The Secret Behind the Wall

This is another one of those places that requires a bit of curiosity to find.  For the most part it's right out in plain sight, but you have to duck under the canopy which is only about three feet off the ground.  So while I was shooting this my head was in the branches of these trees.  That's a lot different than the clouds I usually walk around in.

The Sycamore at the Gilpin House

See that tree?  That tree is older than the house.  There's a dedication plaque suggesting this sycamore was living when our constitution was signed, 224 years ago.  The person at the visitors center said it is 312 years old, which means it was a seedling in the year 1699.  Such defiance!  It has it's own lightning rod, too.  The house is it's own affair.  It was a tavern and a hostile and there was a history book stolen when the British sacked the Brandywine frontline.
As a naturalist (of my own order, naturally), I tend not to go for all that historical stuff.  It's interesting, sure, it fills the space between nature's secrets.  Of whatever happened here so long ago, only the words remain. The battlefields and battalions have been overrun by buttercups and wild strawberries.  The great sycamore has come through unmoved.  Is that not a great lesson, too?
The Brandywine Battlefield Park, which used to be a State Park, is an unassuming place.  I like that you have the option of a guided tour or that you may roam freely.  You don't get that option in many historic places.  Here you can, and I will suggest, that you park your car and walk over the hills.  Staying open to the stories whispered while you sweep at the grasses.  Whatever your destination, you will have traipsed part of the path leading to our nation's independence.   As singular as the sycamore, you may stand aware and perhaps find your shoes stained not by blood, by buttercup pollen.

Sometimes I am a middle aged man presented with the reality of time and sometimes I am a five year old child lost in the bewilderment of a wonderful moment.

Deciduous Shelter

Layers and layers and layers and layers and layers and layers of places to have a picnic and a nap!

Madame, I'm Death

An example of the pitch tubes that have become the all-to-grim calling card of Dendroctonus ponderosae. Much of North America is affected by this infestation, and great swaths of forest are filled with dead trees.  But the forests were dying anyway, and the beetles are just as opportunistic as any greedy human industry or corporation.  At least, this is as natural an act as could have happened.  When I cautiously walk in the ravaged forest, I am grateful to have known it's company, to have shared it's life and death.  I hope to share it's rebirth and know it anew.

Tree Lights

Trees near the Fort Collins Public Lirbary.  I don't often shoot at super high ISOs, but I was in a playful mood and curious.  In order to hand hold this, I had to push up to ISO6400, f1.4 and that gave me 1/60th of a second.  Doubt it's going to be a go to setting, but in the right composition may yeild interesting results.

Two Trees, Redeux

After a long Autumn hike at Bobcat Ridge NA, I couldn't resist shooting my favourite trees.  You all know I'm a sucker for big blue sky and awesome yellow grasses.

Out in the Cold

What I wouldn't have given for a slight break in the clouds, or a cup of cocoa!

Aeris per Annum

Fell in love with this tree last year when it was foggy.  Took a look outside this mourning and heard her call.

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.

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.

Momentary Loss

I admit it... I'm an artsy-passionate photographer.  When that ridiculous title carries the presumption that my craft or knowledge is somehow less than that of a guy running a business involving a camera, I get a little indignant.  So, tonight's assignment was "go to an ugly place and come back with one interesting photo straight out of the camera".  The secondary goal was the alchemy of turning anger into creativity (beat that Mr. Workingclasshero).  I believe art is the highest form of education.
Image notes:  in camera JPEG conversion of a single RAW file, only post work was dust removal on the JPEG.  Single 6 second exposure.  There wasn't any fog last night and I didn't miss a dust spot, it's a cat-faced spider cleaning her web.

Let Them Go, They Will Return

Walking back the Jeep, I was struck by the beauty of this composition.  The colour was muted by the overcast sky, the air had warmed enough to make me sleepy and I just wanted to lay in the grass listening to the gentle rustle of Autumn.  (it's Monday, who doesn't want to go back to bed)

The Cast Removed

This photograph is the same as the one in my earlier post.  But the great yellow glow was just too much, so I corrected this for the little bit of blue sky in the left of the frame.  Not much different, but certainly a more natural balance to the scene.  Artistically, I prefer the other photograph, which is what I was pursuing at the time.  Only in hindsight, did I consider that the yellow from the filter gives a fantastical and sinister quality to the photograph, and a more natural balance might be more alluring to the viewer and therefore, bring the photograph closer to the idea.  Incidentally, all preferences aside, this is the version I submitted to a recent contest, because when it comes down to scrutiny, you can't argue with natural colour.  Hope you enjoy both!

As They Whisper, So They Move

I started down this road while waiting for a couple of noisy folk on quads to leave the area.  In many ways I'm like the wildlife, people come and I go.  Downhill, to be accurate.  Not much was happening photographically, I was at an elevation of 8600 feet without a single cloud in the late afternoon sky.  The fall colour was about a week before the real peak would happen.  There are some beaver ponds in the area that I wanted to scout for the following morning's sunrise shoot.  You'll see those trickle through the blog in the next few days.  So, with all that sun, I had been playing with the blue/yellow varicolour filter, does interesting stuff to the light when all you have is big bright sun.  The colour in this photo is from stacking the filter with a polarizer.  Instant autumnal peak!  At the bottom of the hill was a drained pond and thick mud.  The road took a hard 165 degree turn to avoid the mud, but the photographer did not.  Instead I plodded through to see the area just behind the former dam and found another little pond.  Lots of dead trees sticking up through thick muddy water.  Time to turn around.  Walking back up the hill, I noticed the way these trees leaned and bent over the road.  The autumn glow gave the impression they are playful among themselves, but cautious with outsiders.

The Clearing To Come

Little drops on the needles of the pines catch hits of sunshine.  After seventeen hours the rain finally relented.  Slightly comforted by the sighting of colour, we shiver into the night.  Everything in the forest yearns for dawn.

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.

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!

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.