Weekly Photo Challenge – Sea

Evidence of an Ancient Sea

For those of you who have been following this blog for a while, I’m sure you were expecting to see an underwater shot from one of my scuba adventures. Surprise! I decided to take this challenge in a totally different direction! You see, I’ve been visiting Moab, Utah for the past few days and when I learned of this week’s challenge, I thought it might be more appropriate to share a photo from this beautiful place.

The challenge is to share something about the sea. So what does a photo of red rock cliffs in the desert have to do with the sea? Well, millions of years ago, Utah was covered by an inland sea. The sediment from that large body of water produced the raw materials for the sandstone that you see here. A geological journey through time, the red rock canyons throughout southern Utah tell the story of those inland seas, their ebbs and flows, and of the life that thrived in and near those waters. One can see dinosaur tracks, dinosaur bones embedded in rock, petrified wood and the evidence of the silt deposited in the multicolored layers of rock here.

This shot was taken this morning from Cane Creek Road looking west across the Colorado River to the rock walls on the other side.

To learn more about the Weekly Photo Challenge, click here.

They Came to My Town

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they came to my town
a parade of state patrol cars,
motorcycles, bicycles

the color spectrum covered
by fans and riders
a celebration of the sport
a competition to the end

we waited
the helicopter appeared in the distance
flashing lights announced their approach
tiny dots on the hill
quickly transformed to men on bikes
riding across the dam
then up the hill and gone

The US Pro Cycling challenge completed its sixth stage in Fort Collins on Saturday. I attended with thousands of fans. And our hometown hero, Tejay van Garteren won the Challenge!

Weekly Photo Challenge – Focus

Focus on the Foothills

This week’s challenge asks us to share a photo that emphasizes the use of focus and depth of field. It brought to mind a shot I took last winter on the prairie looking back towards the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. I chose an aperture that allowed me to focus on the foothills, while blurring the tall winter grasses in foreground. This shot is somewhat unusual in that most photographers choose to blur the background instead.

I’m also posting this shot to meet Bastet’s Pixelventures challenge for the week – “Through.” We’re asked to shoot through “a wire mesh fence, sunglasses, screendoor anything…just shoot through something,” and this shot was taken through the grasses. See what I did there? Two challenges, one shot!

For more information about the Weekly Photo Challenge, click here.

For Bastet’s Pixelventures challenge, click here.

Pixelventures – Passages

Pueblo Passage

I’m late getting this post up for Bastet’s challenge. It’s been a busy week, but I had the perfect shot in my files and wanted to share it. This is a shot of the North Plaza of the Taos Pueblo as seen through the opening from the courtyard of the 150 year old San Geronimo church.

For more information about Bastet’s Pixelventures, click here.

Moose on the Loose

Saturday Afternoon Moose

A quick post and share from our weekend hike. Blake and Kim, our son and daughter-in-law were visiting this weekend. We shared a wonderful hike to American Lakes above Cameron Pass west of Fort Collins. As we were heading back down the mountain we looked to the right and here’s what we saw!

Weekly Photo Challenge – Carefree

Carefree Summer

Peter is enjoying the views from the top of Coyote Ridge Trail on a recent hike. Summer in Colorado affords many moments of respite in nature, even when one only has a few hours to get away.

For more information about the Weekly Photo Challenge, click here.

Pumpkin Blossom

Pumpkin Blossom

pumpkin’s beginning
awaiting honeybee’s kiss
jack-o-lantern’s friend

Weekly Photo Challenge – One shot, two ways

Coyote Ridge 1

Coyote Ridge 2

For this week’s challenge, we’re asked to share two shots of the same subject. I chose a pair of shots I took at Coyote Ridge Open-Space near Fort Collins, Colorado. These two shots were taken from the same spot in the same direction, but one is shot from a portrait orientation and the other from a landscape orientation. Click on each image to see a larger version. Which do you like better?

To learn more about the Weekly Photo Challenge, click here.

Macro Monday – Ladybug’s Pose

Ladybug’s Pose

head shot pose by bug
she shows her white and black spots
ruby-red raiment

Weekly Photo Challenge – Foreshadow

Foreshadowing

For this week’s challenge, I chose to interpret “Foreshadow” literally. During my recent trip to the Taos Pueblo in Taos, New Mexico, I took this shot of one of the ancient pueblo homes which had a drying rack directly in front of the door to the dwelling. I liked the shadows the rack cast in the mid-day sun. The Pueblo people use these racks to dry food as a way of preserving it for use during the winter months.

For more information about the Weekly Photo Challenge, click here.