Snow for My Birthday!

After late night practicing, I walked home in the snow. My first thought upon coming home was that I should go out to get the first pictures of the Flatirons at Chautauqua. I should have changed my shoes and brought some gloves. I got a few decent pictures on the way. I love walking at night when it's quiet. There's something magical about snow, and except for seeing a few cars drive past I reveled in the silence. When I reached Chautauqua, I was beginning to be cold, but I hiked up the main trail to the first split. It had stopped snowing very hard and after a while it cleared up and I could see the mountain. I was surprised how light it was after midnight, the lights from the city gave the sky a kind of glow. Bulb mode gave me the best chance of capturing the mountain, and by the end my hands were numb. With a little work in GIMP I think it turned out okay. Once I learn how to get around hopefully it won't take me so long to edit my RAW files. I wish I had gotten to sleep before 4 this morning.

When I was about to leave, I saw a fox! I had seen its tracks earlier but thought they were from a dog. My kit lens was having trouble focusing in the dark, except right under the parking lights, so I switched to my new CCTV lens. Focus was still hard but the big aperture makes quite a difference. Unfortunately I missed the fox and he ran off. But later I saw him again up the street and I followed him a few blocks. He was too quick and disappeared. I was almost out of the park when I saw him again. All my pictures were blurry except for this one, which isn't that great either. Once I get a longer lens I'll be more prepared for next time.