Colorado, from a New Yorker's point of view

I’ve been trying to improve my photography.   The most important aspect of photography is light.  I recently purchased a multi-strobe system.  Strobes are flashes.  Wanting to improve my photography skills, and having a credit from selling a piece of work I took a class on lighting a nude.

Here are some of those pics.

The London Pride I’m drinking is going down pretty smoothly.  London Pride, I had never tried it before.  It’s a nice English Lager.  It is just after 1pm, a day off from work because of the 4^th.  Sitthing in my neighborhood pub grabbing breakfast.  I guess I’m grabbing lunch, but it’s my first meal of the day .

Typically I eat breakfast 30 minutes of waking up and before leaving the house.  Then there are days you want you just want to get out of the house.  It is weird when you don’t feel comfortable in your own house, or rather when you just don’t want to be in the kitchen.

Today is a gorgeous day to do something. But I’m more concerned about getting my own stuff done.  I’ve been too social lately and a day to myself will be good.  It is definitely time to step-up my house hunting efforts.

What do you do when an old guy staggers out into the street in front of you? I was the first car stopped at a light, at a busy intersection.  This old guy staggers out, trying to cross five or six lanes of traffic.  Sober but old.  He looks confidant and then rather quickly. . . scared. Which reads dementia to me.  My first thought was to get out & help him.  Then my mind switches to having my passenger help him.  I was definitely thinking he’s someone’s father.  Somewhere this guy has grand kids.  I would feel horrible if this was my relative, just staggering into the street.  Trying to cross, but not really in the crosswalk.  I don’t even think there was a cross-walk.

Al’right. Let’s be honest. As a New Yorker, I wanted the guy out of my way. The light was green, I looked both ways to make sure there were no other cars, or bikes about to run the light.  It was time to go.  I was in the clear. Which means time to hit the gas.  I got somewhere to be, get this old fuck out of the road.

No, I don’t mean that. I feel bad for him. . . but then again. . . . he is in my way.  And why is his family letting him wonder off? If they don’t care, why should I!

But what if they do care? What if this was his prison break? What if he’s had his mind set on this afternoon for weeks.  His one escape to chase some tail and eat a cheeseburger.  Either way he is in my way.

After leaving Yellowstone I decided to head south.  I spent a night in Salt Lake City and then drove to Arches National Park near Moab UT.

I stuck out in Moab.  I was the only guy under the age of 60 who didn’t have facial hair.  I was also one of the only people who didn’t drive an over-sized truck.  Two-wheel drive coupes were as rare as monster trucks in Manhattan.  Even regular SUV’s weren’t that common, everything was raised up with ridiculous suspensions  & tires.

I’ll post about the final stops on my road trip, Santa Fe and Great Sand Dunes National Park, later in the week.

Arches National Park

◄ Back

Next ►

Picture 1 of 6

Today is day three in Yellowstone, day five of the road trip.  It’s about time I start writing.

Yellowstone.  I’m sitting in my room all alone  I should be in the pub.  I want to be in the pub.  However, I was told I can’t go to the employees only pub.  My plan was to just walk over, the worse that could happen is that they kick me.  However too many people know I shouldn’t be in the pub.  My breakfast server, invited me to the pub.  He wanted me to play darts and pool.  The feeling wasn’t unanimous among the other employees.  Actually it was unanimous, just in the other direction.  The staff was very cool, I got drinks & shots bought for me every night I was there.  But it was clear I wasn’t welcome in the employees only bar.

After spending years in the hospitality industry I consider myself one of them more than I consider myself a tourist.  I’d rather hang with the staff then with the tourists.  I hate tourists, I love travelers.  At some point I’ll have to write about the difference.  There is something about the hospitality industry that I miss.  It is such a love hate relationship.

I’ve wanted to get out of town for a while.  I was supposed to go to Peru.  (Sidebar – Grand Manier is a beautiful on a cold winters night.)  I thought about heading to Vancouver.  I wanted to go to Vancouver.  I want to go to Vancouver.  I decided that without knowing what type of camera equipment I could bring it wouldn’t be worth the trip.  I’d hate to rent some sick L series glass and then be told I couldn’t bring it in.  Shame on the Olympic committee.  Their website indicated that tourists could take all the pictures they wanted, as long as they weren’t professional photographers.  So, as an amateur I can rent and use a 300 2.8?  How many strobes can I set up?

Without knowing these answers I decided to head to Yellowstone.  I figured if I find a job soon and I will regret not traveling.  Peru and Vancouver would probably have been cheaper, but whatever.  Nothing is as cheap as your first estimate.

I spent two nights in Jackson Wyoming.  Jackson is a cool ski town.  There is not much else going on, but it is good if you love the outdoors.  I went to the million dollar cowboy bar, which a famous institution.  The bar stools are all saddles.  You would think that a “million dollar bar” could invest in a POS system that could keep track of food and beverage individually, but no.  When I wanted to eat I had to walk to separate corner of the bar and place my order.  I don’t care if they are two separate businesses.  Make it work.  The Atomic Cowboy in Denver makes it work.  Their elk burger was good, but their real specialty was their elk chili.  During the day I explored Grand Tetons National Park.  As you can see from the pictures the park is absolutely gorgeous.  In the background there are these huge, jagged mountains.

Yellowstone is also very cool.  The wildlife is amazing as are the geothermal features.   I definitely want to head back in late May or early June as soon as the park roads are plowed and fully open.  During that time of year you can see bears, which are hibernating right now.  You can also see all the new born animals.  In the summer the park is over-run with tourists and the bears move to higher elevations, which make them harder to spot.

Here are some pictures.  I’m not going to bore everyone with the specifics about the wildlife or the geothermal features.  You can Google it if you are interested.  I will just say walking about the geothermal features is like being on another planet.

[View with PicLens]

I’m taking off on a road trip this Saturday.  I’m not sure where I’m going.  I’m just getting in my car.  All I know is I’m heading towards Yellowstone and I’m taking pictures.  I rented some kick ass camera equipment and I’m heading North.

I’m getting really close to really needing to find a job.  However, I’ve realized I’m spending a ton of money just being in Denver.  I might as well go somewhere.  The travel bug is strong.  I was suppose to go to Peru last week.  A good buddy of mine is in the middle of spending a year in South America.

I should have went with them, but I was being practical.  I didn’t want to spend the money without a job.  I’d still like to be able to buy a place and take advantage of the $8k tax credit.  I also needed to find a travel clinic to get some vaccines, although it was very questionable as to what shots I would actually need.  Regardless I put it off.   I’m glad I didn’t go.  My friend had to cancel his trip to Macchu Pichuu because of record rains,  A bunch of tourist got stranded and had to be evacuated.  My buddy was a about a day away from getting trapped.  You can check out my buddies web site here: www.twobackpackers.com

I also considered heading to Vancouver for the Olympics.  Flight and board would have been a grand.  Plus renting some fancy SLR gear, plus ticket prices.  And of course there is always the risk that they wouldn’t let me in to the venue with the camera equipment I wanted to bring.  The Olympics web site was very vague.  The site implied that as long as I was taking pictures for personal and not commercial use any equipment was allowed.  I just didn’t want to get hassled by security.  “What do you mean a 300mm 2.8 makes me a professional?”

Not wanting to spend all that money I decided to pass on Vancouver.  I did spend money getting my passport expedited.  Second time I’ve done that, second time I didn’t need it expedited.  I went to a passport office, so I thought I could avoid some of the fees.  However the office was at a post office and it still needed to be shipped to a different location for processing.

Since I’m getting my passport I should duck out of the country.

The plan is to check out Grand Tetons & Yellowstone.  On the way up I’ll check out Cheyenne WY and maybe some other small WY town.  I’ll spend a night in Jackson WY, explore Grand Tetons, maybe spend another night in WY and then head to Yellowstone.

I want to take pictures and explore the country.  I’d like to meet some cool people and comeback with some cool stories.  Although part of me says there aren’t too many people to meet in WY in the winter.

I’m not sure what to do after Yellowstone.  I might head home for this job, or I might keep exploring the country.  I want to keep exploring.  There isn’t much near Yellowstone.  I’ll probably have to head West.  I’d like to do Glacier National park but it is far up North and I think a lot of the park roads will be closed.  I could head South and check out Utah and New Mexico.  That would be cool.  Or maybe Seattle and the CA coast.

I went snowboarding yesterday.  I’ve had two lessons so far.  This was my first time going down the slopes without an instructor.  I’m a snow bunny.  I always thought snow bunnies were cute girls dressed for the slopes, but no.  I’m a snow bunny.  Why?  I spent a considerable amount of time  on all fours hopping through the flats towards the downhill slope portion.  I’d be buried in a snow pile  and I’d have to hop out.  My hip flexors are so sore.  So is my neck.  The neck pain was all muscle soreness.  I would tense up and tuck my head to my chest when I would fall.  Like a boxer taking a punch, tensing his neck to prevent the whiplash effect that comes from taking a straight right cross to the temple.

I stayed at an outrageous 5BD 3.5 BR house in the mountains.  It belongs to a friend of a friend.  After about 3 hours of sleep I woke up thinking it was morning.  My body was fully awake and cramping up.  I spent most of the next 3.5 hours tossing and turning.  Even when I was in this half-asleep dream state I was dreaming I was tossing and turning.  I couldn’t get comfortable.  I was going to move to the floor but my friend’s dog would have started licking me.  I spent hours awake muttering to myself “please fall asleep, just fall asleep, don’t move, just fall asleep, stop moving.”  My tossing and turning was so bad that around 6 am the person I was sharing the bed with had to move to the couch.  Luckily pity was bestowed on me and I got a handful of Advils.

I went to the Western Stock Show & Rodeo yesterday.  I never would have thought of going to a rodeo, but I had a blast.  A friend of mine worked on a farm.  She made the perfect tour guide.  She actually has the ability to distinguish between the smell of cow, horse and pig shit.  I haven’t decided if that is impressive or scary.

Mutton Busting – This is one of the best things I’ve ever seen.  Take a 3 to 5 year old, put a helmet on him or her, and see how long the kid can ride on the back of a running sheep.  As the kid falls off there is a tendency for the sheep’s back legs to trample the child.  For the record the kids all seemed to enjoy it and they were wearing chest protectors.

It makes me wonder why I like seeing young kids doing dangerous things.  I was at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn once for some white collar boxing.  One of the matches was between two girls.  One was 7 years old and the other was turning 7 the next day.  These two little girls clobbered each other with punches and kicks for three, two minute rounds.  It was one of the most exciting, action packed matches of the night.

Here are some of the pictures from the stock show & rodeo.  Considering the lighting I’m happy with how these pictures came out.  To keep a fast shutter speed I had to shoot wide open (f 2.8) at an ISO 800 or 1600, which is well past what I am typically comfortable with.  The pictures are noisy and grainy, but all things considered not bad.

Mutton Busting

◄ Back

Next ►

Picture 1 of 26

I got my third parking ticket the other day.  I’m averaging about one a month since I have been in Denver.  At least they are not moving violations.

The first was because I forgot to move my car the one day a month when they do street cleaning.  I don’t mind the ticket, if the street had actually been cleaned.  If the street doesn’t get cleaned the ticket shouldn’t count.

The second was because of an expired meter.  I was busy taking pictures of zombies.  I knew I was running late and I decided to play the odds.  Fifteen minutes late = ticket.

The most recent ticket came during our last snow storm.  My car was parked outside my house and covered with snow.  It seems Denver doesn’t like me having expired east coast tags.  Originally I figured I would keep the expired tags until I got pulled over.  I was hoping to get an expired tags ticket instead of a speeding ticket.  It would be a win / win / win for everyone.  I get off without a moving violation, the cop helps reach his quota and the city makes extra revenue.  I knew I was taking a chance and that I could end up with a multitude of tickets, but every time I drive I take a chance that I could end up with a multitude of tickets.

I have a vision of that last sentence being read in court by a prosecutor.  “Lady’s and gentleman of the jury I refer you to ‘exhibit A’ which is a posting by the defendant making reference to his own driving…”

There is always something unsual going on in Denver.  A lot of times these events revolve around some type of physical event.  On Halloween the Guinness Book of World Records was broken for the most people dressed as a gorilla.  The 1,061 gorillas competed in a 3.5 mile race, where they were allowed to run, walk, bike, skate or Rollerblade.

I really wanted to particpate in the event, mostly because you got to keep the gorilla suit.  However the registration fee was $100, ($50 for those with their own gorilla suit).  Being unemployed I couldn’t justify it.  I did go and take some pictures and here they are.

[View with PicLens]

12►