Thursday, July 31, 2014

7/31/14

This is another of the lightening bolts I was able to capture in the storm that passed by to the north of us not long after the 4th of July.  It's rare to get lightening that actually bolts so I was happy to be able to get a few good images.



Wednesday, July 30, 2014

7/30/14

This is another of the small waterfalls along South Boulder Creek in Eldorado Canyon in Colorado.  It was taken in the evening so I could easily do a slow shutter speed to get the milky appearance of the water.  The creek was flowing quite strongly as well.


Tuesday, July 29, 2014

7/29/14

I actually have a title for this one, Buddies Enjoying the View.  When I saw these 2 trees at the Bristle-cone area on Mount Evans it looked like 2 people with their arms towards and kind of around each other just looking out at the landscape.   You can see the type of area these trees grow in this photo as well, at the tree line about 12 to 13,000 feet up the mountain which is a 14,000 footer as they say in Colorado.  It also showed off their colors rather well too.


Monday, July 28, 2014

7/28/14

If you have followed my blog for a while you may remember that my favorite photographer from the early days of photography is William Henry Jackson who's photographs of Yellowstone were instrumental in getting that made into a National Park.  He went on several Hayden Survey trips in Colorado and took photographs at various places, one of which made him rather famous, Mount of the Holy Cross.  When I was in Colorado at the Summit of Mount Evans I was able to view and photograph the Mount myself.  It even still had snow on it so I was rather excited to finally see it in person.  This is my homage to WHJ's photo.  You can see his original here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_of_the_Holy_Cross#mediaviewer/File:Mountain_of_the_Holy_Cross,_Colorado_-_NARA_-_517691.jpg  which we were able to obtain an original copy of recently to add to our WHJ photograph collection.  You can read info about how he got the photo here:  http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/knudsen/sec3l.htm



Sunday, July 27, 2014

7/27/14

This image is an opposite counter part to last week's photo that I really played with and turned into a black & white.  This image is straight out of the camera with only a re-size and removing a dust spot or two.  This is the Cumbres & Toltec locomotive that pulled our excursion moving the passenger cars around after we arrived in Chama, New Mexico.  This locomotive is the oldest of the fleet and the late afternoon clouds really made for a great background for it.


Saturday, July 26, 2014

7/26/14

Another scorcher today, over 100 F again.  Ick.  I like it warm but not this warm.  We can't seem to get any rain these days either so grass is all brown and flowers are struggling.  Anyway, I photographed this old windmill at the sunflower field I found.  I love old windmills and I liked the sunflowers stretching out behind. 



Friday, July 25, 2014

7/25/14

I created this a while back with some irises that were in bloom in the yard.  This is a photo manipulation from 2 different photos put together and then a black background was added.


Thursday, July 24, 2014

7/24/14

When I was in Minnesota a while back I went out looking for wildlife one day.  I spotted this male Redwing Blackbird in the reeds by a pond and stopped to get a photo.  He was not too happy about that and took off from his perch but I was able to get a clear shot of him as he did.  I like the bow shape his red markings made in this position.



Wednesday, July 23, 2014

7/23/14

I was driving along a highway outside of Boulder Colorado on the way to a train location when I came upon this bonus.  Boulder Falls on Boulder Creek.  The trail is currently closed due to some damage it sustained so I was glad I got to see it.  It was a very nice falls and the water was flowing pretty strong as you can see from the spray it produced.


Tuesday, July 22, 2014

7/22/14

These are 2 Common Tiger Glassy-wings that were feeding on some lovely tropical flowers in the Butterfly Pavilion outside of Denver, Colorado.  Loved how they were almost like a reflection of one another.


Monday, July 21, 2014

7/21/14

Chickadees are quite difficult for me to photograph.  They are always moving around and never sitting in one place for long.  Even when they do sit in one place they sill constantly move.  This Black-cap actually cooperated and sat still for a few seconds and even looked my way.  Very nice of it.  :-)  It was sitting on the support for my Mandevilla Vine in front of some Sunflowers.



Sunday, July 20, 2014

7/20/14

I decided to share this monochrome image I made since it gave this photo a rather timeless look.  This is the regular Cumbres & Toltec train from Antonito, Colorado arriving in Chama, New Mexico pulled by locomotive 488.  It is beside the only wooden Coal Tipple left that was built in 1924 and which has recently been restored and is currently being leveled as it is literally tipping.  More like leaning a bit but couldn't resist.  :-)


Saturday, July 19, 2014

7/19/14

I found a Sunflower field south of my town yesterday.  I had to do some searching because the field that was planted with them last year did not have any this time.  Fortunately the field I had been told about one year but was too late to see in it's prime was planted with them again.  It will be a bit before they are ready for harvest as the seeds were very small as you can see, if you click on the image and enlarge it, and the plants were still pretty short.  The front sunflower has a bonus on it as well.  :-)  The blooms were quite lovely and not full of insect holes. I'll have to go back in a week or two and see how they are progressing.


Friday, July 18, 2014

7/18/14

This is a Bumble Bee I was able to capture in flight around some Bee Balm which is perfectly named as it sure does attract the bees.


7/17/14

I got this photo a while back at Tamarack Wildlife Refuge in Minnesota.  This is a Lady Slipper which is a type of Orchid and this color version is the state flower of Minnesota. 



Wednesday, July 16, 2014

7/16/14

I took this in Eldorado Canyon State Park in Colorado one evening.  The park had suffered a lot of flood damage last September and South Bolder Creek was still flowing very strong and creating some nice waterfalls such as this one.  Remember you can always click on an image and make it larger to see more detail.


Tuesday, July 15, 2014

7/15/14

Another Bristle-cone Pine from Mount Evans.  In death these ancient trees really show off their beautiful structures and colors in their trunks.  Love the browns and oranges in the almost silver trunk.


Monday, July 14, 2014

7/14/14

I was trying to take a photo of this type of butterfly a couple of days ago but it would not sit still and open it's wings for me.  Then yesterday, I was out with my macro and not only got in close to it with it's wings open but also caught it in flight!  Quite the unexpected and lucky image that it turned out so clear.  Love the double shadow it created too.  This is a Silvery Checkerspot butterfly and the wingspan on it is maybe an inch and a half.  They are very small.


Sunday, July 13, 2014

7/13/14

This was taken during our Geology Train excursion on the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad.  We were stopped at one of the old Rio Grande water tanks while we were told about the geology of the area.  It made for a picturesque scene.  Some of these old water tanks are still in use though I believe this one is not.



Saturday, July 12, 2014

7/12/14

I captured this image last year.  It's a Common Skimmer Dragonfly on a plant in my pond.  I thought it was pretty in that it sparkled a bit.


Friday, July 11, 2014

7/11/14

I'm growing a few sunflowers in my garden.  This is one of them up close.  The center was undamaged by insects and I liked the patterns as well.







Thursday, July 10, 2014

7/10/14

I was able to get this image a few nights ago.  Had a storm coming which turned out to be more wind than rain but it produced some nice lightning instead of the just "Lighting up the sky" type we normally have.  Went out and captured a few images and this one I liked the best.



Wednesday, July 9, 2014

7/9/14

When I was in Colorado I went to the Summit of Mount Evans and got to see my first up close Mountain Goats.  before I had only seen them through my big telephoto lens.  I got to see several in fact and with babies.  This is a shot I got of one of the babies as it was climbing up a rock, it's mother was down behind.


Tuesday, July 8, 2014

7/8/14

I visited a Bristle-cone Pine Forest on Mount Evans in Colorado.  Bristle-cones are beautiful trees.  Even when they are past their life they are still beautiful.  This particular tree reminded me of antlers.


Monday, July 7, 2014

7/7/14

I was able to get this shot a little while back on a walk.  I very rarely even see Bluebirds let aloe be able to capture them.  They usually are too far away or don't sit still.  This one sat for a few photos and wasn't a mile away so here it is.



Sunday, July 6, 2014

7/6/14

This is the companion image to last Sunday.  This is a view not normally seen on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.  We were on a very fun and special excursion and were treated to this view.  This is locomotive 463, the oldest operating locomotive on their roster, exiting the Rock Tunnel.



Saturday, July 5, 2014

7/5/14

This is a rather picturesque farm I saw in Colorado off Highway 285.  285 was quite a lovely drive alongside the mountains on the way to Denver.


Friday, July 4, 2014

7/4/14

Happy 4th of July to all those in the US!  Today I have a fireworks photo of a different kind, fire working to make a locomotive operate.  On our trip to the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad a couple of weekends ago, I was allowed to get up in the cab of our locomotive.  It's a smaller Narrow gauge K-27 type but I was very surprised when the engineer opened the firebox for me so I could see inside at how small it was.  I work on a simple switch type engine in Minnesota with not near the power of this locomotive but the firebox is at least twice the size if not more.  This K-27 locomotive does have a Superheater so that may account for it being able to have a smaller size fire to create the amount of steam it needs to for working in the mountains.



Thursday, July 3, 2014

7/3/14

This is a bit older image but is another bird in the water in Minnesota.  :-)  I was able to capture this Blue Heron fishing in one of the many bodies of water in the area.  He flew off shortly afterwards as I guess he didn't like me playing paparazzi.  :-)



Wednesday, July 2, 2014

7/2/14

Been busy today and so now just getting to post.  I was able to get this shot of this lovely swan family a couple of weeks ago.  I took this at Tamarack Wildlife refuge in Minnesota.  A lovely place that never fails to disappoint with great sights of nature.


Tuesday, July 1, 2014

7/1/14

It's July already!  Where does the time go!  This is an image from Konza Prairie of June Grass in June.  I took this image in the evening and the low sun seemed to make this clump of grass just glow.