Redstone Winter - Colorado Landscape Photography

The winter wind is sharp today but the sun is bright as I walk down the dusty dry dirt road. It is unusual to be so dry in January. The warm sun is welcome none the less and takes the sting out of the cold air. The white bare trunks of the cottonwood trees catch my attention as they stand out prominently against the red sandstone cliff that gives this valley its name, Redstone Canyon. My home.

Redstone Winter
The valley of Redstone Canyon is named for the beautiful red sandstone cliffs found there. A winter stand of cottonwood trees with their white bark showing prominently provides a contrast against the sandstone cliff.
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Etsy JulieMagersSoulen

Aspen Light in Black and White

You might recognize this photograph. It is not entirely new to my portfolio. What is new is the presentation. I was recently requested to change a couple of my most popular color photographs to black and white. And to make things even more interesting this person wanted squares. I love a challenge so I said I would play around and see what happened. The original photograph is here too so that you can compare. Tell me what you think.

Thank you Mark in southern California for being my muse!

Aspen Light BW
My Colorado photography studio is featuring a black and white photo of an aspen tree filled meadow with their white bark dappled in light.
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Aspen Light

Here is the original color and crop of the fine art photograph, Aspen Light.
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Etsy JulieMagersSoulen

Mountain Majesty in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado

The sky was a beautiful blue with white puffy clouds when we headed down the mountain. The view was snow capped mountain tops as far as you could see. The air, even though summer, had a raw bite that reminded you with each step that you were at the mercy of a landscape that had no mercy or pity for your human frailty. It is a feeling of smallness and at the same time a feeling of being connected to all the wonder about you.

A storm front approached and it was time to leave lest we be reminded again of our short comings. I looked up just in time to see the approaching clouds create an angle that matched the mountains perfectly creating a zig zag window in the vista. Do you see it? Then in an instant the clouds obscured the amazing view and we retreated to safety below. I hope you enjoyed this little diversion and my newest black and white photography.

Click here to see more of my black and white photography .

Mountain Majesty
The rugged Rocky Mountains of Colorado rise up to touch the storm clouds creating interesting matching angles. View from Mount Evans, Colorado
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Etsy JulieMagersSoulen

Blustery Day - Colorado Rocky Mountains

It was a blustery day in the northern Colorado Rockies. This view from our deck, looking southeast, is often the direction we see weather coming and at times it can be dramatic. A small snow squall was heading toward our home quite quickly and I ran outside to shoot some photos before the sunny blue sky was covered by the cloud of swirling snow. The wind likes to follow the contours of the land and the first icy finger of the small storm raced up the ravine next to our home. I admit it. I love watching weather!

Blustery Day
A snow squall blows through a pine forest under a blue winter sky in northern Colorado.
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Etsy JulieMagersSoulen

Mountain Valley View - Colorado Rocky Mountains

It is the first snowfall. It arrived late this year and followed a sunny summery autumn. So imagine the shockingly cold surprise and sparkling white beauty of this season's first snow. As I breathed in the prickly fine air the world about me seemed new. The sun was catching the fine crystals setting off brilliant sparks on each tree and bush. As I looked down our mountain valley to distant peaks all the shades of winter's blue were around me. My favorite color. I hope you enjoy it too.

Mountain Valley View
The distant hazy blue Rocky Mountains of Colorado are seen through a picture frame of snow clad pines.
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Etsy JulieMagersSoulen

2011 Wall Calendar - Landscapes of the West

My Colorado photography studio is featuring a 2011 wall calendar of my western landscape photography. I have chosen photographs from Northern Colorado, Rocky Mountain National Park, Zion National Park, and Olympic National Park that follow the seasons of the year in beautiful glossy full color.

"2011 Wall Calendar - Landscapes of the West" is a limited printing of twenty and each calendar is signed. It makes a great gift for the outdoors enthusiast and the nature lovers in your family. Click on any of the following images or links to purchase your copies today!

This calendar was produced using recycled content paper and soy based inks to protect the environment.

2011 Wall Calendar - Landscapes of the West
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2011 Wall Calendar - Back View
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2011 Wall Calendar - Month Sample
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Etsy JulieMagersSoulen

Copper Cascades, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

There is something soothing about the sound of water trickling over rock. It is a natural background for deep thought and meditation. It has the power to transport and instantly relax. This wild mountain creek is the beginning of the Fall River in Rocky Mountain National Park. I can imagine by now, with the snow steadily falling outside, that it is frozen in an icy cold beauty. Its voice has been silenced, but I know that just as nature awakens in the spring its music will return.

Copper Cascades
Sun glistening rivulets of water cascade over a russet colored rock in coppery streams of color in a dynamic wild mountain river. Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
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Etsy JulieMagersSoulen

October 2010 Free Desktop Wallpaper Calendar

October's calendar is Lake Agnes located in the Colorado State Forest near Cameron Pass. Although hard to see, this alpine lake has an island off to the right side of the photo which makes it unique among mountain lakes. The elevation of Lake Agnes is 10,663 feet and it is usually accessible only part of the year. This is a wonderful hike to take if you visit Colorado. It is a beautiful and remote trail, but accessible and easy to do if you are in reasonably good shape. And since it is in the Colorado State Forest you may also take your leashed dog, a bonus for dog lovers!

download your free desktop wallpaper calendar for October 2010 here

Easy Instructions
After clicking on the above link
you will be at my Flickr page. Simply click on
"Download the Original size of this photo."
The file will then download to your desktop!

Etsy JulieMagersSoulen

Colorado Horse Country

Summer afternoons in the Colorado Rocky Mountains are typically prone to thunderstorms as the heat from the plains rises and meets the cold mountain air. This afternoon was not different. I was on my way home and my neighbor's beautiful horses were out in the front pasture enjoying the sweet green grass of the high mountain valley. I could not resist their sweet innocence and elegant forms as a thunderstorm rumbled in the distance and I stopped to photograph them. The wind kicked up and tousled their manes. A little brown bird was perched on the back of the gray and white appaloosa hitching a free ride. I was taken in with the view and lost myself in the herd as another perfect Colorado Rocky Mountain day lazily unfolded.

Horse Country
Two appaloosa horses graze in a green mountain valley in northern Colorado under a storm threatening sky.
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Shyness
A beautiful dun horse shyly turns her face as the wind blows her mane and the sky turns dark in the northern Colorado mountains. If you look closely you might be able to just make out the tiny brown bird on the gray appaloosa on the left.
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Pretty Girl
A pretty dun horse stands at a fence looking for a treat in the northern Colorado Rocky Mountains under a stormy sky.
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Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

Golden Hillside

The day was cool and misty. It suited my temperament and put an extra lift in my step. The scent of pine enveloped me and stole my attention from everything else for a moment. Then, as I gazed down the hillside, a sprinkling of yellow flowers had seemingly appeared in the instant of my attention. I had to get close to the earth and take in their beauty in a gulp. The fog crept closer and the trees beyond the little mountain meadow started to disappear into the mist. I felt small sitting in the dirt with my mouse view. The world shifted and I was suddenly no one and everything all at once. Nature once again stole me away.

Spring Gold
A grassy hillside is sprinkled with late spring blooming yellow flowers and the majestic pines in the background are shrouded in a misty fog.
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Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

Rocky Mountain Wildflowers of Colorado

Spring came late this year with our last large snow in the middle of May. As many of you remember, I was gone the last week of May on family business, and when we returned home everything was bursting with color and new growth. Summers are short in the Colorado Rockies and the spring plants were mingled with the summer blooms all in a rainbow of exploding color. Here are a couple of my favorites; the Pasque Flower and Cushion Cactus. Enjoy!

Pink Cushion Cactus Blossoms
A mound of hot pink blossoms adorns the top of a Cushion Cactus in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
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Pasque Flowers
Delicate lavender Pasque Flowers, also called Prairie Crocus, are the earliest of spring flowers in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
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Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

Sunset on Water

The holidays are past. I had a wonderful Christmas with my family and a great New Years Day celebration too. I am rested and ready to jump back into photography. I have many goals for this new year and am happy that I have all of you to be my guides for this journey. I appreciate your comments on my work more than you know. So without further adieu...

The sun sets early in northern Colorado at the beginning of the year. In the summer four-thirty in the afternoon would be early enough in the day for many outdoor activities to still be done. But in the middle of the winter it is time to head for home and sip wine by the fire. That is exactly what I had planned on doing when I drove the serpentine road around the frozen lake. But my eye kept wandering from the road to the beautiful light reflected on the ice so I pulled the truck over to the roadside to take a few shots. I hope you enjoy the serene vista of a frozen lake at sunset in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

Mahogany Ice
A hillside covered in Mountain Mahogany drops steeply to an ice covered lake reflecting the setting sun.
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Sunset on Water
The approaching evening of a cold winter day paints the frozen Rocky Mountain lake in the subtle tones of a peach and pink alpine glow.
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Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

Sunday Morning Gallery - Mountain Goats of the Rockies

We had a second trip to Mount Evans, Colorado this year and we were in luck. We saw Mountain Goats! This was only the second time I have seen them in the wild and it was such a treat!

The Mountain Goat is a large-hoofed mammal found only in North America. Despite its name, it is not a true goat, but belongs to the genus that includes antelopes and cattle. It resides at high elevations and is a sure-footed climber, often resting on rocky cliffs that predators can not reach.

Both male and female mountain goats have beards, short tails, and black horns. They are protected from the elements by their woolly white double coats. In the winter, their coats help them to withstand temperatures as low as -50 Fahrenheit (-46 Celsius) and winds of up to 100 mph (161 km/h).

Kids are born in late spring after a six month gestation period. Nannies give birth usually to a single offspring. Kids weigh about 7 lb (a little over 3kg) at birth and begin to run and climb, or attempt to do so, within hours. Although they are mostly weaned within one month, kids follow their mothers closely for the first year of life. Nannies protect their young by leading them out of danger, standing over them when faced by predators, and positioning themselves below their kids on steep slopes to stop free falls.

I hope my photos of Mountain Goats have kept you riveted. If you are interested in purchasing any of my photos please send me an email or visit my shop on Etsy or 1000 Markets. Thank you!

Etsy Buy Handmade JulieMagersSoulen

Sunday Morning Gallery - Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep

You may have seen my recent post on my trip to the top of Mount Evans. That same day, on the way down the mountain, we ran across a small herd of bighorn sheep. Being used to my frequent requests to photograph, my husband dutifully stopped the car. I jumped out and started shooting away when I noticed through the lens that the young ram watching dutifully over his harem was slowly approaching closer and closer looking at me very intently. Images of Disney movie bighorns clashing together with a resounding crash flashed through my head as I respectfully backed around to the far side of the car. He never took his eyes off of me the whole time. You might even think he was proudly posing and showing off his girls. Nahhhh!

Columbine in Blue

The faded background resembling Grandma's worn apron, perfectly highlights the natural beauty of the Rocky Mountain Columbine. This original fine art photo was taken in the foothills of Colorado's Rocky Mountains. Visit here for additional information.

Sunday Morning Gallery - Wildflowers of the Rockies

It is not easy to define a wildflower; what one person considers a wildflower may be a weed to another. All we may safely say is that they are wild plants with flowers and that they may be found almost anywhere. Here are a few from my neck of the woods.

Stemless Daisy

Rocky Mountain Columbine

Scotch Thistle

Narrowleaf Penstemon

Datura

Western Wallflower

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