2016 Western Colorado
On the drive to Colorado, I stopped around midnight to photograph this wind turbine electricity generating array just south of Sweetwater, TX. The Milky Way was making an appearance, as well as a supercell thunderstorm ahead, just outside of Lubbock. Every red light you see in these night images marks the top of a wind turbine.
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The same scene with the lights of a passing vehicle streaked across the frame.
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Freaky image, I know. Let me expain: I wear a headlamp after dark. When trying to protect my night vision, I use the red lamp. My camera is on a tripod in the roadway. I have two relatively normal, functional human hands I use to set all the various functions on my camera. What I didn't realize: I actuated the shutter release while punching most of the buttons on the camera while trying to switch settings from daytime shooting to long-exposure night mode stuff. Result: freaky image of me setting up a shot!
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Once I got the settings made, an 18-wheeler came at me on the highway. I decided to experiment to see what it would look like. Yes I'm in my lane, but in a VERY slow moving tripod. I just stood there behind the camera and waved to the driver.
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Final image. TX Route 153 between Happy Valley and Sweetwater (I love the old school homeyness of Texas place names). All the red marker lights on top of the hundreds, maybe thousands of wind turbines all turn on...and off...together...on a...two second...interval. It's disconcerting because there are no other lights visible from this spot except car headlights, and cars at this time of night are minutes apart.
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I just noticed the interesting geomorphology.
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The view of The Colorado Monument from my sister's back patio. There's two more frames to go to fit it all in.
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The town of Fruita, Colorado, my sister's new hometown, as viewed across the Colorado River from The Colorado Monument.
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The view of Grand Junction, Clifton, and Palisade, CO from Rim Rock Drive in The Colorado Monument. Beyond, and illuminated by the city lights is the Bookcliffs Mountain Range on the left and the Grand Mesa to the right.
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Sunset from my sister's patio.
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The same sunset a few minutes later on.
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Canadian geese leaving their nighttime roost along the Colorado River in the morning.
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This scene became my barometer, so to speak, of light conditions up in The Monument. If I found the quality of light on the complicated geometry of the rocks sufficiently different from what I had photographed previously, I grabbed the tripod and camera bag and drove up there to photograph. Hang in there, I'm going to show you The Monument.
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Stormy nights from the patio.
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Hopefully you'll notice some of the changes to the backyard since I arrived.
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The Colorado Monument in unspectacular sunset light conditions. It still looks pretty good.
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Another mid-afternoon trip through The Monument on an overcast rainy day in the desert.
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