Calvinball

Breckenridge - January 27, 2012

2012-01-28T13:35:00.000-08:00

I took Friday off work and left for Breckenridge at 5:30 in the morning to catch first chair on one of the few powder days so far this year. The snow report said 8 inches, but it continued snowing throughout the morning and added 4" more. The Epic Pass has a pretty neat iPhone App that will track your runs and give you totals at the end of the day. I couldn't believe how small the crowd was and just how quickly I was making laps through the almost limitless powder lines. Definitely one of my best days skiing in the past couple of years. Really hope this winter finally turns around and brings us a few more days like this!

My Epic Mix stats for last Friday. 26 runs and over 25,000 vertical feet of epic snowboarding.

The Icy Quads

2012-01-08T08:07:00.000-08:00

A short time-lapse video of the Quadrantid Meteor Shower from my back yard. I caught several good meteor flashes, including one which left a billowing smoke trail visible for two whole minutes. Follow the link to my Vimeo site to watch in High Definition.

High Definition Version on Vimeo

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T10:17:00.000-08:00

High Definition Version on Vimeo

I let the tracker follow Orion across the New Year's Eve night until the clouds rolled in and obscured the view early in 2012. Make sure to watch the high definition version. The regular just doesn't do the stars justice.

Little by Little...

2011-12-30T21:11:00.000-08:00

I've been working a lot with the images that have quickly been piling up on my hard drive since I first bought my telescope. Astrophotography is a strange form of photography for me. I've always kind of hated Photoshop and software gimmicks because it feels like cheating to me. I've always tried to keep my editing changes to the whole image. Now with astrophotography I'm forced to combine tens or even hundreds of images down to a single picture and really stretch the color and exposure to bring out the detail. I think I might be alright with that. I really like the pictures that I'm getting and actually feel they are representative, but it still feels feels like cheating.

Flickr Horizontal Version

The Great Orion Nebula with another night's worth of data added in to enhance the trapezium stars and nebulosity.

The Universe Today Guide to the Night Sky - January

2011-12-30T18:24:00.000-08:00

The Universe Today Guide to the Night Sky - January 2012

I was checking out one of my favorite websites on astronomy and they happened to post a guide to the night sky for the month of January. I was reading through it and when I came to the section on Orion I suddenly said, "Dang, that picture looks a lot like mine..."

The Universe Today Guide to the Night Sky - January 2012

Earthshine

2011-12-28T20:36:00.000-08:00

Some of the neighbors came over to look through binoculars and my telescope setup in the back yard. It was a lot of fun and was awesome to have someone else to talk to about the sky, new targets to point the scopes at, and of course our dream telescopes.

When I first went out to put the telescope up, the small crescent moon was getting ready to set above the tree line and the neighbors house. It really is amazing how good the human eye is at some things. Looking at the crescent moon, the eye can properly expose both the light AND dark of the moon AT THE SAME TIME!!! I wish my camera could do that. Here is the moon exposed to bring out the earthshine glow of the dark section. It is illuminated solely by the double reflected light bouncing off the earth, off the moon, and then finally back down to us.

The Video Advantage -

2011-12-26T00:22:00.000-08:00

I woke at 4:30am Christmas morning because the dog kicked me in the neck. After shoving the brown bear away from my face and the prime real estate of the bed, I happened to wake enough to see what time it was and was warm enough to check what the sky looked like outside the window. It was crystal clear and I decided to throw the telescope outside and take my first real look at Saturn. Honestly the most beautiful planet in the solar system, I have only had one brief glimpse of it since being shown to the eyepiece of the telescope by my father as a small child. I'm not sure if the memory is real, or if it is just recreated in my mind, but regardless, seeing it once again is awe inspiring. Currently, my camera cannot capture just how good it looks visually in even my 4" telescope. I hope to get some better representations up on the blog before the new year.

I also took a couple of minutes of video. Using software called Registax, I was able to combine several minutes of video in to a single image. The software is able to filter out the flutter and wiggle of the atmosphere to make a much sharper image of planets. It's pretty amazing. I can't wait to get a bigger scope...

Getting Fainter

2011-12-22T16:06:00.000-08:00

Finally did some research, and this picture comprises M42 - The Great Orion Nebula, M43 is the small but bright bit of nebulosity just to the top of the bright trapezium stars, separated by the lane of dark dust. The blue nebula to the top is called "the Running Man Nebula" or NGC 1973/1975/1977.

I promise that I'm still taking pictures of things other than stars. It's just the thing that I'm currently obsessing about during my short windows of free time to edit on the computer.

I was finally fortunate enough to get a window of semi-clear skies and got to set up my scope for a good run at Orion. I have a new sky-glow filter that lets me combat the haze from Boulder, and I wanted to see how long I could push the exposures now. I started at three minutes and worked my way up to ten minutes at ISO 1600. Ten minutes actually gave me an amazingly good looking black where the sky in fact should be black. It's hard to do test shots that last ten minutes, so I went and got a pillow and a big piece of cardboard and laid down on the concrete in my big down puffy and practiced the names of stars while I waited for the shutter. I was really happy with the faint nebulosity that showed up in these longer exposures, especially in the blue reflection nebula to the north of M42. Now I need to work on some combined exposures so that I don't lose all of the detail around the bright trapezium stars.

A Short Night

2011-12-18T14:05:00.000-08:00

With the forecast looking good and the early sky crystal clear, I was excited to set up my telescope over the weekend. Finally the moon was out of the way and I was planning on a good session at the scope. I was able to get a handful of pictures before some unexpected wispy clouds moved over the flatirons and spoiled the evening.

I started the night by focusing and aligning the scopes on Jupiter before moving over to a globular cluster I had yet to search out. Globular Clusters are densely packed balls of some of the oldest stars in the universe. They formed back at the beginning of the galaxy and orbit in the halo, outside of the disk of the Milky Way. Looking at M15 through binoculars, it appears as just a fuzzy star. With the help of my camera, the individual stars really start to pop.

M15 is one of the most densely packed globular clusters in our galaxy and it is suspected that the central core has collapsed on itself to form a central black hole.

Once the clouds started to move in, I switched over to a regular camera lens and the ball head joint so that I could pick out spots in clear pockets. One of those spots contained the Andromeda Galaxy hanging above one of our pine trees.

I've been working to bring out the nebulosity of the Pleiades and was really disappointed I didn't get the chance to finally tackle it for a couple of hours. Instead, I got some wide angle shots of the famous cluster of stars.

The Belt and Sword of Orion. A wider view of the three belt stars and sword containing the Great Orion Nebula. Just to the side of the left belt star is the faint inkling of the flame nebula.

Quarter Moon

2011-12-17T12:39:00.000-08:00

On Saturday the moon took a fortunate angle while setting behind the Flatirons. I was able to get a few pictures of the quarter moon dropping down behind the iconic rock formation.

It's been unbelievably clear out, which has been absolutely terrible for my ski craving, but pretty awesome for photographing the sky. Hopefully the forecast holds up tonight and I can finally use my new filter for taking pictures of some stars and nebula. Fingers crossed!

Lunar Eclipse Video

2011-12-14T21:22:00.001-08:00

Sunrise After the Eclipse

2011-12-14T20:54:00.000-08:00

So I finally had time to look back at the lunar eclipse pictures I took and realized that there were some pretty ridiculous ones I hadn't seen while rushing through them to put out a post. After the moon set, I had a beautiful sunrise that began to light up the mountains. With the power of my new telescope, I was able to drastically compress the distances and create an almost "tilt-shift" feeling to the scenery. I didn't actually do much editing to get these images.

The first and second flatiron above Boulder, Colorado. Behind the rocky slabs the snow covered mountains of Indian Peaks and the Great Divide stand large.

14,259 foot tall Longs Peak glows orange with the morning sun on a crisp morning in December.

The Boulder power plant and Colorado Front Range.

Houses in the foothills of Boulder hunker down on a chilly morning below the massive form of Longs Peak.

The Colorado Front Range north of Boulder, CO

The Flatirons of Boulder, CO

Lunar Eclipse - Dec 10, 2011

2011-12-10T08:30:00.000-08:00

MY FLICKR GALLERY

The lunar eclipse above Indian Peaks. Shot from just outside Boulder, CO, the Indian Peaks run along the continental divide. The moon set just before totality on the morning of December 10, 2011. It was a very impressive sight.

The lunar eclipse setting just before reaching totality.

An earlier view of the moon right at the beginning of the eclipse.

Midway through the lunar eclipse. You can just start to see the orange glow of the moon in Earth's shadow.

There are also more pictures, and higher-res versions on MY FLICKR GALLERY

I will also be adding higher quality pictures of the eclipse over the next couple of days, but need to do some work on them.

The Moon

2011-12-05T21:37:00.000-08:00

The Moon Bigger

The sky above Boulder finally cleared and I was able to test some equipment out that I've been dying to get going. I didn't stay out long considering it was only 4 degrees outside, but I set up my new battery and inverter running the tracking mount for the first time. I pointed the scopes at the moon for the first time in a couple of months and started recording a movie. After a couple hours of compressing the video frames in to a single image, this is what popped out the other end! Still seems a tad over-sharpened, but it's amazing what kind of detail can be teased out of 2,000 images...

The Universe Today

2011-12-03T12:53:00.000-08:00

Direct link to the post:

and to the Universe Today Homepage

I made it on to one of my favorite astronomy websites called Universe Today! Fraser Cain and Dr Pamela Gay run a weekly podcast called Astronomy Cast. After starting to get in to astrophotography, I posted a handful of star photos on their Flickr page and they decided to put this one of the Scott Tent up on their website. Check them out!

The Great Orion Nebula

2011-11-28T19:25:00.002-08:00

M42 - The Great Orion Nebula

Click the link to see in higher resolution on my flickr page.

I finally got a clear night with the telescope and got some shots of the Orion Nebula. It was my first try at stacking photos in order to really filter out the noise inherent in long exposures. This photo was created with ten two minute exposures of the nebula. The software is amazingly confusing the first time through. A lot like your first crack at doing just about anything in Photoshop. I think I'll get better at it after a little trial, error, and googling...

Taking a Closer Look

2011-11-25T11:29:00.000-08:00

I've been looking back through a lot of the less-amazing pictures I took while living at the South Pole. With some of the new stargazing tools I have come across since buying my telescope, I have been able to better identify many of the objects hiding in plain sight. I always knew where Jupiter was during my winter, since it was the brightest object in the sky the whole time, but I was happy and shocked to learn that Neptune was also captured in this shot not too far from Jupiter.

Working out the kinks

2011-10-25T21:17:00.000-07:00

I woke up the other night before twilight and captured another, much better, version of the Orion Nebula. I've finally worked out a way to get some medium zoom on the camera with eyepiece projection. In this method I actually bury the eyepiece inside of the optical setup and the sensor catches light passing through the eyepiece as your eye would. My main problem had been that the focal plane was extremely curved. That is somewhat okay for an eyeball, but makes a camera sensor think it's getting ready to go to warp 9 on the Enterprise. Needless to say I finally found a way to somewhat correct that problem. Now I just need to keep working at getting the mount aligned properly so that I can increase the shutter beyond about 30 seconds.

The Orion Nebula

This nebula, found halfway down the "sword of Orion," is made up of dust and baby stars just coming to life. The dust billows and glows in extraordinary colors as it gets blasted away from the newborn stars.

Andromeda Galaxy 2.0

I finally tried editing a few versions of the Andromeda Galaxy and came up with this.

The New Tripod

2011-10-15T00:49:00.001-07:00

I finally got my equatorial mount and am dipping my toes in to the possibilities it presents. Even though I can't align with Polaris from the back yard, there was a nearly full moon and I'm only using a 3" telescope, I was extremely happy with what I was able to capture.

The Andromeda Galaxy - M31, plus M32 and M110

Updated photo to a visual sky orientation from an earlier version:

I was finally able to get this shot late at night after Cassiopeia and Andromeda made their way clear from my rooftop. There was some serious haze from the moon washing out this shot. I can't wait for a clear night in a week or two when the moon is down and I should be able to get a much better exposure. The smaller galaxies M32 and M110, which actually orbit the larger galaxy, can be seen as well. M32 is up and to the left of Andromeda and looks like a large hazy star, while M110 is down and to the right and looks like a small, faint version of Andromeda.

The tripod doesn't directly help me get a better looking picture of Jupiter, but it does make it a whole lot easier that I no longer have to manually chase the big guy as he zooms across the eyepiece.

Check out how Jupiter looks through the viewfinder as I'm waiting for the ripples in the atmosphere to smooth out and give me a crisp, defined shot.

Jupiter through the Viewfinder

And then I also got a chance to check back in on Comet Garradd, who looks a whole lot more like a comet now that I can filter out some of the camera noise.

Craters

2011-10-05T07:17:00.001-07:00

The moon snuck in to a small clearing of clouds last night and I finally got my first zoomed picture of the cratered surface. During my winter at the South Pole, I took hundreds of pictures of the moon while passing the time until the next aurora display. I've been waiting a long time to see detail like this on the back of my camera. There was still a thin veil of clouds moving across the disk, and it was quite amazing to see the surface literally "boil" as our atmosphere flowed above me. I had to take a dozen pictures until I got a lucky clear spot in both the clouds and the turbulence.

Couple More Tidbits

2011-09-28T17:49:00.000-07:00

The stuff Messier actually WAS looking for...

It may not look like much, but the fuzzy little star in the center of the picture is actually a comet. Comet Garradd is making it's way towards the constellation Hercules, where it will then start its swing around the Sun and back in to the cosmos come February. Hopefully it will brighten a magnitude or two as it approaches the Sun, but it certainly won't be the same sight as a Halley's or Hale-Bopp.

Green and red shooting stars?
I thought this picture was interesting. While I was pointing my small telescope at Jupiter and it's moons, an airplane crossed my view. I was amazed that the moons actually span a greater celestial arc than the wingspan of the jet.

Orion

2011-09-26T05:00:00.001-07:00

I've been ridiculously spoiled the last four days with crystal clear night skies. I woke up to make coffee and realized it was both clear out, and that Orion was fully up in the pre-dawn morning. Orion is hands down my favorite constellation and the first I can remember my Dad pointing out to me as a young child. It always reminds me of winter.

I took a couple pictures with my wide angle and then zoomed in for the first time on the sword of Orion and snapped my first clear picture of the Great Orion Nebula. Amazing...

Jupiter Part 2

2011-09-24T15:22:00.001-07:00

Left to Right: Callisto, Europa, Jupiter, Io, Ganymede

Found a way to add some magnification to Jupiter and captured this image Friday night once the clouds moved out of the way. Thought I had captured the cloud rings a bit better, but still pretty happy with it.

Astro-Boy

2011-09-22T22:40:00.000-07:00

Update: I have corrected the links to the larger format images.

Thursday night it was really clear out and I had been wanting to see how far I can push my night/astro- photography. I have to say I'm pretty impressed with what it can do with just a 300mm lens and short exposures. Being zoomed in, I was only able to stretch the exposure to about a second and a half before the stars would streak too much. That meant a high, high ISO

First up, the Andromeda Galaxy. It's the closest spiral galaxy to our own Milky Way, and I was blown away with it when I first managed to point my binoculars in the right direction. This one I can't wait to see once I'm able to really stretch out the exposures instead of brute forcing it with ISO 25600...

M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy

I was also able to capture a planetary nebula in the constellation Lyra. This constellation has been stuck in my head ever since I first spotted it soon after my brother got his cat of the same name. The nebula is a small green disk in the center of the photo.

M57 - The Ring Nebula in the constellation Lyra.

Near 10pm Jupiter made it's way above the trees and I was able to train my sights on our solar system's largest planet and four of its moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. I was amazed that I was able to actually see each moon showing up as a different color. This is another one that I can't wait to get closer on. With my current setup, Jupiter only consists of about 100 pixels on camera sensor.

Jupiter and it's Moons
(Left to Right: Ganymede, Europa, Jupiter, Io, and Callisto)

Kind of Obsessed

2011-08-07T23:23:00.001-07:00

A few more shots of the Flatirons. I suppose (for the time being,) that I am going to fully dedicate myself to obsessing about photographing the already obsessively photographed Flatirons in Boulder. Should be fun to see if I can top what is already available out there. On more than one occasion I have been called a one-upper, so maybe it's time to embrace that and take advantage of it. Maybe I can make a calendar or something else with the Flatirons to sell to all the tourists that come through this town.

Also, I keep adding to the website. Maybe I'll get the shopping cart up soon, but hey, at least I'm working on it for once.

www.pcullyphoto.com

Woofer Duty

2011-08-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

I'm watching a tiny two month old pup for the week. She is adorable. She is hilarious. She chews everything in sight. The cat is in hiding. And she is pretty much the greatest thing ever...

"What was that?!?!"
Cleaning up after herself.

And trying to clean my camera lens

The Flatirons - August2, 2011

2011-08-02T22:00:00.000-07:00

I went out to Chautauqua last night and took some pictures at dusk before the rainy mist came in. I also posted these to my website, which has been slightly updated. Really trying to get better at posting more often. Check back soon...

www.pcullyphoto.com

The Flatirons - Boulder, CO

Flagstaff road and the trail of vehicles heading back down in to Boulder.
Pearl Streek and Chautauqua Park - August 2, 2011 - Boulder, Colorado.

pcullyphoto

Stargazing in my Back Yard

2011-08-01T05:33:00.000-07:00

I went out Saturday night and snapped a couple pictures of the flatirons and thought they looked pretty good.

The Washington Post

2011-05-19T06:39:00.001-07:00

Every so often I like to check on my photos and see just where they have made it to on the big bad Internet. Today I googled "south pole aurora" and one of my photos came up as the top image result. It's from a sunset article a month and a half ago in the Washington Post.

Orchids

2011-05-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

I thankfully finished a time-lapse video of my orchid blooming. I set the camera up at a whim and then ended up stuck with the tripod and orchid smack dab in the middle of the dining room table for a full month. Finally called it quits the other night and packed away the camera gear. Enjoy!

Orchid Bloom Timelapse from Patrick Cullis on Vimeo.

Aurora Video HD

2011-03-22T06:02:00.000-07:00

I have replaced my aurora video with a higher quality 1080p version. The sky and stars look much better in high definition. I have embedded the video here, but please click the Vimeo link to view it in all of it's 1080p glory...

Aurora Video HD

South Pole Aurora from Patrick Cullis on Vimeo.

The Main Feature

2011-03-13T19:19:00.001-07:00

Finally got the Steamboat video loaded up on my Vimeo site. Check it out small, or if you go to the site you can view it in HD.

Steamboat 2011 Main Feature from Patrick Cullis on Vimeo.

Ski Video Sunday

2011-03-11T06:47:00.001-08:00

I finally finished the ski video. Created from footage Kurt and I recorded while up at Steamboat for a couple of weeks in February, it's the first year we both had helmet cameras to catch all of the action. It's also the first year that iMovie finally became a decent piece of editing software. I'm currently at my upload limit on Vimeo, so I will be posting it as soon as that resets at midnight Saturday night.

The Atlantic

2011-03-04T21:35:00.000-08:00

A couple of my photos made it in to the "in Focus" section of the Atlantic online.

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus

Steamboat 2011

2011-02-19T13:21:00.001-08:00

We made it out to Steamboat for the week and last night we had some incredible fog after it stopped snowing. I put on my snow boots and wandered around to take some pictures. Now we just need the storm clouds to come back and start dumping snow again. Check out the new gallery over at my photography website:

www.pcullyphoto.com

New and Improved

2011-02-07T19:03:00.000-08:00

I finally pulled it together and set up my photography website. Go ahead and check it out!

www.pcullyphoto.com

Ski Planes, Rains, and Big Tire Automobiles

2011-01-29T13:40:00.000-08:00

Well, it was actually a foggy cloud layer instead of actual rain. That didn't come until getting out to Christchurch and even more so in Los Angeles when it was pretty much flooding.

A little more than a month ago I was trying to get out of Antarctica and to my brother's wedding when clouds, boomeranging airplanes, and Christmas got me delayed in McMurdo for seven days. I was pretty bored and unhappy to be there at the time, but I was able to make it out and take some pictures to pass the time.

Ski Loveland

2011-01-24T18:05:00.000-08:00

I braved traffic this weekend and went up to Loveland with Eric on Sunday. It was pretty windy on top of the divide, but we found some sun and soft powder in the shelter of the trees. The top of the lifts were pretty burly though...

Looking back toward Denver from the top of the Great Divide. The south side of Loveland can be seen and I-75 snaking it's way Eastward down the mountains. The ski resort actually straddles the Eisenhower Tunnel. South off the highway, I-6 can be seen heading around the ski area and up to Loveland Pass itself.

The 'Scallywag' and Eric waiting in the wind at the top of the divide.

Keystone as seen from the top of Loveland. Further southwest, Breckenridge can be seen from the top of Loveland on the Great Divide.

At the Bottom Again

2010-12-17T20:16:00.000-08:00

Well, I find myself once again at the bottom of the World. It's been a fun little trip, but I'm looking forward to heading home next week.

Christy Shultz is the new NOAA Corp officer at the Atmospheric Research Observatory and I've been working with her this austral summer in preparation for her upcoming winter season.
We did a couple of balloon launches which are always a little fun and excitement.

Then, on Wednesday, a C-17 flew over the South Pole to do an air drop. Sadly, the ice crystals and clouds in the air made the view of the airplane less than spectacular, but the halo and sun dogs were amazing. Some of the best I've seen here...
The C-17 which dropped 16,000 pounds of food near the South Pole.

Phish - Broomfield, CO 10/11/2010

2010-10-12T12:30:00.000-07:00

Phish came to the 1st Bank Center just down the street from Boulder for a three night stand and I was one of the lucky people to get tickets to one of those nights. It was a pretty amazing show, and Shondia and I got closer than I have ever been for them. Only a handful of people stood between us and the band for the second set.
It was amazing to be so close and actually be able to watch their hands picking and slapping individual strings.
Sadly, my iPhone is a pretty poor substitute for a camera and these are the only images I even tried to take. How I wish I could get a pass to take my 5D to a show and patrol the outskirts of the stage...

Set 1:

Runaway Jim

Foam

Back on the Train

Wolfman's Brother

Reba

Halley's Comet

Tweezer

What Things Seem

The Squirming Coil

Run Like an Antelope

Set 2:

Golden Age

Piper

Camel Walk

Alaska

Gotta Jibboo

Wading in the Velvet Sea

Twist

Fluffhead

Backwards Down the Number Line

Encore:

Sleeping Monkey

Tweezer Reprise

October Climbing

2010-10-08T08:19:00.000-07:00

It's been a warm October in Boulder so far and I was excited to go climbing in the canyon this weekend. I went up with Eric and did my first multi-pitch routes. It was extremely good to get back on the rock after so long. Just to get away from the hustle of people is a blessing. Halfway up I realized I had forgot my iPhone in my back pocket, so I was able to get this picture at the top while anchored to the wall.

Mount Audubon

2010-10-05T10:09:00.000-07:00

Before I got all distracted by a forest fire raging in the foothills of Boulder, I had gone on a wonderful sunrise hike up Mount Audubon with my Uncle and a couple of people from work. Leaving the house at 4am, we headed up to Brainard Lake and began the hike under clear skies and bright stars. I did not have my camera at the time, but I managed to get a few pictures on other cameras and transfer them to my computer.

Reaching the saddle along the approach to the summit, we paused to eat breakfast and watch the sun climb above the horizon to greet the day.
Me on the summit at 13,221 feet, bracing myself against the wind.
Mount Audubon is situated East of the continental divide, and inside Indian Peaks Wilderness. To the North, in the picture above, is Rocky Mountain National Park and Longs Peak.
At the summit, we hunkered down for a while in one of the wind shelters built from the rubble composed peak and ate handfuls of trail mix and a power bar or two. In the back are the rugged peaks of Indian Peaks Wilderness, and Caribou Lake, where Shondia and I had backpacked several weeks earlier.
Indian Peaks Wilderness from the summit of Mount Audobon.

Looking back up at the summit on the way down. Mount Audubon is a fairly easy hike and a good place to get a view of the land and plan future summits.

Fire Day 2

2010-09-08T20:25:00.000-07:00

The Fourmile Canyon Fire is still going. They have estimated that it will take another ten days before they are able to contain the blaze. I was doing a balloon launch on Tuesday and had some time to take pictures of the helicopter flying back and forth to the foothills. I also got a couple of pictures from the parking lot at work which show just how close and visible the blaze is to town.

The helicopter which will use the hose to fill up at the reservoirs before flying over to fight the fire.
The view of the foothills from the parking lot at work. A few pockets made their way in to view and black clouds lifted to mingle with the general haze of the fire.

And then I just had a few other pictures from the first night: 9/6/2010

View from Space

2010-09-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

A NASA image of the fire yesterday at the start of the blaze.

Four Mile Canyon Fire

2010-09-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

The foothills of Boulder are on fire tonight. The blaze is pretty bad and heading towards a lot of people's houses. Thankfully the winds have finally died down. Hopefully we can get this thing contained, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be very bad. This morning, upon seeing the dark plume of smoke crossing the sky, I had the same feeling I had the day I heard about the oil rig sinking in the gulf. I hope this doesn't turn out the same way. It makes me sad though to see the forest going up in flames.
These pictures are from the Flagstaff Road Lookout. I am looking Northwest toward Boulder Canyon. Four Mile Canyon leads north from the canyon road.

Labor Day Fire

2010-09-06T12:20:00.000-07:00

I was just putting some leftover thai curry in to the microwave when my uncle walked in the door and asked me if I had looked outside. A fire had just started in the foothills outside of Boulder and dark, billowing clouds were rolling across the sky.

I drove to get my camera and then Shondia and I went up to the I-36 overlook to take some pictures.
The news was reporting that the fire was in Four Mile Canyon and evacuation orders had been issued for the neighboring area and that some structures were in danger.
The smoke billowing across the I36 bridge in Superior, 8 miles south of Boulder.

The University of Colorado in the haze of smoke.
Hopefully they can put the fire out soon and it doesn't spread too much. The wind is supposed to calm down tonight which should help out.

Caribou Sunset

2010-09-02T15:30:00.000-07:00

I forgot to include a picture of the sunset we were fortunate enough to witness before the cold drizzle sent us hunkering in to the tent and I proceeded to receive a brutal shellacking at Scrabble.

At least the pre-game and post-game experience balanced out being on the wrong end of fifty point words...

Also, GO BUCKS!!!

Caribou Night

2010-08-31T10:33:00.001-07:00

This weekend Shondia and I went backpacking up in Indian Peaks Wilderness and camped at Caribou Lake. It was a fantastic trip and we had a blast getting away from normal life and back to nature.

I was a little extra excited while preparing because I knew the moon would almost be full and rising soon after sunset while we were there. One thing a winter at the South Pole will surely teach is how to be a good night photographer (as well as how to successfully thaw out electrical equipment...)

Soon after we arrived at the saddle of Arapahoe Pass, the wind picked up and a storm cloud built to the Northeast. Foregoing some hopeful dinner fishing at Dorothy Lake, the highest named lake in Indian Peaks, we hurried down the 750' slope of switchbacks to Caribou Lake and set up camp.

At the top of the saddle looking down the valley we would be camping in.

After a few casts of the lure in much-too-shallow water, and the realization I really must take up fly fishing, the cold breeze and drizzle sent us to the comfort of the tent early. A couple games of travel Scrabble later (Shondia whooped me both times,) we snuggled in to our sleeping bags to rest our sore legs and feet. Soon I could see the roof of the tent begin to glow. The sky had cleared and the moon was on the rise. Forcing myself to emerge from my now comfortably-warm sleeping bag, I opened the tent fly and set my camera as far out as possible. Once I saw the picture, I knew I had to get dressed...

The view from under the tent flap.

The moon rising behind the last remaining cloud in the sky.

I love moon light.

As the moon rose above the ridge line, the valley began to glow in orange and yellow.

It wasn't long before I was chilled to the bone from the cold mountain night and crawled back in to the tent.

The weekend was an amazing time and I can't wait to do it again. It would be a lot easier to go hiking if I didn't make myself carry an extra twenty pounds of camera equipment, but I don't think I'll be leaving it behind any time soon.

Morning Canoe

2010-07-17T11:08:00.000-07:00

Abby and I decided that we should get our weekend off and running by going up to Gross Reservoir and go boating at sunrise. The sun just came over the horizon while we were winding our way up Flagstaff Road.
Once you get up Flagstaff, there are views down the southern canyon which leads to Eldorado Springs.
Once we got to the Res, we inflated Abby's canoe and pushed off in to the water.
My Olukai sandals strapped to the front boat webbing. They are the most comfortable sandals I have ever owned. Shondia reps them and I can't wait for the new line to arrive.
Abby ended up catching a trout at the inlet to the reservoir. It was pretty big and we quickly got the hook out and released it back in to the water.
We didn't have a measuring tape, but it had to be 24" long!

Abby and I stretching our legs before climbing in and heading back to the car. It's been unbelievably hot here and once the sun comes out it got hot fast!

Final Edit

2010-06-13T17:26:00.000-07:00

Joshua Tree: HD Video Link

My time here at Joshua Tree is coming to an end. Through the past five weeks I have climbed over stunning formations of rock, watched fantastic sunsets, amazing wildlife, and captured some fantastic photographs in the process. I put together this final video encompassing the best of all I have been able to record. I cannot embed the video in HD, but if you follow the link, it will take you to VIMEO where you can watch the higher quality version.

More for Sibley's...

2010-05-26T22:04:00.000-07:00

Captured these little dogfighters today while working on my manual focus technique. Hummingbirds are so fast, and there's so little of them for autofocus to lock on to that I've completely given up on it. Now I'm just trying to build muscle memory so that I stop focusing the wrong direction once I actually get them in the viewfinder. While set up sniping them flying over my head, this little guy decided to land on a branch five feet away from me and check me out. Thank you little hummingbird...

Short Video #2 in the Works

2010-05-26T10:17:00.001-07:00

I'm currently working on another Joshua Tree video, this one centered on the creatures calling this place home. I just need a couple of more days to flesh out the video stock. Slowly but surely I'm getting quicker and steadier at using the Mk2 for video. So far I've gotten some decent video and photos of my favorite feathered friend. Here's a sneak peak...

This time last year...

2010-05-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

I decided to throw together a very, very small selection of my photographs taken last year while I was stationed at the South Pole. I am still working on some major projects for a lot of those photos, but decided to put together a slideshow while playing around with some of my brothers music.

South Pole Slideshow from Patrick Cullis on Vimeo.

Couple more animals

2010-05-16T11:27:00.001-07:00

Just finished my first week of launching here in California. Five more to go... Been getting some good pictures of animals lately and trying to do some video with the 5D Mk2. Haven't really taken advantage of the feature yet, so it should be a fun project. I'll post some soon once I get some footage edited.

"That's why I come up here, Nature!"

2010-05-11T21:04:00.000-07:00

Desert Tortoise spend 95% of their time underground but this one was foraging right behind the fire station during my first balloon launch.

These little squirrels go dashing every which way when hiking around.

A Rosy Boa that I nearly stepped on.
Quick, staring contest... You win, you always do. Nature!

I'm Back!!!

2010-05-09T17:52:00.001-07:00

While being away... I am currently stationed at Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California for the next six weeks. Today I took a quick two hour drive through the park, stopping frequently to run out and snap some shots while finding sick lines to climb everywhere (if I had a partner.) Here are a few of the pictures I took while milking the last life out of my battery. It's been a while since I've had my camera out and couldn't seem to find the charger before leaving. Hopefully my new one from Amazon arrives soon.
The Joshua Tree is pretty amazing. It is actually a giant member of the Lily family and is filled with a juicy pulp and therefore contains no normal tree rings. Dating them is hard, but they grow on average 1/2" a year and some are believed to be hundreds of years old.
After a cold winter, the Joshua Tree tips are believed to freeze. Sometimes, in these years, the trees tips will bloom and cause a new growth and a split in the branches. Some Joshual Tree have grown twentyfive feet without a single split. Others are an amazing sprawl of branches.
Coating the park are some absolutely amazing outcroppings of rock.

This little bird was fluttering around me. It wasn't until I looked at the photo later that I noticed the small bug it was about to snatch out of the air.

The cacti were is pretty good bloom and there were actually many flowers littering the ground. A lot of these will be dissapearing as the temperature continues to rise throughout the onset of summer.

Life is quite abundant here. I saw many of these small lizards. I did not see a rattlesnake yet, but hope to. Hopefully before I have gotten within biting range...

I start launching balloons on Monday. I can't wait to explore this park more while chasing down the payloads around the area. I hope to keep the posts coming as well.

Patrick

Happy Pow-Pow Days

2010-02-17T09:37:00.000-08:00

I have to say that me and Steamboat have pretty good timing together. Two years ago, when I last was able to ski outside the immense flatness of the South Pole, I had a week long ski season which just so happened to be the best week of an overall incredible year for Colorado. This year, snowfall in central Colorado has been hard to come by. At least until I arrived here a week ago and two feet of the dry Colorado powder started falling steadily throughout the week. Kurt and I have been having a lot of fun playing around with a new helmet cam and taking some footage. I've uploaded two short videos so far on to my video site Vimeo and am collaborating with my brother on the original music.

Steamboat Springs - Feb 2010 from Patrick Cullis on Vimeo.

South Pole Aurora from Patrick Cullis on Vimeo.

My Website

2010-02-09T12:20:00.000-08:00

www.pcullyphoto.com

I am trying to update my website a bit. It's pretty much the same stuff as on the blog right now except for I can show the pictures larger on the main pages. Working on a big update though and will let everyone know when it's up.

ott rising

2010-02-08T11:18:00.000-08:00

If anyone is looking for great new fiction, I highly recommend going to www.ottrising.com and checking out the fantastic new story unfolding there. It's aimed at the young adult audience, but full of vibrant setting, mystery and action enough to hook any adult. Just beginning the second "season," it's released in short chapters three times a week and each Monday I get excited about starting the ride back up. Highly recommended.

Amazing New Zealand

2010-02-08T11:02:00.001-08:00

It's been a long time coming, but I've finally begun working through my massive catalog of photos built up over the past incredible year. I'm finally able to look at my Antarctica pictures with the fond memory of distance, while the New Zealand photographs are astounding me in their first viewing on a screen larger than the 3 inch LCD on the back of the camera. I wanted to put some up on the blog but am still working on some possibilities for them in the future. So, sorry for the watermarks...

2010-02-06T10:45:00.000-08:00

Finally starting to edit photos. Should be getting some stuff up on the blog soon.