Centennial Valley Montana Day 2

Another long day today, starting with an hour hike to Sparrow Pond, class after breakfast, lunch and a wonderful presentation by the artist in residence here who walked 550 miles on the Appalachian Trail and is producing a book, songs, art and a film about his walk. Then off to a tour of the valley where we sighted golden eagles, bald eagles, trumpeter swans and a lot of other stuff.  Then dinner and now a talk by the refuge manager.  Hope I sleep well tonight.

The photos today are from our walk this morning; I was mesmerized by the sunrise into the smoke and fog filled valley. Also caught an owl (still checking on what the correct name is) hunting in a kind of surreal photo!  All in good fun!

These three bulls were quite curious about our group.  Magnificent creatures.

Centennial Valley Day 1

I'm attending a workshop on writing and photography that is being held in Centennial Valley, Montana. If you Google it, it is about 25 miles east of Monida, MT.
It has been a long first day - but I wanted to share a few photos with you of this very beautiful place. More details in later posts.  Rather than documenting the trip, what I'll be sharing are those views that touched me in some way.  The space here seems limitless, and it contains those wonderful colors of the west.
One of the intentions of the time here is to unearth more fully my voice in both photography and writing. I am ready.

Waterfall feature behind the main conference center - bright sun subdued light.

This is the same view as the one just above the waterfall, only taken a couple of hours later.

Untiring beauty

I never get tired of the beauty around me - altho sometimes I fail to see it.  Hummingbirds are particularly beautiful, graceful and full of surprises in what they do at times.
Yesterday the hummers were persistently feeding at the blue flowers on the deck, so after many attempts, I captured one shot that I really liked and share with you here.

View from the Top

We had dinner with friends last night, and sat on the deck of their house on 11th ave. The weather was quite nice, a small breeze and not too cold later on. The sun initially promises a spectacular show, but then fizzled out as the clouds swarmed around it.
Regardless, it is still a wonderful view.

Sharing

Murphy and I meandered around about sunset time tonight and had a good time, just hanging out together.  He got in some running, sniffing and wading in creeks, and I got some walking and quiet time.
Here's a couple of shots from tonight - one is a sunset reflection and the B&W is a branch that I saw as I hung out at Starbucks drinking cappucino and listening to my godson play his gig across the street.

Sky Fire

With the weather heading towards fall, more clouds are showing up in the evening and this almost always makes for a wonderful visual treat. As I am moving more away from showing what the camera sees and more toward showing what my mind sees, the results are sometimes different than what you might expect to see.
This was done all in Adobe Lightroom - moving from color to black and white to color again to find that which felt most true to me. After all, the beauty is there for us to see - and we all see it a bit differently.

Hand of a Master

A few weeks back I had the chance to photograph violin maker Peter Prier and his shop. Forms and shapes abounded and the light on the various woods was heavenly. Lots of repetition of forms and shapes and I had a lot of fun with all of it.
Looking back, the one photo that sums up my feelings and experiences of the entire time there is this one. Simple yet elegant, there are multiple story lines here. The hand, the violin, the background, etc., all have something to say.
Enjoy.