from my digital archive

Tue - August 29, 2006

3 Frames from Sunset Paddling in Northern Colorado

August in Colorado is quite stormy. We actually have some rain here. It also provides me with some interesting photo opportunities during my regular sunset paddling sessions on local reservoirs.

However, thunderstorms are not so nice for paddling. I have a special luck for thunderstorms with lightning and heavy showers on the Lonetree Reservoir located just southwest from Loveland at foothills of Rocky Mountains. My other frequent paddling spot, Arapaho Bend Natural Area is located further away from mountains and it seems to be less affected by storms.

I prefer to observe and photograph thunderstorms from a distance like this night storm shot a couple years ago from my backyard (in August, of course). I could observe a similar spectacular storm with a lot of cloud to cloud and cloud to ground lighting during the first night of the Missouri River 340 Race. Unfortunately, I was in the very middle of it.

All pictures above were shot with Pentax Optio W10. For the first picture with heavy showers over the Lonetree Reservoir I really needed a waterproof camera. Do not give up with photography when it is raining!

The second one is a typical sunset over the Front Range of Rocky Mountains as seen from Arapaho Bend Natural Area east of Fort Collins at the end of my workout with Sisson Nucleus kayak. A colorful sunset or nice sky or cloud reflections in the water is usually my reward after exercise.

Finally, the third frame could serve as a reminder that when watching a beautiful sunset it may be worth to look around to see what is going on the eastern part of the sky.

Posted at 09:20 PM Read More

Wed - August 23, 2006

Paddling in Clouds: CLC Patuxent, QuickBlade Wing and Pentax Optio W10

Just a single frame from my evening paddling today. I took CLC Patuxent to Beaver Pond. I did a little bit of fast paddling, but I also spent a lot of time watching sunset and cloud reflections in water. It was nice relaxing paddle after the Sunday race in Glenwood Canyon.

The picture was shot with a Pentax Optio W10 waterproof camera (program mode, EV compensation -1.0).

You can find more sunset water reflection pictures in my fit₂paddle blog.