consworld

As I wrote the title for this post, I thought of a story that has absolutely nothing to do with the two mule deer I’ve been photographing this week.

I keep two bucks in coin on a shelf in my studio to remind me of the sale of a photograph at a local show a few years ago.

The man told me he was a couple of dollars short of the price and had begged some small coins (mostly pennies) from a friend. He said he wanted me to know that the desire to own one of my images compelled him to beg. We laughed over the dangerous addiction collecting my images might become.

I’ve named the two mule deer big buck and little buck for the relative sizes of their velvety head ornaments.

deer

Detail from a drift of wildflower snow flowing down my rock garden.

wildflowers

I counted at least 7 different kinds of mushrooms while hiking this week. I went out to photograph wildflowers, but came back with as many images of mushrooms as flowers. A local news station has reported many dogs sickened and some dead from ingesting mushrooms. I’m checking our property and keeping an eye on my dog, Charlie. He likes to taste everything.

 There were big red ones, too, but they’d been trampled by deer or elk. I like the curly ones, above, that look like a salad. I don’t know which are edible. If every summer were as wet as this year, I’d study them so I could harvest and eat the right ones. Instead, I buy my ’shrooms at the grocery in Conifer - safer that way.

I’ve been printing for this weekend’s show, my 5th one this summer, and hoping the weather forecast is correct with only a 10% chance of rain Saturday and Sunday. If you are in Colorado, stop by the Tommyknocker’s Mining Days Festival in Idaho Springs this weekend and say hello.

mushrooms

A few of my long exposure fireworks captures from the 4th.  A little late, I know, but I had a show on the 5th and forgot all about posting these until I saw a friend’s fireworks images today on facebook.

fireworks 1028 by Con Daily

fireworks 1015 by Con Daily

fireworks 1053 by Con Daily

Uncategorized

Wildflowers are a summer thing, like the local festivals in consworld. Both flourish in the summer and keep me busy photographing, printing, and showing.

This year, afternoon rains have been very good for flower and stormy sky photography, however, not so good for packing up and breaking down the booth at outdoor festivals. Am I complaining about the rain? Never. The paintbrush image, above, was captured on a stormy day less than 1/2 mile from my home.

wildflowers

Backlit by the setting sun, this very common wildflower blooms continuously throughout the summer in my area.

wildflowers

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