I flew from Denver to Ft. Lauderdale last Thursay for a destination wedding in Palm Beach.  It was nice and snowy when I left so that I could feel really good about leaving town.  We took the bus so that we didn’t have to drive in the snow.  So did everyone else, and it was tough to get a bus.   Once on the bus, I was working away on the computer, when I looked up, and realize I had no idea where we were.  We were somewhere between Thornton and Kansas, apparently.  They look the same so it was tough to tell.  Word was there was an accident on I-70.  So it was a good thing we were on the bus because if we had driven ourselves we wouldn’t have know to take an alternate route.

We were a bit late from the de-icing ritual, but other than that the flight was OK.   I really like my little G9.  Unfortunately now I want a G10!

The ice crystals transformed during the flight.  We saw quite a nice sunset out over Tampa from the plane window.  I’d have taken a nice warm picture of us in shorts on the other side, but it was dark.  That’s why I want the G10, for the better night pictures!  Oh, and the wider angle too.  Well, take my word for it, we walked on the beach the same evening as the snowy bus ride.  Pretty sweet.

Back in October when we had a string of 65 degree days I kept saying, “well this is going to be the last one . . . ” Well it is nearly Thanksgiving and the warm days keep coming and the snow does not. Tomorrow’s forecast is for 67 degrees, sunny, and light winds. Ryan and I are going to do Heil-Hall, who’s coming?

I went and checked out the Boulder Cup pro cyclo-cross races at Boulder Reservoir and South Boulder Rec the weekend before last.  I’ve shot a few pics the first day and none the second; I’ve been way too busy to add extra workflow to my life for fun.  So busy in fact, that I forgot to download the card until over a week later.   Weeee!  I had some fun cropping the photos and messing with the exposures in Lightroom tonight.

Jeremy Powers.

Ryan Trebon.

Tim Johnson.

Todd Wells.

Barry Wicks.

Word.

It has been an extraordinary week. I thank those who have appreciated and commented on my recent post. I want to keep things moving forward . . .

This is my first image that I’ve ever shot with a Nikon lens! I’m going to give Nikon a shot since I have been unhappy with the focus performance of my Canon cameras. My new D700 won’t be here until Monday, but I bought a lens last week from a local guy. I borrowed a camera to test out the 85 1.4 to make sure that it was sharp. On the way home I was struck by the amazing lighting over the hills and snapped this picture. Wow, I really love this one. To me there is such a surreal beauty, peace, and glow over those mountains. This is the beauty that draws us to them.

My staunch work ethic finally crumbled this week. People who know me wondered, “how long can you keep this up?” I kept it up until Thursday. Glorious Thursday, when editing be damned, I had to get out onto the trails and out in the glorious fall weather. I knew the leaves were turning up there. I’m very happy to report that many of the aspens in Ned are just starting to turn, so there is still a few more weeks of glorious color up there. Get out and enjoy it! Here are some pics to motivate you.

While most of you were enjoying a three day weekend, I was working my butt off and shooting two weddings!  Lucky for me I like shooting weddings . . . ;>) . . .  and even luckier still the second one was up in Keystone.  So I splurged on a resort hotel room for myself and my lovely girlfriend and made a weekend out of it!  Part of the deal was that on Monday I would get to do an epic mountain bike ride in the mountains . . . my only high altitude ride of the year so far!

I rode the Swan River section of the Colorado Trail section between Breckenridge and Georgia Pass.  Last year we rode up to Georgia Pass from the Kenosha Pass side.  That was part of a whole mountain bike weekend and I made a photo slideshow and blogged about it HERE.

But this time I was on a solo mission so I took way less photos.  Portrait of my mountain bike by itself?  Check.  Self-portrait on the trail?  Check.  Accidental mis-timed action shot?  Check.

But this time I was on a solo mission so I took way less photos.  Portrait of my mountain bike by itself?  Check.  Self-portrait on the trail?  Check.  Accidental mis-timed action shot?  Check.

What an amazingly sweet ride.  Super smooth and fast.  There was one pretty tough section that had me pushing at times, but I was conserving my energy because I wanted to do a pretty big ride.  I thought I was saving my energy, but man, I was so ill-prepared for 3 and a half hours of riding between 10 and 12,000 feet.  On the Swan River section of trail I blew up like I haven’t blown up in a really really long time.  I could barely even pedal in my smallest ring.  But, it was worth it.  No downhill lasts as long as one when you are bonked and wishing you were done!  And when it’s some of the sweetest trail on the planet, that’s actually a good thing.  On the last stretch of climb I had to get off and collapse because I thought I was going to puke.  This is what it looked like.

I told myself at the beginning of the mountain bike season that I was going to ride one during the week and once on the weekend. Well, that hasn’t worked out so well. I haven’t even been able to squeeze in a weekend ride the last couple weeks.

But not today damnit! Scott sent me the 10:10 bus text and I was in. The heat coupled with my broken AC in the studio have been leaving me a bit tired, so we rallied it slow and went to Happy Trails in Ned for some coffee to rev it up.

There were some pretty sweet clouds! I was wishing for the fisheye, but all I had was the G9 pocket camera.

We headed north and rode the first Swiss Miss of the year. The flowers are really, really awesome this year after all that spring moisture. I started off taking some normalish shots of a rider in the wildflowers . . .

. . . but I quickly moved on to incorporating a butterfly who was hanging around. I accidentally blasted him with the flash, but as it turned out I like the effect! I managed to catch him flying off as Scott rolled past. Overall it was a great ride, and not too hot in the high country. I’m feeling rejuvenated after a week of too many hours in the office. Oh, and an added super-treat was that someone brought out a chainsaw and cleared all the down trees on the Todd Gulch singletrack; that big tree in the beginning has been there for years!

My goal is to go mountain biking twice a week. I’ve been failing! I can’t complain too much because the photo biz is keeping me super busy midweek. So I’m a Sunday rider and this week we traveled down to Buffalo Creek for some classic Colorado buff singletrack.

Some of the terrain in the area is still recovering from a major burn that happened 8-ish years ago. This was the burn that was started by a Forest Service worker who was burning old love letters from her boyfriend. I guess she got fined 11 million dollars. She’s going to have to work a lot of overtime!

This is Issac. He still got the hall pass from the family today despite the fact that the last time he rode with him we made him get home late by taking him on a ‘special’ route.

The other news, is I’m playing with my new tilt-shift lens. That’s why the photos are all blurry in places. No, it isn’t photoshop. I’m still figuring some things out with it, but it’s pretty fun!

I was just sitting in my office today trying to get some work done like a good boy when I got the call. Barnow and I have been talking about going flying for a year now. I considered declining . . . but I figured that I shouldn’t let another year go by. There is always time for more work!

Jeff had an errand of sorts to run in Longmont so we flew out East. It was kindof overcast over the mountains so it wasn’t the most scenic day ever. That was OK because it gave me the chance to put the camera down and actually FLY THE PLANE!

Yeah, that’s right. Not only did I fly it while in the air, I actually took the thing off the ground! I flew most of the way to Longmont and kinda sorta felt the controls while we landed. I felt the controls to know that with the crosswind we surely would have splattered if the landing really depended on me. I had thoughts of an ‘Airplane’ type situation, what it would be like if I actually had to land the plane myself. Stryker!

Yeah so there is the latest story of a day in the life of Steve Z and why I can’t get around to getting my taxes done.  Ah yes it was a great day to not be stuck in the office! Hopefully Jeff will take me up again when the light is good and we can fly over the mountains . . . right?!?

]]> http://www.steve-z.com/i-flew-a-plane-today/feed/ 4 http://www.steve-z.com/key-west-sunrise-and-sunset-photos/ http://www.steve-z.com/key-west-sunrise-and-sunset-photos/#comments Sat, 05 Jan 2008 14:18:19 +0000 stevez http://www.steve-z.com/2008/01/03/key-west-sunrise-and-sunset-photos/

As a photographer, my senses have become attuned to ‘good light’. Sometimes I’ll be working at my computer and all of a sudden I will detect a change in light. The ambient light will shift slightly to a pink or yellow hue, and instantly I will know that a great sunset is happening, even if I’m inside and I can’t see the actual sunset. Last night’s sunset was really awesome, unfortunately I only saw it from the inside of my dirty windshield, as I was driving to an event.

My sensitivity to first and last light has grown to the point where sometimes I get woken up by the sunrise. Even with my eyes closed, I can see great light. This morning was one of those mornings. Someday I will live somewhere where I can photograph great scenic sunrise/sunsets from my bedroom. But in the meantime, this is what it looks like when I get woken up by the sunrise drifting in through my open blinds.