Author Archives: swkrullimaging

Dog Days of Summer 2019

The Dog Days of Summer… According to Wikipedia, “The dog days or dog days of summer are the hot, sultry days of summer. They were historically the period following the heliacal rising of the star system Sirius, which Greek and Roman astrology connected with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs, and bad luck.”. For me, the sun is up way before I am, the colors are obliterated by the intense light of the overhead sun, the animals are all hiding in the shade. Do I want to sweat out a photo shoot in vain? Or…

vParadox Brewery in Divide Coloradoo

What better time to try out a new watering hole 🙂 I have driven past this place a hundred times, it’s right by some sort of feed plant and I always thought the unexplored building was just part of the feed business in rural Divide, Colorado. Until the other day I was doing a search for brew pubs and Paradox showed up in the search results. So I’m thinking, I know that place, it’s the feed building I’m always driving past????

Saw the bighorn sheep up on 67 the other day at about 2:30… no camera along of course but I make a note of the time and place thinking that they might be making a return trip on another day…

Paradox Brewery in Divide ColoradoSo the trip is planned, bring along the camera so in case I see the sheep, if not… onward to the brew pub. I love a sure fire plan :) Well those pesky sheep knew I had the camera along so they stayed out of view like always when I have my camera :( No matter, onward to the brew pub.

And what a cool place it is! I can imagine it used to be some sort of country business, a

Paradox Brewery in Divide Colorado

big metal building with double garage doors facing the south with an awesome view of the northwest face of Pikes Peak, I might add! I entered the building past some brewing barrels and into a comfortable tasting room where I encountered a friendly and knowledgeable young lady behind the bar who was happy to let me taste the large variety of brews that they currently have on tap 🙂 Never had beer like this though, all called “sour beer”. Some are more sour than others but I did find one that I liked, called “Future Knowledge”.

Paradox Brewery in Divide Colorado

Outside the big doors is a nice outdoor beer garden with a view of the great peak… The sun was a bit too intense for me this day so I chose to just enjoy the cool shade of the bar at 10,000 feet of elevation 🙂 Outside also is a food truck which was serving some tasty steak, chicken or fish tacos.

I arrived fairly early, probably earlier than most people would be out and about so I had the place pretty much to myself for a while, which suits me just fine 🙂 It wasn’t long though, before the place started filling up, looks like a pretty popular place for those in the know! So anyway, that was how I whiled away one hot dry Dog Day in this short Rocky Mountain summer 🙂 I highly recommend this place if you have an afternoon or evening that you can spend just relaxing in the Rocky Mountain High Country 🙂

 

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Brave Little Pack

Had an awesome little trek this morning… Got to the trailhead acceptably early so I was hopeful that I would be in time for a successful wildlife encounter. Put the camera on ISO 400 and selected only the center focus point, my preferred setting for precise focusing on the animals eye, and strapped the camera over my back with the big lens attached. Off we went up the trail… me and the big dog. As we cleared the summit I spotted some movement in the shade and readied the camera, ready for the herd of deer to present itself. Lol… well it was a herd all right, not deer but wild turkeys! By the time I readjusted my composition the little buggers had already scampered into the dense forest 😦 Oh well… all I could see was there little heads above the thick mountain grass anyway.

Small Pack of Coyotes

Onward and upward… soon we had traversed the mountain and were on our way back down when I heard the bark of a dog followed by a couple more barks. I assumed the barking was coming from the parking lot far below until I heard a chorus of howls to go with the racket. It was my little pack of coyotes that  I had photographed in the spring just as they were in the process of beginning their new lives 🙂 It took a bit but I was finally able to spot them in a thicket of trees, by now all joining in on the beautiful wilderness song. I had to smile though, they are bigger now but their squeaky voices are still small 🙂 I think their original plan was to hold their position in the thicket and stand their ground but after seeing the massive size of Big Dog they soon lost their nerve and took off for a more distant position from which to make their presence known.

Even with the big 400mm lens attached, the animals were too far away for a salable

Small Pack of Coyotes

capture… but I at least got these to record the amazing encounter with these distant shots 🙂 Already though on my Instagram account… a comment to jolt me back to this present reality, something about an AR-15 which I of course immediately deleted. Some people, all they can think of when they see an animal is how they can kill it. These little predators are not hurting anyone and they deserve to live in peace, performing their intended task of  keeping the rodent population down. It’s no wonder there are so many mass shootings in these times, we live in a culture of death which will only worsen until people are taught from an early age to value all life, starting with an appreciation for these beautiful wild creatures.

Storm Chasing Debut

Tornado watch in parts of the state, flash flood advisories, hail and torrential rain… all in the forecast. I had the day off on Thursday and I could already see the storm clouds billowing into the sky to the west. Looked like it was going to be a great day to get some storm pictures so I consulted the weather charts to find the most likely viewing opportunities. I was hoping the storms would come right up from the Arkansas River Valley where I would get a good view from all my favorite overlooks… but no such luck. Pikes Peak is so massive that it often creates it’s own weather, and even more often it shapes the weather as it pleases. On this day it appeared that the big mountain would split the storm with the worst of the activity streaming towards the north over Woodland Park and on into Colorado Springs.

Pikes Peak Colorado Thunderstorm Clouds

There have been reports of bighorn sheep activity along highway 67 so what the heck, I might be able to get some wildlife pictures and storm pictures on one trip.. so I loaded up my gear and headed over the pass. Unfortunately there were no sheep but it wasn’t long before I was in a major downpour! Obviously being in the midst of the storm is not the optimal photographic scenario so I pressed on to Divide thinking that the park on top of the hill might be a great place to see the storm development in all directions. Well I could definitely see in all directions but the best part of the storm was still right over me with no good views of the thunderheads in any direction. Bummer… well I thought, maybe Pikes Peak will have some interesting activity to view from the mountainsides in Woodland Park. Needed to stop there for supplies anyway so off to Woodland Park we went.

The big peak was putting on a pretty good show so me and the big dog climbed the ridge on the north side of Ute Pass and we got a few nice shots from there. We also saw some deer but were not able to get into position for any decent pictures, the underbrush is just so thick and lush due to all the rain this year. It almost looks like a rain forest like Oregon or Washington! So a few shots of clouds streaming over the massive mountain were all that we were going to get on this day.

On the return trip I could see storm activity all around but no matter where I went… there were trees in the way, or a hill or a mountain or the edge of a cliff with no place to park.

Pikes Peak Colorado Thunderstorm Clouds Finally I thought I might be able to see from the top of the gold mine… but there was still the rest of the mountain to the north in the way of the best view. A quick trip down to Victor Pass from there provided a somewhat anticlimactic view of the remnants of the days storm on the south face of Pikes Peak, but overall the whole day  was a major disappointment.

I guess the lesson learned from this story is that storm chasing in the mountains might be a losing proposition… Colorado is not like Kansas where there is a uniform network of farm roads that allow you to get anywhere you want to go in a hurry. We have long winding roads with mountains in the way everywhere! I did get a tip though that might prove useful in the future. Apparently there was a good view from the one place I didn’t go, the high plateau traversed by Teller County Road 1. I’ll give that a shot next time.

As always these pictures and more are available for purchase as wall art on my website on glossy metal or acrylic sheets, stretched canvas and traditional framing and matting. Tons of cool gift items, tech gadgets, apparel and household items are also available with a beautiful mountain scenery by S.W. Krull Imaging.

Over the Hump

Read an interesting factoid the other day… Apparently August 2nd is a significant day in Colorado, it is the day that marks the beginning of the rapid falloff in temperatures in the slide towards fall and winter. The chart below from the U.S. Climate Data site shows in dramatic visual form the steep curve of change in temperature and precipitation as the heat of summer loses it’s edge to the receding light of the sun.

And to me that means I am over the hump of my most Screenshot_2019-08-04 Climate Colorado - temperature, rainfall and averagedifficult time of year 🙂 For a landscape photographer, the harsh direct overhead light of the summer sun is death to an image. The bright sun drains out all the color and shadow that can make an image compelling. For a Colorado wildlife photographer, stifling heat by 8:00 a.m. means all the animals are lying down in the shade in the dense pine forest well out of view. Sunrise at 5:00 a.m. means a 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. start to the day if you want to catch the best light, a difficult goal when you are up until 12:30 trying to make a living the night before. For Big Dog, the heat of the summer sun shining through the truck window means he has to stay home a lot more often, and without my hiking buddy along my weekend excursions a lot less enjoyable.

Here in Cripple Creek it was a beautiful cool morning, the birds are chirping happily and

Trio of Autumn Bighorn

the Teller County Fair is over, the legion of trucks and campers are pulling out and making their way home. I’m tired today, the sun is already shining brightly and I think I’ll take a day off from hiking and shooting to just sit here and enjoy the peace that the end of the hustle and bustle of summer brings with my favorite time of year just around the corner. Autumn… and I have wisely scheduled two weeks off so that I can make the most of it 🙂 Teller County has some of the best aspen color viewing in the state and this year I will be able to enjoy the Fall Color Festival, something I bitterly missed last year because I was working through the entire thing.

By autumn the sun has traveled significantly to the south, it’s low profile in the sky creating a much more friendly lighting scenario for photography. The leaves of the great aspen stands will be in full glory and the crisp clear mountain air sets an inviting stage for hiking and mountain biking in the back country.  The animals will emerge from the dark of the forest, the elk, deer and bighorn sheep in full glory for the autumn rut and the bears all out in their determined search for enough calories to nourish them throughout the long Rocky Mountain winter.

So today I rest in the knowledge that I am over the summer hump, my mind turning toward the joy of autumn, my laptop trained on topo maps of the great Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Ahhhh….

Crystal Creek Autumn

 

Dumb Mistake

Whitewater in Eleven Mile Canyon on the South Platte River

Me and the big dog went out again this morning in search of the beautiful buck mule deer that we’ve been seeing on the trail… We didn’t see the bucks but there was a nice looking elk cow meandering across the meadow that was visible when we reached the summit of our little mountain. My camera was ready to go… or so I thought, so I zoomed in and snapped the shutter. The usual satisfying mirror slap and shutter click sounded a bit off but I paid it no mind and captured a few more before she disappeared into the dense wilderness of the Pike National Forest.

Eventually our trek was complete and we found ourselves back at the parking lot where Whitewater on the South Plattte in Eleven Mile CanyonI gave Big Dog his drink and loaded ourselves back in the vehicle. As usual I made a quick check on the LCD screen of the day’s captures… First picture I looked at didn’t look too good, out of focus maybe? I always refocus a few times to make sure I get the shot so I checked another hoping to find at least one usable picture… no such luck, I stupidly didn’t check the mode wheel on the top of the camera and it was still set to Aperture Priority, which was still set for a long exposure of the river a couple of days before. Absolutely no chance of getting a sharp image of a moving elk at dawn with a 30th of a second shutter speed 😦 Nothing else to do but hit the reformat button on the memory chip and vow to do better next time.

That means I have nothing to work on today except the trip to Eleven Mile Canyon earlier this week. No wildlife to share today, but I do have a few more of the South Platte River whitewater for this blog!

As always these images and more are available on my website for purchase as wall art on glossy metal or acrylic sheets, stretched canvas and traditional matting and framing. Cool gift items, apparel and handy tech gadgets are also available… just click an image to see the options!

Whitewater in the South Platte River in Eleven Mile Canyon

Eleven Mile Canyon Redux

Whitewater in Eleven Mile Canyon Colorado

Needed a close place to photograph today… Buddy Kevin had a day off coinciding with my day off but unfortunately I had a 1:00 dentist appointment which was going to cut our day short 😦 Kevin had never been to Eleven Mile and I was thinking I was not done shooting that place yet, so the Headwaters of the South Platte River it was! The idea was going to be another attempt with the 10 stop ND filter for motion blur whitewater.

We didn’t get in on the best pre0sunrise lighting but we had some pretty good success with a couple of very scenic sections of the river with

Pristine Blue Water of Eleven Mile Canyonwild whitewater scenes, along with some more traditional shots with a polarizer.  Not much more to say about the trip, but here are three of my favorites :) Funny though, the one shot through the trees was an afterthought, almost didn’t even bother to shoot it, which might be the lesson of the day… go with your first instinct when you see a scene! Over analyze it and you might miss a great photo op!

As always, these images and more are available as wall art on my website on glossy acrylic or metal sheets, stretched canvas and traditional framing and matting! Tons of cool gift items are also available, including household, tech and apparel! Just click the images to bring up the options!

Whitewater in Eleven Mile Canyon Colorado

 

 

 

 

 

Morning Wildflowers

Once again the wildlife was all snoozing in the warm morning sun by the time the big dog and I hit the trail and I was kind of bummed that there was nothing to photograph. Lots to see of course, the smoky Sangre in the distance, a few cumulus clouds drifting past in the blazing blue sky… and a ton of wildflowers, all beautiful things to see but not so easy to make a compelling picture out of! Now I’m not a flower photographer by any stretch of the imagination, but they were really amazing this morning! I don’t have the right equipment for good flower photography, and I certainly don’t have the patience to set up light boxes and tie back stems so that they don’t blow in the wind.

Rocky Mountain Wildflowers

I tried just shooting the entire meadow which was carpeted in a huge variety of color, purple from the mountain bluebell, blue from the columbine, pink, yellow, white daisy looking plants…  I don’t even know what most of them are. The wide area view just didn’t do the scene justice, the flower petals are all so small that they just get lost in the green of the mountain grass in a photograph.

Finally I decided to just put the big lens back on and lay on my stomach in a particularly highly decorated area and just shoot into the flowers while focusing on the ones in front. This one is the closest I could get to conveying the beauty of the scene, hope you enjoy!. I only regret that I don’t see our state flower represented here… I’ll try to get the columbines on my next visit!