Light Posts of Cheyenne

I was in Cheyenne, Wyoming last week on a work related trip.  Of course I brought my camera along.  Although I wasn’t able to spend as much time as I had hoped exploring the city (I was stuck inside until after 5 pm each day, and the sun set at 6:30 or so), I did manage to see a little bit of Cheyenne.  Fortunately, my hotel was located in the Historic Downtown Area.  Although much of this area has been lost to time and redevelopment, there was one thing that caught my eye.  The light posts.  I became obsessed with them.  Be it the single light post, or the clusters of five, I spent quite a bit of time – and burned through quite a few frames – trying to get a few shots that I liked.  These, along with a brief explanation of what I was trying to achieve, are the best of the lot…

This one was in front of an old building near the railroad yard.  I liked how the fall leaves seemed to match the brick exterior of the building, and the light post was icing on the cake…

Same light post, same building, different perspective.  I underexposed one step to emphasis the feel of late evening light…

This cluster of lights was in front of the train depot.  I liked how two lights were on, three off, and how the brick exterior of the building glowed in background from the fading evening light…

Same cluster of lights.  I moved to the left a few feet so that I could frame them against the clean background of the clear sky…

This was the shot I spent the most time on.  Obviously, I was trying to get the moon in focus with the light post in the foreground.  Not a great shot, but it has the mood I was looking for…

Another Day, Another Hike, Another Chance To Snap Away

Another autumn Saturday, perfect for a hike.  Last week’s adventure at Eklutna Lake had looked to be the last of the season, but the weather held – depending on which direction one ventured – long enough for another outing…  I say depending on which direction, because I first headed south in search of adventure, only to encounter heavy rain and blowing wind along Turnagain Arm.  After driving 25 miles with no sign of the weather letting up, I turned tail and headed back north, stopping long enough to take a few shots.  I pulled out my polarizing filter to try to get this rainbow to really “pop”…

I kept driving north and ended up at the Eagle River Nature Center, and soon lit out on the Historic Iditarod Trail.  The sun was out, so I left my polarizing filter on.  Soon a piece of birch bark caught my eye, as it reminded me of a flag waving in the wind, backlit by the sun…

Further along, the clouds moved in front of the sun, the mostly barren trees grew closer together, and I envisioned a black and white scene, like the background of a Bev Doolittle in total grayscale…

Not the best rendition of a black and white scene – by far – but some thing to think about and experiment with more in the future.  

The mountain ridge on the right was lit beautifully as the sun peeked through the clouds, and I tried to capture the dramatic light.  For this shot I underexposed two stops, and turned my polarizer until the sun’s glare on the rocks softened.

Then I concentrated on the section of the ridge to the left, trying to capture blowing snow and the sun’s glow.

On the way out several spruce grouse were spotted.  Since I had left my carrying case of filters in the car (including my clear UV filters), I still had my polarizing filter on.  The reason for this is that I didn’t want to be tromping around the woods without a protective piece of glass between my lens and the elements.  This resulted in losing a stop or two of light, so the ISO went up as I tried to freeze the bird against a rocky, drab background.  I got one shot that I think shows the similarity between the bird’s natural camouflage and its surroundings… 

And I learned a valuable lesson (and felt like a rookie at the same time) – don’t assume that the weather will cooperate.  As soon as the sun disappeared for the day – especially considering that the remaining foliage wasn’t saturated with fresh rain – the polarizer should have come off, to be replaced with a clear, protective filter.

Lastly, I got a couple of shots of a squirrel packing on weight for the winter.

Not my most productive day ever photographically (I don’t think that I got a single “keeper” shot the whole day), but a few lessons were learned that will hopefully push me one step closer to being a better photographer.