Tony's Takes Photography

Wildlife, landscape and weather photography

Icicles pop against the blue sky

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Icicles shine against a deep blue sky in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Icicles shine against a deep blue sky in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

Coming home from work the other day I noticed we had a bunch of icicles hanging from the gutters on our front porch.

Most were the ‘run of the mill’ type – long and skinny. However, there were a few hanging from a downspout that had some crazy cool shapes to them for some reason. Best of all, the corner where they were at was bathed in the late afternoon light which made them really pop against those gorgeous Colorado skies.

Closing down the lens to f/16 helped to create a starburst effect on some of them. Kind of a fun, easy photo opportunity and a reminder that sometimes the coolest pics can be had right in your backyard.

Icicles shine against a deep blue sky in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Icicles shine against a deep blue sky in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Icicles shine against a deep blue sky in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Icicles shine against a deep blue sky in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

Solitary reflections in black and white

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A bare tree in the fog is reflected on the surface of a pond at St Vrain State Park in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
A bare tree in the fog is reflected on the surface of a pond at St Vrain State Park in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

Solitary reflections in black and white. Jumping back to almost exactly one year ago today. Thick fog had settled in on the St Vrain River in northern Colorado and spotting wildlife became pretty much impossible. It did however create some very cool scenes like this one, taken in St. Vrain State Park.

Foggy summer morning back-road

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Taken a couple of weeks ago at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. You’ve likely seen me pictures I have posted of this same spot in the past. It is really quite picturesque with those trees looming large over the road. On this day, we had some early morning fog, something we don’t really see very often here in Colorado with as dry as it normally is. This however came on a day following a good bit of rain helping to give rise to the fog.

A foggy road in Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. (© Tony’s Takes)
A foggy road in Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. (© Tony’s Takes)

Black and white portrait of a spring snowfall

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Finally! Colorado was extraordinarily dry in the winter and has been thus far in spring too. Last night and this morning we received some much needed rain and a bit of snow. The moisture is very welcome to help with the drought but also made me happy because it made for some pretty pictures this morning.

Black and white image of a wet road and snow-covered trees in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Black and white image of a wet road and snow-covered trees in Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

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)

A mighty cold winter scene along the Colorado Front Range

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A taste of the Arctic for us today as cold air refused to move out and left us with some pretty darned cold temperatures. The so-called “high” temperature at my house not far from here was 11 degrees. That does not make this photographer want to venture far from his truck to say the least!

This image was taken at Barr Lake State Park as light snow fell in the late morning and clung to the trees. I did walk around some, but it didn’t take long before my fingers were telling me I better get inside the warmth! 😉

Hoar frost and snow coat the landscape at Colorado's Barr Lake State Park. (© Tony’s Takes)
Hoar frost and snow coat the landscape at Colorado’s Barr Lake State Park. (© Tony’s Takes)

Tumbleweeds endure icy conditions

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To say it was a bit cold Saturday morning on the plains would be an understatement and these ice-covered tumbleweeds provide evidence. A cold north wind had blown them across the lake onto the shore and the splashing waves had provided the moisture. Throw in temperatures to the low 20s and wind chill temperatures far below that and you can understand why it was pretty miserable at this spot that morning. Taken in Morgan County, Colorado.

Ice coats a tumblewood along the shore of Jackson Lake State Park, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Ice coats a tumblewood along the shore of Jackson Lake State Park, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

Dense fog envelops powerlines and the road

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A very interesting – and pretty – morning of ??weather? here in northeastern ??Colorado?. Temperatures were in the single digits and a hoar frost had covered everything in white. Also thrown in the mix was dense ??fog?, something we don’t get very often.

All of it came together for some nice pictures including this one on a dirt road. The fog had settled into a low lying area that the South Platte River meanders through and as it did, it seemed to swallow up everything going through it.

Dense fog in Adams County, Colorado envelops a rural road and massive powerlines. (© Tony’s Takes)
Dense fog in Adams County, Colorado envelops a rural road and massive powerlines. (© Tony’s Takes)

Sunrise colors hoar frost in pastel colors

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C O L D. That was the key word yesterday morning when I took this image along the South Platte River north of Denver.

The mercury was showing 1 degree above zero as the sun emerged from its slumber. With the warming light very slowly starting to spread, an amazing scene was unveiled with a thick hoar frost covering the foliage. Some of this frost stuck out an inch from the branches.

Crazy stuff and of course very, very beautiful. I snapped a few pics but then quickly retreated to the warmth of my truck. 😉

A thick hoar frost covers tree branches along the South Platte River north of Denver, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
A thick hoar frost covers tree branches along the South Platte River north of Denver, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
A thick hoar frost covers tree branches along the South Platte River north of Denver, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
A thick hoar frost covers tree branches along the South Platte River north of Denver, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

Thornton Exhibit: Looking Through Our Lens

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The City of Thornton will be conducting a photo exhibit called ‘Looking Through Our Lens’ from March 7th to April 25th.  As there is no theme for this show, it left the choices of images to display wide open.

Using friends and family as judges (and I having veto authority of course) eight images were selected and are shown below. Below the slideshow is a description of each picture or you can click on an image to go to page with more information.

You can also see these images live along with others from local photographers during the above dates at the Thornton Arts and Culture Center, 9209 Dorothy Blvd., Thornton, CO 80229.  The operating hours are from 1:30pm to 5:00pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 2:00pm to 5:00pm on Thursday.

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Photos © Tony’s Takes. Images are available for purchase as a print or for digital use.  Please don’t steal, my prices aren’t particularly expensive.  For more information contact me here.

May 31, 2010 – Colorado plains beast. The Campo, Colorado tornado is one that few storm chasers saw but for those that were there it was incredible. A storm system would drop six twisters in the same area that day, this the most impressive of them. It was on the ground for 25 minutes moving at a leisurely 10 mph allowing plenty of time to photograph the amazing phenomena as it tore through the ranchland.

June 2, 2010 – Kansas windmill. The sun was setting on another day of storm chasing on the Great Plains when this scene unfolded south of Goodland, Kansas. It reminded me of my grandpa’s farm in the same state and is punctuated by the windmill and crepuscular rays emanating from the sun.

December 19, 2010 – Glorious rural sunrise. Taken in Weld County, Colorado, the morning was bitter cold but as the sun rose between these trees my heart warmed. Colorado has the most amazing sunrises and sunsets and they occur at all times of these year. The bare trees, having shed their coverage for the winter, were darkened as the sun rose in brilliant orange.

February 4, 2011 – The sun will rise again. A photo that has special meaning for me. Taken on a very cold morning in Elephant Butte, New Mexico, this was the day after my dad passed away. I was raw with emotion and incredibly depressed as I left the hotel that morning. The scene of the sun rising was one which I will never forget.

July 25, 2012 – All that is left. Colorado is steeped in mining history and this image captures the remnants of one near Taylor Park. The Collegiate Peaks rise well above timberline in the background with the old mine equipment serving as the foreground.

June 7, 2012 – The lonely tree. Storm chasing isn’t just about tornadoes to me. Oftentimes the best images are ones taken before or after a tornado as was the case with this picture. Taken in rural Kiowa County, Colorado, I had witnessed a rain-wrapped tornado earlier and just sat and watched Mother Nature in all her glory. The sky near the horizon had the orange of the setting sun while above the blue / green of hail in the clouds made it a bit ominous.

January 20, 2013 – Old west meets new. Taken at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife refuge, this was an image I had seen in my mind for a long time. The weather cooperated with beautiful, clear blue skies and the bison was kind enough to position itself perfectly. This to me is an iconic Denver image.

January 25, 2013 – Regal eagle. The Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in Denver is a veritable cornucopia of photo opportunities. Usually the bald eagles here are too far away to capture images of but on this day this particular eagle was perched right by the entrance to the refuge. I was almost giddy as I got within 50 feet of the amazing bird.