lotsa stuff

Missed Opportunity

As I was driving home on Tuesday Night, I saw a fantastic display of the sunset dancing on the clouds in the sky. In the 60 seconds it took me to pull over, get the camera out and take the shot, it was gone. What's left is the faint remnants of orange and the opportunity to work faster in the future. Some things are meant to be captured forever, I guess that was one of them....

Road Trip West Day 1

Abbey and I have a summer Road Trip tradition. (It's tradition now because it's our second year in a row!) For those of you who don't know, last year we went East; All the way to Maine. We saw most of the northeast. Here's a little rundown from last year to refresh my own memory: Colorado Springs to Kansas City, to St. Louis, to Chicago, to Niagara Falls / Buffalo, to Watkins Glen, to Farm Sanctuary, to Boston (for hte 4th of July!), to Acadia National Park, back down through New Jersey, and through a bunch of other states that aren't recalling in my mind at the moment.
Anyway, this year we decided to go West and see a whole new world. Neither of us had been west (with the exception of a trip to CA that Abbey took about a month ago).
Itinerary for this trip:
-Mesa Verde National Park
-Grand Canyon National Park
-Sequoia National Park
-Ventura, CA (we're staying with Annie and Kevin! My sis-in-law and my bro-in-law-in-law)
-Zion National Park
-Arches National Park

So today, Sunday the 20th, We drove from Colorado Springs and made our first stop at Mesa Verde National Park. We had intended for this to be a 1-2 hour side trip, a place to have lunch. over 5 hours later however......we finally left. This was an incredible place that we wanted to explore, the Grand Canyon would have to wait a little longer.
Mesa Verde was home to the Anasazi people. They lived many many years on Mesa Verde, planting and growing Beans, Corn, Squash. There were thousands that lived there. They built their homes into the sides of the cliffs. They were extremely spiritual people, totally aligned with the seasons. They had buildings with windows that only allowed light through on the Solstices due to their angle, so we know they knew the seasons perfectly. We took a Ranger Tour down into the ruins, and explored and learned a lot about their history. Our ranger was an adopted Hopi Indian and had a lot of extended history about the people.

Colorado Moon Rise

(This is post Dated 1 day, we were camping!)
Abbey and I went to Mueller State Park for a little camping trip. We were married at Mueller, which is in Divide, CO. We also met in Divide, however not at Mueller, but about 5 miles away. We have decided to make an annual camping trip in June to celebrate our marriage and the place we met. We decided to do that this weekend and had a wonderful time! Mueller State Park has Walk-In camping where you park in a parking lot and then carry-in all of your gear. The result: Secluded, incredible views, peace and quiet, and lots of little critters. We also went on a Full Moon hike with a Ranger/Naturalist which was awesome. We started the hike around 8:30 just in time for the sun to go down. We hiked about a mile and once we got to the overlook it was completely dark. We turned to the East just in time to watch the full moon rise over Pike's Peak. I totally suggest doing that sometime to all of you on the East Side who've never seen that. For sure the coolest 'Moon Rise' I've ever seen. It really got wicked cold that night, 28 to be exact. And we are in need of investing in a 'Colorado' tent (aka one that at least has windows that zip up, unlike our tent which has mesh all around which is wonderful for 28 degree wind blowing in all night long....) But it was fun even in the cold! Here are a few picks from that day. (Okay, so the pictures for some reason won't load right now, blogger says they are having service updates, blah blah blah, so I'll try to post the pictures again tomorrow, as well as posting todays post, ok? great, i'm glad you understand.)

The moon rising over Pikes Peak

One of the ponds at Mueller State Park

Baby Pines. The park is going through extensive Fire Mitigation now, so I assume most of these will be chopped down. Think of this as the 'Final Portrait'.

On one of the trails.

Sunset from our camp site.

Wind Rocks!

We're back in Colorado. We stopped a ton of places on the drive home this time. We took a scenic byway south of Topeka, drove around a little town called Maple Hill and took some pictures, hung out at the wind farm http://tradewindenergy.com/ and explored a 1893 Schoolhouse. I'm going to be setting up an external site that will have more pics, because posting 1 a day is limiting sometimes. Anyway, if you drive through KS, stop by the wind farm, it's really, really awesome.

The Answer: Beer

The Thursday picture was the inside of a beer bottle with some bubbles in it. I decided to post the answer because nobody responded, I didn't give much time though... So tonight's picture is of a relative to the Beer on Thursday. Singletrack Copper Ale brewed by Boulder Beer, right here in Colorado.

Golfing, Colorado Style

I am planning on golfing tomorrow with some co-workers but on a whim I decided to hop down to the golf course, Patty Jewett, a half mile away. I haven't golfed since we've moved here and the scenery was amazing! It was 58 degrees but the ground was frozen and a few holes we couldn't get the tees in. The frozen Sand Bunker was interesting too. So here's to Colorado Golfing in the middle of January! You can see Pikes Peak in the background as well as Garden of the Gods on the lower right.

Self Portrait

So I searched all day when I wasn't at work for something interesting to shoot. I guess my creativity today wasn't on top of it's game. I was listening to the Fire & EMS Scanner for El Paso County tonight (which is what this picture is of) and I went to see a fire near Colorado College. However it was pretty much over by the time I got there. One fire truck was already leaving so I headed home. There was a rather large fire going on a few minutes ago, however I didn't want to get a second strike for the evening, since it was about 15-20 minutes away and I don't have a mobile digital scanner yet. So here's an accurate portrayal of what I did tonight!

Bicycle Accident

Bicycle Accident at Nevada & Pikes Peak, Colorado Springs, CO

The Colorado Springs Fire Department has a new bicycle, and a 54 year old man had an expensive ride to the hospital this evening.

Around 5:40 PM on January 14th, 2009, a 54 year old male was riding his bicycle southbound on Nevada Avenue. Approximately 15 yards from the intersection at Pikes Peak, he fell from his bicycle after riding over a recessed manhold cover, reported Lieutenant David Broch of the CSFD. Police aren't investigating any possibility of a hit an run as the victim said it was an accidental fall. None of the bystanders that were on scene saw the event take place. The 54 year old was taken to the hospital in ambulance. The victim remained unnamed however his bicycle was taken by Engine NO. 1 until he is able to retrieve it.

All photos were shot on scene by Preston Stohs.

My First Event

Tonight was awesome! I've been carrying my camera EVERYWHERE for the last two weeks waiting for an event or something to happen where I would need it immediately. Tonight that happened. We were dining at 'The Mate Factor' in Manitou Springs, CO celebrating Abbey's Dad's birthday. The Mate Factor is part of http://www.twelvetribes.com/ (The Twelve Tribes) community. As we were getting ready to leave, many people from the community came pouring in and we were told that a young man, Andrew, was going to be baptised outside in the creek (Yes, outside, in January, in the freezing water). I knew this was what I had been waiting for! I quickly grabbed my camera with permission and hurried to try to get the appropriate settings for the shot. I was somewhat unsuccessful in this because the Baptism took place in a different place than anticipated and I had to move and arrived 2 seconds before the event was over. I quickly got a shot of Andrew standing with two of his peers in the water and then captured a quick motion shot of him being completely submerged in the creek! The second picture as you can see didn't capture it quick enough. Enlarge this photo and you can see the motion of the whole event including Andrew submerged! I intend to have an interview with either someone from the community about their belief system, the baptism, and hopefully some comments from Andrew (who was immediately wrapped in blankets and escorted into a waiting vehicle, also I strained my left foot today so I was in excruciating pain throughout the whole experience and had enough in me for the shots and no follow-up). Expect that in the next week and I will let you know when it's available!

Right Before the Baptism:


Click on the Photo Below to Enlarge and focus in on the Dunking!



Thank you Mate Factor for letting me observe this Sacred Event!

Everything is Temporary

Today while I was working at the Studio, I glimpsed out the window to see the incredible sunset. That's a total benefit to being able to see the mountains all day, I get to see them change from hour to hour, from minute to minute, and in the evening from second to second.

Coming from Kansas, I miss seeing some of the best sunsets. However the sunsets here are growing on me and I'm learning to appreciate their beauty as well! So here's a picture of the sunset tonight, which was literally completely gone about 3 minutes later.

New Years Day

This is the first Post.

Each day a new picture from the day will be uploaded. This is more or less a journal of my year in 2009 and a commitment to myself to spend more time with my photography!

Enjoy!

This picture was taken from Waldo Canyon in Colorado Springs, CO.

The idea behind this picture came from a Hike in the mountains. I found it interesting we've built this city right next to the mountains. It's almost as if we're 'groupies' of the mountains and we follow them wherever they go! I like the contrast of the foreground in the mountains, the middleground as a concrete jungle, and the background as an open plain stretching all the way into Kansas.