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2013-05-13 20:29:05 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 32 +1s)

This is a shot of a mountain peak called Piramide del Garcilaso, which rises over 19000 feet above sea level in Peru.  I rarely convert images to black & white, but the color was rather bland in this, and it seemed like a crime not to try it in black & white. #naturemonday   #mountainmonday   #plusphotoextract  

2013-05-06 20:07:57 (7 comments, 3 reshares, 40 +1s)

This is a shot of Llagunaco Valley and the Llagunaco lakes in Peru.  I took this shot from an elevation of about 15,000 feet. #naturemonday #mountainmonday 

2013-05-01 21:07:02 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 51 +1s)

I recently spent a couple weeks in South America.  This is a shot of Iguazu Falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina.  There was so much mist from the falls, that I had to leave my lens cap on, compose the shot blindly, and then take off the lens cap and immediately take a shot before the mist built up on my camera lens. #WaterfallWednesday #plusphotoextract  #WowWednesday

2013-04-08 20:17:52 (7 comments, 5 reshares, 82 +1s)

This is a shot of Hanging Lake in Colorado.  After the difficult hike up, I was glad to find that the ice had broken up in front of the frozen falls, giving the appearance of giant puzzle pieces.

2013-04-07 22:08:29 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

This week is international dark sky week.  Find out show you can help keep the night skies dark at www.darksky.org/idsw

2013-03-26 17:32:41 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 11 +1s)

The application is now up for the 3rd Annual Colorado Photography Festival at: 

http://www.coloradophotographyfestival.com/

This event will take place from August 10-15, 2013.  We now have all 8 one-day workshops listed for Sunday, August 11.  There will be a wide range of photography instruction at these workshops, including portrait, night, wildlife, and landscape photography.  The night photography workshop is nearly full, so sign up today if you want to attend.

Also, on Monday, August 12, Mark S Johnson will be leading a full-day class on color correction with Adobe Photoshop.  Mark is one of the leading experts on Photoshop, with several books to his credit.  He has agreed to provide this workshop at the festival for just $125, which is a deeply discounted rate compared to his normal workshops.

Finally, from Tues-Thurs Dan Ballard will be leading aworks... more »

2013-03-22 17:25:57 (6 comments, 13 reshares, 87 +1s)

This is a photo I took of a remote arch near Moab, Utah.  I used a flashlight to illuminate the front of the arch. #starrynights #nightscapes #astrotogs #AstroFriday 

2013-03-12 19:56:57 (6 comments, 14 reshares, 79 +1s)

I need to get back to posting some new photos.  Here's a shot I took near Moab while trying to find new places I hadn't photographed around there.   This is a wide stitched image (about 180 degrees) taken from inside a large rock cave.  The opening to the left is the opening to the rock cave.  The opening to the right, which I was standing much closer to, is an arch inside the cave.

2013-02-05 20:31:47 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Thanks for the feedback on my night photos!  I'm now looking for feedback on my daytime photos.  If you could hang 4-6 of the photos in the below link on your walls, which ones would they be?  Feel free to pick out 4-6 more of your second favorite choices as well.  Thanks the help! 

http://www.gcollier.com/bestdayphotos.html

2013-01-14 19:15:16 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

I'm looking for feedback on my night photos.  If you could hang 4-6 of the photos in the below link on your walls, which ones would they be?  Thanks for the help!

2013-01-02 22:31:33 (11 comments, 7 reshares, 57 +1s)

I've put together an album of my 12 favorite photos from 2012.  I'd didn't get out to shoot as much as I usually do but it was still one of my most productive years given the locations and conditions I was fortunate to stumble across.

2012-12-28 18:44:56 (7 comments, 9 reshares, 86 +1s)

This is a shot I took from Castle Valley Overlook near Moab.

2012-12-20 21:37:52 (22 comments, 8 reshares, 112 +1s)

I captured this shot of the Geminids meteor shower at Lily Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. I did one big stitched image of about 400 megapixels to capture the sky and foreground. And I used a 14mm lens to capture all the meteors. Then I took each of the frames with meteors and up-rezed and aligned them with the larger stitched image, before masking out everything but the meteors in those images. In all there's about 26 meteors in this shot. I believe the Andromeda Galaxy is to the left of the Milky Way.

#starrynights #nightscapes #plusphotoextract #astrotogs #AstroFriday #LongExposureThursday

2012-12-19 21:10:53 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

Our children's book "Dreaming of Colorado" is now available as an ebook for Kindle Fire at http://amzn.to/YlY0Dd.  For a limited time, you can also borrow this from your kindle.  Amazon Prime members can borrow it for free (and I still get paid a little so everyone wins!).  And you can, of course, still buy the hardcover print version at: http://www.collierpublishing.com/

2012-12-11 21:30:30 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 44 +1s)

Upheaval Dome is one of the most impressive sights in Canyonlands National Park.  It is thought by many to be a crater from a meteorite impact.  But it's so big - about two miles across - that it's difficult to capture in a photograph, especially from ground level.  

I found a foreground that I thought would help convey the circular shape of the crater and then stitched together several images to create a 250 degree panoramic photo that shows most of the inner rim of the crater.

#plusphotoextract  

2012-12-04 21:50:10 (11 comments, 11 reshares, 76 +1s)

I hadn't shot Mesa Arch in ten years, as it tends to be overcrowded and overshot.  But when it snowed one night in Moab, I decided to get up early and at least get one shot of Mesa Arch with a digital camera.

2012-11-02 20:06:46 (11 comments, 1 reshares, 64 +1s)

Here's one more shot of the northern lights near Yellowknife, Canada.  This was taken at Prosperous Lake and I stitched together several images to create a 180 degree view of the scene. #starrynights #nightscapes #plusphotoextract #astrotogs #AstroFriday

2012-10-22 19:54:09 (14 comments, 17 reshares, 86 +1s)

I took this shot on my first night photographing in Yellowknife, Canada.  There are a ton of lakes near Yellowknife, so there's boundless opportunities for shots of the northern lights with reflections.  #MirrorMonday #NatureMonday #starrynights #nightscapes #plusphotoextract #astrotogs #AstroFriday

2012-10-12 21:03:50 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 68 +1s)

I found this old wooden pier on my second night in Yellowknife, Canada.  But there was no moon out to illuminate it.  So I went back a few times until I finally got the northern lights over the pier with a moon behind me.  #starrynights #nightscapes #plusphotoextract #astrotogs #AstroFriday

2012-10-09 21:26:25 (11 comments, 4 reshares, 79 +1s)

Here's another photo of the northern lights taken near Yellowknife, Canada.  This was shot with my new D800e and my Nikkor 14-24.

2012-10-02 21:11:19 (13 comments, 3 reshares, 88 +1s)

I recently returned from a trip to photograph the northern lights up in Yellowknife, Canada.  This image was taken during a brief time when the aurora was particularly active.  #starrynights #nightscapes #plusphotoextract #astrotogs 

2012-09-10 18:22:55 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

I've just published a new children's book called "Dreaming of Colorado."  It contains many of my photos, along with illustrations by my girlfriend.  I used artistic filters in Photoshop to blend the images in with the illustrations.  

This book retails for $12.95.  You can find out more or purchase it at: http://www.collierpublishing.com/Colorado-Children's-Book.htm

Here's the back cover description.  "Dreaming of Colorado" tells the story of Cosmo the Cougar Cub, who doesn’t want to go to sleep because he is having so much fun playing. But his mom reminds him that there are many exciting things he can dream about. This convinces Cosmo to go to sleep, and he dreams that he is riding on a magic canoe that takes him back in time. Cosmo and his animal friends go on several adventures and see dinosaurs, volcanoes, Native Americans, and miners.Each o... more »

2012-08-28 19:59:13 (13 comments, 10 reshares, 117 +1s)

I haven't posted much lately, as I've been busy moving into a new house and organizing the Colorado Photography Festival.  Here's a shot I took during the night photograhy workshop I led at the festival.  I put the camera in continuous shooting mode and took over 300 30-second exposures from this spot.  This allowed me to just leave the camera and help the students at the workshop.  I was hoping to capture some meteors in the image, as the Perseids were at their peak on this night.  But when I got home and reviewed all the images, I found only four faint meteors.  This trees are light painted here, courtesy of a student's flashlight that happened to light the scene. #TreeTuesday #starrynights #nightscapes #plusphotoextract #astrotogs  

2012-08-14 14:40:08 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)

Coat Closet....a work in progress....

Well, the Colorado Photography Fesitval was this past weekend and on the second day I was in an HDR Workshop with +Mark Johnson out of Boulder, CO. He shared a ton of great information and has even more on his website at www.msjphotography.com. I was originally going to go out with +Colby Brown but couldn't due to some scheduling conflicts but that may have been a blessing in disguise because I saw his post where he made his students crawl around in the dirt!

During +Mark Johnson's workshop we spent a few hours shooting inside the Tivoli building on the Auraria Campus in downtown Denver. This was a great place for HDR because of all the textures and dirty, gritty subjects.

This is a shot I took in the basement and while I didn't spend too much time post I am pretty happy with the direction it is headed. I plan tospen... more »

2012-08-01 15:56:07 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

I wanted to share the photos of Mark S. Johnson, who's teaching a workshop at the Colorado Photography Festival.  Mark has some stunning and truly artistic images at http://www.msjphotography.com/index.php/gallery/.  

Mark will be teaching a workshop on HDR on August 12.  The reason I really like Mark's work is that he doesn't rely entirely on HDR.  He uses it as one of many tools to create artistic images.  He's one of the rare photographers I've come across who uses strong HDR effects really well.

For more info on his workshop, which still has seven openings, please visit http://www.coloradophotographyfestival.com/workshops.htm - even if you're not able to attend the festival, I recommend checking out Mark's work on his web site.

2013-04-14 01:57:59 (11 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

http://www.coloradophotographyfestival.com/

The 2nd Annual Colorado Photography Festival will be held from August 11-16, 2012. Eight of the nation's premier photographers will give instruction in the classroom and in the field on numerous aspects of professional photography, from capturing your images to optimizing them in Lightroom. This year's instructors are +Marc Muench, +Grant Collier, +Colby Brown, +Dan Ballard, +Stephen Weaver, +Russ Burden, Mark S Johnson, and Glenn Randall.

2012-07-16 19:22:06 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Colorado Photography Festival Instructor Spotlight: +Stephen Weaver  - 
http://www.coloradophotographyfestival.com

We're glad to have Stephen Weaver as one of the instructors at the festival.  His workshop on August 12 is limited to 8 people and there is just one opening left.  So if you are interested, you should sign up right away.

Steve is an award winning fine-art landscape and nature photographer with over 35 years making images of the natural world. Formally educated as a geologist, Steve combines his scientific knowledge with his photographic eye to produce stunning images that illustrate the beauty of the structure and composition of the earth and its natural systems. He travels widely, photographing throughout North America, and is particularly well known for his intimate and evocative images of grasses and the prairie environment. His work has been licensed assto... more »

2012-07-05 16:59:29 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 32 +1s)

Colorado Photography Festival Instructor Spotlight: Russ Burden - http://www.coloradophotographyfestival.com

We're excited to have Russ Burden as one of the instructors at the Colorado Photography Festival.  There are only four openings left for his workshop on Mount Evans on August 12, where participants will have the chance to photograph wildlife, landscapes, and macros.

Russ writes the Tip Of The Week for the Outdoor Photographer website. He also provides weekly tips and a Photoshop Tip of the Month for TakeGreatPictures.Com.  He has two books to his credit. Russ is a multiple time winner of the prestigious Nature’s Best, Windland Smith Rice Award in the Art In Nature and Backyard Habitat categories. As a result, his images have appeared in the Smithsonian. His stock work is marketed through Getty Images and shows up in advertisements around the world. Russ teaches classesfor t... more »

2012-07-02 18:56:11 (11 comments, 3 reshares, 77 +1s)

Here's one more shot from my trip to northern Alaska to photograph the northern lights back in March.

#naturemonday   #mountainmonday  #starrynights   #nightscapes   #plusphotoextract   #astrotogs  

2012-06-29 17:30:49 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 71 +1s)

I took this shoot of a lightning storm over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains from the Alamosa Wildlife Refuge in Colorado.  I used a 200mm telephoto lens and then cropped in some, as this storm was quite a distance away.

#frighteningfriday   #stormyfriday   #plusphotoextract   #stormyweather   #lightningphotography   #lightningphotos

2012-06-24 17:38:11 (19 comments, 25 reshares, 92 +1s)

This is a shot of the Milky Way over some remarkable rock formations in Colorado.  In order to overcome some of the limitations of shooting in such low light, I combined two large stitched images taken from the same spot, one for the foreground shortly after sunset and one for the sky after it was dark.  #SkySunday #StarsSunday #starrynights   #nightscapes   #plusphotoextract   #astrotogs  

2012-06-21 17:03:55 (5 comments, 3 reshares, 40 +1s)

After photographing the annular eclipse over this arch on May 20, I stuck around to photograph star trails over the arch. #starrynights #nightscapes  

2012-06-18 16:36:27 (2 comments, 3 reshares, 27 +1s)

Although I've published a book of photos on Arches National Park, I've managed to avoid shooting Turret Arch through North Window at sunrise until now.  It's been shot so much that I haven't had much desire to get this image.  But it is a beautiful scene nonetheless.  This is three ultrawide 14mm photos stitched together to create a very wide pano. #naturemonday . 

2012-06-15 20:48:08 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

Colorado Photography Festival Instructor Spotlight: +Dan Ballard 
http://www.coloradophotographyfestival.com/

Dan Ballard taught at the Colorado Photography Festival last year, and he was invited back this year because of the outstanding reviews he got from participants.  Dan will be leading a photography workshop at Red Rocks on August 12 from noon until sunset.  There are only five openings left, so if you want to attend the workshop, sign up now at http://www.coloradophotographyfestival.com/.  If you’re not able to make the festival, Dan also teaches several other workshops throughout the year at: http://www.collierworkshops.com/

Here are some testimonials from Dan’s one-day workshop at the festival last year.

“Dan's workshops are truly worth the money and I cannot say enough positive. I will be attending another!"  - Joseph Abelino Roybal
“D... more »

2012-06-13 16:41:06 (19 comments, 16 reshares, 90 +1s)

This is a blend of two large stitched images ... one for the foreground taken about 20 minutes after sunset and one for the sky taken about 3 hours after sunset.  I try to avoid combining two exposures at different times if possible, and this is just the second time I've done this.  But sometimes it's necessary in order to overcome some of the limitations of shooting in such ultra-low light situations. The image you see here is essentially what you would have seen if you had superhuman vision and could see perfectly well at night. #plusphotoextract   #starrynights   #nightscapes  

2012-06-11 22:35:15 (12 comments, 4 reshares, 74 +1s)

I traveled to northeast Arizona to photograph the annular eclipse on May 20.  Since the light was so extreme, I combined two exposures to get this shot ... one for the sun & moon, one for the rest of the scene. #plusphotoextract  #NatureMonday 

2012-05-19 19:38:32 (6 comments, 7 reshares, 62 +1s)

Here's another photo of the northern lights from my trip to Alaska a couple months ago. This one was taken near Fairbanks. #SnowySaturday #starrynights #nightscapes

2012-05-16 21:54:43 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 22 +1s)

Colorado Photography Festival Update - spotlight on Marc Muench - http://www.coloradophotographyfestival.com

As summer approaches, a lot of sign-ups are starting to come in for the Colorado Photography Festival, which I'm organizing. This event will take place from August 11-16.

Among the instructors at the festival is Marc Muench, who is coming from California to teach at the festival. Marc learned photography from his father, the world-renowned nature photographer David Muench and from his grandfather Josef Muench, who was one of the founding fathers of color landscape photography. Marc will share the knowledge he learned from these two masters of photography and will also discuss how he developed his own unique style.

Marc’s photography has appeared on covers or inside Time, National Geographic, Traveler, Arizona Highways, Ski, Skiing, Sunset, Outside, SierraM... more »

2012-05-11 20:38:09 (27 comments, 4 reshares, 96 +1s)

I took this shot at the same time I took the shot directly below this on my page. While I was doing a long exposure of star trails over West Pawnee Butte, I was also doing this stitched image of the Milky Way above East Pawnee Butte. This is 50 images stitched together to create a 300 megapixel photo. The light in the clouds was from distant cloud-cloud lightning. #plusphotoextract #starrynights #nightscapes

2012-05-09 17:57:58 (14 comments, 4 reshares, 42 +1s)

Here's another star trail photo taken at Pawnee Buttes, Colorado. As with most of my star trail shots, it was taken on film. I shot this last year, but only recently developed the film since it takes a while to fill up even part of a roll when shooting 2-3 hour exposures. :) #starrynights #nightscapes #WideOpenWednesday #OnePrimeWednesday:

2012-05-08 19:01:11 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Here is my "Underwater Photography" circle for +Athena Carey and everybody else interested ! ^_^ Not everyone is super-active, unfortunately, but let's hope for better ! ^_^

I'm sure many more people should be there - please don't be shy, post comment if you feel you should be included ! ^_^

2012-05-03 18:23:38 (12 comments, 0 reshares, 62 +1s)

This is about a 2-hour exposure showing star trails over Mt Baldy near Crested Butted, Colorado. #longexposurethursday #thirstythursdaypics #thirstythursday

2012-04-30 20:04:31 (5 comments, 6 reshares, 14 +1s)

I decided to experiment with making a time-lapse video using photos I have of the northern lights and Milky Way. Here it is:

2012-04-26 19:10:24 (7 comments, 3 reshares, 75 +1s)

Here's another northern lights photos taken outside my hotel room. You can see the big dipper at the top.

#LongExposureThursday #TravelThursday #SilhouettesOnThursday #plusphotoextract

2012-04-24 16:34:49 (3 comments, 3 reshares, 47 +1s)

Here's a shot I took during my trip to Utah in February. It's a large stitched image of Hickman Bridge in Capitol Reef National Park. #starrynights #nightscapes #plusphotoextract #BridgesOverTuesday

2012-04-23 21:15:19 (11 comments, 1 reshares, 49 +1s)

Before coming to Alaska, I would have been jumping up and down if I got a shot like this of the northern lights. But I was spoiled and saw the lights every night I went out. So I'm somewhat on the fence about whether I should include this on my web site. This is four images stitched together. #NatureMonday #MultipleExposureMonday

2012-04-20 20:40:02 (15 comments, 3 reshares, 63 +1s)

Here's another ultra-wide stitched panorama of the northern lights over Alaska. The moon and Venus are seen to the left.

2012-04-18 18:30:07 (13 comments, 7 reshares, 75 +1s)

Ever wonder how the northern lights are really created? Here's a picture of a very rare light volcano! Okay, so this was just an odd coincidence that the lights seemed to be coming directly out of the mountain. #wowwednesday #wideopenwednesday #winterwednesday #vividwednesday #vibrantwednesday

2012-04-17 18:43:33 (22 comments, 6 reshares, 95 +1s)

Here's another shot of the northern lights in Alaska. This was taken right outside the room I was staying at and it was the brightest display of northern lights I saw while I was there.

2012-04-12 17:11:14 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 12 +1s)

I'm now on Google Currents. Currents allows you to view my photos, videos, and articles online or offline on your IPhone, IPod, IPad, Tablet, or Android. Please help me get to 200 followers so I can be in the Google catalog.

You can download Currents at:

http://www.google.com/producer/currents

And you can follow me at:

http://www.google.com/producer/editions/CAowqoch/grant_collier_photography (enter this link in your mobile device or on your computer)