Nature and Wildlife Monthly Feature

This will be very slow downloading, so get a cup of coffee, relax and hopefuly it will be worth the wait for you

Three hours in a world of changing pastels with Greyhawk....
If the above banner looks cold and hazy with ice crystals in the air, it's because this was true. Scenario...Three days ago, Tuesday noon on Dec. 21st, it had been spitting snow with the highest temperature around 0-3 degree's during the last four days. I looked west to the mountains, and the storm was breaking up. Being as the planned feature for this month was very late and still having technical difficulties getting to me, I decided to do a sequel to the fall images in the Garden of the Gods. With visions of beautiful Fujichrome blue with white puffy breaking up clouds and fog, I grabbed my gear and took off across town. I arrived in the Garden of the Gods, which is butted up against the mountains, at 1pm and found that the weather had started closing back in and was in a constant state of flux at this location. The sun goes down at 4 this time of year, so during the next three hours, I spent a lot of time in the minus 7 degree temperature and watching amazing changes in the mostly very flat light. I had decided to try and force some pictures since I was there, but it took a couple hours afterward to get feeling back in my hands. Below are some of the results and I think it was worth the very cold hands. Maybe I should title this " how many different looking images can you get on the same rocks in one very frigid afternoon".<LOL>

Ah, the old standard blue and white scene

Started off OK with typical light for a wide shot to set the scene.

Even had some normal looking light for images when I first got there, but the clouds and fog were closing back in fast.

I wonder if this is where the Rider's of the Purple Sage got their name

The light is still almost normal but you can already see the ice crystal haze !

Mantou Mountain {which is in front of and about 4,000 feet lower than Pikes Peak}, is peeking through

Oh boy! Now the colors are starting to look good.

With the sun dipping lower, a purple color is starting to show.

Just a little ole 400 ft high rock. {Sandstone}

If you are tired of seeing this rock look at the clouds and Rampart Range background

Wow! This coloring has to be from the Christmas shoppers car exhaust, the inversion, and the cold. Notice the immediate foreground now has a thicker area of the clouds overhead and is much darker.

This doesn't look like minus 7 degrees..Where's the blue

Just before leaving, the low sun found a thin spot, reflecting and bouncing light all over the place. The problem was that it had changed again and was very monochrome now, so out came the trusty 85b filter.

What makes you think Dec is cold in Colorado

I really like this one. A true pastel image with warm snow that looks OK. <BG>

This was a sequal to the feature with fall color in the Garden of the Gods.
If you missed it... Click Here

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If you missed the Sept. feature... Click Here

If you missed the Aug. Feature... Click Here

If you missed the July Feature... Click Here
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