Wildlife, landscape and weather photography
Taken last weekend, wind the day and night before had stripped a lot of the trees of many of their leaves. This tree however was holding on strong to its gold. The fall foliage and beautiful blue sky accented by the clouds looked pretty awesome. Image available here.
Toward the end of my photo drive last Sunday I swung through St Vrain State Park north of Denver. There was a dense stand of a couple dozen birch trees that was lit up in autumn gold that drew my attention. I spent a half hour photographing those trees and leaves as they were just absolutely gorgeous. Walking beneath them, bathed in the filtered light, was almost magical. Looking up toward the sun, the view was nothing but yellow.
At the end of my photo drive this past Sunday, I swung through St. Vrain State Park, Colorado. There was one particular spot that had a number of birch trees absolutely with absolutely gorgeous fall foliage. I hopped out and shot those trees from just about every angle possible with my wide angle lens. At one point, I glanced up and see the somewhat faint crescent moon through the canopy of leaves. It looked awesome against that deep blue Colorado sky so I went back to my truck and grabbed my other camera with my big zoom lens and returned to capture a bunch of images of our only natural satellite and the leaves.
A collection of two seasons in one in Colorado’s high country a couple of weeks ago. The leaves were still bright yellow but a wintry storm brought fog and a light coating of snow to altitudes over 10,000 feet.
It was a sign of the changing seasons and it seems appropriate to post today since lower elevations where I live are set to receive our first snowfall of the season tonight and tomorrow. Certainly I love the different wildlife and photo opportunities that winter brings to the Front Range but I am not so sure I am ready for the cold. 😉
One of my favorite perspectives when taking pictures of the fall foliage is to immerse myself in a bunch of aspen trees and point my camera straight up. Those golden leaves against our deep blue Colorado skies just look gorgeous. This year I only had limited success at that attempt due to either cloudy skies above or, in this case, a grove that had leaves already partially stripped by wind. Nevertheless, there was enough yellow left to make for a nice capture.
A nice little scene following an afternoon thunderstorm at our campsite in Estes Park, Colorado this past Friday. In the wake of the storm, the sun reappeared to the west and to the east a good-looking rainbow appeared. This weekend pretty much puts a wrap on our camping season which is always a bit of a bummer. We will be anxiously awaiting that first trip of the spring! Only six months to go or so. 😉
Mother Nature wasn’t too cooperative today with clouds and rain intruding heavily on mine and my son’s fall foliage drive. It seemed like we spent most of the time chasing the few spots of sun and they disappeared as soon as we arrived. I did manage a few nice captures including this one. Taken on the east side of Boreas Pass, Colorado looking toward Como.
Taken along Old Fall River Road about half way between the base and top. In this particular area, it was a bit hit or miss (more miss really) as to finding fall foliage this past weekend. However, the higher you went, the better your chances.
Many locations, particularly those above 9,000 feet, in the state’s high country will peak this coming weekend. If you’re planning to view the show, this will be the primary weekend to do it – I know I will be up there!
If you are in the Centennial State and not sure where to go, I offer up some thoughts on my weather website here.
I took a drive to the Colorado high country this morning and the leaves are just starting to hint at the change of seasons. In another couple of weeks, those trees will look like these aspen trees on Guanella Pass last year on September 24th. I can’t wait! I’ve already planned out at least one route that I will be taking.
Many folks that have never been here before envision Denver as being in the mountains. That is certainly not true. The Rocky Mountains lie just to the west of the Mile High City with Denver itself actually residing on the Great Plains.
This image, taken back in November, gives a good view of the landscape. Looking toward the west from a spot about eight miles northeast of downtown, you can see the city with the mountains towering in the background.
As everyone knows however, the city’s official elevation is one mile above sea level, 5,280 feet, as measured from the steps of the state capitol. That of course is where the city gets its primary nickname but it has also been called the Queen City of the Plains and the Queen City of the West at different times in history.
