every which way

There is a little something extra in the Green Mountain “skyline” right now. Its presence would bother many photographers to no end. I try to take these changes in stride. Sometimes I can and sometimes, I get a little extra dramatic! I figure that I live in an area with one foot in the city and one foot in the foothills. There are bound to be signs of man in many of my images. I like this cultural/natural ecotone. In some ways, I feel it is richer than either one in a pure form.

Transition zones – that is where I feel comfortable.

My whole area is undergoing infill development and that is why the crane is there. I only wonder if we really need another fast food restaurant nearby. But seeing the high school students streaming off campus for lunch makes me think this could be a good business decision.

feast of beauty

speed limit 10 mph


I decided last night to get out early this morning. I wanted the luxury of enjoying the entire sunrise from before to beyond! This past week has been a very low point in my life and I am happy to shake it off and move on to happier times!embrace life!

As soon as I stepped out of the car, I could see that there was a coating of thick frost on everything. As I walked around the entire lake, I enjoyed the moment and looked forward to the minutes ahead as the sky changed color. I knew the sun on the frost would be

a feast of beauty

you had to be there....

All of the geese were on the water, small singular openings in the ice, teeming with bird life. They seemed to pay no attention to me. I thought I might get some good shots of the early morning light on the churning water. There were some nice flat rocks lining the lake, inviting me to sit and photograph.


The very second I touched my foot to the ice; I looked up to see one of the geese hurling itself towards me through the air. I am used to seeing the geese take flight in an instant. I rue the fact that I have no talent for getting my camera into place with the right settings in the seconds it takes for the image to come and go. But within another second, I could see that the geese had decided to fly at me – at least a dozen of them. After the first five or so flew straight at me, only to land softly on the ice within about 10 feet from where I sat, I relaxed and took in the bizarre experience. I don’t know what these geese were up to but they didn’t ‘harass’ me for food or try to chase me off – they just appeared to be curious. I am not one to anthropomorphize animals, so I don’t actually know why they gathered around me but it was quite a moving experience. Most of them sat on the ice with their legs tucked underneath their bodies. Some of them walked around. Every time one of them walked by another goose, that goose nipped at it, so I would say they are very territorial. The sun was not up yet so my photos didn’t turn out great. However, it was one of those “you had to be there” moments!

miles to go before I...

change of pace

I did get back to the lake and it was sunny this morning. On the way home, I stopped at the horse pasture that is surrounded by homes and condos. The horses were out and not terribly excited to see me since I had no food. The owners have posted signs everywhere asking (telling) you not to feed them. I can imagine that with all of the nearby people and the novelty of these horses, overfeeding might be a problem.

Solitude of the flock

It was SO cold this morning when I went out to the lake. It was the kind of cold where it hurts to breath. My glasses iced up almost immediately and I could only tolerate a few seconds with my gloves off. I would say that all of these “technical” difficulties lead me to be very thankful that I got any shots that I liked!

When the weather is warm, this statue seems playful, but now it seems....
dangerous!!

Even the geese are all huddled by the small patch of open water in the otherwise frozen lake. It is such a sight with the masses of birds stacked together with steam rising from the water

as if it were a cauldron of duck soup!

warm sunrise before arctic air arrives

Radiant

Down to the lake this morning, hoping for something a little more uplifting than the cold dreary cemetery yesterday!


The clouds were shaping up for a beautiful show when I noticed two people in a row walking with all of their attention focused on a cell phone conversation. I thought to myself, whatever happened to 'be here now' As I was setting up for a photo, one of the cell phone talkers, walked up to me and asked what I was taking a photograph of. He turned out to be very friendly and he took a photo of the same thing I was photographing, using his cell phone, of course! He even showed me a nice sunrise photo he took a few days ago. The point is - I shouldn't be so judgemental!!

cemetery at dawn

shrouded in fog and snow


state of grace

wind spirit

I have to say that I have been living and breathing SNOW for the last 3 weeks. I am not unfamiliar with snow but let us just say that I am now more intimate with it!!

The road conditions being what they have been, I have photographed my nearby Top of the World Park frequently and it has been a rich source of inspiration. I was up there when the first blizzard hit and I experienced the wet, wind-driven snow as it roared into the Denver area. Since then, my park has been an ever-changing canvas of snow. The wind and the snow conspire in an incredible dance of lift and deposit leaving the surface as if sculpted by some mysterious force.
Two days ago - sculpted but smooth.

As beautiful as this all has been, I think I have reached a state of ‘snow senility’

(don't ask me what that means - I'm not sure!)

all about wind

so cold
so windy
blowing the snow
across the road
across the path
across the lake

like a 4th blizzard

hurry up and melt!

wind-whipped snow

On the morning after our third round of snowstorms, Top of the World Park was blanketed in deep snow, still completely free of footprints at this early hour. I was the first animal up there and I almost didn’t want to disturb the pristine nature of the landscape.

Wind-whipped patterns on the snow were the most beautiful part of this sunrise. It was in the 20’s but it felt warmer as the sun rose, casting pink shadows on the white ripples.

mesmerized by the ice...

...I spent a little time this morning at the edge of the lake. After a short cross-country trek through the deep snow, a nice flat rock and the warmth of the new sun beckoned me to pause and reflect...

From where I sat, the sun began to spread across a section of highly textured ice and footprint-snow-covered ice. My feet resting on the thick mantle of ice, the water underneath alive and lapping, I waited for the light to get high enough in the sky to illuminate some of the beauty that I was seeing.

Fall leaves embedded in the ice, almost as if they stored some of fall’s warmth to create a winter resting place.

Geese footprints swept out in a most whimsical pattern, no shortest path between two points for them!

Full Moon Setting at Sunrise

The sunrise this morning was beautiful and challenging to photograph. I have the most trouble when there are dark clouds next to bright clear sky and often some colorful banks of bright clouds. I cannot seem to find a camera setting to maximize all of these competing features. As I looked around me, I noticed a bright spot over Green Mountain and thought to myself that it looked like a hole in the clouds. Then it dawned on me that I was seeing the full moon breaking free of a cloak of cover just as it was about to set behind the mountain. If I had been aware, I would have been looking for the setting full moon. Instead it announced itself with great drama.

"challenging" sunrise!

dawn on the last day of 2006