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 as a post of 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 Gray Jay is a bold little bird when it comes to getting a snack.  Known commonly as Camp Robbers, they are very tolerant of people.

My friend Kirk first pointed them out to me on a run a few years ago.  We didn’t have any suitable food with us at the time, so didn’t get to have them land on our hands.  As you are traveling down a trail in the forest, they will land close to the trail – then fly 30-40 feet ahead and wait until you catch up before flying ahead again.  When you notice a bird doing this over and over again, there is a good chance it is a Camp Robber Jay.  Place a small bit of food in your outstretched palm and see what happens!

There were 3 birds that caught our attention just as we got back to treeline descending Mt. Elbert last Saturday.  The only food we had readily available was some jerky.  That did the trick.

The Jays will cache their bounty close by, but in several different areas to discourage theft by other birds.  Later they will move it to a more secure location that is farther away.

Malcolm and the Bandit
1/125, f/6.3, 55mm @ ISO 100

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 as a post of 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.

Abandoned railroad tracks from days gone by are overshadowed by new activity on the mountain.

Straddling the Continental Divide at 11,360′ Freemont Pass, the Climax, CO mine comes to life for the third time in a hundred years.  A large outcropping of grey mineral material was first discovered in 1879 by Charles Senter.  He placed mining claims in the area, and maintained those during the 16 years it took to identify the mineral as molybdenite.

The mine fully ramped up the first time in 1916, when molybdenum was used as a steel alloy and demand was high due to material needs created by World War I.  The mine closed down after the war when the demand dried up, before opening again in 1924 and enjoying a continuous run into the 1980s.

It came to life for a third time in May of this year as an open-pit operation after nearly $800 million dollars was spent installing state-of-the-art equipment and cleaning up the site.  That is a big investment to recover, but the mine owner states that this is “the largest, highest-grade and lowest-cost molybdenum ore body in the world.”

With a 20 year supply of ore already identified, it looks like another Leadville boom may be underway.

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 as a post of 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 hereto see my previous Friday Foto posts.

This is a shot of some crepuscular rays created by a departing storm last Friday afternoon high above Leadville, CO. While the rays are real, the angle of their appearance is an illusion created by linear perspective. The rays are actually parallel. They appear to converge at a point in the clouds just like railroad tracks come together when you look along their length.

The rays go by many names. One that I found interesting was the Ropes of Maui, from the Maori legend that describes Maui Potiki restraining the sun to make the days longer because they were too short for everyone to get their work done.

There is also speculation that the appearance of rays like these may have influenced the ancient Egyptians to build the pyramids. Looking at this picture, you can certainly see the possible connection. It looks a lot like the Eye of Providence (or all-seeing eye) on the back of a dollar bill. Either that, or a giant bar-code scanner.

Catching Some Rays
1/60, f/13 – 10mm @ ISO 100