Next show: Art, Antiques, and More - July 5, 2009 in Buffalo Creek, Colorado

mouths to feed

July 2nd, 2009

mouths to feed - western bluebirds

Western bluebird and two hungry mouths to feed. The nest is high in an old aspen. I cropped away more than half the image I was able to capture from a respectful distance with my telephoto zoom extended to 400mm.

Birds

lightning

June 30th, 2009

lightning

Along with the afternoon rains this month, we’ve also had a good bit of lightning. I like photographing the storm clouds above the mountain horizon.  This capture was done through a double glazed window since it was raining too hard for me to take the camera outside. I focused out and beyond the rain spotted glass to capture the horizon just in time for the lightning.

rain

flicker

June 28th, 2009

insect meal

June 27th, 2009

mallard duckings

June 26th, 2009

Summer’s finally here and so are ducklings. My first sighting of the tiny yellow and brown swimmers was on an early morning walk around the lakes at Lower Lake Ranch.

mallard ducklings

Clouds overhead reflect white in the dark water while low morning sunlight traveled up the valley to light this straggler.

straggler_duckling

The reflections changed as I moved around the lake. Light changed, too, cloudy one moment, a bit of bright sun the next.

mallard_ducklings

Birds

columbines

June 22nd, 2009

  white and yellow columbines

I woke up early this morning dreaming of photographing flowers.  It was a good day for working the flowers alongside the bees and hummingbirds. The columbines around my home are taller and have many flowers thanks to all the  rain we have had this year.

 yellow columbine

colorado blue columbine

columbine - remembrance

wildflowers

red fox wants my cat

June 17th, 2009

red fox staring

I looked up the hill to see a fox staring at my cat in his cat run. After the first capture the she looked away as if to hide her interest in him. But, the tongue licking the lips told the truth. I’m glad my cat is always safe inside our house or the cat run.

red fox tongue

fox

mark your place

June 9th, 2009

goslingsbkmk

Goose with goslings, one of the images I’m printing for bookmarks this year.

Birds

cloud filled valley

June 3rd, 2009

spring green

June 1st, 2009

_mg_8844 

At my house we love the aspen color in the spring. When the leaves unfold they are shiny and bright. As they grow into summer the color dulls, of course, so I have been trying to capture some of the spring color now.

spring, trees

this is spring

May 31st, 2009

_mg_8677

It’s a normally a busy time of year and this year even busier. At least it’s been raining so we don’t have wildfires to worry about - yet.

My pigment ink printer stopped working a couple of weeks ago while I was preparing for June shows. I was very annoyed by this at such a busy time, but am now extremely happy with the new printer bought to replace the old one. The epson pro 3800 fits in the same space my hp b9180 did, but can accept wider papers. And most importantly, the prints are perfect.

I’ve also been busy uploading photos to my new portfolio site at zenfolio and quite happy with it, too, though I haven’t accomplished as much as I’d planned. You can see what I’ve on display there so far.

Going to a BBQ in the rain today! After that, more printing, cutting, matting, and framing. First show is next Sunday at Buffalo Creek, Colorado.

clouds

beaver

May 18th, 2009

goslings!

May 6th, 2009
goslings nibbling grass by the lake

goslings nibbling grass by the lake

This morning at Lower Lake Ranch I found the Canada goose still sitting on the nest I’ve been watching. Then, I wandered around looking for something else to photograph and found a family of geese with six goslings near the creek. The parents didn’t want me close to the kids but I managed to get a few images without troubling them too much as they moved between the creek and lake. There are three pairs of adult Canada geese staying at the ranch ponds this spring.  I wonder how many goslings will be there tomorrow.

My field guide for N. American birds says they nest in Alaska and Canada. But then I checked the breeding map and saw an area along the southern and central Rockies in the U.S. marked as a breeding area for them as well. They must like it here as much as I do.
 

 cute baby
cute baby on the creek bank

Birds, I and the bird

Georgia Spring

May 1st, 2009
spring trees, Red Top Park, Georgia
Georgia woods in spring

The fresh green of spring in the woods was a visual treat this week in Georgia. A slow shutter speed and a quick upward pull on the camera created the vertical streaks in this trail scene. I added some color and textures with my wacom pen and photoshop brushes.

Georgia, spring, trees

window seat

April 30th, 2009

bluebird and flicker

April 23rd, 2009
western bluebird

western bluebird

flicker on dead aspen
flicker on dead aspen
I went looking for something to photograph with my telephoto lens this morning and found these birds. The photos above are crops of the images. I like the background trees in the full image of the flicker, below.
flicker, full image

flicker, full image

Birds

Wet April Snow

April 21st, 2009
barn storm

barn storm

Captured while snow shoeing on Lower Lake Ranch at Elk Falls during the storm. As I worked my way up the creek the snow fell harder and the camera only left the bag to make quick image here and there.

picnic, anyone?

picnic, anyone?

Back at home, my dog pauses at the top of the stairs as if unsure he needs a trip down.
To go or not?

To go or not?

snow, spring

mallards on ice

April 12th, 2009
male mallard

male mallard

This beautiful couple stood on an icy pond just before sunset yesterday evening.

female mallard

female mallard

Birds

here comes the sun

April 6th, 2009
ponderosa

ponderosa

It was a bright sunrise after an April snow, but only for an hour or so. By late morning it was snowing and blowing again. Spring snows are much wetter than our winter ones.

 more snow

more snow

spring, trees

Spring Snow at Lower Lake Ranch

March 31st, 2009
spring snow

spring snow

An overnight snow fall last week made a perfect morning for a walk on the guest ranch in the valley below my house. Light snow was still falling as I began my walk.

 

I cross a new bridge recently constructed to replace a broken and abandoned one of long ago. Lots of restoration work has been done in the past year on the ranch.
 
bridge over elk creek

bridge over elk creek

Weak sunlight begins to filter through the clouds as I photograph the barn with lions head soft in the cloudy background.
 
at the barn

at the barn

 
Bright spring gold in the twigs along the creek.
spring color along the creek

spring color along the creek

 

Two geese on upper lake. One gets out of the water and poses on one foot for me.
two geese on upper lake 

two geese on upper lake

 
Two more geese circle and call. The first pair loudly answer and hold their claim on the only open water.
two newcomers

two newcomers

 

The 2nd pair continue to circle and call,

circle and call

circling pair

 

then land on the snow covered ice at the other end of the lake.

geese landing

geese landing

 

The lead goose lands gracefully followed by a sliding partner.

still sliding

still sliding

 

As the clouds lift and the sun rules the sky, I move up the creek to photograph lions head from a couple of other favorite locations.

Near crop rock:

ponderosas and lions head

ponderosas and lions head

 

And, from lion’s foot.

lion's foot with snow
lion’s foot

 

snow