Happy New Year

Let me start off by wishing everyone a very Happy New Year. I hope you're able to use this new year to learn and grow with all your photographic endeavors.  I start off each year like a lot of you, clearing files out and making new ones.  Trying to get more organized not only with image files but also those business file... I just hate it.

I had the opportunity to do some personal shooting just before the Christmas holiday.  Near my home we have a place called Chatfield Reservoir, I canoe there quite often with my wife during the season.  Anyway, I headed off to Chatfield to make a few clicks just before sunset.  We had a winter storm heading into the area and the skies were looking really crazy.

I drive around the Chatfield park slowly, looking for photo opportunities as the weather shifts. Sun darts in and out between clouds as I look for subject matter.  Chatfield Reservoir is very close to the foothills just south of Denver. The reservoir is close to the foothills and the sunsets early and fast, particularly in the winter months. When I arrived the clouds were thick and it looked like I was going to get shut out for the day.

Let's start off with the first scene I came across that late afternoon in Dec.

I had passed this tree earlier when the sky was darker and there was no seperation between tree and sky. My second pass was when the sky opened, and this was the first shot of the day. I made several variations of this scene, I then walked over to the tree for a possible lower angle shot when I saw the sky to the south with the road in the scene.

I made a few bracketed shots and produce the HDR image below, I used HDR Efex Pro 2 for the processing.

I kinda like! I then drove down the road you see above and at the end there was a wonderful group of trees.

I also took the time to shoot several variations both vertical and horizontal.  I then drove further east away from the foothills, this gave me a larger view of the front range. I had some nice views and a few more trees to work with.

About a week earlier I was driving through the park looking for shots and basically got shut out.  I didn't really have any light to speak of and drove home without making a shot.  While driving home outside of the park, the sky started to get interesting. The further east I drove the more the clouds seem to light up, soft pink light reflecting off the clouds.

I was looking frantically for something to photograph using this light and the clouds. I pass this little pond on my to Chatfield Reservoir every time I drive there, I've seen this pond for years and have always thought there was a possible photograph to be had if the circumstances were right. Boy was I right, here are two variations, one color the other Black and White.

This outing was totally worth my effort, an hour of my time and right in my back door so to speak.  I plan on making more time for shooting for myself, you should do the same.  We get busy with life and sometime forget to treat ourselves and just explore and have fun.