Tired of getting pushed around by your camera? Want to enjoy the photographic arts rather than fighting with technology? Join me on September 22nd and 23rd (Saturday and Sunday) for “Introduction to Digital Photography: The Basics.” Registration is now open, but limited. I only allow eight students into the class because I want to maximize personal interaction with each student. Whether you’re just starting out with a point-and-shoot camera, or you’re a more advanced shooter with a digital SLR, this class will help you become a better photographer. We will spend the first day learning the basics of shooting in the beautiful foothills around Boulder, Colorado, and the second day learning how to edit and organize in a state-of-the-art visualization studio. Our class topics will include basic composition, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, focusing, and others as decided by the students.
Today’s weather in Boulder, Colorado shows the hazards of living in the lee of a large mountain range. With a low pressure system to our east, a high pressure system to our west, and the mountains pinching the flow between them, a dangerous Chinook Wind has developed. Just as seen in February’s Photograph of the Month, these high wind events are notorious wildland fire starters; as I’m typing this post, a grassland fire is being extinguished near the city’s northern limits. A quick look at an anemometer near my studio indicates a peak gust of 91.3 mph as I’m typing this sentence, which is sure to make firefighting difficult. Often, these events begin on perfectly cloudless nights, leaving me with little to photograph. Today, a little extra moisture near the tops of the mountains allowed for a somewhat uncommon and very beautiful look at the dynamics of these powerful events. The bottom of the image shows the typical smooth wall cloud at mountain top. The highest peaks of the Rocky Mountains are tucked inside of it. The blue in the middle is the “Foehn Gap,” where the extreme downslope winds keep any clouds from forming. But what goes down, must come up. Rotors, or waves, develop over Boulder, as the air hops up and down in the wake of the Continental Divide. As the turbulent air rises, it forms the mesmerizing, broken edge of an altocumulus cloud bank, seen at the top of photo.
