Weekend Flash Back - Denver, Colorado - 3/19/07

                                                    "X-Shot" Information

                                         Camera - Canon EOS-1D Mark II N

                                         ISO - 1600

                                         Shutter -1/400 sec.

                                         F/stop - 2.8

                                         Lens - 35 mm

My assignment that day was to cover the 74th American Animal Hospital Association Yearly Conference. I saw a cute, little dog sitting in a bag and just smiled!  Tommy, a 7 month old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, was waiting for the press conference to start. Tommy was one of the animal hospital survivor stories that would be presented in a few minutes. I decided not to the use a flash because I planned on getting in close with a wide angle and didn't want to scare the dog.  Using an f/stop with a small depth of field made the dog stand out from the background.

Ken Papaleo

Colorado photographer

For more information on this photo, contact e-mail address below.

kenpapaleo@highcountrycoloring.com

                                                   

City and Washington Parks - Denver, Colorado.

                                                 "X-Shot" Information

                                    Camera - Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III

                                    ISO - 400

                                    Shutter - 1/320 sec,

                                    F/stop - 9

                                    Lens - 500

My plan was to go down to Denver and shoot the tree blossoms in the late evening light. Clouds moved in when I got there so the plans were changed. 

Shooting feature shots in Washington Park and City Park became my new goal, lots of people were still out. My "X-Shot" came late in the afternoon at City Park while trying to photograph some birds, my 500 was already in action. Turning around to see what might be going on behind me, I saw a small boy, maybe 50 yards away, stopping his bike at a large canon, in the park. Immediately he became my subject and I started to take pictures. To my delight, he reached up to the mouth of the large gun, pulled himself up and looked inside. In all my years shooting features for the News, I had never seen this before. It's always a good idea not to get tunnel vision when you're shooting. Take time to look around, even behind you, so you don't miss something great. This turned out to be an excellent day for shooting features, ending up with many good shots that were fun to take.

"X-Shot" information

1. City Park, is between Colorado Blvd. and York St and E 17th Ave and 

    E. 23rd Ave.

2. I was able to drive through the whole park, looking for picture but once 

    summer hits, a lot of the roads inside the park get closed, which makes 

    spotting pictures harder.

Ken Papaleo

Colorado Photographer

All photographs for sale, contact e-mail address below.

kenpapaleo@highcountrycoloring.com

Weekend Flash Back - Denver, Colorado - 4/13/07

                                                  "X-Shot" Information

                                            Camera - Canon-1D MarkII

                                            ISO - 400

                                            Shutter - 1/250 sec.

                                            F/stop - 5.6

                                            Lens  - 70 - 200 zoom

It was a cool, rainy, spring day in Denver when I was assigned to shoot weather. Wanting tree blossoms to show that it was spring plus something to show that it was raining, I headed out. Looking for blossoms first, a group of trees caught my eye so I waited for somebody to walk by. Within 20 minutes a man under an umbrella came through my  picture area. I used my telephoto lens to compact the man and tree blossoms because he was not walking under the  trees. It turned out to be my best shot of the day. It showed exactly what I needed.

Ken Papaleo

Colorado Photographer

For information on this this photograph, contact e-mail address below

kenpapaleo@highcountrycoloring.com

Denver Skate Park - Denver, Colorado.

                                                    "X-Shot" Information"

                                        Camera - Canon EOS-1DS Mark III

                                        ISO - 400

                                        Shutter - 1/2000

                                        F/stop - 5.6

                                        Lens - 70 - 200 zoom

 I went to the Denver Skate Park early in the morning to get good light and avoid any crowd. Arriving at my destination around 7:30 am, the good light was there but not one rider. A couple of hours later people started to show up. One guy was there clearing water out of one of the bowls. The park can handle beginners through advanced riders, with different terrain.  After shooting some good skateboarders, a kid shows up with his bike.  Watching him for just for a few minutes, I knew my "X-Shot" was going to be something of him. He dropped into the big bowl and went crazy with big air. To get a good shot the shutter speed had to be fast enough to stop his movement and I wanted to separate him from the background, so a smaller f/top was used. When he was done with the bowls he went around the park and still got big air, no matter where he went. When asking him how long he had been doing bike tricks, his answer caught me off guard, only a year. 

"X-Shot" Information.

1. The park is at the corner of 19th and Little Raven, near the South Platte

     River in Denver.

2. Take the 20th street exit off I-25 and head toward the city. Cross over the 

     river and turn right on Little Raven. Park will be on your right.

3. The Park is open from 5:am to 11:pm at night.

4. There is some supervision at the park but parents should be with younger

     children.    

5. There was an attack on a man at the park one night last week.  

Ken Papaleo

Colorado Photographer

All photographs are for sale, contact e-mail address below.

kenpapaleo@highcountrycoloring.com

Weekend Flash Back - Denver, Colorado 05/04/06

                                               "X-Shot" Information

                                  Camera - Canon EOS-1D Mark II

                                  ISO - 400

                                  Shutter - 1/200

                                  F/stop - 5.6

                                  Lens - 200

It was early morning on a spring day as I drove down to Denver. A storm was moving in and covered most of the sky except to the east. This caused a silhouetted Denver skyline. Pulling off the 6th Ave freeway at the Simms/Union exit, I parked my car, grabbed my gear and went to take a look. From this location the skyline was perfect and car lights were noticeable in the foreground. Using my 70 - 200 zoom and a f/stop with enough depth of field, the car lights and the buildings would be in focus. Once setting the  f/stop, the light exposure was taken from the bright section of the sky. I waited  until a line of car lights could be seen, then shot this image.

Ken Papaleo

Colorado Photographer

For information on this photo, contact e-mail address below.

kenpapaleo@highcountrycoloring.com

Coors Field - Rockies Home Opener - Denver, Colorado.

                                                "X-Shot" Information

                                   Camera - Canon EOS-1 Ds Mark III

                                   ISO - 400

                                   Shutter - 1/4000

                                   F/stop - 4

                                   Lens - 200

The Colorado Rockies home opener was always fun to cover but I was usually inside the stadium, not this year. Curious to see what photo opportunities there were on the outside, I parked my car and headed to Coors Field.  The first stop was to check out the line of fans waiting to buy "Rock Pile" tickets.  There were 

some nice photos here. The main entrance and where most of the activity would be found was at Blake and 20th, my next stop.  Instead off walking  around looking for good images, I parked myself near the front and let the pictures come to me. Armed with a 70 -200 zoom and a wide angle, my eyes searched the fans as they came in from every direction. There were a lot of fun shots to be had but the one year old baby all in purple, being carried by her dad, turned out to be my favorite and my "X-Shot". To get the baby to stand out from the background, I set my zoom lens with a f/stop of 4. This shallow depth of field kept her sharp but the background dropped out. Most of the outside crowd were in the ball park by the time the jets flew over. Outside was fun but I really missed the game action!

   "X-Shot" Information

1. Coors Field is located at 20th and Blake Streets in Denver.

2. The Rockies last regular season home game is 9/29/2010 

     against the Los angles Dodgers.

3.  Rockies web address is   http://colorado.rockies.mlb.com

Ken Papaleo

Colorado Photographer

All photos for sale, contact e-mail address below.

kenpapaleo@highcountrycoloring.com

Weekend Flash Back - Columbine Country Club - Littleton, Co. 4/7/08

                                                  "X-Shot" Information"

                                              Camera - EOS-1d Mark II

                                              ISO - 400

                                              Shutter - 1/1000 sec.

                                              F/stop - 6.5

                                              Lens - 300 mm

When shooting high school spring sports, you never knew what the weather was going to be. It was cold but sunny when I pulled into the Columbine Country Club to cover the Heritage Girls Golf Invitational. After about an hour clouds moved in quickly bringing strong snow showers. This competitor was on the 5th tee, when the weather hit. Using my 300 mm lens let me separate her nicely from the snow. Auto focus with a telephoto lens will not work in heavy snow, so turn it off. The invitational was held up for an hour, within that time the snow stopped and the sun reappeared, melting the snow.

Ken Papaleo

Colorado Photographer

For information on this photo, contact e-mail address below.

kenpapaleo@highcountrycoloring.com

Easter Sunrise Service - Red Rocks -Denver, Colorado.

                                                 "X-Shot" Information

                                    Camera - Canon EOS-1 Ds Mark III

                                    ISO - 400

                                    Shutter - 1/125 sec.

                                    F/stop - 13

                                    Lens - 30 mm

Easter Sunrise Service at Red Rocks was nothing new to me. Working Sundays for most of my newspaper career, it came my way often. To avoid traffic problems I arrived at 4:30 am and then stayed in my warm jeep for awhile before joining others walking up to the Red Rocks Amphitheater in the dark.  My plan was to start at the top of the theater and follow the rising sunlight, as it made its way down into the audience. A large bank of clouds to the east blocked the sunrise for about 10 minutes and then it turned out to be pretty plain. Once the sun finally broke through, a nice warm light covered the waiting worshipers. The crowd was huge and it reminded me of one of my shots from 20 years ago, so I did it again. Positioning myself halfway down on the north side, the sun finally lit up everything in my scene. A wide angle lens and some good depth of field was all that was needed now to capture the image. I never have seen an artist painting the scene live during the service before, but there he was and that made a nice shot. Again wanting to avoid traffic, I stayed after the service for about hour. As it turned out many others did they same.  Some kids started to play on the rows of seats, creating some fun and unexpected photos. 

     "X-Shot" Information

1. Easter Sunrise Service is sponsored by the Colorado Council of Churches.

2. This was the The Sixty-Third Annual Easter Service

3. Get there early, before 5 am, I saw lines of traffic still trying to get into the 

    parking lots as the service started.

4. Dress warm and bring extra clothes and blankets for the predawn hours.

Ken Papaleo

Colorado Photographer

All Photographs for sale, contact e-mail address below.

kenpapaleo@highcountrycoloring.com