March 3rd or 3/3 is known as 303 Day, a day in which we use the original Colorado area code to celebrate the Centennial State. I’ve shared pics of this beautiful balloon before but here is one from an angle I have not put out. Taken in November 2022, I spent a good chunk of the morning chasing it, getting pics from just about every angle – including directly below it. Certainly, my favorites are still the ones with the snow-capped mountains in the background but this is fun for something different.
Colorado Front Range sunset by drone
Taken last week during what was a pretty darned good evening show. I dragged my feet and debated whether I was going to fly to take a look and almost missed it. At the last minute I decided to go ahead and headed outside, quickly getting in the air and capturing the sunset at its best that evening. Glad I did!
Bison and tree alone on the plains with the Rocky Mountains towering behind
From two weeks ago today in the wake of a light snowfall that had fallen the night before. It was a cold and clear morning and a perfect one to spend at my favorite wildlife refuge. The big boy had yet to rise for the morning judging by the snow on his coat, instead opting to just lay under a bare tree. Off in the distance, a snow-covered mountain dominated the horizon. The sun was just starting to illuminate the landscape and all of the elements made for a pretty scene.
The moody blue road
Portrait oriented image so click for full, best view. Taken a couple weekends ago when thick fog had descended on the Colorado Front Range. At times, visibility was down to 10 yards making it pretty much impossible to get quality pics of critters. As such, I switched to landscape mode and tried to capture the moody, eerie scenes. This particular spot at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge is a fun one to photograph in almost any season. The trees that line and overhang the road provide for a cool scene.
Disappearing into the fog
This past Sunday morning, we saw some crazy fog in the wake of a snowstorm. It created some cool scenes, like this capture. At its thickest, visibility was down to 20 yards or so and when you did see something, it was little more than a silhouette. The fresh snow and the fog blended together in the distance, with no discernable horizon. I took a ton of pics but this is probably my favorite.
The fog did have a downside in that decent pictures of critters were almost impossible to be had. This was very frustrating because I was seeing all sorts of cool stuff that on a normal day would have made for great pics. But, because of the fog, the pictures were rather poor. At least scenes like this helped make up for it.
Above ground level panorama of a beautiful winter sunset
Jumping back to the amazing sunset we had a couple of weeks ago and this image I didn’t share at the time. Stitching together five images gives a very wide angle view of the amazing show that night from 300 feet above ground level with my drone. The field of view stretches from Pikes Peak to the south to Longs Peak to the northwest and all that is between. That was quite the show that night! Best viewed full screen.
The waning gibbous moon setting over the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains
The waning gibbous moon setting over the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains. It was a beautiful morning Saturday along the Front Range. As I enjoyed my morning photo outing, I kept an eye on the moon, waiting for the change to get it as it descended in the west. It worked out well with the grasses of the plains in the foreground followed by the foothills then the snow-covered mountains. A pretty nice view for sure!
A closer look at one side of a sundog
A couple of weeks ago I shared a capture of a spectacular sundog that remained in the air for more than two hours. Since it was so long-lived, I was able to take a ton of shots of it from various locations and had the chance to try some different compositions. Here are three more looks at it, this time showing only one side of it. One is a closer look where the sundog met the horizon. The other two are just a couple of compositions I liked with the trees in the foreground. I still smile when I think about that morning and how much fun I had running around in the sub-zero temperatures.
Sunrise turns the sky and landscape red and orange, lights up Mount Meeker and Longs Peak
Holy moly what a view this was – and one where I initially thought I missed the show. As I headed to my photo destination Saturday, it became clear that sunrise was going to be a good one. Unfortunately, by the time I got off the highway and found a spot with a decent foreground, the show to the east was over. I was frustrated but as I turned around and looked west, I realized the best was right behind me. A layer of clouds was above and low clouds had descended on the mountain valleys in the distance. Mount Meeker stood proudly in the alpenglow with Longs Peak’s summit being lit up and coming out from behind Meeker’s shadow. Colored by sunrise, the entire scene was just amazing!
The frozen waters of the Arctic?
Well, maybe only Colorado. 😉
Driving home from work on Thursday I saw some crazy cool forms on the ice of a local water storage lake. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my drone with me at the time but made sure I did yesterday. Flying anywhere between 3 feet to 150 feet above the ice I captured some crazy cool abstract-ish image of the frozen waters. There are some crazy cool details to take in with all the different forms so view each full screen for the best view.