City & County Building's Holiday Lights - Denver, Colorado

 “X Shot” Information

Camera - Canon- EOS Mark III

ISO - 1250

Lens - Canon- 16 - 35 zoom

F/stop - 4

Shutter - 1/100 sec.

Due to Christmas this week, I stayed in town for this blog. I heard that the Denver City and County Building had been decorated this year with 1,000 LED spotlights, 585 LED fixtures and 2,000 LED rope lights for the first time, so I headed down the hill to check it out. I parked my car close by and walked over to the building to get a light reading. If I didn’t have to lug my tripod around, that would be great. I wanted at least a shutter speed of 100 and I was able to do that with an ISO of 1250 and f/stop of 4. Back at my jeep, I grabbed my Canon Mark III and my camera bag with a number of lens. Since my camera had just been returned from a shutter repair, I wanted to give it a good test before heading out of town again. The color of these lights seemed more vivid than the old ones and had more contrast as well. I spent an hour working my way around the building checking out different photo angles. Towards the end of my shoot I stepped back to the street and found a guy selling glow sticks and then some reflections on car windows. I also played with shooting at a slow shutter speed, hand held, moving the camera during the long exposure. I had done this a couple of weeks ago at Hudson Gardens and had good results. I had a fun shoot and the Mark III worked just great. As a reminder, always make sure your camera is working properly after a repair by testing it on something unimportant. I did this here because I had a second camera if needed, and these lights will be turned on every night through New Year’s Eve. I considered this a safe test. If you miss seeing the lights during the holidays, they will be turned on again every night during the National Western Stock Show, January 9 - 24, 2010.

“X Shot” Location Information

1. City and County Building is located on Bannock St.

    between Colfax and 14th Ave.

2. West end of Civic Center Park.

3. Parking on streets around City and County is all

    metered, make sure you have quarters, 4 per hour.

5. Dress warm, viewing is at night, starting at 6 pm.

Ken Papaleo
Colorado Photography

All photographs for sale, contact e-mail address below
kenpapaleo@highcountrycoloring.com

Del's Triangle 3 Ranch Photos - Clark, Colorado

 “X Shot” Information

Camera - Canon EOS 5D

ISO - 400

Lens - Canon 300

F/stop - 8

Shutter - 1/1000 sec.

After spending the night in Steamboat Springs, I was on my way to Clark, Colorado for a photo shoot at Del’s Triangle 3 Ranch. I had met the owner, Ray Heid, when I worked for the Rocky Mountain News. I arrived early to get shots of Ray and his son, Perk Heid, getting the horses ready. Once fed, brushed and saddled, the horses were ready to go. Ray and Perk wore some great looking coats that really added to the scene. The plan was to get shots of the two riders charging through a field of untouched powder. We started our shoot on one side of the field and worked our way over making sure we didn’t mess up all the snow at once. I was told the horses were good for about 6 passes. With every other  pass, I changed lenses starting with a 500, then a 300 and finally a 70 - 200 zoom. There were three things that I needed to be aware of for this shoot. The first was getting a good exposure reading, somewhere between the bright snow and the dark black horse. Second, a shutter speed at least 1/1000 sec. to stop the action and the third, a depth of field large enough to get both riders in focus. It was great recording these beautiful animals busting through the fresh powder and watching the smiles of the riders’ faces. It makes no difference what you use to cut through powder, the results are always the same, one big grin!  After finishing our runs Ray and Perk headed back to the barn. They needed to get ready for tourists that wanted to go for winter horseback rides. This ranch is one of several in the Clark area that provide horse riding experiences year round.

“X Shot” Location Information

1. Drive time from Denver to Clark, 3 - 4 hours

2. Head west out of Steamboat Springs on US 40.

    Turn right on hwy. 129 ( 7- 11 store on corner).

    Follow 129  north for approximately 18 miles to the

    Clark Store. Turn left after the store on Road 62.

    This road  forks twice - always turn right, go for

    about 2 1/4 miles, look for corrals on right.

3. Their web page address www.steamboathorses.com 

Ken Papaleo
Colorado Photography

All photographs for sale, contact e-mail address below
kenpapaleo@highcountrycoloring.com

Hudson Garden Photos - Littleton, Colorado

“X Shot” Information

Camera - Canon EOS 5D

ISO - 800

Lens - Canon 24 -70 zoom

F/stop - 4.0

Shutter - 1/30 sec.

I headed to Littleton for a photo job at Hudson Gardens, that freelance writer Colleen Smith sent my way.  Hudson Holiday is an outdoor holiday lighting extravaganza that opened November 21 and would run through January 3rd, on selected evennings. The weather had improved to a balmy 16 degrees, up from the earlier single digit days. After arriving at the gardens around 4pm I checked in with Rodney Lontine the COO of the Museum of Outdoor Arts, for guidance on the shoot. Back at my Jeep I layered up due to the cold temps, plus a hat, a pair of gloves and good warm boots. I brought my Canon EOS 5D, some lenses, tripod and a cable release. Due to the cold, I brought along extra camera batteries and hand warmers in an inside pocket of my coat. Setting out before sunset I found locations I felt would look good at dusk. As the sun set a huge layer of clouds moved overhead but left an opening along the horizon to the west where blue ski could be seen. The extraordinary sky along with some tee pees lit from the inside made my “X Shot”.  I secured my camera on the tripod and used a cable release for the rest of the shoot.  I set the exposure with my macro lens, reading from the  colored lights. After that I moved around the large area taking the needed pictures with out any problems. Rodney wanted a shot of the horse-drawn carriage that took visitors on a tour of the lights. A couple of concerns popped into my mind. First, firing a strobe at night at a horse could be a problem, plus it wouldn’t light up the whole subject matter evenly. Second, it was a black horse, of course! Searching around I found a section where there was decent light coming from the side plus there was snow on the ground that would reflect more light onto my subject. I took a reading and waited for the carriage to come through and got my shot. On my way back to the parking lot, I decided to play around with a real slow shutter speed and no tripod. I fired the camera and moved it around during the long exposure. I got a couple of more nice shots. It was a magical place to shoot and I had fun being there.

“X Shot” Location Information

1. Drive time from Denver - 30 minutes

2. Address is 6115 South Santa Fe - Littleton

3. The gardens are just south of the Bowles

    intersection

4. Dress warm for viewing is at night!

Ken Papaleo
Colorado Photographer

Colorado National Monument Photos - Fruita, Colorado

 “X Shot” Information

Camera - Canon EOS Mark III

ISO - 400

Lens - Canon 500 mm

F/stop - 5

Shutter - 1/1000 sec.

Turning off I-70 at the Fruita exit, I headed south towards the Colorado National Monument. I decided to enter the monument from its western entrance and follow the 23 mile road called Rim Rock Drive to Grand Junction. The highest point is 2,000 feet above the Grand Valley of the Colorado River below. It didn’t take long to see the splendor of the area filled with colorful canyons and magnificent freestanding rock formations. Weathering and erosion formed this area and it will continue to change. The shadows in the area would be coming quickly since most of the views are off to the east of the road and below. I tried to use my 16 and 500 mm lens for most of the shoot because it would give me a unique look at the monument. I used the shadows to create depth in my photos but exposed for the sunlit rocks. As I drove I could see what areas got sunlight compared to the shady areas that still held some snow. It made an interesting photo opportunity for me. But with one side of the canyon in bright sun and the other in deep shade, exposure would be a problem. I decided to come back to this spot once the whole canyon was in even shade and that’s what I did. It was getting dark and I hadn’t made it to Grand Junction yet. With a sliver of the moon coming up over some rocks, I headed back to my hotel in Fruita. Next morning I got up early and drove Rim Rock Road almost to Grand Junction. I stopped at a switch back  that overlooked the city and set up for a sunrise photo. After shooting the city at predawn, I spotted this great looking tree and started shooting it with my 500 mm lens. While shooting, a raven landed on the tree and I thought, “Great!”, then another raven came in for a landing, “X Shot”. As I enjoyed my good favor, the mirror on my new Canon EOS Mark III locked up! I still had my Canon 5D but was bummed out and decided to drive back to Evergreen. It turns out my Mark III had to be sent back to Canon, with a shutter problem, maybe a month for repair. I have used my 5D for some shooting but mainly relied on my big boy. The 5D is a good camera but the motor is slow and that is limiting. For the next four weeks I plain to pick subjects that I can comfortably cover with the slower camera.

“X Shot” Location Information

1. Drive time from Denver 4 hours.

2. I-70 west to the Fruita exit. South on hwy. 340

    Turn right into the park on Rim Rock Road.

3. Remember late afternoon light is nice but comes early

    and doesn’t last long.

Ken Papaleo
Colorado Photographer

Rocky Mountain National Park Photos - Estes Park, Colorado

“X Shot” Information

Camera - Canon EOS Mark III

ISO - 100

Lens - Canon 24 -70 zoom

F/stop - 5.6

Shutter - 1000

I usually enter Rocky Mountain National Park through Estes Park but this trip I took Hwy. 34 out of Granby, the back way. It was early October, the rut season was underway and the aspens were turning. Trail Ridge Road, the highest major highway in North America toping out at 12,183 feet, runs right through the park. There are 72 named peaks in the park that are above 12,000 feet. Driving up above the tree line, I came across a small herd of elk crossing the road. Traffic came to a halt and park visitors jumped out of their cars, armed with cameras. I stayed back, using my 500 mm lens, to capture the crossing. After all the herd were safe, the bull disappeared over a hill with his ladies. Driving on, I passed two cyclists on a steep climb. I drove by and pulled over at the top. As the first bike approached I started shooting with my 70 - 200 zoom.  Unfortunately the cyclist stared at me the entire time, wrecking the photos. Quickly I changed to my 24 - 70 zoom and dropped behind the front of my car. This gave me a few seconds to shoot before the slower cyclist turned and saw me. This position also gave me a great background view of Long’s Peak in the distance (X Shot.) I arrived at Moraine Park (inside RMNP) late afternoon. The elk were active while I and others took pictures, but some just set in lawn chairs watching. Once the sun went down and the elk settled in for the night, I drove back up above the tree line. Pulling in at the Forest Canyon Overlook, I saw a beautiful sunset behind the Never Summer Mountains to the west. After heavy snows hit, the higher parts of Trail Ridge Road are closed until spring.

“X Shot” Location Information

1. Drive time from Denver 2 - 3 hours.

2. I-70 west to the Empire exit - hwy. 40.

    Hwy. 40 north to Granby. Take hwy. 34 north out

    of Granby to park entrance.

3. There are other ways to get to RMNP

4. Always check ahead to see if Trail Ridge Road is

    open!

Ken Papaleo
Colorado Photographer