Wildlife, landscape and weather photography
It was a “balmy” 10 degrees this morning as I stood watching the beautiful full moon descend. While cold, the scene was gorgeous and worth enduring the discomfort. The moon was beautiful and the snow-covered mountains, including Longs Peak, helped add drama as the sun began to shine. Below, horses were grazing quietly in a pasture.
Taken in Boulder County.
The song, “Home on the Range,” says “Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, Where the deer and the antelope play…”
In this image, I managed to get the bison and the deer – but no pronghorn unfortunately. I did however also capture the gorgeous alpenglow at #sunrise as it lit up the snow-capped Rocky Mountains.
Taken yesterday morning, scenes like this remind me why I am so privileged to live in Colorado.
Goodbye, 2019. The last of my recap photo slideshows, this one features my personal overall ‘top 50’.
This covers the gamut of every type of picture I have taken from landscapes to wildlife to astrophotography. Some images I like because of the subject matter, some because I was pleased with the composition and others just because of the story behind them.
I hope you’ve enjoyed these looks back at the previous year and hope you will follow along with me in 2020! From my family to yours, I wish you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year!
Over the past year I have been extremely fortunate to take in many wondrous scenes that showcased the natural beauty around us.
From a sunrise on a 14,000+ foot mountaintop to an electrified thunderstorm at sunset on the Great Plains and brilliant, golden fall foliage to the insane blue of an Alaskan glacier, Mother Nature put on some amazing shows for me. Here are what I think were my top 25 landscape photos of 2019.
I hope you enjoy the show.
By far my ‘photo excursion of the year’. We headed north to our nation’s 49th state and spent two weeks exploring this amazing place.
The sheer size of Alaska and our desire to not rush through things meant we limited our travels but that didn’t limit the photographic opportunities. We focused on three main areas: Denali National Park, Seward with Kenai Fjords National Park and Homer with Katmai National Park and Preserve.
Through them all, the scenery was stunning, the wildlife just amazing. It was the trip of a lifetime and one I will treasure forever. Here is a look at my favorite pics from our trip to the northern frontier.
A very persistent, thick fog fell over the Colorado Front Range this morning. If a photo subject wasn’t close to the road, there was no hope in getting pics of it and even then, it made shooting tough. This tree stood out alone against the mist. A conversion to black and white gave it kind of a cool feel.
Such a beautiful scene yesterday northeast of Denver. The skies above were mostly clear revealing that beautiful blue that we enjoy so much of here. Beneath, the amber colored plains and in the distance, the Flatirons behind Boulder. Clouds from a powerful storm system drape the Rocky Mountains. Throw in that brilliant, clear moon and yeah, I was loving the view.
I had high hopes for the show this evening and while it was pretty, it wasn’t quite as dramatic as I had hoped. Nevertheless, it is hard to complain when you can wrap up your workday with a scene like this.
The Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado is a pretty amazing place. The rock formations stand tall and seem to be out of place with their proximity putting them closer to the city than next to Pikes Peak and the Rocky Mountains.
The most imposing formation on the north end of the park is called the Tower of Babel and standing beneath it, you can’t help but be intimidated. Its 300 foot face certainly towers above you as you stand beneath.
These were taken soon after sunrise this past July. The golden light of the early morning summer sun coupled with those amazingly deep, blue Colorado skies made for a couple of nice captures.
One for #TatankaTuesday taken this past weekend.
As seems to be the rule lately, temperatures were cold and conditions less than hospitable. Of course bison are well-built to handle winter conditions and this big buy was lazily pushing aside the snow to get to his breakfast.
Above him, an iridescent cloud, caused by ice crystals reflecting the sunlight. The rainbow colors were much more vivid when I first spotted it but by the time I put myself in position and stopped, they were fading. Nevertheless, there was enough of a hint to make it a cool capture.
