Evening Events

Ever find one of those places that you don't want to leave?  I set up my tent and sat here for nearly a week.  Most of the recent photos are from very close to this exact spot.  In the afternoons, I'd head into the mountain (literally), but mostly... I stayed close to this spot.

Wilting Goldeneye

Torrential rains followed by an excruciatingly cold alpine summer night and these Showy Goldeneye have had enough for one season.

Daisy's Dew

Subalpine Daisy

Shiver in the mourning dew.

Eager for the sun.

Flying Through The Firestorm

Close to the same view as the previous startrails.  Differences here are 24mmf2.8 (prime, which is awesome for point light sources, btw) which is pointed a little more south.  My standard 4 minute exposure stack of 9 images, at ASA 200.  Captured an airplane, I like it though.   {wait...ASA?...hmm}  Stray clouds and the heavy dew really started to show in the individual exposures, hence the staccato effect and blotchy areas in the sky.  Enjoy!

The Mauve That Makes The Clouds

Continuing with colour and layers.  Shot this nervously under a very black band of the storm.  Felt like it was lifting and beginning to break up, so I kept telling myself that there wasn't any danger.  But 10,000' makes it's own weather, so you never know.

Trees Against the Night

Light pollution painted the clouds and I painted the trees.  An arm of the Milky Way cuts the frame.  A pleasant night in the mountains.

When Colours Collide

It was tremendously difficult not titling this one after an old song but, then I couldn't get it out of my head and immediately started hating the song again.  But let's face it, the image isn't about the song, I'm celebrating the phenonemon of colour opposites.  Over here on the Front Range, blue and orange is easy, in the center of the state it's green and purple.  Either combo is magic!

Fireside Star Fall

Mistakenly left the camera tuned to ISO 1600 for this, so I ended up with the blue sky.  The storm cleared out and the long exposure ignored the clouds, except the few illuminated by the light pollution in the last few frames.  For something to be captured by the camera, it has to be visible for 25% of the exposure, my method for compiling these ignores all but the brightest values of the images.  Add equal parts mistake, luck and technique - Shiver uncontrollably to combine.  Trees in the foreground left are lit by campfire light.  Seven photos at 240 seconds, or about 28 minutes.  As mentioned before the humidity was tremendous, so not long after sundown a very heavy dew settled on every thing, including that great bulbous 14-24mm lens, thereby ending the shot.

A Clearing Storm in Purple and Yellow

After two hours of duck drowning rain, the temperature lost twenty points, the humidity stayed at 100%, late season Arnica began their wither, and the sun gave a futile last attempt.

Not a Ramada!

Here's my excuse.  My escape.  My little birdhouse, tucked against a tree.  Branches and clouds and stars and mud.  I cannot get any closer to sharing with you, my love of being outside than this image.  Of course, I do a lot of crazy things outside, but being in the mountains, moving slow, watching the sky spin, is what I really need.  Maybe I'll fit some tent time in this weekend, too.  It's a work trip if I have the camera with me, right?

Have a pleasant weekend in your own little birdhouse.

Star Bombers

Trails in the SW sky, the Milky Way (center frame) remains visible above the Hayden Point forest fire. Compiles from seventeen four minute exposures.  These are the same trees and stars from yesterday's image.  Enjoy.

Through the Trees

Three blue spruce stand against the night sky in the White River National Forest.  Several miles away a fire near Hayden Point glows on the horizon.  The Milky Way continues on, undeterred.  Single 30 second exposure, trails to come later.

Flat Tops Trails

Flat Tops Trails, originally uploaded by McF Studios.

Of course I made a time-lapse. This is 10,080 seconds compressed to one.

Flat Tops Trails

A clear night above 10,000 feet in the White River National Forest. Half a moon lit the foreground and provided some colour in the sky. I figured there was too much light to catch any trails, or maybe the star colours wouldn't translate as well. Guess it pays to shoot anyway. The warm glow on the trees on the left is from my campfire. This image was compiled from 42 four minute exposures, roughly three hours.

Steady Thursday & Free iPhone Wallpapers

I think Thursday is going to be my post day.  It's always a struggle to produce content for the blog that meets my standards for artistic endeavours.  Sometimes the pictures happen easily, but the stories have trouble finding words, other times it's the opposite.  But I usually have something to share on Thursdays.  Maybe it's circadian.  Todays offering is in honour of the Fourth of July celebrations this week in the States.  I've created a set of 18 iPhone wallpapers of fireworks.  You get them all for the low cost of one mouse click on this link.  They are sized for the iPhone 4 screen specs but will display on any of the iPhone or iPod Touch models.  To install them Mac OS omputer unzip the file, drag the folder to iPhoto, sync your iPhone/iPod Touch, then, from your iOS device select an image and set it to the wallpaper.  Installing these from a Windows computer begins by pressing CTRL-ALT-Delete, and proceed from there.
Enjoy the prefestival fireworks!

The Cosmic Windmill

Gotta use what you're given, I guess.  Light pollution from Greeley, CO joins a gelled Maglite for a little mood lighting.  The Milky Way enters, stage right.  In adverse conditions, you gotta think through problems and be creative with solutions.  This is a great result and will hopefully resonate with a lot of viewers.  However, what I wanted was more simple and plain.  A lot of dreams start as mere suggestions.  So I turned the camera to the East, to find some black sky and used a small flashlight to illuminate the windmill.  This very subtle frame has all the elements necessary to explain why I make images of the natural world.  It's the last photograph I made that night, and with all those possibilities swimming through the sky, it's a great place to stop and get some sleep.  Have a pleasant weekend!

Cauldron

The Little Dipper floats above the glow from Cheyenne, WY.  Light pollution is a fact of life, and because we're all afraid of the dark, it's never going to cease being a problem.  Sometimes, though nature presents itself in harmony with our shortcomings.  Here the Little Dipper teases at the cauldron of city lights, maybe one day it will reach down and scoop the pollution away.

Polaris Encircled

Got it this time.  What you see is the result of 116 minutes broken into 4 minute exposures.  The colours you see in the photo are not typically visible to the naked eye.  Thankfully, however, the camera can see them perfectly!  The warmer the star is the cooler it's colour, so the hotter stars are blue and the cooler stars are red… science is crazy fun sometimes.  Interested in the timelapse?  Well here you go, 6960 seconds compressed to 1!

Faux Nebula

That gaseous nebula in the lower right is actually light pollution from Greely, CO spewing forth into the night  An arm of the Milky Way fights for attention in the background.

Star Week at McF Studios!

A few nights last week, I endured the mosquitos and sleep deprivation that accompany night photography to make a few star photographs.  These were all taken out on the Pawnee national Grasslands in NE Colorado.  You can't really get away from the light pollution of nearby cities, but that's because there's nothing out there to block it.  No trees, no mountains and no buildings.  I love it!  Our rainy season is ending, so everything is green and lush and buzzing with life.  But those photos are going to wait their turn… for now it's the magic of the heavens and it's expanse of possibilities.  This is the first week I've actually scheduled posts, so check back every day for a new photograph.  This first image was a kind of failure.  But it's too cool not to share!  I love the morse code texture that the star trails have, and if you look at the bottom left of center you can see a nearby fence, great scale.  The prairie was absolutely alive that night, insects buzzing in my ear and the biggest loudest chorus of frogs I've ever heard out there.  maybe that's my I like this so much, the memory of sound is connected by the stuttering in the trails.  Anyway, I fixed my settings that caused this and will have a proper trail up later for you purists.  One more thing, that's Jupiter in the lower right and Polaris in the upper left, with a couple of airplanes throughout for good measure.

Happy Shooting!