Mt. Evans and Summit Lake

It's time for a purely photography post. (Apologies for the unintended, and therefore lame, alliteration.) I dug back to my first trip to Colorado. Spending a week in Denver, a day was alloted to visit Mt. Evans and Summit Lake. At 14,000+ feet, the vistas were/are breath-taking. The colors, the clouds, the contrasts in textures; you feel at once all powerful, and yet so tiny in the grand scheme of things.





I could've spent the whole week there. (And this is someone really adverse to camping.)

Denver Walkabout: DAM & MCA

Two of my favorite places in Denver to look at from the outside have got to be the Denver Art Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art. The exteriors evolve in tune with the sky. Yes, I love me the brick and stone of yore, but glass and metal, when used properly, are something to behold.

The top two pics I like to call, Visions from Below a Star Destroyer.

The bottom shows the walkway between the "castle" and Hamilton building.

Left: the "castle" shadowed by the jutting exterior of the Hamilton Building.

Right: The "castle" gleams in the midday sun.

 Left: Detail of the "castle." Right: Greetings from the morning sun.

 The Museum of Contemporary Art.

 Left: Taken while walking the roof terrace of the MCA.

Right: Interior, windows of the MCA.

Okay, so I squeezed an interior shot of the MCA. They have these translucent covers filtering the natural light. Very, very neat. And from the right angle, you're not quite sure what you might be looking at.

Denver Walkabout: Architecture

It's been a while since I posted some pics from my Denver sojourn.

Downtown Denver is crammed with interesting architecture, old and new. I'll just let the photos speak for themselves.

Same building, two different days. No, I did not fudge

the photo on the left. The sky was really that blue.

Why is it that the most interesting details are waaaaay up top?

Playing up the angles.  I could've made an entire study based on the right photo.

However, it took forever to get that shot, let alone many more!

Good old Ma Bell knew how to make cool buildings for herself, didn't she?

Denver Walkabout: Steel Clouds

I totally overestimated the time I had before hitting the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA Denver). Nearby was part of the Riverwalk, and lots of train bridges. And if you think I'm going to take standard pictures of train bridges, sorry. I'm definitely going to play up the angles. I took a ton more shots than what I've posted here, but these I think are the best.

It is really neat to see these old bridges preserved. Too many have fallen by the wayside, scrapped, or worse, abandoned and falling down on their own accord.

Denver Walkabout: If I won the lottery ...

One of the last places I hit before leaving Denver was the Art District on Sante Fe. This area is loaded with galleries. So many pieces, so empty my wallet. My favorite was some raku pottery. So I definitely know what I'm getting on a return visit.

But on the north end of the district was the Sante Fe Theatre. A prime location, and not very far from the light rail. These photos show that a little spit and polish is needed. Ok, perhaps more than a little. While Mission Revival is not my favorite style of architecture, I'm sure she was quite something in her day.

All of these photos were taken on the same day. Some at the beginning of the circuit, the rest at the end, thus the variation in the cloud cover.

The colors have faded, and I wonder about the medallions; a lot of interesting details.

The back end of the building. This will be cool cropped very horizontally, even more so than it is now, blown up to a couple feet wide. May have to Photoshop the wires out.

Currently, it's a rock concert venue, and I'm not sure if it's operating at it's original 1,146 capacity or not. But what an interesting draw it would be if it were restored to 1927 conditions!

Denver Walkabout 2: Culture

Denver is a very cultural city, but you really have no idea until you hit the streets and see it for yourself. Public art is everywhere.

The image on the left is on the green space behind the Performing Arts Complex and is several stories tall. The big blue bear -- I love the big blue bear -- is looking into the Convention Center.

This statue is in the park between the Capitol Building and the courthouse. While not my favorite shot, I do like the textures in the left photo. The one on the right is very nice. I was trying to align myself without getting blinded, and ended up with a flag above the cowboy's right hip. (I Photoshopped it out.)

I grew up on a farm, so when I see cattle, I must pay homage. The Denver Art Museum is in the background.

This spire is part of the Riverwalk. Honestly, I could find no structural purpose, no reason to be, but it looks cool from a distance.

Here's a look inside the Performing Arts Complex. On the left is the row of performance spaces. This is where I saw August: Osage County. Well, not this space, but in the Ellie Caulkins Opera House to the left. This also looks to be a great space for events and gatherings. And there's a few nooks and crannies offering great vistas of the city and the mountains.

More to come!