Winter Scenes, 13 January 2015

Winter Scenes! We've had the usual January snow, with the temperature hovering around the freezing level. This creates a unique effect in the trees. It doesn't last long, but while it does, it is completely different than any other time during the year.

I know the snow and the trees are the main items in these shots - but I like the changing background of the sky. I think the occasional deep blue gives some of the shots a nice contrast and brings out the true beauty of winter scenes.

A few days of warmth, and the scene will change again. Right now, though, more light snow is expected, so the scene should stay the same for at least a few days.

While these shots may seem ordinary now, they will look anything but ordinary in July!

For a little perspective, below are a few shots I took before the snow hit.

2015

Deer and Snow, 4 January 2015

This bad boy was shy and tried to duck out as soon as I brought out the camera

There are certain parts of Colorado Springs where the deer play. That's the truth - every time I head over there, I take my camera because, sure enough, there they will be, stopping traffic.

I'm not a deer, so I don't know exactly why they stay in the same confined space year after year. But then, well, so do we, when you think about it. They probably can't figure that out, either.

I thought these pictures might come out dark, but was pleasantly surprised at their clarity. I was using the f 1.4 50 lens - the 'Jack Lord' - which is good in low light situations. It's great to have on the camera during the winter, I switch to the zoom when the light gets better in the spring.

So, without further ado, a few pictures taken on or about 4 January 2015 with our local celebrities.

2015

New Year's Eve Scenes

These are some scenes from New Year's Eve in Colorado Springs.

No, they are not of people at the appointed hour making small talk and preparing to be let down after the clock moves past midnight and nothing dramatic happens and they wander off to bed.

Instead, these are some outdoor scenes taken during the day. But that's, like, not what New Year's Eve is all about - right? Wrong. It is precisely what New Year's Eve is all about in Colorado: just normal life. I happened to be wandering around outside with my camera - the mountains were looking quite sharp after some recent snow, so I made a point of getting outside during the shank of the day for a change - and I snapped what I saw.

Colorado had been in the grips of a deep freeze for about a week when I took these pictures. Plenty of snow had fallen, but it arrived gradually over the span of a couple of days, not all at once in one great dump. This actually made for some absolutely ideal sledding weather, as the snow was not deep, but instead was evenly spread around, without great drifts or anything like that. In fact, it was just about the best sledding (and probably skiing, though I can't vouch for that) weather I've ever seen here, with a nice, warm, direct sun overseeing a near-freezing landscape that kept everything from melting right away but made the snow firm, yet slippery. It may look icy, and it was, but it also was quite moderate and comfortable in terms of how it felt to be outside.

That is all frozen. No, not that 'Frozen,' silly.

If you know anything about Colorado weather, you know that it won't look like this for long. Once the temperature rises - and it will, soon enough - the snow will be gone and the drab look of lifeless grass will return. But now, for a day, it is magical - or at least magical to a New Yorker like me.

Unlike my other pages, of which there are many, this particular blog has no 'purpose.' It is just sort of a visual diary of whatever I found interesting in the world right outside my door. Cottonwood literally is only a five-minute drive for me. That makes this page both less important to me - it gets fewer views - but also more completely my own. Everything about this page - the images, the choice of scene, the commentary - is mine: my choice, my execution. So, it is a place I enjoy contributing to even though few will ever see it or care about the subject matter, it takes up some of my time, and it won't win any awards or make me a million dollars.

Pikes Peak in the background.

Incidentally, I have some pictures of Cottonwood Lake elsewhere on this blog, but that is a completely different location and world which is a two-hour drive away through that pass you can see pretty clearly in some of these pictures below Pikes Peak if you know where to look.

What I have learned during my time in Colorado is that, while a scene may appear mundane in context, it actually can have vibrancy all its own once taken out of its own limits. For instance, these are winter scenes that are perfectly normal for when they were taken - but they will have far greater impact in a few months, when the sun is strong and the snow is gone and the landscape assumes its routine form. This, however, most definitely also is Colorado, in one of its many guises.

So, for what it is worth, New Year's Eve in Colorado Springs.

2015