Hangin in Manitou

Went out this weekend with a group of photographers to do a little street photography while walking around Manitou and enjoying the beautiful weather we had that day. It's amazing how it was up in the sixties and snowed the next day. At least it isn't boring around here. Enjoy a few of the shots I took. I must admit though that I was feeling very uninspired this day simply because it was so nice and I'd been just as happy lying in a hammock under a tree somewhere. Must be my Southern showing!

Heading Over to Cripple Creek

Went to Cripple Creek the other day to check out their first annual Ice Carving exhibit. Rhonda, Chuck, and myself made the road trip. First time in ages I got to go out that way and not be driving so really enjoyed myself. It looks like they might have a hit with this. There was a good turnout of people and I saw a few different television crews around filming everyone checking out the ice. The kids seemed to really get a kick out of it. Hopefully it will be even bigger next year.

After we saw the ice festival we went driving around for a little while to check out the sights and find an over look that Rhonda knew about. With all the mining going on in the area they are constantly changing the landscape and we had a little bit of trouble finding it. Check out the picture of the big truck that topped a hill we were headed up. It's an interesting feeling to be driving around in a small car and have basically a moving building come over a hill directly at you. We stopped in the median of the gravel road and the guy driving stopped and climbed down the steps to basically tell us to get out of there. Seems we weren't supposed to be on that particular road, we had missed the sign telling us the proper direction to take to get to the overlook. The funny part was when we turned around to go the other way another one topped the other hill coming at us from the opposite direction. I don't think Rhonda cared for that too much, to say the least! We did find the overlook eventually and spent a little time checking out the sites. You can see the picture of all the mining going on in the area. Kind of a shame what we do for gold, isn't it?


On the road.


Pikes Peak in the distance. You can also see
the old Manitou Incline. I actually rode that
years ago before it was taken out.


Overlooking Cripple Creek


I just thought this was funny.










It's amazing what you can do with a chain saw.


Some of the colors in the ice were fantastic.






This was really impressive in person.




This is the backside view of the train sculpture.




Those are steps going up the front of the truck
just so you can get a feel for how large this truck
actually was. This thing is at least 3 stories high.


Here's the view from the overlook we eventually
found.

Carnivale in Manitou Springs

Went to Manitou Springs today to celebrate Mardi Gras Colorado style. Not quite the same as going to New Orleans but I still had a good time. Started out the day with the Mumbo Jumbo Gumbo Cook Off but I didn't get any pictures of that. I was way to busy eating gumbo, a weakness of mine. Frontrange Barbecue won first place and they deserved it. I had a least three servings of theirs! I'll probably be heading up there soon to have a proper sit down bowl of gumbo! Anyways on to the pictures. This is just a few shots of what all I saw today. Hope you enjoy them.

50th Wedding Anniversary of Sam and Tess

I had the honor recently of covering the 50th wedding anniversary and the renewal of their wedding vows for Sam and Tess. It was a big family affair with plenty of friends and family in attendance. These are the parents of a friend of mine, Eric. You've probably seen his daughter a couple of times on my blog here. She's the one sitting in a teacup if you look at older posts. Here she is coming up the aisle with her youngest older brother having a ball following her. She's really getting big. Last time I saw here I don't think she was walking yet.




The ceremony was a nice affair with all the family participating.




Eric got a little choked up while doing his speech. I always enjoy these types of ceremonies where you can feel the love.









After the ceremony we all headed over to the reception for good food, cake, and dancing.



Fortunately the newly rewed couple were nice to each other for the cutting of the cake. No smashed faces here!






Just to close this out, here's a shot of the family all gathered around the head table. I just want to say thanks again to Eric for letting me be a part of his parents celebration.

Strobist fun!

What's Strobist you ask? Check out this site for all the info on what a strobist actually is. I've learned a lot about lighting from there and have been applying it to my work. This past Sunday a group of us photographers from the Denver/Colorado Springs area got together and had a Strobist model shoot. We had a blast and I got some really nice shots to add to my portfolio.

If you read up on the site you will see that it focuses on using small camera flashes off camera for lighting. I cheated a little and brought a studio light with me. I can do the same thing with a small flash and I do use them at weddings, but for a situation like this with shot after shot it's hard to beat the recycling time of a studio light. You can also burn out a small flash if you over work it too hard. I can't afford to have a flash down right now so didn't use them. This was a play day for me. Here are a few shots that I took during the day and I have more on my Flickr page if you'd like to see them. I also have a profile over on ModelMayhem with these and other pictures I've done. My Mayhem number is #54609 if you want to check it out.

At the Broadmoor

Had a fun time tonight doing a kind of combo Christmas/Engagement shoot with Liz and Justin. We went up to the Broadmoor Hotel on the West side of town. It's a really nice 5 star hotel. If you've never been there it's worth the drive just to walk around a little.

I got there a little early to scout the area looking for places to shoot. There was already another photographer ahead of me doing a shoot with some cute little kids for a Christmas card in front of this tree. Saw a couple of others doing shoots around the grounds also. Seems to be a popular place. Everybody was really nice to us also which made it even more enjoyable.



I have a slide show posted on my site with the rest of the photos from this shoot. If you want to take a peek check out this link. Justin and Liz I hope you enjoy the show!