From the Great Plains and the Badlands to the height of the Rocky Mountains, my photo excursions have allowed me to view some stunning scenes. I hope you enjoy this peaceful look back at the natural beauty around us.
Field of gold on the Colorado plains
I’ve shared some other pics of what was a beautiful sunflower field last month. This provides a nice, close view of the golden flowers. The field was one of the most stunning and biggest I have ever seen with the flowers stretching far and wide. When the morning sun hit them, well, that is when they really lived up to their name.
Golden sunflowers and the Mile High City
This sunflower field is absolutely massive and its location affords some fun, different views. While it was, unfortunately, a bit hazy on the morning this was taken, it was way cool to be able to get those blooming sunflowers in the foreground and Denver, Colorado in the background. Oh, yeah, there is also those Rocky Mountains in there too. 😉
I do count myself as privileged to have grown up here and have lived in this city most of my life. Historically, Denver was called the Queen City of the Plains. Both it, and the more common Mile High City nickname, seem quite appropriate.
Golden sunflower field beneath the Rocky Mountains and Denver
This made for a pretty danged nice view yesterday morning! The sunflowers are starting to bloom on the Colorado plains and this particular spot had some added bonuses. Of course you had the flowers but in the distance, also the majestic Mile High City and the Rocky Mountains. Throw in the setting near full moon above in the blue skies and, well, that was darned awesome for sure.
Sunflowers greet the sunrise
A field and sky of gold.
It is the time of year that many places on the plains of Colorado are awash in yellow as the sunflowers bloom. I hadn’t had a chance to check out the scenes until yesterday morning and it was well worth it.
The quiet of the Great Plains was notable and the color absolutely brilliant. As I always say, the mountains may get all the press but those flat lands are pretty danged awesome too.
Field of gold
As I mentioned before, I didn’t really spend much time on the sunflowers this season. There was just way too much drama at the fields and way too much bad behavior and I didn’t want to deal with the stress.
I did manage a couple “drive-bys” though when out taking picture of other subjects. This one, taken mid-August, is one of my favorites.
The field itself was relatively small so it didn’t lend itself to a wider shot. Instead, I zoomed in, capturing a dense spot giving it a much bigger feel than what was really there. Plus, that one sunflower standing just a bit taller than the others was a nice draw.
Sunflowers, sunset and smoke
I had been avoiding taking my annual trip(s) out to see the sunflowers northeast of Denver, Colorado. The evening thunderstorms that help to make those scenes dramatic have been non-existent and replaced by smoke and haze from wildfires across the northern part of the state.
Throw in a lot of bad behavior by other photographers and visitors (trespassing, damaging the crops), and my motivation to go out there has been pretty low. Last night though, I decided to head out with a buddy and give it a shot.
There were no clouds to speak of, just haze from the smoke. While the sunset wasn’t anything overly dramatic, it did provide some nice colors and silhouetted the mountains pretty nicely.
Shooting into the sun is a challenge that usually results in the foreground being too dark or the sky being blown out. To help mitigate that, this is actually three images shot immediately one after another – the first dark, the first at what the camera thought was a good exposure, and the third bright. I then took the three and merged them together on the computer, helping to bring out pretty decent colors in the foreground and capture the sky without blowing it out too bad.
Golden sunflowers and the blue, Colorado sky
If you look close, there is a bee in there as well.
My photo excursion this morning was pretty much a dud so when I returned to the house, I mounted up my macro lens and headed to the backyard.
These sunflowers are actually a bit of an accident. We had a bird feeder in this spot last year and this year, well, it appears the sunflower seeds in the birdseed had babies. 😉 Kind of fun and there were a ton of them. We had to pull a bunch but still probably have a dozen back there.
Golden, stormy sunset over sunflowers
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.
Shocking sunflowers
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.
