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.
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!
The sky was crazy clear along the Colorado Front Range this past Saturday and the bright white of the waning gibbous moon in the sky really drew my attention.
The first two pics were taken before the sun came up, the third, right after (hence the blue).
While the full moon gets all the press, pictures of our only natural satellite actually show much more detail at other stages. That is when the light is less direct and thus helps cast shadows and really shows the depth and color.
Just a random capture from this past Sunday of our only natural satellite. I know folks love the full moon shots but captures when it is waning or waxing do a better job showing off the detail and the craters due to the shadows.
They call it a twice-in-a-lifetime event so I figured I better give it shot.
This morning, the planet Mercury passed between the Earth and the sun giving us a look at the closest planet to the sun. My problem – clouds! While our latest storm system here in Colorado was in the process of moving out, I was worried I wouldn’t get to see it.
Thankfully, not long before the event was over, skies cleared and I got my shot. Yes, it is just a little black dot on an orange ball but the geek in me was excited. 😀
The planet Mercury is 38% the size of our home planet and averages 48 million miles from us.
Did you miss the event? The next Mercury transit visible across all of North America doesn’t occur until May 7, 2049!
I figured it would be “pretty cool”. I came away in awe and amazement and was ecstatic I took the time to go see it.
Best of all, for my first time capturing pics of a solar eclipse, I think I did pretty well with my images. It helped that I researched and read dozens and dozens of articles about how to do it so had a pretty good plan in place.
This is one taken at the height of the eclipse with the corona is clearly visible. Probably one of my most popular pics was a collage I put together of all the phases of the eclipse.
My goodness. Those immortal words bring a chill to me every time I hear them but more so today.
It was at the exact moment this photo is being published, 50 years ago, that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon while Michael Collins circled 60 miles above them.
This morning I of course had to take a picture of our only natural satellite and sat and contemplated what an extraordinary feat that was for our nation and mankind. A historic achievement and one that forever changed us.
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!
