Sprague Grasses

After spending an hour and a half working the view of Hallett posted several times recently.  I finally closed the tripod and went for a walk.  I love the colour of the sun through these grasses, and at the time I was annoyed by the little waves.  However after seeing this, I think nature was just being helpful and I should be more patient.

Bloom Cluster

I think it's choke cherry.  Feel free to correct me in the comments.

Hallett from Sprague

The morning show.  It's never the same, this time the snow was on fire!  Going to be a bit slow around here over the coming weeks.  I'll be able to trickle some stuff through, but certainly not a regular clip.  There's a lot of wilderness that's only accessible a few months out of the year, so I gotta go now.  Don't worry, I'll have a bunch of stuff to share after my return.  In the meantime, do forget to get out of whatever building you're in periodically.  It's a beautiful day, right now, where ever you are.  Cheers!

The Tyndall Massiff

Let's name some mountains (L to R):  Taylor Peak, Otis Peak, Hallett Peak, Flattop Mountain as seen from Sprague Lake.  You can also see Tyndall Glacier between Hallett and Flattop.  It's called a "glacier because that's where it was, but the snow in this photo is only lingering and by late summer it is usually gone.   The brown trees are the result of beetle kill.  One day while I was hiking I came to the realization that soon our fantastic pine forests may not smell like pine forests.  To be in places like this or look at these photos, I am often left confused by very mixed feelings.

Ferns Around the Millstone

When I saw these millstones all around the property in Brandywine, PA, I shot hundreds of compositions in less than an hour.  Eventually, I started thinking about the history of the stones.  They are made from granite, used to grind stuff, and they wear out.  What happens to all the granite that used to be part of the stone? Obviously, it went into whatever was being ground.  Hmm... not so tasty, but ferns... baby ferns can be delicious.

Pearl Play - Full Quality

The full quality slideshow is posted and ready for view.  I told you last week that I'd leave a link in the original post, but las week was so... annoying, I wanted to sever all connections with it.  Click on this link, give it a couple of seconds to load, and most of all enjoy.

Elk Fawn

It has been a banner week here.  I'm fried, it's Friday.

Look!  A baby elk!

Pearl Play

Went out with a friend last week to shoot something different.  Today is the deadline we set for sharing the photos.  In keeping with the "different" theme, I made a slideshow to share with my readers.  There isn't a soundtrack, so you can even watch it at work!

Seems like Blogger thinks all the work I put into making a nice mp4 video at 720p with good colour and sharp images was a waste of time and converted it to Flash.  Flash videos suck, see above.  I'm not responsible for that mess.  When I get access to my server again, I'll post a link to the full quality version.

All I got is "Grrrrrrrrr......"

Problems with the computer have sacked my productivity. The blog will be late today, at best.
Sorry folks, you may just have to check back tomorrow.

Hallett from Sprague lake

I photographed this last year at the end of a freak spring blizzard and wanted an accompanying photograph from the early summer.  So, I got up at three am and pointed the Jeep west.  This is an easy place to see the sunrise.  It's a pleasant hike that's all but paved and about a twenty minutes drive from the nearest motel and convenience store.  This particular morning I wasn't alone, a local photography guide was out earning his keep.  Whatever, it is low hanging photographic fruit in a national park, after all and very pretty at that.
One person from the group mentioned to me that "it's a shame the colour didn't happen this morning."  I was stunned and didn't have an answer.  (well, OK, I had an answer, but I've learned not to let anything out of my big mouth until I've put coffee in.)  Maybe I just see colour differently.
In the foreground of the photograph above, you will see that the trees and grasses are somehow brighter than the ones immediately behind them.  That's the lake reflecting the light of the sky.  This one is from early in the morning, the earth shadow has just receded from the pink bath preceding the sun.  It happens everyday, but never the same way twice.

Sweet Pea of Summer

A perfect summer day in the Laramie River Valley.  Just took about three hours and $40 of gas to find.  But this is the view I wanted and didn't know where it was, so you just gotta keep going until it's found, right?  Earlier in the day, I spotted several clusters of wild irises, an absolute favorite of mine and I have yet to get a single good photograph of one.  

Irises are they're kind of rare along the Front Range of Northern Colorado, which is supposed to be a semi-arid desert.  Our late season snows didn't melt in the usual timing so there is a lot of water saturating the mountains about a month later than usual.  Many large open areas have become veritable wetlands in the late season melt off.

The irises are happy to have the pools of water.  So are the mosquitos.  At the end of the last season, mosquito eggs were laid in the depressions that normally collect water.  They need the freezing temps during their winter dormancy in order to hatch.  When the thaw comes their life begins in the ensuing pools.  Snowpool mosquitos are vicious, they've waited a long time and they emerge in droves!  Clouds of hungry, unapologetic, and ecologically vital blood suckers.  I'm not exaggerating.

When I saw the first patch of irises, I hurried out of the Jeep and squatted on the wet ground with the camera and no sooner turned it on only to be inundated.  The length of my forearm is eleven inches, it was, at the time covered in Deet (a chemical I hate to use).  There were twenty mosquitos on that one forearm.  Photography was no longer a priority.

Driving west I ended up in the Laramie River Valley.  A nice view of the Medicine Bow Mountains and Rawah Wilderness was waiting for me, thankfully sans Mosquitos.  Instead of wild irises, there was an abundance of wild pea.  I'll take it, looks great with the snow covered peaks.  

Usually I don't "arrange" my compositions, but in this case the foreground was a bit sparse.  I spruced it up a bit with the two rocks you see.  It took a short while to find the right ones and get them to help the balance.  If this photography thing doesn't work out, maybe I'll try landscaping next.  I could have a large truck full of rocks ready to show up in front of your house and add a couple next to the petunias.  Piece of cake!

I hope you all find a lot of frivolous fun this weekend.  See you on Tuesday!