“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning.” I can’t help but think of that old saying this evening – I am a sailor after all. 😉

The sunrise on the Colorado Front Range this morning was amazing as always. Those gorgeous colored clouds and sky coupled with the frozen pond below were awesome.

However, Mother Nature is apparently set to deliver a potent storm on us tonight and tomorrow so I am of course, taking warning.

This was on an extremely cold December morning on Colorado’s Great Plains. I was at Jackson Lake State Park primarily in search of eagles but as the sun began to crest the horizon and cast its golden light, I couldn’t help but divert and capture the scene.

A light frost had coated the grass helping to make it really shimmer. I then used a bit of a photographic ‘trick’ then allowed me to turn that rising sun into a bursting light.

This really is a cool technique and very easy for those that want to try. Simply stop your shot down as much as possible – something like f/22. The result is the ‘starburst’ effect you see here. It works best if the sun is somewhat obscured like through grass or leaves on a tree.

More of my landscape images here.

The first day of the workweek is rarely a fun one and Monday oftentimes lives up to its reputation. Rather than feed the fire, here’s an image I snapped this weekend to calm things down. This was actually looking to the north at a 90-degree angle to the sunrise. The rising sun lit up the cool, cotton ball clouds and the reflection colored the ice and water orange. When you get stressed today, just try to think of a scene like this. 😉

Not many clouds this morning to make for an extraordinary sunrise but it was definitely golden and pretty unto into own right.

If the team was doing worth a darn, I probably would have called this a ‘Broncos sunrise’ since it was taken on a game day. That, unfortunately, is not the case and while the view did feature the team colors, it sure did not portend a victory. 🙁 Nevertheless, the scene was beautiful with the clouds on the horizon blazing orange and that deep blue, Colorado sky above just beginning to get illuminated. More landscape images here.

I was pleased to find this image of mine included in Colorado Outdoors magazine’s 2017 photo issue. Taken at Jackson Lake State Park, Colorado back in January, it was indeed one very cold morning. However, all that ice and a subdued sunrise made for some nice pics that morning, even if it was 17 degrees and windy at the time. 😉

I had hoped one of my wildlife shots would make the cut for the magazine this year but no such luck. That’s okay, I am flattered to have this one in there and it gives me something to shoot for next year.

Image available here.

The early morning show this past Saturday was relatively pedestrian as far as sunrises go on the Colorado plains. The views are often extraordinary with the orange stretching from the horizon to above your head.

On this morning, there weren’t many clouds to be lit up so the effect of the rising sun was somewhat limited. To help compensate for that, I opted for a nice foreground. The reflection on the waters of the lake, while not glass smooth did provide a nice accent below the horizon to what was above.

The leaves are all gone and we are well into fall now. This time of year often brings some absolutely gorgeous scenes at the start and end of the day. A couple weeks ago, there weren’t many clouds for the rising sun to illuminate so I opted for a more close in view. The orange sky at the horizon, the blue above and the amber grasses just getting illuminated were beautiful.