Tony's Takes Photography

Wildlife, landscape and weather photography

Dramatic rock formations of Alaska’s Aialik Cape

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Dramatic rock formations of Alaska’s Aialik Cape
A beautiful scene along Alaska’s Aialik Cape. (© Tony’s Takes)

A throwback to one year ago today and, my goodness, looking at the pics just floods my mind with memories of what was an amazing trip to Alaska.

This is an image I haven’t shared previously, taken during a boating excursion into Kenai Fjords National Park. The scenery was nothing short of stunning from the battered rock formations to snow-covered mountains and glaciers. Just beautiful.

My wife and I spent the entire day outside, on the bow, just soaking it all in. Other than a few, brief periods of rain showers, we were pretty fortunate to enjoy nice weather and see everything you could hope for. Someone in the campground we were staying at had done the same excursion the day before and rain and clouds prevented them from seeing anything.

Lone tree on the Colorado plains

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Lone tree on the Colorado plains
A lone pine tree stands on the plains of Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

Sometimes you don’t have to go far for a cool scene – you just need to be paying attention.

Sitting at our campsite a few weeks ago, my wife and I were enjoying a nice, quiet late afternoon. At seemingly the same time, we both looked up from what we were reading and said, “Wow. That sure is pretty!”

Right ahead of us lie a field with a single pine tree. The sky was amazingly blue and punctuated with bright, white clouds. Off in the distance just above the horizon, thunderstorms were popping, the tops of the clouds of which we could see.

It really was quite beautiful and served as a reminder to pick your head up and look out every now and then. While the color image was nice, we both agreed that a conversion to black and white worked best. It really helped to make that one, lone tree pop and stand out from the rest of the scene.

Grove of aspen trees glowing in the morning light

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Grove of aspen trees glowing in the morning light
Aspen trees reach for the sun in Routt National Forest. (© Tony’s Takes)

When up in the area near Steamboat Lake, Colorado a few weeks ago, my wife and I took a bit of a diversion. We happened across a random Forest Service road and decided to head up and see what we could find.

It was a gorgeous day for a drive in the mountains, disconnected and well away from other people. We eventually stopped to take a break and went for a beautiful hike through the forest, coming to this grove of aspen. Just us and the trees in the Rocky Mountains. Awesome!

Old stump in black and white

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Old stump in black and white
A gnarled old stump in the Colorado forest. (© Tony’s Takes)

Just a random, old tree stump that caught my attention recently while hiking in the forest. It had been dead for quite a while and its dried out condition really created some cool textures.

Monochrome snow-covered trees

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A cold and wintry day on the Colorado plains yesterday. The weather seemed to have most of the critters holed up and hiding but, thankfully, Mother Nature provided some nice scenes to take pictures of. With the mercury at 15 degrees and light snow falling, these trees stood out in the middle of nowhere wearing their coat of white. As there wasn’t much color anyway, I converted the image to black and white which seemed to work well. Available here.

Black and white image of snow and frost covered trees on the Colorado plains. (© Tony’s Takes)
Black and white image of snow and frost covered trees on the Colorado plains. (© Tony’s Takes)

Lonely tree reflections in the fog

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Taken last Friday, thick fog settled in along the St Vrain Creek and adjacent ponds and lakes. It made for some pretty cool scenes although it caught me off guard as just to the west where I started my photo tour on that day it was perfectly clear.

I converted this photo to black and white although given the filtered light and fog, it almost wasn’t necessary as even with the naked eye the scene was very monochromatic. Taken at St. Vrain State Park, Colorado.

A bare tree is reflected in the calm waters of a lake while fog envelops that landscape. (© Tony’s Takes)
A bare tree is reflected in the calm waters of a lake while fog envelops that landscape. (© Tony’s Takes)

Welcome to Sleepy Hollow

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A rather scary road ahead on All Hallows’ Eve. 😉 I took this a couple of weeks ago and it was actually a very pretty scene with fog and fall foliage. As I was playing with it in post-processing I took it to the darker side to give it a much more ominous look. Kind of fun and thankfully no headless horseman to worry about. Have fun tonight!

A scary looking road ahead on Halloween. (© Tony’s Takes)
A scary looking road ahead on Halloween. (© Tony’s Takes)

Bristlecone in black and white

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I’m no arborist by any means but Bristlecone Pines fascinate me.

They have the capability to survive in extraordinarily harsh environments and have longevity that is just amazing. The remnants of this particular tree reside right near treeline in Colorado so at about 11,000 feet in altitude – not a pleasant place to be in the winter.

More so, this tree could have lived to be 5,000 years old! It may very well have been alive at the time of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and indeed could date back to the Bronze Age when the Egyptian pyramids were built. Just an amazing thing to think about.

Black and white image of a fallen bristlecone pine tree in the Mount Goliath area of Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Black and white image of a fallen bristlecone pine tree in the Mount Goliath area of Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

Moody reflections of the forest

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With overcast skies and light rain falling, it was tough to find photo opportunities on this morning in Colorado’s high country. While standing on the shores of a pond scanning for wildlife, I looked down and saw this scene and kind of liked it. Different but kind of neat I think.

A downed, bare tree is reflected in a pond's water in Rocky Mountain National Park. (© Tony’s Takes)
A downed, bare tree is reflected in a pond’s water in Rocky Mountain National Park. (© Tony’s Takes)

Morning sun illuminates an icy scene

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With wildlife activity being extraordinarily slow yesterday, I took to take pictures of less active scenes. It has been quite cold here in Denver, Colorado and a morning hoar frost and recent snow coated the landscape. This old, weathered log may not have minded the cold but I wasn’t particularly enjoying it – even if it made for a pretty good picture. 😉 Taken at Cherry Creek State Park.

Snow, ice and frost cover an old log on the shores of Cherry Creek State Park, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Snow, ice and frost cover an old log on the shores of Cherry Creek State Park, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)