RMNP Gallery Finished

I wrapped up my online gallery from our trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. You can view it here.

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AR 17 - Moss and Berries

I'm behind on my AR postings. I made two walks in the previous two weeks, and I'm just now getting to post the photos.

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My walking schedule is being disrupted by my mowing schedule at home. I can either walk or mow grass, but I can't do both on the same day. I suppose I should mow on the weekends.

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There are a few large oaks with moss-covered trunks along the trail. I'm surprised that I haven't photographed them yet. The textures and colors are what have grabbed my interest.

A Tale of Light Chasing

On a recent family trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, I ventured out one evening by myself. The clouds and light looked perfectly set for a stunning, colorful sunset.

The spectacular light show took place while I was still driving. The clouds and peaks lit up with warm light. The colors changed from golden tones to pinkish tones. It was beautiful.

When I finally got to where I wanted to take pictures, the light had peaked and the colors were fading fast.

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I hung out in that grassy meadow (in Moraine Park) along the river for a long while. I sat on a boulder and watched the darkening sky and heavy clouds. It was so quiet and peaceful.

About 30 minutes after sunset, I got up and slowly walked back to the car. I was fascinated by some interesting clouds and couldn't figure out if they were lenticular or part of a thunderstorm or both.

A spot of white water in the river caught my eye and then the rhythm with the clouds stood out.

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I think I would have been pretty angry with myself just a couple of years ago for missing a sunset like that. Actually, I probably would have bailed out of dinner with my family just to be sure I was on location with camera in hand well before sunset.

Well, I stayed for dinner and even later with the family. We took our sons to ride go-carts after dinner, and we all had a blast. Those moments were far more important to me than that sunset.

I didn't capture the spectacular golden light on the mountain peaks. But I got 30 minutes of solitude in cool, clean air in a grassy meadow with a river flowing close by. My world slowed down. I only wished the rest of my family could have experienced that as well, but they were all tired from a full day of activity and back at the hotel getting ready for bed (I did indeed invite them along on my sunset photo-outing).

The point to this is that I was quite happy to be out there regardless of time and light. I was also happy with the photos, especially the one with the white water and interesting clouds.

AR 16 - Dragonflies, etc.

The woods are hot, swampy, and full of mosquitoes right now.

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I saw two large dragonflies at battle. The green one hit the pavement after a rough tangle with the blue one.

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The blue one (above picture) is in flight but hovering (sorry, it's a tight crop and a bad photo). The one on the ground flew off when I tried to gently move it off the pavement. It then was immediately hit in a mid-air dive-bomb by the blue one (the blue one had hovered about and waited while I was photographing the green one on the ground). They both flitted off, tangled together in battle.

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I came across a bunch of purple passionflowers. These bizarre looking blooms caught my eye and I just had to stop for a photo (and drip sweat on the camera and let the mosquitoes bite me).

Benefits of the Project

I think I'm starting to see the benefits of this project (more of an exercise, really). On our recent trip to Colorado, I did a lot of photography while on the move with the family. I had little time to actually photograph and when I did finally grab some time to make pictures, I had to move fast, get it done quick, and continue on with the family.

I felt somewhat rushed, but then I also felt that I found plenty of things to photograph and was more satisfied with the photos than the photos from previous trips like that. The thing that has helped the most is being able to quickly see a subject that I want to photograph and then quickly and efficiently find a composition to feature that subject.

When I photograph on my afternoon walks, the photography is done on-the-move and quickly. I've learned how to see things on approach and how (and when) to stop myself to take a picture. That's one of the main points - when to stop and also making yourself stop (how many times have you passed up something interesting and later regretted it?).

Reminder: NEW BLOG!

Just a quick reminder that I've started a new photo blog to feature only photos. I've posted a bunch already:
www.texbrick.com/photo/photoblog

AR 15 - Life's Cycle

Things live and things die. We rarely appreciate the cycle.

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The living feed off the dead.

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I inadvertently created two sets of images, each set featuring something alive and dead. The dragonfly was alive and kicking when I first walked past. It was flying madly in circles, tethered to a strong strand of silk. The spider above waited motionless for its dinner to exhaust its energy and succumb. On my return, the dragonfly had indeed tired and was hanging and waiting for the inevitable.

These details make me appreciate life so much more. And I feel that much closer to nature observing them.

AR 14 - Details, Mosquitoes, and Heat!

It's been way too long since my last walk. Life just keeps getting in the way.

The mosquitoes and heat have arrived in full, brutal force.

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What I pondered during my walk, and have been thinking about the past few months, is the value and priority we place on locations based on apparent beauty. Some places are so grand that we have turned them into parks and flock to them to get majestic, high-on-life feelings while viewing the spectacular scenery.

Consequently, a lot of landscape photography seems to emphasize the importance of such places.

Then there are the spots that are commonplace, ordinary, and even ugly. Is it still possible to experience the grand thrill and wonders of the outdoors?

This photo project is allowing me to feel exhilarated and awed and get that satisfied feeling of being close to nature in this apparently dirty, flat, tangled area reserved for holding storm run-off so that the parts of Houston downstream don't flood.

Honestly, I was once fully married to that school of thought regarding the grand landscape. I never thought about doing serious landscape and nature photography here in the local reservoir.

The awesome, beautiful things I experience in the reservoir are often on a small scale, but no less spectacular than things I've seen in our national parks, for example. It's a matter of seeing instead of just looking. It's a matter of perspective. And a lot of times it's a matter of seeing on a much smaller scale.

It doesn't mean that I have no less desire to go to those grand landscapes and national parks. But I think I'm learning to appreciate this local world so much more and enjoy it (and photograph it).

Did I mention that it was HOT?

Blog Split - It Becomes Two

I've wrestled with this long enough. Despite the world not needing another photography blog (geesh, there's a ton), I've created a new one to only showcase photos: www.texbrick.com/photo/photoblog

www.texbrick.com/photo/photoblog

The new blog will be photos with as little text as possible, i.e. it's just a place to view pictures. I will keep this existing blog for my writings on photography (and maybe other stuff, like beer :-) ).

My dilemma is that I dislike reading blogs that contain long posts and/or loads of full-sized images, and when I post to my blog, I tend to write more than I should and want to post more photos than necessary.

One of my compromises here has been to post thumbnails to keep the real estate used relatively small. However, that requires clicking by the viewer to see the full-sized image. I'm sure that's been annoying. It annoys me.

My new blog is a place for viewers to just sit back and look at the images with their morning coffee, afternoon beer, or tequila shots at work :-)

AR 13 - Yellow, Green, and Sound!

Today's theme was yellow and green, picked spontaneously on-the-fly as the walk progressed.

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I took along my new audio recorder, and below are links to two sound clips. I'm quickly realizing that capturing sound is going to be a lot more challenging that I'd anticipated. Ha! I think I remember saying that about photography way back when... :-)

- Birds (MP3 file, 0.2 MB)
- Cicadas (MP3 file, 0.3 MB)

And so begins the audio learning curve.

AR 12 - Toad, Snake, and Fog

I was back on the paved trail yesterday. My walk took place later in the afternoon just after a thunderstorm. It had been sunny and in the upper 90's (°F) before the storm, and the bad weather dropped the temps down nearly 20 degrees. Fog was forming just above the trail and made things surreal (and quite sweaty).

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A toad hopped out in front of me and I followed it off to the side into the grass. As I knelt down close, something moved a few inches away. This something turned out to be a juvenile cottonmouth. It didn't scare me as bad as I'd imagined, and the snake was cool about it too. It just slithered off somewhat slowly and then stopped about a foot away.

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I just ordered my next photographic accessory today: a portable digital audio recorder. I've been wanting one for a very long time. I would love to capture the sounds of birds, frogs, wind through the trees, etc. while I'm out photographing. Maybe if it works out, I'll post some short audio clips here in the future.

AR 11 - Walking in a Storm

I walked in a different area yesterday: the equestrian trails in Bear Creek Pioneers Park.

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It was somewhat of an adventure and I enjoyed it. I was on the edge of a passing thunderstorm (it was just to the south of me). It rained on me for about half of the walk while direct sunlight hit the woods. The lighting conditions were pretty dramatic.

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Thunder boomed heavily in the humid air as I picked my way along the overgrown trail. The young banana spiders are out in full force, and I had to clear the webs to pass in several spots along the trail.

Henry Underwater

Father's Day was pretty good this year! (it is every year :-) ) Below is a shot of my son taken with my Canon G11 and my new underwater housing.

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Pedernales Falls State Park, TX

My family and I camped in Pedernales Falls State Park (in the Texas hill country) in April of this year.

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We planned to stay two nights at first, but extended our stay an additional night after having way too much fun. We had a really good time and all needed a break.

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The Pedernales River was high and flowing strongly, and it was a little bit scary swimming in it (way downstream of the main falls, where swimming is not allowed) with the boys. We hiked into the primitive backcountry and found an amazing spot along Bee Creek. The water was flowing well there too, but it was safe to play in.

Both photos above were taken in Bee Creek in an almost-slot mini-canyon.

AR 10 - Spiders, Snakes, and Butterflies

Back with the program... well, maybe not :-) I managed to sneak in a walk yesterday. It's been almost a month since my last one.

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I resorted to the "technique" applied in my previous walk: whatever. Zero expectations and little or no thought about what to shoot - I just let it all go and responded to things as I encountered them.

The banana spiders are back! I spotted a huge crop of babies on their new webs.

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This butterfly tolerated my close presence and let me photograph it.

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It can't be a proper walk without a snake sighting :-)

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