Tony's Takes Photography

Wildlife, landscape and weather photography

Colorado columbines

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Columbine flowers wet from a passing rain shower soak in the sun in Thornton, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Columbine flowers wet from a passing rain shower soak in the sun in Thornton, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

What do you do when you are bored but don’t feel like driving around for a photo op? You head to the backyard! Actually, in this case, our side yard in front where my wife has an awesome flower garden going on.

Among the subjects, the Centennial State’s flower which I have to say is just beautiful. I don’t have a “real” macro lens so make do with standard glass but it is fun to get out there and see what I get.

There are 70 specials of columbine, a third of which are native to North America. For the Colorado state flower, it is specified as the Rocky Mountain columbine, like these, with the purple and white. It is said the purple / blue represent the sky, the white the snow and the yellow our state’s gold mining history.

Columbine flowers wet from a passing rain shower soak in the sun in Thornton, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Columbine flowers wet from a passing rain shower soak in the sun in Thornton, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Columbine flowers wet from a passing rain shower soak in the sun in Thornton, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Columbine flowers wet from a passing rain shower soak in the sun in Thornton, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

Wild sunflowers greet the sunrise

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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.

Wild sunflowers greet sunrise on the Colorado plains. (© Tony’s Takes)
Wild sunflowers greet sunrise on the Colorado plains. (© Tony’s Takes)

Big flower, little bee

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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.

A bee busily works on a blooming sunflower on the Colorado plains. (© Tony’s Takes)
A bee busily works on a blooming sunflower on the Colorado plains. (© Tony’s Takes)

Rainy day flowers

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Some captures from this afternoon after a period of intense rain here in the Denver area. I don’t have a true macro lens so made do with my wide angle and getting within a few inches of the flowers.

Somehow my camera was taking JPGs instead of RAW files so that really limited my ability to process the images and get the quality I was hoping for. Nevertheless, it was fun to take some pics of something different.

Columbine flowers following a rain in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Columbine flowers following a rain in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Columbine flowers following a rain in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Columbine flowers following a rain in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Flowers following a rain in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Flowers following a rain in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Flowers following a rain in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Flowers following a rain in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

Wildflowers and the Tetons

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The weather during my trip to Grand Teton National Park wasn’t ideal with quite a bit of rain and a good bit of cloud cover whether it was raining or not. Nevertheless, there were times those clouds really helped pictures and added drama. Such was the case with this image. The blooming wildflowers dominate the foreground with the snow-covered mountain peaks in the background. Above, the mostly cloudy skies added some drama.

Wildflowers bloom at the base of the Tetons in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. (© Tony’s Takes)
Wildflowers bloom at the base of the Tetons in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. (© Tony’s Takes)

Sunflowers watch the sunrise

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Taken Sunday morning out near Denver International Airport. The rising sun lit up the clouds in shades of red and orange with the always beautiful, blue Colorado sky in the background. On ground level, the flowers in this field were starting to get their first taste of the morning warmth and their edges lit up by the increasing light.

Sunrise illuminates the sky on the Great Plains with sunflowers on the ground below. (© Tony’s Takes)
Sunrise illuminates the sky on the Great Plains with sunflowers on the ground below. (© Tony’s Takes)

Colorado blue and gold

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Sunflowers look radiant as the sun rises with the clear, beautiful blue skies providing a backdrop.

Sunday AM I headed out in the dark to capture scenes like this at sunrise. The sunflowers out near Denver International Airport provide for some pretty darned cool imagery every year. The skies were a bit hazy so I wasn’t able to get any really good images of the flowers in the foreground and mountains in the background. However, up close the flora made for a great opportunity by itself.

A sunflower is lit brightly by the rising sun near Denver International Airport. (© Tony’s Takes)
A sunflower is lit brightly by the rising sun near Denver International Airport. (© Tony’s Takes)

Wild Flowers bloom in front of Atlyn Peak

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If you ask my wife, she would tell you the series of images I took of these wildflowers and mountain were her favorite from our recent trip to the northern Rockies. I do like the image but would much prefer it if there was some sort of ferocious critter in the foreground too. 😉

Ironically, this was taken on a morning in Glacier National Park when I was out solo as she and the kids opted to sleep in. See, honey – there is a reason to get up early!

Atlyn Peak is in the Many Glacier area of the park and stands tall at 7,947 feet, dominating the view to the north. Grizzly Bears are said to like to graze the grass and berry bushes on its slopes although we never did see any there.

Wild Flowers bloom in front of Atlyn Peak in Glacier National Park, Montana. (© Tony’s Takes)
Wild Flowers bloom in front of Atlyn Peak in Glacier National Park, Montana. (© Tony’s Takes)

Red rocks and yellow lilies

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Red rocks and yellow lilies. I stopped at this spot primarily to look for moose. While none were found, I did however discover why the location is called “Red Rock Lake.” In this natural lake, sitting the cold, mountain water and surrounded by lilies are these huge red rocks. They were undoubtedly deposited there thousands of years ago by geologic forces but seem kind of out of place. Nevertheless, it made for a very pretty, calming scene.

Red rocks and yellow lilies. (© Tony’s Takes)
Red rocks and yellow lilies. (© Tony’s Takes)