Weather | Tony's Takes Photography

Winter ice coats a Colorado creek

January 6, 2021 by Tony Leave a Comment

What to do when you are standing around in 15 degree weather, shivering, waiting for hours for an elusive creature to appear? Point your camera down!

As we get further into the depths of winter, lakes, ponds, creeks and some rivers are icing over. As I noticed this past weekend, it creates some pretty cool shapes and crystals along the water. You really need to view these full screen and study them a bit to fully appreciate the crazy detail.

Best of all, it provided a distraction from the miserable cold and the fact I was waiting for hours for an animal that never appeared. 😉

Ice on a frozen creek in Colorado. (© Tony's Takes) — Ice on a frozen creek in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

A small but very welcome sight in Colorado

October 26, 2020 by Tony Leave a Comment

One of these doesn’t amount to much but Mother Nature finally blessed the Centennial State with a copious amount of snow yesterday. The precipitation was desperately needed to help settle down the record-breaking wildfires we have seen.

I headed to the backyard yesterday to try my hand at macro snowflake photography. Last spring I got my first, true, macro lens and my first attempts at the end of last season were not good. Yesterday I finally had some success capturing the delicate detail of snowflakes.

I still have a lot to learn and need to practice more but was happy to finally have some halfway decent results.

Video: Top Shots 2019 – Tony’s Favorites

January 1, 2020 by Tony Leave a Comment

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!

Bison bull grazes under an iridescent sky

December 3, 2019 by Tony Leave a Comment

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.

Golden, stormy sunset over sunflowers

October 21, 2019 by Tony Leave a Comment

Now that’s a sunset, eh? Sunflowers below, storm clouds with virga above and those Rocky Mountains dominating the horizon in the distance.

I was flipping through some recent pics and came across this one taken at the end of August that I hadn’t shared yet.

I was at this spot east of Denver, Colorado primarily to photograph the sunflowers but soon I became focused on also capturing the gathering storm clouds. They didn’t produce much but they did definitely add drama to the scene.

Image available for purchase here.

Lightning crawls across the post-sunset sky

October 3, 2019 by Tony Leave a Comment

Going back to the end of August for this pic. I and some photo friends had spent the evening photographing the sunflowers east of Denver, Colorado with a few thunderstorms rolling through.

Even after the sun had dropped below the horizon, some of us hung around, enjoying the light and sound show Mother Nature was putting on in the sky above. I’d intermittently snap a few pics, hoping to catch a bolt or two and as luck would have it, I managed to grab this capture of a series of bolts – I love the ‘curley Q’ in the big one.

I used a long, 30 second exposure to maximize my chances of getting something. That indeed worked although with the wind the flowers ended up being blurred. Nevertheless, I think it is kind of a cool capture.

Shocking sunflowers

August 22, 2019 by Tony Leave a Comment

A little bit of lightning fun on the plains of Colorado.

I was a bit late getting to this spot yesterday evening and missed much of the show. Thankfully, I did get there in time to get a few cool captures.

The thunderstorms were quite strong and very electrified sending many bolts to the ground. Throw in the orange glow of the setting sun and the flowers and it was pretty neat.

I don’t have a lightning trigger so just have to keep snapping pics repeatedly hoping lightning pops at the right time.

Lightning pops over a field of sunflowers east of Denver, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

Resurrection Bay rainbow

August 14, 2019 by Tony Leave a Comment

What a great way to end a fantastic day on the water!

We were returning to Seward, Alaska after eight hours or so touring Kenai Fjords National Park. A quick rain shower chased us inside but then I looked out and saw this incredibly colorful and dramatic display.

Rain wasn’t going to stop me from getting a pic of that! I grabbed my camera, ran out onto the deck and started clicking. My images really don’t do it justice either. The rainbow was one of the most bright I have ever seen.

Just extraordinary!

Storms over the Collegiate Peaks

June 27, 2019 by Tony Leave a Comment

I am back from some much needed R & R in San Isabel National Forest overlooking Buena Vista, Colorado. I didn’t take many pics as family and relaxation were higher priorities but the skies in many of the evenings demanded attention.

This one from this past Friday. Mount Princeton is front and center. If I am not mistaken, Mount Yale is the tallest peak to the right then moving back left of Princeton, Mount Antero and Mount Shavano are the two most prominent on that side.

No matter their names, the view was awesome! Oh, and believe it or not, the next night we had snow!

In the wake of the storm

June 3, 2019 by Tony Leave a Comment

June means severe weather season here in Colorado and that can make for some fun afternoons. Today, we had a nice thunderstorm move through and, thankfully, no big hail.

After the storm passed, the clouds to the east looked awesome with bits of mammatus mixed in with the formations.

I tried my best to get some lightning shots but failed. It seemed no matter which way I pointed my camera, the bolts were the opposite way. 😉