Wildlife, landscape and weather photography
Clear skies and getting away from city lights allowed me to get out and shoot the stars this past Monday. It was, as always, amazing to me to see how many points of light are above when conditions are right – it is breathtaking.
Here, thanks to a long exposure, you can see the center of our galaxy. The bright ‘star’ you see is actually Saturn and toward the left edge of the image you can see two, faint meteors streaking side by side
I visited this awesome Colorado park this past weekend for the first time since I was probably only thigh-high to an adult. It was a great visit getting away from the city and signifies the start of my camping season in earnest.
One of my big goals for the weekend was Milky Way photography. Well, Mother Nature had other plans. I set my alarm, crawled out of the warm comfort of my sleeping bag at 3:00am, emerged to 38 degrees and… Clouds! Being a sailor, you can imagine I used a few “colorful metaphors.” 😀
Nevertheless, I was awake so figured I might as well snap some pics. In between the cirrus clouds you could get a hint of the brilliant display of stars that you can see once you get away from population and lights.
I didn’t get the images I wanted but I did appreciate the quiet and solitude standing on the shoreline of the lake without another person in sight.
Fly me to the moon. Or, at least fly by the moon, eh?
Out taking pics last week I look up and see this airplane is going to fly right by the early evening moon. Unfortunately by the time I got my camera dismounted from the tripod and pointed at it, the plane had passed. It still makes for kind of a cool shot I think. Our moon looks absolutely fantastic against that clear, blue, Colorado sky.
As a space geek, I can’t help but look at it and look forward to the day when we can say, “There is a man (or woman!) up there!” It is hard to believe it will soon be 50 years since we first set foot on it. It has been far too long. Let’s go, NASA!
A very cool scene that unfolded last weekend. Low clouds were above and threatening to rain. On the horizon, clouds hung low beyond the foothills of the Colorado Front Range. In between, a thin band of blue sky that was punctuated by the setting moon. Even on a cruddy weather day, we get some pretty cool scenes here in Colorado.
Just a random picture of the moon I took this past weekend. The sun was up and warming things below following a pretty cool sunrise. Up above, our only natural satellite was ending its day and setting. Our brilliant blue skies provided a backdrop with some thin, cirrus clouds moving about. Kind of a neat scene.
I tried a number of different arrangements stitching together the images I took last night to show the progression of the eclipse. I think this is the one I like the best. It shows it all the way from the full moon before the eclipse started to when there was just a sliver and then to the blood moon.
As always, I find these types of events fun but sometimes frustrating because you only have one chance to get it right. The next lunar eclipse isn’t until 2021 so that is a long wait to try again.
Overall, I am pretty pleased with my results. I do wish I had more time to spend taking pics while it was in totality but I had to get my butt to bed so I could function at work today. 😉
Just a quick edit of one of my pics of the big celestial event last night as I had to get to bed and sleep before work today.
We were very lucky here in the Denver area in that while we had clouds much of the day yesterday, it cleared off quite nicely after dark. That gave us prime viewing for the so-called “Super Blood Wolf Moon” (or whatever the hype-masters called it). 😉
One of the things that struck me most about the event was that once totality was reached, the stars really brightened up and became quite visible. Here in the city, we don’t usually see so many except when there is a new moon.
I decided this is probably one of my favorite shots from the night as it offsets the moon and allows you to really see all the stars.
Skies have thankfully cleared here in the Denver, Colorado area so hoping for a nice show. I will stay up until totality but then will miss the last half as I have to go to work early tomorrow.
Technically the full moon this month was called the Full Cold Moon. However, as it set early in the morning Sunday, I happened across this scene. It seems fitting to post it now for Tatanka Thursday. 😉
The sun was just started to climb over the horizon and shed its golden light on the landscape and the creatures below. Above, a cloud layer but not low enough to obscuring the setting moon. In the background, the Rocky Mountains were waiting for their chance to see some sun.
Taken at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge.
A gorgeous waning gibbous moon recently. As I sat waiting for the sun to rise and light to spread so I could take pictures, I pointed my camera toward our only natural satellite. Those clear, Colorado skies provided prime viewing and a nice pic.
