home I have to make a zig and then a zag around this privately owned lake. As I came around the zig I noticed these trees with the rising sun, slammed on the brakes before I hit the zag, pulled off in the bar ditch (again) and grabbed the camera. This is another one of those images that just happened to present itself and I happen to be there, with a camera. I like times like this. My pants are dirty again.

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  • clouds,  horizons,  landscape,  Plants/Nature,  trees

    I Like That Feeling

    September 11, 2012

    In this busy and high paced world finding quiet and solitude takes some effort. I find Nature is a place to find that solitude and quiet. A strange feeling came over me as I stood there looking at the tree. I like that feeling. I hear no cars or sirens. I hear and feel the wind as it blows against my back. The clouds slowly move eastward. The tree stands alone. I like that feeling.

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  • Plants/Nature,  trees

    The Little Tree

    February 4, 2012

    The Little Tree

    I spend way too much time on the computer. I wonder if I’m a blog addict ( notice the quiver in my voice). I think it all started when I joined a small community of photographers sharing their images on a site called pBase. I enjoyed seeing others images and enjoyed the feedback on my images. Loved those at-a-boys. I then started buying more equipment, spent more time in the field and making great plans for a career as a pro, bringing in the big bucks. I joined a couple more photo websites. Next came the world of blogging and the spiral began increasing. I started spending more time on the computer in my attempt to be a better photographer. That was all good but I could easily get lost in my computer, leave the present world of real relationships, working on projects, eating and sleeping. It is amazing how deep and dark that hole of cyber-space is. Two to three hours later I would find my way out, shaken, dazed and confused. The tea pot had boiled dry, the sun had gone down and I’d missed meeting up with Patricia. Could be why I’m still single. Anyway, here’s the little tree I’ve discovered.

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  • landscape,  People/Portraits,  Self-portraits,  sunrises

    Waiting

    January 2, 2012
    Waiting

    Adopt the pace of Nature; her secret is patience. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

    This is not the image I had envisioned when I left the apartment. I had to change plans when I got there. The last time I shot this barn at sunrise I did not have an oil drilling rig off to my left. Damn! How quickly man changes things. Saddens me. 🙁 Anyway,  I went ahead and waited for the sun to rise. Waiting can be tough in our “microwave” society, we want things now. If I do not take in all the beauty around me at these times then what I thought was patience was only an endurance of time to get an image. On this cold December morning with a slight wind blowing in from the north, in this case my backside, it was a bit of both, a test of patience and endurance. I’m gaining more patience as I add each birthday. Waiting.

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  • landscape,  moon

    Ate too Much

    December 28, 2011
    Moon Setting on a Cold December Morning

    I’ve been playing more with the HDR software to see what I can do with it. This is one image of three exposures, metered and plus and minus one stop. It is only the layered image then back to Lightroom and a tweaking of contrast and tone. One aspect of this is finding the detail in the moon. Hope everyone had a good Christmas season and ate as much as I did. 🙂

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  • architecture,  Barn,  landscape,  quotes,  sunrises

    Conceiving “a” Life

    December 12, 2011
    The Cold Barn

    The state of mind of a photographer while creating is a blank…For those who would equate “blank” with a kind of static emptiness, I must explain that this is a special kind of blank. It is a very active state of mind really, a very receptive state of mind, ready at an instant to grasp an image, yet with no image pre-formed in it at any time. We should note that the lack of a pre-formed pattern or preconceived idea of how anything ought to look is essential to this blank condition. Such a state of mind is not unlike a sheet of film itself – seemingly inert, yet so sensitive that a fraction of a second’s exposure conceives a life in it. (Not just life, but “a” life).

    Minor White, The Camera Mind and Eye

    There was a time when my idea of conceiving life was nowhere close to this quote. I was in a different place in life and in my photography. I now feel the words I share, the way I live life and the images I share all have the power to conceive a life. That belief is the reason I will do my best to treat people in a positive way.That belief is also the reason I will venture out on a cold December day with a camera and tripod. And as I head out the door there is no “pre-formed” scene just a desire to experience this beautiful world. And, just what will I find?

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  • landscape,  quotes,  snow

    As the Round Earth Rolls

    December 10, 2011
    Snowdrifts

    “This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on seas and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.”

    John of the Mountains by John Muir

    Muir was a naturalist, author, and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States. He loved the natural world and spent a great deal of time living in nature, which is something much of our western culture does not experience. He started out as a student of nature through detailed observation, “to study the inventions of God.” When you read about him or in his writing you will come to understand that he lived each day fully, staying present to the world around him. His way of living was not shared by everyone as he mentioned about his fellow Californians, “The love of Nature among Californians is desperately moderate; consuming enthusiasm is almost wholly unknown.” I think many people enjoy looking at images, still or video, of nature but so few of us venture into that world so close to us. His writings, as well as others, is another reason I will leave my warm bed to spend time in the cold or rain or heat. It’s not so much about the image as just being there “as the round earth rolls.”

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  • prairie

    … live in infamy

    December 7, 2011

    Seventy years ago on December 7, 1941 a Japansese force consisting of six carriers with 423 planes began an attack on Pearl Harbor. By 9:45 am casualties included servicemen and civilians with many people wounded. The Japansese suffered minimal losses and severely crippled the U.S. naval and air strength in the Pacific. During the attack the USS Arizona sank with a loss of more than 1,100 men. The following is an exert from a story about one of the survivors of that attack and wanted to share it with you. My ex-father-in-law, who died several years ago, was also a survivor of the attack.

    Lee Soucy decided that when he died he wanted to join his shipmates killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Soucy lived to be 90, passing away just last year. On Tuesday, seven decades after dozens of fellow sailors were killed when the USS Utah sank on Dec. 7, 1941, a Navy diver will take a small urn containing his ashes and place it in a porthole of the ship.

    The ceremony is one of five memorials being held this week for servicemen who lived through the assault and want their remains placed in Pearl Harbor out of pride and affinity for those they left behind. “They want to return and be with the shipmates that they lost during the attack,” said Jim Taylor, a retired sailor who coordinates the ceremonies.

    The memorials are happening the same week the country observes the 70th anniversary of the aerial bombing that killed 2,390 Americans and brought the United States into World War II. A larger ceremony to remember all those who perished will be held Wednesday just before 8 a.m. Hawaii time — the same moment the devastating attack began.

    Most of the 12 ships that sank or were beached that day were removed from the harbor, their metal hulls salvaged for scrap. Just the Utah and the USS Arizona still lie in the dark blue waters. Only survivors of those vessels may return in death to their ships.

    If you’re interested you can read the full story here.

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  • architecture,  Barn

    Cloudless Sky

    October 4, 2011

    A cloudless sky was whispering my name. After loading up the car I started driving east, I knew would end up at this old barn set against this open sky. I’ve taken several images of this barn and always with some wonderful cloud pattern to go along with it. But on this particular evening the lifeless sky was barren of clouds. Even the birds and flying insects seemed to be lost without a cloud painted sky. And, this barn has always intrigued me. I wonder about its history. When was it built and what was it’s initial purpose? I may visit some of the farms houses around the area and ask about it. If I do it could make an interesting story.

    I parked the car and headled across the newly plowed field, circling the barn for an appealing perspective. I can’t remember the last time I walked in a plowed field. It may have been in my high school years when our family would visit relatives in the Texas and Oklahoma panhandle area where they farmed. We would time this visit during their wheat harvest, giving me opportunities to work in the fields. A different world for a city boy.

    As I stumbled along, I realized how much of my life is lived on level and smooth concrete, asphalt or tile, very seldom ever making full contact with the earth. The smell of the dirt was refreshing to me, stirring from sleep memories of the past. I smiled. I reached down and grabbed a handful of earth, feeling the texture, breaking small clods of dirt and let it fall through my fingers. As I stood up I noticed how vast the scene was around me, something not experienced in our large cities. With only the barn and no trees, I felt so small and insignificant. So what did this land look like 200 hundred years ago. What plants grew here before the plow? Was this area a massive prairie dog town? Enough of that. Hope you enjoy these images.

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  • clouds,  landscape

    Ominous CLouds

    October 1, 2011
    Looks Like Rain

    For those who live east of the Mississippi River or in the Northwest coast of the United States, scenes like this are not often seen. While those who live west of the Mississippi River do not see the lush green foliage of the forests, the abundant plants that thrive in wetter soils, the many colorful birds of the east. Just to give you an idea of the size of this scene I need to let you know the buildings along the horizon is a large farm with three large feed bins.

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