The Melting Pumpkin

Walking past my neighbor's door, I couldn't resist this shot.  Plus, it's seemed to beg for my new painting technique.  Fun for me, hope it's fun for you as we head into the spooky season.  Cheers to all and happy Friday!

City Park Fauxtumn

Then I got really bored and whipped this up with my favourite oil paints.  Mmm... linseed...
Not really, it's a 100% digital creation.  In the beginning of the year, I photographed several of these magnificent trees in City Park.  Before the horrendous wind started, I took a trip to see how they were getting along in Autumn.  Gorgeous as ever, I wasn't satisfied with the greater atmospheric occurrences and just took some snapshots to record the locations.  Enter the new painting technique...
Enjoy!

Fauxtumn Leaves

 Always time to play.  I'm sitting in the studio for the sixth day in a row.  It's starting to get to me and affect my mood.  But there's just too much dang wind to go out and play.  It's gusting over 60 knots, and after ten minutes it's unpleasant and boring.  So, I'm playing inside instead.  The new release of Photoshop contains some interesting painting tools.  I processed these photos through my normal parameters, then started pressing buttons and pushing sliders until I got this result.  It's a bit garish, I realize that, but my toolbox just got a little bigger and now when I head out to photograph, I may be shooting certain subjects to utilize this technique.  The photo below is the result of a new masking technique I discovered that allowed precise selection of background and foreground.  This seems to get closer to my desired effect.

As a finishing step I added a canvas texture to these images.  Knowing they were destined for the blog I thought the texture would aid the viewer's perception of the digital image.  However, if I decide to send an image for printing, it would certainly be printed on canvas and therefore I'd have to remove the texture.  I've done a few of these now and you can expect to see a few more, soonish.

Thought Weeds

I'm very intrested in the sun, have a look though my portfolio and you'll notice a prominent solar motif.  It kind of makes sense, to me, since we have over 300 days of sun in this part of the world.  There's not much to block the sun, either.  Well, not out on the Front Range, you have to head into the mountains or move back to the wasteland East of the Mississippi.  So, when the sun is out and you're out in it, you become very aware of it.  Rambling logic is my speciality (exactly how it sounds in my head).
The point is, when I choose to include the sun in an image, I try to present it in the way I perceived it.  Here, I was ankle deep in mud and looking for interesting high contrast patterns, but constantly fighting the sun to see any detail.  It would be perfect to hear that people are squinting while looking at this image. And, maybe I should start taking bets on what gets a blind spot first... me or my D3?

One Hundred!

Today is my one hundredth post!  Glad it's a happy colourful image.  Finally put the studio back together and got most everything plugged in again.  The new layout didn't come together the way I wanted, but it's certainly better.  Feels good to be back to work!
Saw this tree the other day after I had pack up to hike back tot he Jeep.  The sunlight in the leaves and all those colours, I had to stop and shoot more!  Who could give this up?  Yellow, green, red, blue... what'd I miss?  Pretty sure if it's a colour it's in the photograph... gonna be a pain to get this one printed correctly.

In Eddies Gone By

Yikes!!! It's Tuesday morning, again, already!  Yesterday I decided to tear my studio apart in order to add some much needed insulation.  (Wonder how the apartment complex would feel about that?)  This turned into a bigger project that originally envisioned.  As is my style, after disconnecting my computers, then moving my desks, I started to see new ways of arranging the work area to create a more efficient space in a comfortable environment.  Well begun is half done, but I have a feeling I'm creating a backlog of work for myself.  So, let's call it an experiment.  If I commit enough time to make the space more efficient, I should be able to gain some of that time back, right?  Hmm... seems specious at best.

Today's photograph is a shining example of how a little extra energy can make a lasting impression.  This creek bed is long since dry, but the eddy pools left deep scars that provided a little needed contrast to the environment.  If you dig deep enough here, you may just find water, probably not enough for a human, but the lizards and insects and anything with roots can find a full bounty of moisture.
The blog may be sketchy for the rest of the week.  I'll do my best to post at my regular schedule, but that will depend on how deep the hole I'm digging gets!

Leaf & Rock, Plate 7 of 9

This little broken rock is in the middle of a hiking trail, which made it really easy to find a wide, level place for my tripod.  Turns out it's also the preferred trail for an even less socially adept group of entheusiasts, Joggers!  Before I knew it, my artistic pursuit was an impediment to all of Western Fort Collins!   No one ran into me, but I was reminded of the local etiquette regarding stationary objects and pathways.  Whatever.  These results were absolutely worth it... just look at that texture!  This kind of stuff isn't found every day, so you silly joggers can run in the road, I'm doing important stuff here!
(image notes:  Nikon P7000, tripod mounted, 5 shot bracket, tonemapped in Photomatix Pro4, black and white conversion in LR3)

Stick It On A Pin

Checking out the macro capabilities on the P7000. Handheld 1/125 @ f/7.1, ISO 100.  Lit using an SU-800 on camera and SB-600, blew out the background in post for effect, I was only going for "proof-of-concept" kind of results, anyway.  You are looking at two velvet ants (display pinned) and something as yet unidentified (because we're busy, not that it's new or rare).  Looks cool, thought I'd share.

Symmetry on the Prairie

Everything seemed to line up on the prairie this morning.    Maybe it's a face telling us an ancient story?  I love the sun here in CO, makes it difficult to find a decent exposure, but sure feels great!
Here's to a warm spot in the sun this weekend!

Rabbitbrush and Horsetooth

An early morning view along the Cathy Fromme Prairie Natural Area in Fort Collins, Colorado.

False Promises

Sorry about the late post... um... my dog forgot to set the alarm clock?

Trying to find a composition before dawn, I shivered in the weeds with the rodents.  This scene was lit entirely by light pollution.  Thirty seconds of sodium vapour, the best light of the morning, if not for the breeze.

Riverbend, Plate 4

Ideas, like leaves, scattered to the floor

Lay clumped in effluvial eddies.

Swirling away, in a breath of air

Will they walk or do they drown?

Nikon P7000 Field Test - UPDATE!

UPDATE:  November 2011  I noticed this page has received a bit of attention lately, and thought I'd let you all know how I'm getting on with this camera.  Well, it went to Nikon Service in April for repair of the lens blades, then it was replaced after developing the same lens blade problem, then replaced again, and then replaced once more all for the same lens blade problem.  When the camera worked it worked well.  Unfortunately, the five different SNs I used exhibited the same physical defect.  I could rant for a month about my frustration with this camera.  But our affair has ended and not at all too soon.  I'm taking recommendations for a new compact camera.  Supposedly the P7100 fixed a lot of the shortcomings of the AWFUL P7000.  Someone else will have to review that one, I'd rather go back to disc film!


Now back to the original post.
When the Nikon P7000 arrived a couple of days ago, I charged the battery and headed out for an eight mile hike.  Out of the box and into the field.  I didn't read any of the manual, didn't learn the buttons, tied a piece of webbing to the strap attachments and started using it.  This isn't a super technical review, just my reactions to being handed a new camera and trying to make interesting images while out enjoying the big bright Colorado sunshine.

Click through for samples and some running commentary.

Closer

Sometimes you have to tell yourself the story.  It's alright, though, I'm certain you can hear it.  All sound begins with silence.
Have a pleasant weekend.

October Morning

Mountains make their own weather.  I woke under clear skies and cursed through the dawn for some drama.  Didn't happen until I finished dressing and packing up for a long hike.  Ok, better late than later.  Instead of hiking, I dodged bursts of rain and wind and chased little hits of sunshine around the aspen groves.  I carry an umbrella as a standard part of my camera gear, it's the best for keeping both rain and sun off your lens.

Cementotem

"The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains of my gab and my loitering.
I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric yaws over the roofs of the world.
The last scud of day holds back for me,
It flings my likeness after the rest and true as any on the shadow'd wilds,
It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk.
I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,
I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fibre your blood.
Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you."  from Song of Myself -W. Whitman

Something For Galen

Not that he needs anyhting, but he was a great inspiration to me as both a climber and artist.  When I saw these pudgy rocks and their colourful lichens, a connection was made immediately.  I know there's a compositional rule or two being broken with this, but all my other framing efforts lacked the same sense of whimsy.

In The Last Of The Sun

Blackfoot-Pawnee-Cheyenne-Crow!

Ap-a-che!

Ar-ap-a-ho!

...sheesh!  If anyone reading this can remeber the post-punk, new wave song that chant is from, you're too old to be reading (or writing) blogs with fonts this small.  Anyway, whenever I venture to roam a bit in this Fort Collins Natural Area, that silly song pops in my head and won't leave.  Any guesses?  Here's a hint:  I'm adamant that in natue is the key to our survival.  Might even contain the fountain of youth.  Drink deep and howl into the night with the Kings of the Wild Frontier!

City Park Fauxtumn

Obviously, I'm really starting to have some fun with these digital painting tools.  If this dang wind ever stops, there are a few places I think I can find new subjects to apply this technique.  Hopefully, a few leaves will be spared, but there are whole branches (literally) blowing through the neighborhoods.

Elias

As often as possible I'll take the long way or the dirt road or the "hey, what's over there" route and that's how I found this cemetery.  There are less than a dozen markers, two of which are modern.  Mostly they are broken or very well weathered, like this one, which looks both.  I wonder what is more interesting, the life Elias led or what happened to his gravestone.
It's Friday and October... take the long way home.

A Forest Fall

If you ever get the chance to camp in the center of an Apsen grove, do it.  Even in the height of summer it's a rewarding experience.  If you have trouble finding a good place, remember, "X" marks the spot.