Last Days in Colorado

Saturday Morning - View From The Porch

Panoramic View - Fanny Hill

I don't remember is I have mentioned it yet, but Carrie got me Photoshop Elements 9 for Christmas. I am a little overwhelmed when I try to use it. More than a little, actually. There is one feature I have been looking forward to trying out, however. The panoramic photo creator thingy would be cool to try out in the mountains. Yesterday, I took 5 pictures near the base of Snowmass mountain to try it out. After skiing for a little bit today, I tried melding those photos and I think it turned out pretty well.

Fanny Hill - Snowmass, CO

-11° F (Day 3)

In case you can't tell... it's a little cold out.

Colorado - Day 1 & 2

On the airplane to Colorado, I was reading my T1I book. I was reading about RAW images versus having the camera automatically compressing the photo into a jpeg, in which you lose a lot of data. I figured this trip would be a great opportunity to try the RAW format. 

They are extremely large files. They are like 20 mb each, so I can't fit nearly as many on my memory card. The results have been pretty noticeable to me. Unfortunately, I still have to convert them to jpeg for this blog, so you probably don't notice anything different. I might have to look into a way to link to the higher-res images, but enough of that.

The scenery out here is amazing. This is my first time seeing the Rocky Mountains, and it's awesome. The drive from Denver to Snowmass Village is unbelievable. There were some spots where I really wanted to get out and take some photos, but I was able to stick my camera out the window a few times.

It started snowing the first night, which is making it difficult to shoot today with the white everywhere and not wanting to get my camera wet. It is supposed to clear up tomorrow though and we are going into Aspen so I expect some good stuff tomorrow.

Christmas in Florida

My trip home to Florida for Christmas was going to be an opportunity to take some photos of things other than my life in D.C. Now imagine getting home from the airport, unloading your bags, and realizing that you don't have your camera.

I was horrified by the possibilities. I remembered having it with me as I waited outside baggage claim for my dad to pick me up. So I scoured the truck to make sure I didn't just miss it. No luck. Surely someone has picked it up by now. Either someone knew it was a camera bag and made off with a nice early Christmas present, or airport security confiscated and destroyed it thinking it may be an explosive device. So my dad and I headed back to the airport as I made call after call. And just FYI, if you ever fly AirTran and have a baggage issue, the number for their office at Tampa International does not work. 

Finally, I got the number for the airport police who handle lost and found. After a few tense moments after I described my bag and waiting for an answer, they said they had and had me describe everything inside. That was such a relief. Losing my camera and accessories (all together worth close to $1000) would definitely have instantly ruined my trip.

I did not get many great photos while I was down there, but I'm just glad that I got any at all. That being said, I think I took one of my best and favorite to date on Christmas day. The shot of the palm trees turned out very nicely I think.