The Open Spaces

When I tell people one of my favorite shooting locations is the farmlands and eastern plains of Colorado, (which I often do), I am typically met with a look of absolute confusion, as if the person I am talking to is being punked. I'm a nature photographer - what on earth would interest me about the open plains and farmland??

It all goes back to my formal graphic design training, which permanently engrained in my brain and imagination the concept and beauty of minimalism. Less really is more. I grew up in the Rocky Mountains; a land of magnificent peaks, rugged terrain, and vast forests of Evergreen, Pine, and Aspen, yet I do not have one single photo in any gallery of this type of landscape. I do have a few photos that I may share someday, but overall find it extremely difficult to compose a strong image in the Rockies, whereas in the farmland and desert, it's as if I have to pick from so many exciting and accessible options. For some reason the mystery of big skies, old trees, farm relics, decaying barns, and open land really are what connects me and my art.

Here's a few of my photos from eastern Colorado from the last couple of days. It seems the thunderstorm season is a bit late this year, but incredibly magnificent as the ominous clouds roll over the vibrant sunlit wheat fields. While shooting, I find myself playing a game of hide and seek with the sunlight through the clouds, trying to position myself in areas where the foreground is illuminated, while the sky is obscured by the daunting thunderstorms, creating a surreal contrast.

Some of this is very temporary land, and as urban development is sure to encroach upon and swallow many of these wonderful places within a few years, conforming them to urban sprawl and strip malls, there will be barely a memory of the natural peace and wonder that existed here previously.




You can see some of my previous journeys to eastern Colorado here , and here as well.

The High Desert is calling; it wants me back.

It has been an interesting and challenging few months. Delays caused my house remodel to drag on longer than I expected. My business is feeling some effects of the limping economy. I am learning many new technologies, and have jumped full-force into SEO analysis as well. I am learning new studio lighting techniques. I am learning to multitask more than ever. The final piece (for the moment) of the four-month remodel was having the carpet installed yesterday! I will finally get to move in upstairs, have a bedroom, and set up the office.

For the last four months I have lived in about 400 square feet of the house, sleeping on a mattress in the living room, next to my "office"; a shanty-town of a studio which consists of two computers on the dining room table surrounded by ever-increasing stacks of paperwork, computer accessories, printers, scanners, headphones, and hard drives . I feel like it is consuming me. This all changes today! Nice new bright carpet now adorns the base of my new office. Ample space, and a beautiful view out the window make a perfect new beginning.

Just in time for spring. I am emerging from a long winter's hibernation, and have really missed being outside, hiking and shooting. With the critical parts of the remodel complete, I can get back outside with my gear and soak it all in. My body seeks to awaken. My mind and spirit long to breathe and reconnect. The buds are on the trees. I need to embrace every day, and keep things moving. I miss nature photography. With my new dwelling now habitable, I can get a bit of the balance back. The balance that feeds me.

I am starting off the season spending another week in the desert around Moab again at the end of April. For a few of the days of the journey, I will be attending the Moab Photography Symposium. If you are attending this event, please contact me and I will look forward to meeting you there! It will be an amazing few days with an impressive line-up of photographers and artists.

Here's a few photos from last year's personal Utah expedition (unrelated to the Symposium), that have been gathering binary dust up until now…

Holeman Spring Canyon in a Sandstorm

Scattered clouds over White Rim Canyon

Strata and Erosion

A Warning to be taken very seriously on this road: "Soft Shoulder"

Justice on the Rails

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Nailed 'Em - Amtrak Photographer

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Funny Political News

Christian Bale Parody
Joke of the Day

"All Things Horses" Photography Exhibit at The Center for Fine Art Photography

There's something about horses that
make them fascinating photography subjects.

Never having been much of a horse person, I was not holding my breath for the upcoming exhibition. I was greeted with a great surprise once I saw the final results of the juried photography exhibition. Juried by world-renowned equine photographer,
Christiane Slawik, this exhibit brings together wonderful visions of a great variety of horses, and the impressive power and beauty of these animals, together in a cohesive and impressive display of art by forty two different artists from four countries. If you are of the equestrian-persuasion, you are sure to enjoy this gallery, and if you are not, these photographs might just change your mind! Click here to see the web gallery.

The All Things Horses Exhibition runs from September 5 - 27, 2008, at The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, CO. The artists and public reception is tonight, September 5th, from 6:00 - 9:00 pm.
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PS While it has been an incredibly busy and exciting summer, I have not posted any articles on my blog lately. To my faithful readers, rest assured that several of my personal photography adventures and themed galleries will be posted in the upcoming weeks.

Postcards from the Rocky Mountains

There's nothing quite like the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in the summertime...

The Difference between Night and Day

Over the last couple years,
I have occasionally been asked why I don't shoot more colorful subjects, like wildflowers, green meadows, and colorful mountain scenes. I've never really known what to say, as, truth be told, I just never
felt I was that good at it.

When I really became fixated with photography, my first instinct was to take pictures of the moon, the stars, the twilight glow; the Mysterious and the Fantastic. Night and low-light photography naturally became my muse. To me, night photography is the equivalent of a painter starting out with a blank canvas, and slowly applying layers upon layers of color with his/her brush. Similarly with night photography, you start with a pitch black frame, and slowly allow light in the camera over long periods, or force light in by painting objects with a spotlight. It seems much more controlled by virtue than shooting in daylight hours and being at the mercy of current sunlight and atmospheric conditions. Night photography does come with it's own set of unique challenges though, including camera noise, difficulty in getting the lens focused on my subject in the dark, and uneven light painting. Other external challenges with night photography include encounters with wildlife, encounters with (not-so) domestic farm dogs, wind, and a myriad of other predicaments that you might imagine wandering around in the wilderness at night may present.

During my photography journeys, I find myself sleeping for four hours around mid-night, waking up and shooting pre-sunrise and sunrise, and then sleeping another four hours at mid-day, to go out and shoot again at sunset and after the fall of night. More than once I've absent-mindedly greeted people with "Good Morning!" at 6:00 in the evening.

The photo of the old tree above, "Protection", is a 30-second exposure taken at about 4:00 am in the Utah desert a couple weeks ago, before the first glow of sunrise.

On to more important topics…

Today is Mother's Day. We owe a debt of gratitude to our Mothers for bringing us into the world, nurturing us, teaching us, consoling us, healing us, and loving us. I recently read on a blog a statement that rings so true:

"God could not be everywhere, and
therefore he made mothers."

In honor of Mother's Day, (and also in response to those who wondered if I'm truly nocturnal and envision me frantically clamoring through shadows to return to my coffin at the first hint of dawn), I give you this gallery:








"Unique Flora"; in celebration of the vibrant color and
the miracle of life that Mother Nature provides.

Enjoy, and to all the Mothers of the world,
wishing you a most heartfelt

Happy Mother's Day!

Experience Central America with Paradise Panama Photo Adventures

You may have read my older posts regarding my photography adventures with Jay Mills in the past, both in Utah in '06 and here in Colorado in '07. Jay is now a resident photographer in Volcan, Chiriqui Province, Panama, and is providing one-of-a-kind photography expeditions in Panama.

The Digital Photography Workshop
"Photo Adventures in
Western Panama"

Experience this unique photography expedition in the Western Panama Highlands. Whether you are an experienced amateur or seasoned travel photographer, this week long photography workshop will introduce you to the unique rainforests, geology, flora, fauna, and people of the Chiriqui province in the beautiful mountains of Western Panama. Led by resident professional and accomplished photographer, Jay D. Mills, in conjunction with Green Mountain Adventures for local guide service.

Open Sessions:
- July 17th - 24th, 2008
- January, 2009 - date to be determined
(I will be assisting Jay for this session)

Paradise Panama Workshops are adventures in small group settings, limited to eight photographers per workshop. Each workshop is tailored to the specific interests and needs of the group. Daily van excursions to diverse destinations will end with group photo reviews, relaxed conversation and leisure in comfortable accommodations in the evenings. Computers for downloading, viewing, editing and burning CD/DVDs will be provided. Internet access will also be available. Lodging options range from staying with a local host family and learning some of the culture and ways of Panamanian people, to tourist hotel, resort hotel, or Bed and Breakfast accommodations in Volcan, Panama.

Volcan, Panama is in the Chiriqui province in the western-most region of Panama, just ten miles from the border of Costa Rica and on the slopes of Volcan Baru, the highest point in Panama at 11,400 feet. This region is highlighted by mountain villages, rainforests, waterfalls, lush foliage, surreal canyons, flower gardens, and exotic wildlife in a warm, tropical climate. There are also pre-Columbian archeological sites nearby.



About Jay D. Mills:
In addition to his extensive photographic experience, Jay has formal training and several years of experience as an instructor working with adults. He says that the most memorable other photo workshop that he has participated in was the Pecos River Workshop of Bruce Dale, retired career photographer for National Geographic Magazine. Jay recalls, "I learned many new techniques and was reminded of several things that I had forgotten or neglected over the years. Bruce re-energized my interest in photography. Another of my great inspirations is Farrell Eaves, a great photographer and friend who, when his Nikon digital was 'ruined' in the Pecos River, made 'lemonade from lemons' by taking over 10,000 very unique and beautiful pictures with the 'ruined' camera."

For more information about Paradise Panama Photo Adventures,
visit the website here, or Contact Jay by email for more details.

Timelapse video of thunderstorm over Denver

Now for something completely different! I've always thought storms were pretty exciting, and when the skies went black over Denver on Monday at about 6:30 in the evening, I grabbed my SLR and tripod and set it up against my back window, and took a shot every few moments. I didn't really time the intervals between shutter clicks, just guessed at anywhere from 15 - 45 seconds. If there were interesting clouds I took more shots.

170 frames played back at 10fps...

Click here to launch the video....
The quality is not great, but there it is. In the middle part of it, when it is raining, streets flooded within about 10 minutes. It was gone as quick as it came, though...

Seems kind of silly doing this with a still camera; maybe someday I'll buy a nice DV cam.

Kind of a fun experiment...

A Dog's-eye View of the 14th Annual Furry Scurry

Today was the
14^th Annual Furry Scurry, a 2-mile walk with over four thousand dogs, and their people, mingling, drooling, and frolicking in Washington Park in Denver.

I arrived at the park with "Puppy-Cam", holding my tripod upside down, with the camera just inches from the ground, at dog's eye view.

Who can resist a curious puppy?










Dog's facial expressions are the best!





I love it how some dogs look so intellectual.

With my remote shutter in hand, and the inverted tripod in the other, I wandered, and let the dogs sniff the camera. Their varied responses to the camera were hilarious. A lot of times I would snap a shot just to make the shutter-noise to attract the dog's attention to the camera, and then get the shot as they approached.

"Running with the Big Dogs"

This charity event, in it's 14th year, hosted by The Denver Dumb Friends League, raised over a half a million dollars to go towards the Denver Dumb Friend's League Animal Shelter.

It was a Paws-itively Great Day for a very good cause!

For more information about my photography or this event,
contact me at 1-888-4photo2,
or send me an email through the link at the top of my blog.

My Introduction to Pinhole Photography

If you are familiar with my low-light and night digital photography, this may seem like an odd post. My photography interest continues to open doors into areas that are new and unexpected. I can honestly say that until yesterday, I had very little interest in traditional photography, film, and darkrooms. While many old film dogs are converting into the new digital age, all I want to do (since yesterday afternoon) is learn more of the film side. I always seem to get distracted from my main focus randomly. I'll start a huge project, and the next day create two more for myself. I think I just found one of my wonderful distractions, and one that I'm very excited about. I suppose I should view it more as building upon a whole, rather than deviating from a course.

Yesterday was "Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day" (see www.pinholeday.org ), and the Center for Fine Art Photography held a workshop where we built cameras out of a cardboard boxes, and developed the images. The last time I stepped foot in a darkroom was in high school nearly twenty years ago, but after attending the workshop yesterday, I want to run to the camera store and buy some black and white photo paper, developer, and fixer, and start building my darkroom, and a plethora of homemade cameras. I have an empty room in my home that I don't use, and it seems to be the perfect place for a small darkroom. I'm sure I will put together an overly-verbiose post about the construction of this new project as I start and complete it, but for now, I thought I would share my Pinhole Photography experiences.

Who knew you could make a camera out of a cardboard box and some electrical tape? The beauty and strength of pinhole photography is in the ability to achieve practically unlimited depth of field. Not to get too technical, but for you math whizzes, here's the formula for determining aperture on a pinhole camera:

f/stop = focal length
pinhole diameter

Okay, I'm not a math whiz either, so I won't elaborate. There is a very good article explaining this concept in-depth at http://ca.geocities.com/penate@rogers.com/pinsize.htm. In short, with my little cardboard box, I was able to achieve an aperture of somewhere between f200-something and f500-something. This extreme depth of field means that I could place the camera a few inches away from an object, and have that object in good focus, and still have a mountainous horizon in the background in good focus as well.

I'm not sure why I chose the truck, other than it really looked more beat up, and had much more character than these photos indicate. I was also singularly focused on the technical aspects of my cardboard box, and the actual photo at this point was secondary.

This first shot was taken in very bright sun, with a 7-second exposure. The sun was reflecting brightly off of the hubcap, thus the extreme contrast.




This second shot was a 30-second exposure taken in the shade. Notice that the building in the far distance is in as sharp of focus as the truck? This photo may not be the best example of that, because the wind caused a bit of camera movement.

Impressive photos? Most definitely not. Enough of a start to motivate me to keep trying it? Yes. Unexpectedly, I really got a lot of satisfaction out of the rudimentary nature of this style of photography.

I have some big plans for some old dead trees near my house in the near future...

For anyone interested in learning more about pinhole photography,
The Center for Fine Art Photography is holding an Intermediate Pinhole Workshop on May 20th in Fort Collins, Colorado. The instructor, Micheal Butts, is an expert on the subject, devoting his last 18 years to Pinhole Photography. He is an excellent instructor.

(You can read a new post about Pinhole Photography from 05/14/07 here)