2012 Favorite Images

It has been too long since I have posted to this blog, The past year has been busy and challenging with ups and down including the passing of my father. I managed to get a reasonable amount of photography done with several trips. Reviewing my images I have picked out 12 of my favorites from the year. Enjoy! I am resolving to post more in this new year.

Missouri River floodplain grass, Charles Russell NWR

Eureka Dunes, Death Valley NP

Grass and Willows, San Luis Valley

Cotton Lake Marsh, Medano Ranch

Tall Grass Prairie Sunrise, Oklahoma

Wind River Aspens, Wyoming

Kebler Pass aspen boles

Blanca Peak Clouds, Colorado

Kansas Prairie Sky, Quivira NWR

Prairie Storm Rainbow, Chico Basin Ranch

Running Horses, Zapata Ranch

Kebler Pass Aspen and Ferns, Colorado

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My top ten “best” images from 2010

As the year comes to a close it is always nice to to reflect on and review images I have made during the year. I was very blessed this  year with many photographic trips and opportunities, foremost being the amazing experience  I had in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Spurred on by Jim Goldstein’s call to photographers to  submit a ” top 10 best list” for a blog project, I have been scouring my files to narrow it down. Trust me this is not easy as I have added several hundred images to my worthy of printing category, and I seem to have an attachment to all of them.  So here is what I came up with in no particular order. Every one of them spoke to me. Some I have blogged about during the year and some are new ones you have not seen. I hope you enjoy them!

A Winter lenticular cloud forming over the Sangre de Cristo Range, CO

Corn Lillies grow in a mountain meadow in Colorado

Dawn light filters into a Spring aspen grove, Colorado

Caribou antlers on the tundra, ANWR

Peaks of the Brooks Range reflect in a tundra pond, ANWR

A bull Musk ox and a cloud of mosquitoes,ANWR

Midnight light at the edge of the Arctic Ocean, ANWR

Early morning light on Denali, “the high one” , Denali NP, AK

Flint, a wild stallion runs in the Pryor Mountains, MT

sedge meadows take on Fall colors along a stream flowing into Antero Reservoir, CO

Dawn glow on the horizon over the lake at Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area, KS

If you want to see more you can check my top 20 favorites on my Flickr site

Social Networking: Find me on Facebook

After much thought and quite frankly a  bit of reluctance, I have today  entered  the world of social networking by starting a facebook page.  I view facebook as a complement to this blog and my website to reach out to friends, colleagues and clients. Check it out for news, show announcements, notes on trips, and coming soon,  announcement of workshops I will be giving.

Show at Gallery NRC, Denver

During the Month of September I will be having a show at Gallery NRC in the Tennyson Arts District of Denver, Colorado. The opening will be Friday September 4  as part of the First Friday Art Walk. The gallery is located at 4424 Tennyson Street in Denver, and  I will be present from 5:00-10:00 PM to greet and discuss my work with you. I will have about 15 prints  displayed including some of my new work from this Summer’s travels.

photo: Green River Storm Light

Storm clouds in the Upper Green River Valley, Wyoming

Here is another image from my recent Wyoming trip. After hiking out in the snow and rain from the Deep Lake area in the Wind Rivers  I headed to the upper Green River valley near Green River Lakes. The afternoon of August 15 provided some of the most amazing storm light I have witnessed with rapidly moving clouds punctuated by changing sun light. It was spectacular to watch and photograph. This image is one of several I made throughout the late afternoon. What makes this one standout is the light highlighting  the  colors of the marsh grasses along the river in combination with the incredible sky and clouds.  Sometimes you get lucky!

Wind River Range Trip

I returned last night from a trip into the Wind River Range in Wyoming where I backpacked into the Deep Lake area from the Big Sandy Opening trail-head.  As much I like to photograph the prairie, there are times I need to return to the mountains and the alpine environment; places that are close to my heart and I came to love when I first ventured west as an undergraduate geology student at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania. Although I have visited and traveled in many  of the mountain ranges in the West over the last 35 years, I have  not really been back to the “Winds” since I was a serious technical mountain climber back in my 20’s and 30’s. It was an immense pleasure to travel once again into what I consider to be some of  the finest  mountains in  the West and I was blessed with interesting weather and some stunning light.  The two images below were made early  in the morning on August 14 in  Deep Lake  cirque with the rugged and magnificent peaks of East Temple and Temple Peak rising over the lake. I was very fortunate to have  fabulous  early morning golden light, along with  perfectly calm conditions that allowed me to make an almost perfect reflection image of Temple Peak in the lake. It was the start of a  wonderful day in the magical environment of the alpine zone of the Wind Rivers.

Temple Peak Reflects in Deep Lake ©Stephen Weaver

Temple and East Temple Peaks, Wind River Range ©Stephen Weaver

Upcoming Exhibitions

Chico Basin Summer Clouds ©Stephen Weaver

I have recently been notified of my work being accepted into two upcoming  exhibitions, The Black and White Exhibition at The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins Colorado, and The Fine Arts  Exhibition at the Colorado State Fair.  I am particularly pleased about the Black and White Show selection as my image Chico Basin Summer Clouds was one of 51 images selected from 2200 entries.The Black and White Exhibition will be showing from August 28- September 16

Two images, Crestone Peaks and Sand Dunes, and Iris Meadow Sunset were selected  for the State Fair, which runs from August 27-September 7. I will be attending the opening reception on August 27 from 5-8PM

Photo: Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge Aspen and Ferns

Ferns grow in a grove of Aspen in Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge, Minnesota ©Stephen Weaver

During my Mid-West trip I spent several days in Minnesota including time at Gooseberry Falls State Park on the North Shore of Lake Superior and Buffalo River State Park  just east of Moorhead. The day I traveled to Buffalo River SP I passed through Tamarac National Wildlife refuge on a  rather rainy afternoon. Tamarac NWR lies just at the western edge of the great northern forests of northern Minnesota and within 15 miles of the refuge  you reach the prairie. The rainy day provided excellent soft light that is perfect for photographing forest environments. Wandering a bit in this forest I found this composition of aspen trees and ferns.

Photo:Lake Superior Pastel Dawn

Continuing on with the sunrise – dawn light theme, I present an image from the UP of Michigan, made in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. Of the two sunrises I photographed there, this is my favorite.  I was drawn to the  simple  almost minimalist layered composition and of course the beautiful pastel shades of reds, orange and blues. Of several exposures, this provided the slight wave-ripple on the water that adds strength to the composition. One other composition note: I placed the horizon right in the middle to divide the image into two major layers of water and sky, each of which have subtle layers within them bases on color tones.  Enjoy:

Lake Superior Dawn, Porcupine Mtns State Park, MI ©Stephen Weaver

Photo:Nebraska Sand Hills Sunrise

One last image from Nebraska  before I move on to other images from my mid-west trip.  My absolute favorite time of day to photograph is that magic time  just at and before sunrise. If clouds are present above the horizon and the horizon is itself clear, the clouds can take on amazing colors of pinks, reds and orange as they reflect the light from the rising sun. This sunrise made at Smith Lake was fabulous and although I did not know it when I photographed it, this  would be the first of several amazing sunrises I would see and photograph in the following days.

Smith Lake Sunrise ©Stephen Weaver