Tag Archives: plains

Merry Christmas

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2015-12-25ChristmasCardclick image to enlarge

Merry Christmas to you all. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the very best of the holidays with the hopes that you truly have Peace and Contentment in your lives. The holidays all mean different things to different people and no matter how you do, or don’t, celebrate them, it is still a time that draws people together.

The blog has seemed to do that even more so this year. The drawing people in part I mean, as we have had thousands of visitors from here in the States and in 2014 we had over 66 different countries visit the blog. This year we are ahead of that total. So a special thanks and Holiday Greetings to all of our International readers. If I could say thank you in each of your languages I would. However, because of the holidays The Director of The Institute and I, gave our entire Linguistic department plus the rest of the staff, even the interns and other minions, the entire holiday season off. Clear into next year. Yes I know, that is unprecedented, but we just felt the spirit of fellowship and good will this year and let sentiment run away with us.

The gorgeous landscape above is actually from where both I and the imaginary Institute are located. High above the plains in the mountains North of Ft Collins, Colorado. This is where I live and where the more trustworthy of our interns from The Institute pass by everyday when we go down the mountain to get the mail or head out on one of our many incredible adventures. It is a real pleasure to be able to share this beautiful sight with you.

I am Dwight Lutsey the blogmaster, and along with The Director of The Institute, who as always will remain nameless, would like to say Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and the very best wishes to you and yours. Make sure you visit us regularly throughout the rest of this year and the next so you don’t miss a single extraordinary event that happens here at BigShotsNow the blog.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Prairie Mansions

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Out on the prairie there are places where you can see for three days. There is nothing to obstruct your view except for the occasional rock outcropping or the stunted tree that has managed to eke out a living, somehow defying the odds to remain one of the prairie’s only permanent citizens. The hills roll on forever and if you are standing on top of one of them the only thing taller than you are the huge clouds that sail slowly past like the prairie schooners that pushed through here on their way further west. The wagons left two ruts to show their passage towards dreams unrealized, the clouds leave only shadows.

Not all the dreamers went west. Some stayed and gambled that there was a living to be made here. Maybe to run cattle, there was plenty of grass, but there was also drought and tornadoes and fire. Some tried farming but Mother Nature was a cruel landlord and taught a hard lesson to those dry land farmers. There was rain but only when she allowed it, and very often she didn’t. Others, though not very many, brought their fortunes with them and bought their existence, building grand prairie mansions and becoming royalty here on the plains, ruling what they could while their fortunes lasted.

But the plains are nothing if not eternal. They have the stamina and constancy that humans can only dream of. You may affect change here for a while and even look like you’re successful but the prairie has patience, and sooner or later it will watch your dreams and desires fade away, and all traces of your passage will be as if they never happened. Sad for those who dreamed perhaps, but nothing at all to the winds and clouds that blow across the prairie.

For those of us living on a time-table that is measured in minutes and seconds all this change appears to be very gradual, lasting for what may be half a lifetime before you see a dream crumble back to earth. But if you stop and take a good long look you can occasionally see into the future, and what you see will be green grass waving in the wind and huge white clouds sailing overhead and perhaps a chance for the next dreamer to try his luck.

Dark Days

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Summer is the time when we seem to have the most radical changes in our weather, especially as it concerns light. It can start out bright sun and clear skies and suddenly a storm will roll off the mountains and create huge towering clouds and everything goes dark. Then within moments the storm moves on and it’s sunny again. The trick is to be somewhere cool when all that changing is happening.

Fortunately that isn’t difficult around here. This place is so cool that just going to the dumpsters to dump the trash is neat. The place pictured above isn’t near the dumpsters however, I had to travel nearly five whole miles to be in the right spot for this shot. Yeah I know, epic journeys like that are the stuff of legend but when it’s an everyday occurrence you sort of just take it in stride. Coloradoans are an adventurous lot and when you’re a photographer to boot, well, there’s nothing we won’t do to get the shot. Even if means standing next to a busy highway with dangerous semi-trucks whizzing by blowing their horns because they think you’re parked too close to the roadway and you went and forgot your dumb sunglasses and there might be rattlesnakes somewhere nearby  and so on and so on. The risks are mind-boggling but we don’t care we’re bred for it. I must admit I’ve done even more riskier stuff to get the shot but those are stories for another time. And I can make up only so much of this stuff at one time, I mean with so many adventures under my belt it becomes difficult to remember them all.

With all the varied types of scenery we have it almost becomes a chore to decide where to shoot. This view is looking east, if you turn and look west you will see the foothills and towering mountains. To the south and slightly east the plains roll on forever and you can see straight ahead for two days. And that’s just the overview, as you look closer there are countless details that would take several lifetimes to photograph. Then add the seasons in the mix and you don’t know if you’ve been snakebit or struck by lightning because when it comes to making choices, you’re paralyzed. Now before I make this sound like it’s an impossible task I must confess that it’s not as difficult as I may make it sound, Jeez if you stumble and press the shutter right before your face smacks the pavement you’re going to get a great shot. It’s much more difficult to stay cool and suave looking while you’re working than it is to make magnificent photos. I mean you don’t want to look like some dweeb when you’re out here

So remember to look in your backyard when you want to take pictures, you might have a view out there just like this one that you haven’t noticed before. If you do grab your camera and get out there while the storms still here. There’s pictures to get took.