Tag: Castle Pines

Musings from Castle Pines

As a society, I think we’re getting just a little bit spoiled … especially here in the good old U.S of A.  And I’ll be the first to admit I’m as bad as anyone.  For instance, when I need to get our one and only car serviced, Big O Tires is kind enough to offer me a ride home so I don’t have to wait in their lounge. So far, I haven’t taken advantage of this courtesy, but then I only live about 300 yards from the shop.  🙂

Another wonderful convenience is the “drive-thru”.  Virtually all of the fast food chains have one and even one of our local Starbucks Coffee Shops is willing to oblige anyone who is just in too big a hurry to take the time to park, walk inside, and wait in that line.
Actually, on a side note, I’ve felt pretty “inconvenienced” ever since we left Florida back in 1973.  Not far from our house was a drive-thru where you could get milk, bread, eggs, and even a six-pack of beer if you were thirsty.  I haven’t seen one of those wonderful services since.

As I sat there at a small table on the Starbuck’s patio, I happened to notice a small camping trailer driving by.  It was really cute, shaped like a tear drop and probably no more than about 15 feet long.  I probably should have done this image in color because it was mostly shiny aluminum with some very bright orange trim all around.
I sure would like to get up in the mountains for a week or two of camping, hiking, and fishing … oh, and photography of course!

Most of these images were taken with an Olympus OM-D E-M5 using either the 14-150mm zoom or the Panasonic Lumix 20mm f/1.7.  The last one of the Advenir Apartments office was with a Sony Nex-6 and Sony 10-18mm f/4 zoom lens.

Around the Town in Castle Pines

Tom T. Hall did a great song, a classic, titled “I Like Beer” … and I do!  🙂  My current favorite is a local beer, Fat Tire Amber Ale, brewed by New Belgium Brewing Co. up in Ft. Collins, Colorado.  However, I do occasionally drink some Bud Light … once in a blue moon.  Actually the Blue Moon beer is quite good, too.

We’ve cut back to just one car, so when my wife is using the car I end up going for walks around our small community.  What surprises me is how different things can look from one day to the other.  Something that I walked by without even seeing a few days ago might make an interesting photo today, at least for me.  And, of course, with the change in the weather from winter to summer (overnight, it seems), there are some things like the blue umbrellas that weren’t even there a day or two ago.  I guess that’s one thing that keeps photography so interesting, the endless variety and continually changing landscape.

Inside one of the local automated car washes, done in HDR with the Sony NEX-6.  (Three exposures with ± 3.0 EV. )  This was not done with the Auto HDR, but I took the three shots and processed them in Nik HDR Efex Pro and Lightroom 4.

The top and bottom two shots in this post were all with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 and Olympus 14-150mm lens.

I headed over to the Circle K to get a cold drink refill and saw they were also refilling the gas tanks.  It was such a colorful truck I couldn’t resist.
I liked the quote that you can see just above the umbrella:  “Take these words, like seeds, and sow them that they may grow your mind.”

Around the Town – Castle Pines, CO

I’m starting a new series where I will periodically post a group of images taken from a particular city.  In this case ( and in many cases, no doubt) the images are from the town I live in, Castle Pines, Colorado.

Castle Pines is one of the newer incorporated cities in Colorado, just making it official on February 8, 2008.  I live in an apartment complex situated right on the edge of the only commercial area of the city. But that’s a good thing … it means I can walk to a wide variety of shops, stores, restaurants, etc.

For example, within 5 minutes walking time there are two supermarkets, three gas stations, four coffee shops, five banks, and numerous other shops and restaurants.  Need a vet or a dentist, or how about a tan or maybe a haircut followed by a mani-pedi?  No problem – they’re all here.  🙂

So here’s a sampling of some of the photos I’ve taken “around the town” over the past few weeks.  These images were taken with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 using various lenses.