Shelf Road at Night

   Recently on my way home from work in Cripple Creek at about 7:30 p.m., the moon was almost full and the landscape on the Shelf Road was covered with snow from the last snow storm. With the moon being almost full and all the snow it was almost like daylight. as some of you may know, Shelf Road can be can get pretty dark, especially in the area known as Window Rock. I was thinking I should be getting some photos because it was clear with stars out and the temperature was not very cold, it was probably in the mid 30's.

Photo above is Window Rock. I used my headlights to help with the light to focus the camera.

Since I had the camera and tripod with me I would stop to get some night shots. I found a good place to pull off so that other vehicles could get by. Got the camera out and set it up on the tripod. Made my adjustments to the camera to take some long exposure images. as I was setting up a pickup went by, so I really wanted to get this shot of this truck. The camera was ready, all I had to do is wait for the truck to cross my field of view. The truck finally got into my field of view and I pressed the button on the camera, the shutter stayed open for 20 seconds. The lights from the truck creates a light trail making a creative image. 

   An issue I have when trying to photograph at night is focusing on the subject manner. With the moon being almost full there was just enough light to see what I was focusing on.

   

 This is the result I got from my evening on the shelf road.

Hayden Pass

   Recently I found a new group page on Facebook called "Pueblo 4x4 Crew". I joined the group hoping to find someone local to possibly to go wheeling with. I put a post on the group page asking if anyone knew what the condition of Hayden Pass was. I got a quick response from a guy in Pueblo who said it has been a few years since he was on the trail last. He says its easy but technical enough to make it interesting. He asked if it would be okay for him and his family could join us. We agreed to meeting in Canon City on Saturday morning at a local gas station.
  
   Saturday arrived and it was a beautiful morning. I was looking forward to this day as was my wife Jamie. We were both going meet some new people we have never met before. I was also looking forward to getting some good photographs of the scenery today. we made our way to the local gas station to where we were to meet the couple from Pueblo. We filled Rubi ( our jeep's name) up and got a few snacks. Shortly afterwards the couple from Pueblo showed up in a blue jeep with the name Lil' Bruiser on the hood. We made our introduction and headed out down Hwy. 50 to Coaldale a small town near the base of Hayden Pass.
  
   Hayden Pass is a rated 3/3 trail and is approximately 5 miles one way. Once we reached the beginning of the trailhead we got out made some adjustments to our jeeps to prepare for our Adventure over Hayden Pass.

   The trail starts going up hill and get bumpy as you go. Doesn't take long before you start driving over rocks. The road does narrow in places and at times slopes towards the edge. Just from the short climb up the trail the view was amazing.

 

 

 

We were probably a couple miles from the summit of Hayden Pass when we stopped for a bit. We all got out stretched our legs and took in the scenery. I got my camera out and started snapping pictures. I did get some shots of Mount Otto and Galena Peak.

 

The air was cool here and the clouds were moving fast over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. After taking some pictures and enjoying the scenery and cool mountain air we loaded up and made our way to the summit of Hayden Pass.

   We reached the summit of Hayden Pass with no difficulties. We all got out and when we did we were hit with cold air. It was so much colder here on top. The elevation was just over 10,000 ft. We did some photos of us in front of the summit sign. Also while at the summit I had planned on doing a geocache but it was to cold for the kids to walk 0.64 miles to the geocache. You definitely can tell fall is in the air. We all loaded up and started heading down the west side of Hayden Pass towards Villa Grove. As we started working our way down I noticed that the aspen trees were changing more on the west side than the east side.

I did manage to stop and photograph the changing aspens. As we went further down the trail the couple we were with stopped to pick some wild raspberries. The kids loved snaking on them. Couldn't stay long as we were blocking the trail. Also the lower west side of the trail was a little more technical. There were some pretty good sized rocks that we had to go over or maneuver around. it was nothing that Rubi couldn't handle.

   Hayden Pass ends in the small town of villa Grove on Hwy. 285in the san Luis Valley Between the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range and the San Juan Mountains. we stopped before reaching Villa Grove, where we decide to eat our lunch, talk take some more photos. The view of the San Luis Valley was amazing from here.







While here overlooking the san Luis Valley an older couple in a Jeep Grand Cherokee stopped and chatted with us. They than asked if they could join us in going over Hayden Pass. They didn't want to attempt it by themselves. We headed back the way we came and enjoyed the scenery from a different view.

   Made it back to the bottom and there we chatted some more while we aired back up The older couple did invited us to there place in Howard for a Klondike bar and iced tea. We both declined as we needed to head home, but we thanked them for there generous offer. Both jeeps were aired back up. we said good bye to our new jeep friends and let them know we had a great timeand that we needed to do this again.

   All in all we had some good family time, got lots of pictures and made some new friends.

Precious Metal

   For sometime I've been wanting to go back to Guffey, CO to photograph the numerous old cars and trucks sitting around. As some of you may know old cars and trucks are a favorite of mine to photograph. But before I started photographing, the family and I stopped at a small coffee shop called Rita's and had a small lunch. Great little place that has good sandwiches. there was also some local art hanging on the walls and shelves. After lunch we headed out and I noticed a bunch of No Trespassing signs painted all over the place. so we loaded up in the car and drove over to the Guffey Garage to get permission from the man who owned all the old cars and trucks, and the one who posted the No Trespassing signs. I know who the man was because I used to live northwest of Guffey in the 90's. His name is Bill. When I asked Bill for permission he thanked me for asking him. Bill told me that most people will go over to the vehicles and open them up without asking and sometime causing parts to come off. After getting Permission off we went.

   I started off with taking a few photos of two cars a 1950 Buick Super Eight and a 1948 Studebaker Champion Deluxe. When I took these photos I was lying on the ground. I really like this perspective when I photograph vehicles.

   The next one I went on to photograph was a 1954 International dump truck. When I was trying to photograph this truck I had a problem, I was not able to get the entire truck in the picture. The truck was between another truck and a truck cab. There was also some seat frames in front of the truck. I went ahead and took a few shots. When I got the photo processed I pick out the better of what I took and this is what I came up with. It came out better than I thought it would. The green on this truck is really unusual but it make it stand out.

   I was on to my next vehicle and that was a 1940's Chevrolet truck. Once again I was lying on the ground to take my photographs. I was able to photograph the entire truck, but the one below is the one I liked best. I like how the grass is growing between the bumper and the truck. The front tire is almost completely hidden from the grass. The grill looks to be in relatively in pretty good shape still. The headlight and windshield aren't broken which is amazing.The boards on  the back of the truck are in pretty bad shape.

There were several vehicles here, but the last one I want to share with you is a 1950's Chevrolet panel truck. This truck just stands out to me and what makes it stand out was the sun visor over the windshield. The lettering on the side reads C & G FOOD STORES. Once again  was on the ground shooting at an upward angle. I wasn't as close to this truck as the others when I was taking the photograph. I do like the clouds in the background in this picture. The body on this truck had some minor dents, but what do to expect from a vehicle that's 60 years old.

I had a great time photographing these old vehicles here in Guffey. To see the rest of my photos go to my Facebook page. These old cars and trucks are a favorite for me to photograph. I am always on the lookout  for these old abandoned cars and trucks, whether they are in a field, a barn, a junkyard or someones yard. 

2012 Cripple Creek Ice Festival

Decide to take some photos today of some of the ice sculptures before going into work. There are several ice sculptures along Bennett Ave. in Cripple Creek, CO. This years theme is a "Military Salute Carved in Ice". Some of the sculptures are of Uncle Sam,  an Eagle, U.S. Marine Corp. logo, ice slides, a maze, The Vietnam Wall, and more. The most popular one is probably the Vietnam Wall. The artist of this piece is taking names from people and he is carving them in the ice wall. I heard from a co-worker that there were people out there putting names on a clipboard for the artist to carve in the ice wall. Here are some photos that I took of the Vietnam Wall ice sculpture.

The other ice sculpture that is going to touch a lot hearts is the Fallen Soldier Memorial. This sculpture stands at least 10 feet high and is all carved out of ice. The only thing they forgot to add were the dog tags hanging from the gun. This sculpture was a favorite of mine. Here is the photo of the Fallen Soldier Memorial that I took. I tried to take this without having any of the casinos in the background.

Another favorite sculpture that I liked was the Prisoners of War logo. What I liked about this sculpture there just happened to be a United States of America flag next to it. This I think made the picture. This was probably my favorite photo that I took today. I think it turned out really good.

The last picture that I am using is the head of an eagle. I am standing almost directly under the sculpture. I wanted to try to get as much of the sky and clouds in this shot but I ended up getting some of the building in it. The picture still turned out pretty good.  I always try to get clouds in a photo if I am going to process the photo as an HDR. Well here is the picture.

All the photos in this blog were processed through Photomatix and I also used Corel Photo Impact to remove some of the noise in the photos.

Downunder Restaurant Project

It’s been awhile me since I last wrote in my blog. My mother has been asking me to keep with it. So here we go.

Back in November I was approached by one of my co-workers that works in the Downunder Restaurant at the Midnight Rose Hotel and Casino. She came to me asking about my pictures. She told me that she was given a budget to decorate the restaurant. I told her that I have many photos to choose from. We got together with the Food & Beverage Director and a Food & Beverage Manager. I showed them what I had. They said they were looking for some pictures to brighten up the restaurant a little. They  also wanted some photos of the local area. We picked out some photos, and from there I went to work. I was also given the go ahead to sell the photos. I asked what percentage do you want and they told me none its all yours. They also gave me start up money for the project.

I had no deadline to meet, but I gave myself a deadline of the day before Thanksgiving. I wanted the pictures up before the holidays. With the holidays coming up the restaurant is also used for parties. I finished the project the day before my deadline. I spent a total of two weeks on the project. I was surprised that I was able to get it done so quickly. All my supplies and prints were shipped rather quick.

I have gotten several compliments on my work from my co-workers and customers of the Downunder Restaurant. Just the other day a customer came up to me came up and told me that she liked my work and then told me “I had no idea that you were a photographer”. I told her that I’ve been one for about 5 years.

So if you get a chance Stop by and look at them. I would be glad to take you down to show them to you.  Here are a few photos of them on the walls in the restaurant. Sorry the pictures are so bad. The lighting sucks down there.

Fall Is In The Air

  As most of you know already it's that time to get the camera out, gatherup the family and get into the car and head up to the mountains to view the reds, oranges, golds, and yellows on thew aspen trees. As you get up there into the mountains the cars are parked everywhere, even in the middle of the road.
  Well a couple weeks ago I grabbed my camera and gear along with the my wife and daughter and we headed up to a favorite location of mine in Park County. My original intention of going was to take photos of my daughter for her school pictures. I also took some family photos and some photos of just the wife and I. I even got the wife to pose for a few shots and I even took some self portraits. Took all the photos in a grove of aspen trees, with the way the light was it made everything golden. The leaves seed as if they were glowing. I only had to use the flash a few times. I also got some photos of the aspen trees. By the time I got done taking pictures that golden glow was disappearing as the sun was starting to set.
  I was really pleased with the way my portraits turned out.

This photo is in Park County at one of my favorite aspen grove locations. The leaves here are big compared to some other places.

Window Rock

While out on Fremont CR #77 I saw this rock off in the distance. I'm not sure how far it was.  But when I saw it I knew that iwas going to have to use my telephoto lens. So I broke out the camera and put on my EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 lens. I had the lens fully extended to 300mm. I would have like to been a little closer to the formation, but it was on private property. At this point I would normally break out the tripod, but a gave it a try to see how steady I would be. I snapped the picture and it was not blurry at all so I kept the photo.  This is what I got.

It came out pretty good. But I would have much rather had some clouds in the picture. Plain blue sky to me make the picture look boring.  My Camera settings on the picture were:
ISO: 100
Shutter Speed: 1/250
Aperture:9.0
Here is the picture after I tone mapped it in Photomatix.