Early morning fog down in the  valley.

I guess until school gets done, I will only have Sunday to work on my fun stuff - like Photographica. I miss you guys and look forward to chatting with some of you this summer during down time.

Here is one for the challenge:Blue Sky Reflected

These are bonus shots one taken at Sunday Brunch and the other in the courtyard at school.

Pink Rose Uncurling

Inside a Red Tulip

After returning to Germany, Dee and I took a trip to Garmisch.  Below is a description from a travel article.

Situated 97kms southwest of Munich at the base of the Zugspitze, the country’s highest mountain (2,963m), is the Olympic city of
Garmisch – Partenkirchen, the best and most famous ski resort in Germany. The resort offers excellent beginner schools, new and advanced expert runs, as well as perfect terrain for intermediates. Host of the 1936 Winter
Olympics, Garmisch – Partenkirchen is an all-rounder with a sparkling heritage. Garmisch and especially Partenkirchen maintain an ancient village charm, while
merging as twin villages to form Germany’s top Alpine resort.

These images were taken with my Minolta 370X and digitized at the developers.

Bavarian Alps at Garmisch1 Bavarian Alps at Garmisch2 Snowy lands Garmisch Snow covered branches near the Alps.

Mountains, Wildlife, Rivers and Waterfalls Galore!

There is a certain kind of allure that mountains will have on you. Once you see them for the first time there is no going back. At least there wasn’t for me. The mountains have the power to humble you. They can make us all realize how small we really are. You come face to face with nature and its power, beauty and mystery all at once.  If it is not the mountains calling your name, then the only other thing I believe that could call it would be the ocean.  It seems that depending on the person one or the other has more pull.

I knew I wanted to live among the mountains from the time I first looked up at them in awe. I traveled to Yellowstone National Park for a summer job after graduating High School. There in Yellowstone I found an inner peace I had not yet known. Everywhere I looked there were scenes you could paint or snap a photo of and enjoy for the rest of your life. After that experience my philosophy on life has been, why not enjoy our time best where we enjoy it the most. Take every opportunity you are given and run with it.

While vacationing in Colorado I saw these men having the time of their lives playing with toy airplanes. What a wonderful hobby to have in the mountains! So, be it, for my sequence action shots.
~1 ~2 ~3 ~4

Here is another of my water shots from the NC mountains. Also, the site for a NC photographer that started like most of us....just having a fascination with picking up a camera and shooting the outdoors...specifically water. I bought his first book about 12 years ago. I had never heard of him, but the book was about shooting NC waterfalls, so it caught my eye immediately. As coincidences usually happen, I took the book to work at that time( a custom photo lab) and showed it to a friend. Lo and behold,he new the guy and his family as he grew up near them. Funny how that works. Anyway,if you like to shoot the outdoors,especially around water, mountains, beach I recommend you check out his site. My river shot  Local photogs site-->  Kevin Adams

The kids and I spend Canada Day at Lake Minnewanka, Banff, Alberta.  It's majestic.DESCRIPTION_HERE

Here are a few more of the shots I took in the Canadian Rockies.  I think it is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places on this planet!  
Peyto Lake
Lake Louise
Unknown Lake
Sky Reflected
Magestic
Also just a couple of shots returning across the Great American West
Storm Comin in Montana This photo is not altered, the sky was really that color! I was waiting for the funnel cloud to show up!
Chimney Rock
Tall Trestle in Wyoming

Early morning on Moraine Lake in the magestic Canadian Rockies.  We were the first ones out to walk the shoreline, before anyone showed up to take out the canoes all snuggled up and waiting for people to come.  Nobody was out but us, our cameras,  and the bears!DESCRIPTION_HERE

I always liked this view but I wondered how it might have looked, say a hundred years ago.

Before

After

>>  --  <<  --  >>  --  <<

Overview
Detail

^^  ^^  ^^  ^^  ^^  ^^  ^^

Ever since I made my first trip out west as a teen, I have been in love with the mountains.  When I mention mountains to my third graders they think of Rushmore.  Personally I love the mountains of the northwest.  Here are some that we saw this summer while sharing the world with our grand-daughter.  Columbia Ice Fields East Jasper Near Lake Louise

::::::::    ::::    :::

a start on a new day

::::::::    ::::    :::

Found this interesting geological formation while out hiking today.
This is calledbalance rock It is located in the Santa Monica Mountians in California.
The rock looks to be about 75 feet tall by my guess.

Had the opportunity to Hike My. Huron (14, 060 ft)earlier this year and got a few decent pics I can share ...

It was already a great view on the drive up to the trailhead.  Looking at our journey from thetrailhead I realized we had a long way to go!  
Along the way we passed an old house which was probably built in the early 1900's.  Just around the corner from here we set up camp and had this Peak View of a neighboring mountain.

Once we got above 13K feet the next day, it started to get extremely steep which meant there were a lot of breaks taken!  It was all worth it though when we got to the top and saw the San Isabel Range from over 14K feet.  (check out the storm that was coming our way!)

Of course, I brought some goodies so we could have Guiness and Golf while we took in the view.

After a fun and hard weekend in the mountains, most of us were pleased to Go Home!

until next time ... the Dancefloor

As I said I would, I took a stab at enhancing the digital version of the Glacier National Park picture using Photoshop Elements 3.  I'm not an expert in the use of PSE3, so I'd be happy to get some tips on how to improve results.  Here is the enhanced version of the digital picture. Here is the scan of the slide version. I had trouble getting the deep blue from the slide on the digital enhanced version.  Any tips would be appreciated.  Also, I'm interested to hear opinions of the two versions.

Took my first backpacking trip ever recently. I met a gentlemen about 12 years ago on an internet theology board, we decided to meet up close to his home in Canada. And despite the warnings from all my friends, he was not an ax murderer. I went and had a great trip and made it back home to California with the photos.
This is in Manning Providential Park in BC Canada
Photo gallery