6-24, Stop and Smell the Thistles

It's the lazy days of summer.... at least that's what it feels like when my 4-year old daughter and I head out for a walk around the neighborhood.  It's the "smiles vs miles" approach.  She could care less about calories burned and distance traveled.  I've realized this is a great opportunity for me to bring along my camera and observe the world at this slower pace.  My interest in photography 'blossomed' when my first child was just a toddler.  Every time I bent down to his level I realized what an incredibly different vantage point he had.  We all know we should take cues from children in many ways, this can extend to photography as well.  Get down low-- look up, look down, look at eye level.  What do you see?  And most importantly-- slow down.  You can't stop and smell the... thistles..... at the current pace of modern day society.  Don't worry, you won't miss anything and you might even find some surprises that make it all worth the while.  And if you are sharing this experience with a child, you know you are setting a positive example for them.  My heart beats in delight when my little girl insists on bringing along her old school Fisher Price camera and taking her own 'pictures'.  Even when we went to Golden Gate Canyon last weekend, my son was telling me I should "crouch down like this and get a picture of the flowers in the meadow."  Let's teach our children that everything doesn't have to be rushed.  I do believe that was what my grandmother was trying to tell me all those years ago in the things she would say and do.  If we keep practicing this concept, eventually it will stick!  

6-21, Golden Gate Canyon

We have a handy Colorado guide book (aimed particularly for photographers) and sometimes it's fun to thumb through it and choose a new destination.  This particular adventure was a success!  Who knew within an hour and a half of our home in Colorado I could find terrain that reminded me of Montana?!  I sure didn't (remember my previous complaints of looking east and seeing Kansas......).  My family and I enjoyed a wonderful day of hiking.  Our reward for our endeavors was a meadow of wild irises.  It was simply awesome.   Stay tuned, because I'm sure I'll be posting more about this park in the future!

6-20, Wings over the Rockies

My husband gets that far-off look when he thinks about his flying days with the Navy.  That part of his story is so much a part of who he is today-  though these days he sits at a desk and not in a cockpit.   A few weeks ago, a squadron buddy of his (now the current CO for a command up on Whidbey Island- our first duty station) flew the last flight for this EA6-B Prowler from Whidbey to Buckley AFB.  The plane was then towed through the streets of Aurora until finally arriving at its new home in the Wings of the Rockies Museum in Denver.  I have to admit that my husband was not the only one with misty eyes envisioning this scene.  This marks the end of an era for my husband as well as many other Naval aviators.  Let's hope the new chapters will be as fun and exciting as the previous ones.

We have a tail hook sitting in our living room....
guess we should have had ours signed, too!

I love that this image contains the name of a good friend as well as the sailor of the year from my native state (and not too far up the road, either!)

I miss our Pensacola days and the sound of the Blue Angels flying overhead daily.

What it's all about......

6-19, My Baby Bunny

Over the past month, I've watched this baby grow, eat, grow, eat..... He goes to the same spot in the yard and munches until he's had his fill.  When he was very small, I used to try and sneak outside to get pictures of him.  He would have none of that and be long gone before I even rounded the corner of the deck.  This day, I was finally able to step outside, sit down, and photograph him.  He didn't move a muscle but he didn't seem extraordinarily concerned either.  I can't believe how much he's grown in a month-- nearly doubled in size.  He may not be that tiny little fur-ball I once laid eyes on, but on the cuteness scale he still ranks pretty high!

6-11, Eye to the Sky

Living in Colorado in the summer, there is one rule my son must abide by when going outside for the day:  "Eye to the sky."  Thunder and lightening storms seemingly come out of nowhere and we're under repeated threats of tornadoes.  It's been especially wet and stormy lately, so when the clouds gave way to sun we headed out for a walk along the wonderful Cherry Creek trail (a system connecting miles and miles of mostly paved paths in and around the Denver area).  I thought about this advice I'm always giving and applied it to my own eyes with camera in hand.  Though I'm not a 'bird-watcher' nor do I have the correct equipment to expertly photograph them, I did enjoy my hand at capturing these beautiful creatures.

Yes, I had to look down to observe this, but the sentiment was too beautiful not to share.

A falcon hiding in the tree attentively watching everything around it.

Swallows occupied the fence posts every few steps.

I'd never really seen a still swallow up close.  These had the most vivid blue backs.

Is that momma patiently waiting?

These telephone poles remind me of the ones that lined the street where I grew up.

6-9, Cottonwood Camping

It's summertime once again.  Time to explore the mountains and go camping!  One of our favorite destinations in Colorado is Cottonwood Lake.  There's an easy pace there that has something for everyone in our family.  For me?  Beautiful scenery all around with vibrant colors from the greens of the trees to the blues in the sky.  This recent trip offered new scenes I hadn't yet observed and ones already witnessed providing chances for improvement.  My photographic goal this trip was to observe the details and view them from unusual vantage points.  If the entire mountain vista is amazing, what details can I emphasize to bring drama to it?  Sometimes I just couldn't capture a scene the way my eyes were reading it.  For those times I need to reflect why I wasn't able to capture it with the feeling I was embracing and contemplate a way to do it differently next time.  And for those duplicate mountain scenes I seem to recreate, how can I see it differently to capture other elements within the scene?  These are things that everyone with a camera in their hand can, and should, be thinking about. "So this is the scene that everyone else sees, how can I make them see it an another way?"  With this attitude, the opportunities are endless.

"Aspen Graffiti"

"Baum Katzaen"

"Chalk Creek"

"Deer in Aspen"

"Green Aspen Sky"

"Ground Squirrel"

"Illuminated Aspen Grove"

"Leaning Trees"

"More-more Chipmunk"

"No Vacancy"

"Past Entry"

"Past Its Prime"

"Ponderosa Sentinel"

"Rusty Abode"

"Shades of Green"

"St. Elmo Parlor"

"Town Hall Reflection"

"Under the Aspen"

5-31, Timbers Walk

I have a 'thing' for trees.  It must be my Montana roots (Bitterroot, that is) shining through.  During an initial house-hunting trip to Colorado, I was shocked when our (first but not last) realtor said that, "Trees are not native to this area."  Umm.... excuse me, WHAT?!  Does anyone think of Colorado and NOT think of trees?!  I felt like I'd been kicked in the gut and that maybe Maryland wasn't such a bad place after all since there's a whole lot of trees there.  My brother attended the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, so my whole life I've thought of the entire state of Colorado looking like the academy grounds snuggled at the foot of the Rockies.  THAT  has been a hard expectation to let go of, let me tell you.  Take one ride out to the Denver International Airport and you'd swear you can see Kansas.  It's flat.  FLAT, FLAT, FLAT.  That just doesn't get a Montana girl's creative juices flowing.  I need trees, mountains, and thanks to my time at the US Merchant Marine Academy, water.  Well, the water is something I just have to let go of while Colorado is home.  There's water around-- a little here, and a little there, but that's about it.  So for now, I cling to the trees and our home nestled in a beautiful community called The Pinery.  In fact, I've even created a name for an imaginary, secondary photography business should that need ever arise.  Hint:  it has something to do with trees.  But, for now, I'll continue sharing the world with you As Eye See It........

Not quite the lamp posts that grace New Orleans street corners,
but it's a little bit of city mixed in with the country.

"Where the Sidewalk Ends....." (thank you, George Strait.....)

Sadly, quite a few of our pine trees are succumbing to the Pine Beetles.  I don't know if that's what's happened with these trees, but it's sadly ironic how their colors know mimic that of the grass tops that surround them.  

"Run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm......"
1) I've read the Gingerbread story to my daughter one too many times, and
2) that is exactly what this rabbit did when he just couldn't sit still any longer.

Caught in the act!  Don't put out to the trash what you don't want the deer to eat!

And, such an innocent face!