Bear Lake Road and Hallett Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park February 27, 2008.
In 2008 I went on my first and only winter photography trip to Colorado. I spent 6 glorious days. When the trip was over I posted two photos at this blog, and was quickly involved in other projects. 18 years later I decided it was about time to pull those discs off the shelf, look through the photos and see what I could find. I picked my favorite photos for each date. The result is this series of articles.
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Bishop Castle, Rye Colorado. February 29, 2008. The three large windows at the top right are in the Great Room.
Mount Princeton. February 28, 2008.
I began the day by backtracking a bit. From Buena Vista I went north on U.S. 285 just far enough to stop at a picnic area on a hill east of town. This is one of my favorite views of Mt. Princeton and I wanted to capture it with all of the winter snow.
Moraine Park, Rocky Mountain National Park. February 27, 2008.
Today was half Rocky Mountain National Park and half travel. It was a beautiful blue sky with clouds kind of morning.
Moraine Park in Late Evening Light, RMNP, Colorado. Feb 26, 2008.
My favorite picture of the day was at the end of the day. I was near the Moraine Park visitor’s center watching clouds drift across the sky as the stars came out.
Deer, Rocky Mountain National Park. February 25, 2008.
This fine young buck was standing not very far from one of the park roads.
Upper Tahquamenon Falls, Michigan. February 25, 2006.
A winter storm was on the way to Northern Michigan so I hopped in the car February 24, for the long drive from Columbus Ohio to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. My plan was to beat the storm to St. Ignace. I didn’t quite make it. It was snowing like crazy north of Gaylord, and crossing the Mackinac Bridge was not fun. But I made it safely to St. Ignace.
St. Malo Center, Colorado. February 24, 2008.
This series of articles is kind of a nostalgia thing. Rocky Mountain National Park is one of my favorite places on the planet and it has been a while since I have been there. I am usually here in the summer or better yet in the fall, my favorite season in Colorado, but I am usually not keen on winter photography trips. But here I was, 18 years ago today.
Sami with rose petals. February 23, 2007.
It was nine days after Valentine’s Day and I had a photo shoot scheduled. Most of the dozen Valentine’s Day roses were done and had been thrown away, but a few were still looking good.
Graceland University Concert Choir. February 19, 2026. Click the image to see a larger version.
“Pure Imagination”. That was the name for Graceland’s February 19, 2026 performance. The evening featured an eclectic choice of musical selections from G. F. Handel to contemporary composers. The Concert Choir opened the performance, followed by Graceland’s Harmonium, and the Graceland Jazz Ensemble. Addison Cole and Luke Clark were featured vocal soloists. Instrumental soloists were Brayden Ingram (guitar), Miles Winship (trumpet), and Jamin Wilson (alto sax). A select group of singers joined the Jazz Ensemble for the final number, S’posin’.
Snowy Owl, February 21, 2016.
I found an online report that there were numerous Snowy Owl sightings in northern Michigan thanks to lots of snow and cold weather. I made spur of the moment decision to leave Ohio and drive to Michigan. I am so glad I did. It was 10 years ago today.
Lyn Marie, Columbus Ohio. Windchill 8 degrees.
Lyn wanted to go out and play in the snow, so she put on another of the many outfits she brought with her from St. Louis. She opted for clothes that look a bit distressed. The windchill was 8°F so she got very cold.
Lyn Marie, Columbus Ohio. February 19, 2008.
Lyn came all the way from St. Louis to work with me. The windchill for the outside photo was 4.5 degrees, making it my third coldest portrait shoot ever. Lyn is a cold hardy model
Lyn Marie, Columbus Ohio. February 18, 2008
The message went something like this: “If I drive from St. Louis Missouri to Columbus Ohio, can we spend a few days working together?” I said yes and she came to Columbus. We created these images 18 years ago today, February 18, 2008.
Beth playing her violin in the snow.
February 12 is a red letter day! It started when Beth and I did a photo shoot in a snow storm in January 2020. We had so much fun we wanted to do it again. I was working in my office six years ago today and I looked out the window. Big, beautiful snowflakes were falling. I said to myself, “This would be a great day for another photo shoot in the snow.”
Selina, Downtown Columbus Ohio. January 29, 2010, 5:57 pm. Windchill 4°F.
It was 16 years ago this evening. The windchill when I took this photo was 4°F. We scheduled this photo shoot weeks ahead of time and we knew it would be cold in January, but not THIS bone chillingly cold. I contacted her before she left home and asked if she wanted to re-schedule, but she wanted to go ahead with the shoot despite the forecast and she drove up from Kentucky. By the end of our shoot (photo below) the windchill was 3°F. This is my second coldest portrait shoot ever.
Sarah, Professional Fitness Trainer
Your camera is in love with middle gray. The quicker you learn how to deal with this infatuation, the better your photos will look, including all of your color photos.
Dawn at Sprague Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park
The exposure compensation scale on your camera is one of the keys to mastering exposures, getting better images, and ending up with professional quality colors. This means taking your camera off of full auto mode and taking control of your own exposures.
Snowy Owl looking for prey.
If there are cold enough temperatures and plenty of snow cover on the ground, the northern United States has a winter invasion of Snowy Owls. These are magnificent creatures and well worth your photographic time and attention. This series is filled with tips on how to find and photograph snowy owls.
Snow Hummocks, Merced River
Just like metering daytime winter scenes, the key to metering evening winter scenes is knowing what to meter and deciding how much exposure compensation to use.
Sunset, Corn Field, Lamoni Iowa. 4:47 PM.
Four years ago this afternoon my wife sent me on a quick errand to the grocery store. As I got close to the store I looked at the sun. I ended up laying down in a corn field instead.
Kristina in the Snow
The white snow in a winter scene can and often does fool a camera meter into underexposing a portrait, so here are the steps to take to get the right exposure. I throw in a few portrait suggestions too.
Adobe Bridge, partial screen capture. Click to see a larger version.
For a project I am working on, I opened my “favorite photos” folder with Adobe Bridge to look for my favorite portraits created in Michigan. I did a search for “Michigan” + “portraits” and in less than a second Bridge showed me all of my favorite portraits taken in Michigan. This is a partial screen capture of some the results. (Bridge found a total of 154 favorite portraits taken in Michigan.) As I looked at the stars under the portraits of Anoush, it gave me an idea that became this article. My camera can rate photos with one to five stars. when I download the photos and open them in Bridge I see those star ratings. Sometimes that can be very important.
Sunset Light on El Capitan
We spent most of the Christmas holiday in the Bay Area visiting family. When we left the Bay Area the morning of December 30, 1990, we decided to make a side trip to Yosemite before making the long drive home.
Kristin, December 29, 2014.
Kristin wanted to know if we could squeeze in a photo shoot while she was home for the holidays. “Of course”, I said. December 29 was the day that worked for both of us. We went to downtown Columbus Ohio to create images. Thanks to the sunshine and the clothes she chose to wear, you would never guess the windchill was 26° during our shoot. We were texting Christmas greetings to each other and I reminded her how cold it was for this photo shoot. She didn’t realize it was that cold. She was caught up in the memory of the photo shoot.
Lamoni Schools Jazz Band. December 11, 2025.
Under the direction of Mackenzie Stotts, the Lamoni bands put on a fun and varied winter band concert with a mix of traditional music and holiday favorites. Lamoni has four bands that played in this order: the High School Jazz Band, the 5th and 6th grade band, the 7th grade band, and the 8th – 12th grade band. Each of the bands played several numbers with classics like “Winter Wonderland”, TV special music, like “You’re A Mean One Mister Grinch”, and music from “The Polar Express”. A delightful surprise was “Carol of the Boombuckets” featuring boombuckets and boomwhackers. Boomwhackers look like swimming pool noodles, but they are made of plastic and cut to length to make different pitches as you swing them to hit the floor. It was a happy evening for the big and appreciative crowd at the Shaw Auditorium.
Autumn leaves, Columbus Ohio. December 17, 2016.
Nine years ago today I was out walking our dog when I found this pile of leaves with some ice pellets. Unless I am surprised in the days to come by some unexpected fall color, this is the end of my “fall color series” for this year.
I have a folder with my favorite fall color trees and leaves arranged by date (without regard to the year). Back in September I got the idea of posting my favorite fall color photos arranged by date. I began this series September 23 with a photo of aspen trees and the Maroon Bells in Colorado. December 17 is currently the photo with fall color. Some time in the future I may have to plan a trip to look for fall color somewhere farther south.
Autumn Leaves, Columbus Ohio. December 15, 2015.
My fall color series continues. In Ohio, Autumn was working overtime to create fall colors. These maple leaves were in our yard. I was surprised there were colorful leaves so late in the fall.
Spanish Peaks and La Veta Colorado. March 8, 1993.
Yesterday, December 11, was International Mountain Day, and I missed it. I didn’t even know there is such a day. I love mountains!
Cougar, Wildlife Prairie Park, December 9, 1995.
It was 30 years ago today and I was face to face with a cougar. The windchill was -40° Fahrenheit at Wildlife Prairie Park. It was bone chillingly cold, even with Sorel Pac boots, thermal underwear, layers of clothes, and a winter parka. I had to take a break every hour or two to warm up. But it was worth it.