Photoblogging

One of the things I love most about Colorado Springs is, this view is taken from a pretty average gas station next to a perfectly normal suburban medical building, with a parking lot filled with completely average cars.

I’ve been here eleven years now, and I still haven’t gotten used to the idea that it’s possible to get used to this kind of daily beauty. It’d be like attending the wedding of Teri Hatcher and Meat Loaf, and telling the groom, “Just wait, Meat — she won’t seem that special.”

I won’t get over the simple joys of living in the shadow of Pike’s Peak, not if I spend 50 years in this town. Of course, I don’t expect to get used to the wonder of having married Melissa, not if we’re married 50 years. And if you think that last line is a belated Valentine to make up for not getting her flowers, truffles, and dinner — well, you’re wrong.

Love my town, love my girl. That’s all.

NOTE: Click on the pic for the glorious full-size version.

ANOTHER NOTE: Not the actual full-size version. That one is 2000 x 3008 pixels, and takes up almost 3meg of my hard drive. Had to shrink it down so it would fit on your monitor and not bust my bandwidth charges.

ONE LAST NOTE: Gratuitous puppy picture here.

UPDATE

Sometimes, you just can’t get the shot you want.

In some ways, I’m pretty happy with today’s Pike’s Peak picture. The framing is almost spot on. The bottom third is plain parking lot – and the drabness and darkness of it leads your eye straight up through the shot. The middle third is the slightly less humdrum office park view. The top third is the Peak in all its snowcapped glory. And the shot really is divided into near-equal thirds. Not at all bad for a handheld snapshot.

The line of the roof on the left lines up with the small foothill in front of the Peak, making for some nice contrast and continuity. The parking lot is gray, the buildings are beige and orange, the mountain is blue and white — and all of the colors are well-represented, given that it was a fairly quick exposure (F10 @ 1/400th).

One thing, however, I’m not at all happy with. The shadow on the medical building (to the left) almost completely robs it of detail. With the winter sun to the south (the picture is facing west, and unless the mountain moves, there’s no correcting that), there was no way to escape the shadow. I could wait for summer, and take the same picture again in morning light — but by the time the sun is in the right place, the snowcap will have melted.

See what I mean? Sometimes, there’s just no way to get the shot you want.