Most everyone who knows me knows I love photography. As much as writing. Yes, it’s possible to have more than one love in your life. Most of what I’ve been shooting lately has been landscapes from our various excursions to Rocky Mountain National Park, Dinosaur Ridge, and the like. And I love getting out and taking pictures of nature, especially when nature is in conflict with humanity. (My favorite image of this is a forest with a clear-cut path to make way for high voltage power lines. They constantly have to cut back the trees that are trying to move back into that space.) Well, with knees like mine, who needs enemies? Hiking is, for the foreseeable future, a thing of the past. So today, with the help of my youngest, I’m going to play around with urban street photography. In Denver, there is a stretch of gorgeous old buildings. Some of these are more than one hundred years old and still being used as office buildings, storage spaces, and upscale apartments. These buildings are (almost) all protected as heritage sites. This includes Larimer Street, probably my favorite single block of downtown. So after pizza, I’m going to spend a little time wandering around there getting photos of the beautiful buildings and the crowds of shoppers & eaters. Oh, maybe lunch at Larimer Street Market?

Also, yesterday I wrapped up the Institute for Environmental Solutions (www.i4es.org) photo shoot. Hearken back to last Saturday, I was out shooting the Xcel Energy Day of Service with IES. 403 photos, whittled that down to 50, and I’ve been retouching those photos Monday and Tuesday. Well, they’re done and I’m very proud of this set. If I get the okay, I will share some of them here. The series fell into my “man vs. nature” interest, but in this case man is helping nature by fostering a cooperative relationship. Man lays down a strip of pavement for a bike and walk path, plants in the immediate area die. Man then comes in, plants native trees and flowers, shrubs and grasses. Man comes back regularly to ensure the plants are watered and tended to until they are hardy enough to withstand the onslaught of man. Plants thrive, local fauna thrive, and man has a nice place to take a walk. Win/Win!

I don’t remember where I was going with that so I just kept writing. I think what I was headed towards is that it is possible for nature and humanity to coexist, but it takes an understanding on humanity’s part that nature will ultimately win regardless of our efforts. So, we better learn to live with nature rather than in opposition to it. It makes me thin of a house Frank Lloyd Wright designed years ago. The house is in a densely wooded area, straddling a waterfall that Wright incorporated into the design. Man living with nature. Very cool stuff.

Okay, I need a shower. Cheers!