Adventure Dog

Spied on Tejon and Platte on Saturday: bicyclist with a be-goggled little buddy on board. Cute! I like the Colorado flag socks too.

A Little Late to the Party

Seen a few days ago on Uintah heading west under the interstate. I must have driven this route a hundred times since the first of the year. Either I'm a completely oblivious driver (I hope not!) or someone scrawled this message only recently. Better late than never, I suppose.

The Color of Spring

In the older parts of town here, the color of spring is pink! Legions of trees burst into lovely blush colored bloom every April. I look forward to it every year.

A Glamorous Ambulance

Seen in Old Colorado City last Saturday. Funny!

Things I Saw in Manitou (Part 4)

I guess I'll end this little series with this shot of a crate stuck in Fountain Creek (at least I've always thought this was Fountain Creek, please correct me if I'm wrong). Kind of bleak but it makes for an interesting picture.

Untitled

As I was leaving my massage therapist's office on Friday, this abandoned stuffed animal caught my eye. It was a little forlorn, actually. I'm sure some child is missing it. I hope they find it.

Untitled

I decided recently to commit more seriously to making the images for this blog, rather than desperately shooting things willy nilly as I found myself doing way too much last year. In fact, I struggled to come up with a favorite from 2025 -- so many of them were just utterly talentless. I've also decided to start blogging in black and white more, since my photography hobby and eventual career began not only with a camera in my hand but also an enlarger in front of me. I love black and white and I really miss having a darkroom, or rather a working darkroom, since I do have all the essential components of one gathering dust in the garage. 

So this year I hope to make great pictures, not just pictures. Here's a shot from Sunday's dog walk that isn't very great at all but looks much better when converted to monochrome. I didn't have time to think about a better approach to this subject since I had a little dog pulling on my arm! Perhaps I'll get another shot at it sometime soon.

Second Runner Up

I had yesterday's theme in mind when I took this shot (double, for those who missed that blog post), but ended up using a much better image. I don't think this photo is a throwaway though. Keeping in mind the theme, this house had two identical lights mounted on the fence posts in the foreground, two identical baskets flanking the door, and two identical sconces above them. If you notice the big brown planter to the left of the couch next to the door, there was was another one just like it on the other side of the couch as well. Everything was presented in pairs in a pleasingly symmetrical way.

Untitled

Mere steps away from my vantage point from yesterday's photo, this old Ford sits forlornly at the far end of someone's backyard. The only things separating it from the railroad tracks are some disreputable looking weeds and a flimsy barbed wire fence.

Untitled

There's a railroad track that runs through an industrial area near the dog track and then meanders through part of the Venetian Village neighborhood. I don't think I've seen a train use these tracks in a decade or two, but it's still active as far as I know. It must be awfully loud for the people who live on this street.

The Great (Big) Pumpkin

I randomly spotted this behemoth pumpkin while driving to the post office on Saturday afternoon. On the way home I made it a point to stop and take a picture. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity. After all, how often do you see a pumpkin as big as a Volkswagen? I wonder how much this beast weighs! I assume it was grown to such enormous proportions for some sort of competition. What exactly does one do with a pumpkin this size when all is said and done? I'm sure the neighborhood squirrels have a few ideas. 😉

Tree House

I first noticed this house a couple of years ago. It's actually behind a Victorian home that faces onto Colorado Avenue at about 10th Street, and when it originally caught my eye it was under construction. Upon closer inspection today, it appears to be a second story in the process of being added to an existing cinderblock structure (I could be wrong), and even though it's come a long way, to my eye the project still looks unfinished. I wonder what's taking so long! I'm not sure if this is part of the property in front of it or a separate domicile entirely. At any rate, what an interesting way to integrate the tree into the structure rather than just chopping it down.

In the Pink

Another semi lost image that's been lurking on my hard drive since October. I can't remember exactly where I took this but I think it may have been on Caramillo Street. I generally don't love this particular shade of Barbie pink, but in nature I think it's lovely.

Untitled

Nothing in particular today, just some nice fall color that I captured on October 12th and forgot to share then. Most of the trees around here only turn yellow in autumn. I don't know why that is. It's nice to come across the occasional red one.

Untitled

School started a couple of weeks ago, and now all the playgrounds around here are rather forlornly empty.

Skirmish

I was trying to get a shot of a hummingbird up by Helen Hunt Falls this afternoon and serendipitously managed to capture two of them mid-skirmish. I wasn't even sure what it was that I had just taken a picture of, I just saw a flash of feathers and instinctively pushed the shutter button. I guess hummingbirds are quite a territorial lot. Below is the image I was actually attempting to get, taken moment or two after the dramatic conflict.

Texture

Sure I'm a professional photographer and I have all kinds of fancy gear, but to be honest I really like cell phones for photos like this. I shot this close up of dried seed heads on Sunday while walking the dog.

Spring Cleaning

Pat and I spent about a week last month working intensely on our to-do lists, which for both of us included getting rid of things we no longer need or use. This ultimately necessitated a trip to the ARC to donate these items. I waited in the car while Pat dropped things off. It looked like we weren't the only ones doing an annual springtime purge -- things were overflowing into the parking lot.

Bloodshot

Spotted in the parking lot of a home improvement big box store over the weekend. Love it!

Untitled

The iron fence that encloses Grace Episcopal Church on North Tejon features this lovely old gate. I wonder how old it is.