Natural Light

Here are another pair of images from the Itchy-O performance. This time the flood lights are not yet turned on, so the illumination is coming from the ambient light. The red cast is because the majority of the light is from a very large flame. 


As with yesterday's post, I love the sense of energy imparted by the low shutter speed blurring.

Itchy-O

Itchy-O is a Denver-based percussion-centered electronic marching band and the mobile arm of an experimental film/music troupe. Basically they do performance art. Think Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo and you'll have the idea.

  

 This is the first time I've time played with my digital camera in very low light. In these shots, the background lights are on to provide minimal illumination. In the shots to come, I only have the ambient light to work with.

 

 These shots were taken at 3200 ISO, with a monopod to steady the camera. Typically the shutter speed was 1/50th or greater, which explains the blurring and distortion from movement. Itchy-O is a highly kinetic troupe, so I'm happy with the blurring because it conveys some of that energy.

When is a rabbit not a rabbit ...

When it is a hare. 

 

 This is a Snowshoe Hare. Colorado seems to be the southern extent of its range.

 

 There are some serious feet on this guy. His coat is white all winter and darkens into spring. The feet stay white. 

 

Train tracks detail

 Here's a closer shot of one of the track crossings from the meadow in the previous image. It has a great abstract quality.

These are the remains of a narrow gauge track from Denver to the mining towns around South Park. The Peaks in the distance are called Twin Cone Peaks. There is a nice little dirt road that gets progressively worse the further you go. It eventually reaches the peak. We made it to what is known as the "first obstacle," about a mile and a half from the peak, before turning back. 

July Lilly in June

 Here's our July Lilly, almost a month early. We've got a red one just starting to appear as well.

Denver's Buildings and Bridges

 This takes the same location as the previous shot, but treats the space completely differently. I'm not entirely happy with this shot. I have some B and W film takes on this that I haven't developed yet. So I need to see what I have there before heading back and trying it again.

Denver's Buildings and Bridges

 This is the first, of two takes on this stair up to the pedestrian bridge. I converted the digital image to B and W to take advantage of the shadows and shapes of the opening. 

Denver's Buildings and Bridges

 I liked this curved rail at the ends of one of the foot bridges. I converted the full color digital image into B and W to highlight the abstract nature of the railing. 

Denver's Buildings and Bridges

Loved the contrast between the copper and black sides. 

Denver's Buildings and Bridges

Not a building or a bridge, but I really liked lines against the sky. 

Denver's Buildings and Bridges

Another glass building in the same area. The face reflects its twin tower. 

Denver's Buildings and Bridges

 Here's another shot of the Millennium Bridge with the Metro station in the foreground.

Denver's Buildings and Bridges

 Here is the first of a series of images captured this weekend of Denver's buildings and bridges. We joined a Meetup group to wander around the downtown and photograph. It was a fantastic creative exercise forcing yourself to look at everyday objects in a fresh way.

This is Denver's Millennium Bridge, near downtown's Union Station. 

Coors Brewery tour

The interior is filled with traditional huge copper kettles. These days the micro breweries tend to use stainless instead.

The control room, which looks like it belongs in a nuclear plant, reminds us that this is a factory setting.

Jobs for chemists drinking beer. Because of the competition provided by micro-brews, Coors has created its own craft brews. One is only available here in Colorado and wasn't bad for an amber beer. The second is based on the pre-prohibition formula used by Coors. Its a very hoppy beer, but not bad.

Brewery Tour

On a recent outing we checked out the Coors brewery tour in Golden Colorado. Its been decades since I've consumed a Coors product. Living in Colorado, there are just too many fantastic craft beer micro-brew's to ever consider drinking a brand name. The outside of the building looks like a concrete bunker. If it wasn't for the giant Coors can shaped sign, you could be looking at any industrial setting. Inside the air was filled with the rich smell of roasted hops.