I’ve been seeing tons of these beautiful flowers across the Great Plains lately and last weekend made sure to capture some pics of them. This image is probably my favorite of the bunch. As the sun rose it illuminated the petals of the flowers making them seem to glow. Image available here.
Ring around the sunrise
Colorado has had a good number of wildfires this season but nothing as bad as what areas to our west have seen. As fires rage in California, Montana, British Columbia and Alberta, their smoke has been a near constant presence this summer.
This makes for some crazy, gorgeous sunrises and sunsets but of course I would prefer not to have them as a result of the fires. Nevertheless, it does make some good photo ops such as this rising sun taken yesterday morning in Weld County. The ring was caused by the polarizer filter on my lens.
Big flower, little bee
The sunflowers are in bloom on the Colorado plains and I of course had to head out and check them out this past Sunday. There didn’t seem to be quite as many fields of them in the usual areas this year and a couple fields looked really anemic. This one though was gorgeous and ablaze in bright yellow beneath our blue skies. A closer look at this one saw a busy pollinator at work. The bee was well-camouflaged with its color scheme closely matching the flower’s.
Smoke colors the summer sunrise
We have had our share of wildfires here in Colorado but nothing like what California and western Canada have been seeing. Smoke from blazes in those areas backed into eastern Colorado overnight last night creating this somewhat eerie scene this morning. It was pretty but of course the reason for it is not so great.
Foggy summer morning back-road
Taken a couple of weeks ago at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. You’ve likely seen me pictures I have posted of this same spot in the past. It is really quite picturesque with those trees looming large over the road. On this day, we had some early morning fog, something we don’t really see very often here in Colorado with as dry as it normally is. This however came on a day following a good bit of rain helping to give rise to the fog.
Rising sun in the smoky high country
Down below, the sunrise was obscured by clouds. This morning I was at about 10,000 feet allowing a clearer view – kind of. While there were no clouds directly above, some were along the horizon as was smoke from wildfires in the region. The smell of the smoke was quite strong but the red sun made for a bit of a surreal scene and was kind of cool. Taken in Arapaho National Forest.
Wind turbine silhouetted by sunrise
My morning photo drive a couple weeks ago took me past these wind turbines and I couldn’t resist taking their picture. These are part of the Peetz Table Wind Energy Center located in Logan County, Colorado.
The facility, operated by NextEra Energy Resources, is one of the largest wind power projects in the United States. It has 133 1.5-megawatt turbines that are capable of generating enough electricity to power more than 77,000 homes.
Each turbine is 262 feet tall from the ground to the center of the hub making them rather imposing structures on the relatively flat lands of the Great Plains.
Sunset on the Great Plains provides a stunning view
You would be hard-pressed to find more consistently beautiful sunrises and sunsets than you do in eastern Colorado. The terrain may be a bit flat but it is beautiful in its own right, particularly at the start and end of the day.
This view unfolded before us last week at North Sterling State Park. The golden orb bathed the water of the lake and the landscape in orange and those crepuscular rays shooting into the cloud cover were amazing to see.
Lake Louise in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies
One for Canada Day harkening back to my visit there two years ago. This is an image I haven’t shared before of this absolutely amazing location.
While on this trip I kept telling my wife, “You just can’t take a bad picture.” That is virtually true – it was that beautiful. I cannot wait until the day when I return.
Happy birthday to our friends to the north!
For what was my favorite image of this spot, see here. I actually have that one hanging on my wall at home.
Smoky mountain morning
My wife and I headed to the top of Mount Evans today for a photo excursion. Lots of cool wildlife shots to share later but this came away as my favorite of the day. It was extraordinarily hazy at 14,000+ feet and the air was thick with the sight – and smell – of smoke from wildfires burning in Colorado. In color, the image wasn’t really extraordinary but a conversion to black and white provided a pretty cool look I think.