Aspen Wood

The Aspens in fall. What an incredible sight!

And the aspens in the fall in Colorado are an even more spectacular sight! Everywhere one looks the colors of the leaves are bright and vivid; vibrant and in every hue of yellow and orange one can imagine. As far as the eye can see the scene before you is just intense.

Yet, this particular shot is one of my very favorites. Taken along the Million Dollar Highway (as near to Telluride as this highway gets, which in this case is about five miles. Still, it is the closest town, even if the road doesn’t even pass through there.) in September, it caught me completely off guard. I was, frankly, looking up at the leaves, and pondering their colors when I looked off to my left. And then…

… this. I was taken by the way the strong sunlight filtered down below to where I was. I loved the shadows that played along the aspen trunks. I adored the hint of fall colors in the background, yet also the greens of summer still hanging on in the foreground. And as I look back on this, the memories of that perfect fall day come flooding back to me as I stood there, deep in the Aspen Wood.

Flower Child

Ah, to be young again. For youth has an innocence all of its own about it; a purity and a sweetness and especially eyes that see everything for the very first time. And when you are just five days old, you are seeing absolutely everything for the very first time.

This is Esmeralda, a gosling, and yes, she is just five days old. When you are her age the world is fresh and bright and each moment is a brand new experience. This particular experience happened as she ended up in a patch of pansies in the bright morning sunlight. At first, she was a little confused, but she quickly settled into her surroundings and within mere moments decided that the sunlight, coupled with the small dish of water she was in, in her own private garden, was as wonderful a spot as she could imagine. You could see her stretch and enjoy the sun.

It was right about then that she noticed this strange object close to her (you and I would know that object as a “camera”), moving ever so slightly, seemingly aligning it directly with her. It made a few soft clicks, but most important, it made the person behind smile brightly. And in that moment, I too, was young again.

There are different sizes of this photo available at our portfolio. Flower Child is available for purchase, as well, and you can have this print framed and delivered right to your door.

Fall Web, originally uploaded by ifringe.

Fall. A wonderful time of the year, for the summer is ending and the winter has yet to come to pass. And now and then spectacular autumn day comes along: the sun shines brighter than usual, the colors are more vibrant and vivid (in Technicolor[tm] even) and the day is beyond glorious. Today was one of those days.

And for whatever reason, I was thinking about sunlight and spiderwebs and decided to combine those two thoughts into one photograph. With a little bit of scrounging the in the backyard I was able to find something close to what I was looking for. A complete web was not to be found, but there was this nice branch which some spider decided to redecorate. With the sun shining bright, how could I not capture its efforts?

Besides, I liked the bokeh, too. That seldom hurts.

The spider web and the incredible day may not be here tomorrow, but it will certainly live on in memory each time I see this picture.