Latent Image Group: Chicago Views, coming October 29

For those able to make it, Webster University's May Gallery will be featuring a group show of a photo club Chicago trip on the smaller wall. Latent Image (the university's photo club) sponsored a trip to the big city in the Spring of 2010. The opening night is October 29, between 5pm and 7pm. Wish I could be there, but here's a sneak peak anyway:

Not so black and white

I finally made it out to capture some Aspen trees, on what may likely be the last weekend their leaves are intact:

As I followed the trail back to the car, something more intriguing caught my eye. Sections of the trial were closed off due to clear-cutting. Stumps stuck up all over what once was a lush expanse of trees. On the other side of the trail, piles of lodgepole lay across the now barren land. A sad sight, to say the least, no doubt attributed to the pine beetle. No solution to their infestation is better than another, but one manner of attack has been eliminating the dry, dead trees altogether. On one of the most beautiful Fall mountain days, the Aspens were definitely a strange contrast against the stumps of dead Pines.

I watched the sun rise...

...on my day off.

Instead of sleeping in on a recent day off (which, believe me, I wanted to), I decided to wake up before the sun, get dressed in the dark and make my way once again towards Frisco Marina. It's the first time this season that I put on boots and a winter hat. Too bad I forgot a photographer's best friend in the cold - a pair of gloves. Oops.

The lake has dropped considerably in the last month - at least four feet - which means I can get closer to the sailboats anchored in the bay. Between the low sun and the cold weather, I finally got the conditions that I wanted as well. The fog even rolled in as the sun peaked over the first mountain top.

After the sun had completely risen, I started to make my way back to the car. I found a pleasant distraction, and despite my dry, red, cold hands, I stayed a few more minutes to capture the morning dew that had formed on yellow fall leaves: