After a year and a half of including a ‘pic of the week’ at the end of my weekly training summary, I’ve decided to let it stand on its own.  I’m also implementing a rule that the Friday Foto needs to have been taken sometime in the last week.  No recycling.  I am doing this to keep me engaged in building my photography skills, and to make me work harder to get fresh shots.  Click here to see my previous Friday Foto posts.

Another week with over 800 photos taken.  There were some really nice ones to choose from, many of which I would be thrilled to use on a week where I’m struggling to get content.  I’m finding that my rule of having to take the shot during the current week is helping me to focus and work harder, but it makes it tough when there are plenty to choose from one week, and no so much on another.  This one made the cut for a few reasons.  It was taken Monday night @ 7:45 PM while descending from the 14,065′ summit of Mt. Bierstadt.  It was a great hike with my son, and I think the image does a good job of capturing my memories of the outing.  The composition is solid, with him being in the lower left quadrant and the line of the ridge leading your eye to the center of the frame.  His bent leg shows motion and adds to the story being told, which is – wrapping up a great day on the mountain and heading home in the waning light.  The lighting is what really did it for me.  The soft late evening glow in the foreground was fantastic, and the way it contrasts with the shadows in the distance sold me as soon as I saw it.

We made it about halfway down before darkness took over, prompting us to pull our lights out of our packs.  We never had to turn them on.  The moon was only half full, but it was very bright and we were able to make it back to the car without any problems to finish off Malcolm’s 7th 14er.

Lucky Number 7
f/9, 35mm, 1/125 @ 100 ISO

After a year and a half of including a ‘pic of the week’ at the end of my weekly training summary, I’ve decided to let it stand on its own.  I’m also implementing a rule that the Friday Foto needs to have been taken sometime in the last week.  No recycling.  I am doing this to keep me engaged in building my photography skills, and to make me work harder to get fresh shots.  Click here to see my previous Friday Foto posts.

I took 795 pictures on Monday!  Lots to choose from this week.  Since I’m shooting in RAW+jpg that came out to around 18GB worth of data.

There were a couple of shots I really liked, but they were more of a candid nature.  For these posts I’m trying to emphasize something I actually planned and set up for.

Malcolm’s graduation ceremony was really nice.  They held it at Sports Authority Stadium out in Parker.  Seating wasn’t too cramped, and we had a good view of the proceedings.  Towards the end I started making my way down to get ready for the cap toss.  I stood in an area that I had gotten booted out of earlier (but I did check to make sure I wasn’t blocking anyone’s view – all clear behind me).  Such an outlaw.

As an added bonus, Cori got this shot of me while I was getting ready to take mine.

ThunderRidge Class of 2012
f/6.3, 62mm, 1/640 @ 100 ISO

After a year and a half of including a ‘pic of the week’ at the end of my weekly training summary, I’ve decided to let it stand on its own.  I’m also implementing a rule that the Friday Foto needs to have been taken sometime in the last week.  No recycling.  I am doing this to keep me engaged in building my photography skills, and to make me work harder to get fresh shots.  Click here to see my previous Friday Foto posts.

The Belted Galloway is a somewhat rare breed of cattle originating from southwest Scotland.  We call them Oreo Cows, for obvious reasons.  Apparently, the global population is only 10,000 individuals.  They are highly prized as quality beef for eating (placing at the top when compared to eleven other breeds), and are very hardy.  They thrive on coarse grasses and rough pasture land that other cattle would shun.

I took my daughter to a pasture a few miles from our home to watch them graze for a while.  I was focused on the baby and it’s mother when I moved over and caught this other cow in the frame.  In reality, it was just nibbling at its leg, but I think the photo makes it look like the cow is jealous and wants to get some milk, too.

Oreos Love Milk
f5.6, 300mm, 1/400 @ 100 ISO