Excellent shots of some of my favorite subjects. I love the elk rut, though I've not been able to capture shots of fighting. Some practice sparring, from young bulls, but never anything of consequence.

Once the rut is over, and the upper elevations get their snow covering, the elk will come down to our elevation (approx. 5100 feet). In the middle and late fall, bachelor groups will start to hang out on the golf course, across the street. In January, the rest of the herd will appear, and we'll see upwards of 200 head, across the street.

Elk never rake bunkers.

Thank you!

Thanks, much!

Thanks! I'll be honest with you, views like this shot are not as hard to come by as you might think, if you are in elk country. During the rut, a bull can lose up to a third of its body weight, fighting for a harem. They do need their rest.

Thanks! Filling the frame with his head and rack was my goal, for this particular shot, especially since his legs were partially hidden by a tree. That tree helped out the shot in another way, as well. It put the elk in some nice, even light.

Thanks, much!

You’re right — a well-dressed man needs a hat. Thanks!

A couple of weeks back, we went up to Rocky Mountain National Park, to see if we could find any bull elk duking it out, in hopes of winning a harem. We did not see any fighting, but we did see quite a few winners, along with their harems. Few bulls were close enough for interesting shots. One that was close enough saw fit to stay in fairly dense cover, with really difficult light.

So, we headed back home. The route takes us through Estes Park, where we came upon this big boy, resting right in front of the library. When we first saw him, his head was leaning quite a bit to one side, as if he were dozing off. He seemed quite content to lay down, and let the crowd look. (It was a weekday, so the crowd wasn't all that big.) There was an Estes Park police officer making sure the folks did not get too close, but we were still pretty close.

The photo I took was intended to be a sort of portrait of a wild animal. For this result, I often choose black and white, as was the case with this shot. Black and white seems to give me more freedom to showcase what I want, and the end result usually looks more stately than a color version. My goal, for these wildlife portraits, is to create something that has more of a studio feel than a simple, candid photo of a wild animal.

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Busted!

Love it!

Thanks!

I've always enjoyed the works of Salvadore Dali. It always seemed like he had strange and vivid dreams, and could capture them on canvas.

Whenever I see a photograph of Dali (not his work), he's often mugging for the camera. I get the impression of a man who is (was) out there, wanting to make an impression, and wanting to be remembered. I'll paraphrase a quote of his, in which he said he enjoyed waking up, because he got to experience another day of being Salvadore Dali. Oscar Wilde with a paint brush.

So, if Dali liked to make an impression, by his appearance and attitude, his art must have some of those personality traits imbued in it. There are probably many ways to show how memory is affected by the passage of time, but Dali's way stands out, in my mind.

I've always enjoyed seeing different takes on surrealism. I liken some of Dali's work to that of photographer William Mortensen. (Ansel Adams considered William Mortensen to be the antichrist.)

I don't pretend to be anything other than a casual observer of surrealism, and Dali. His work, Persistence of Memory, was, itself, persistent in my memory. Several years ago, I put together something that was a whimsical nod to Salvadore Dali. I called it Persistence of Guitars. I posted it, way back, but I'll reprise it, just because it was fun.

Here is my effort. The framing of the shot, in camera, didn't include very much sky, and that fact seemed to direct my attention to the individuals. I figured I'd just go with that, and try to accentuate the individual hoodoos. Make it seem more like a family portrait than a landscape shot.

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I do believe the Hog is better for Linda's having been here.

Pop in, every once in a while. The reception will be warm.

The eggs became tusks. Very interesting.