This weekend I had the opportunity to go to the Sand Dunes National Park located in Southern Colorado and wander around before the snows came. They are truly amazing in both size and location. I have some great pics taken with snow capped mountains as back drops but tried this photo as a pure composition piece.

A day earlier this year showed the results of one of our wettest summers in years as Alberta Falls, in Rocky Mountain National Park was in full effect.

So i was taking a picture of some nachos signs when this ferris wheel was caught in the background…

So I was off to the mountains today and had the camera along just incase something tickled my trigger finger. I found this tree and found out that it was older than the dirt around it. It was in an area between sub-alpine forest and tundra. It was atop the hill all by itself, so it was obviously was the king of the hill. Further down the hill was a a small forest of bristlecone pine trees. Some of these trees are over 1,600 years old. The area is also known for it’s songbirds and flowers.

I hate it when subjects are rude enough to splash the lens. I was polite enough not to say anything. It is now past spring and all of the bears here in the Rockies are awake and you can find one or two in the hiking trails if you look and listen for them…

This weekend I spent the better part of my Saturday in a church and while milling around the balcony I noticed a bundle of pipe organs that seemed neat in their own way. This bunch was about one of four bundles that made up the entire organ. More pics of the church to follow

One of the best parts about living in Denver is the accessibility to the Rocky Mountains. The snow this year has been minimal, and with temperatures above normal, it has allowed me to get some mountain hiking in on the weekends. This is the falls below Sky Pond in the Rocky Mountain National Park. It is a semi- moderate hike to get to (by Rocky Mountain Standards) and has several scenic “pay-offs” along the way.

FYI: There is a person in this photo to give you a perspective of the size of this falls.

The Chamberlain Observatory telescope, a 20 inch Clark Saegmuller refractor, was among the largest of its kind at the time of construction. This telescope first saw light in 1894 and is still in use today. The observatory has a great feel of antiquity, but in a good way. It made me nostalgic for the heavens that I had never been to.

Real Estate Photography is an interest of mine. I like to look through the trade magazines and see beautiful places wonderfully captured. It is really interesting to me when I see poor photography of a place. It would seem to me that in todays web-centric society that if the only chance to spark someone’s interest is with a photo of the place that a listing agent might put a little thought into the presentation of the house- but more often than not…the agents go it alone with a camera phone shot with no post processing. Sad. I do like to read about the art of real estate photography here.

The picture above is from a 24 million dollar listing and this is the party pavilion located on the property. A 4 million dollar structure built away from the main house where the owners could have a decent shin-dig. It has a industrial size kitchen as well as many balconies amongst its 4500 square feet.