Bye Bye 2008

Hall Ranch for one last ride.

Ice at the Reservoir

Growing up in a dry land-locked state, I never experienced a lot of water around. Even Colorado, being land-locked has more water than my native state of New Mexico. And being colder, the lakes are generally frozen in the Winter.

I came across the freeze effects of the Boulder reservoir on Christmas day while riding. Not only were their odd sounds echoing on the ice due to cracks. There was this frozen wave of ice pushing outward.









I was so fascinated, I didn't know what to do. My hands were so cold, I could hardly shoot. I plan to get out again.

Cheap lighting

Well not super cheap since I had to use my expensive flash. But I made a cheapo cardboard softbox (aka a large diffused light source) for softer lighting than just a flash. Making it was simple. I taped some white paper on a cardboard box, cut a hole for my flash and inserted my flash at an angle. I could probably improve the performance by lining the inside of the box with aluminum foil but I just wanted to see the effect



Update: I added foil by lining the sides and placing a long diagonal piece from the top behind the flash to the bottom edge. This improved the output by reflecting much of the lost light in the direction of the while paper.

And example shot using this box with a pair of sunglasses.

Ride out East

I never venture East of my house other than the East Boulder trail or Niwot, but due to the snow, and suspected wet conditions, I needed some pavement. I'm tired of my normal trek North and my usual commute route south and since the mountains to the West might have snow, I decided to try something new. Go East man, go East.

I rode the farm roads around to Erie and back.

It seemed to be a ride where I noticed a lot of energy extraction. I found irony in the oil well cranking away while I was cranking away on my bike as I rode by.



Then the corn field with a well.




Then, Erie, a town founded on coal mining.



It was a fun ride actually. After living here 14 years, I saw some places that I had never seen before. Riding the bike makes it even better because at 15 mph, it's so much easier to get the full feeling and the scents of cow pastures that are out east. Yummy!

PS: I actually found some dry trail to ride on the way back. Boulder dried out fast after this last storm. Ready for another please.