John W Jacobsen Photography

The March desktop background image is here! I went out this weekend and tried to capture the essence of winter in Colorado and sized it specifically for several different monitor resolutions and included a handy calendar in the lower right corner. Click on your monitor resolution below to view/save the image to your local computer. Enjoy!

• 2560 x 1600
• 1920 x 1200
• 1680 x 1050
• 1440 x 900
• 1280 x 800

As I was driving to work on New Years Eve, I couldn’t help but notice how spectacular to moon looked as it was slowly sinking over the Flatirons. I made a mental note to check the weather and find some time to try to capture the moment. As luck would have it, New Years Day looked like it would be a good opportunity to try!

I woke up early on Jan 1 and had a cup of coffee before heading out into the Colorado winter. I loaded up my gear and was on the road by 6:15AM – too early for a vacation day, but if you want to get ‘the shot’, sometimes you have to make sacrifices. I got to my destination and there were already eight other photographers there with the same idea as me!

I quickly found a suitable spot and set up my gear. After a couple of trips back to the truck to grab my remote shutter release and spirit level, I started shooting. My fingers quickly froze in the sub 20 degree weather but I was on a mission – I wanted to get the shot in my minds eye on digital film. I spent about 30 minutes trying different settings, angles and focal lengths. The sun was starting to come up by this point and it was time to pack up and find another location. I wouldn’t really know if I got the shot I wanted until I viewed the images on my computer back home, but I felt secure in knowing I did as good as I could have at the time.

As I was driving towards Boulder, I noticed how interesting the Flatirons themselves looked in the early morning glow so I headed down Baseline and found a turn-off overlooking the mountains. It was starting to warm up a little so I felt safe that I wasn’t going to lose a finger on the first day of the new year. It was getting close to 8:30 by this point and I know my wife was back home tearing down Christmas decorations so I loaded up the car and headed back home.

I finally found a chance to view the images on my computer close to noon. Overall, I was very pleased. If the rest of 2010 is as good as the first day was, I’m going to have a very good photographic year!

Hello. My name is John and I have a problem. I’ve been stalking the Canadien Geese near our home for the last six weeks. It started out before Thanksgiving when I noticed the flight pattern the geese take most days is right over the corner of our house. After several failed attempts, I almost gave up.

But then I heard them beckoning (laughing?). I grabbed my gear and headed out to the front porch. I had completely forgotten I was wearing shorts, a t-shirt and no shoes (and it was sub 30 degrees out). It didn’t matter. I was being taunted. Sure enough, they made a couple passes as if to throw an old dog a bone. I was able to snap off several photos and here are a couple of the better ones. It’s only added fuel to the fire within to capture these flying beauties more.

It didn’t stop with the geese. Our neighborhood was teaming with different species of birds. Chirping. Taunting. I’ve become obsessed. Hello. My name is John and I have a problem. I’m a bird stalker.

My friend Jenny stopped by the house yesterday with a box full of cupcakes. She had some new holiday flavors and needed some shots of them for her website and I was glad to oblige

We started with the boring product shots and once those were in the can, we set off to take some more creative, Christmas-themed shots to be used for her marketing materials. I was even able to coax The Marketing Queen to leave her den to help us brainstorm some ideas and set up some shots.

After Jenny packed up and left, we got to sample some of the goods. As T was finishing off one of the gingerbread cupcakes she said to me “You know, this is the only frosting I’ve ever had that compares to my mom’s”. High praise indeed. If you need some affordable treats for your next get together, give Perfect Serendipity a call!

Black Friday – the day everyone goes shopping and retail stores turn a profit. We decided to buck tradition and pile the family in the car and make the 90 minute trip to one of my favorite places – Rocky Mountain National Park!

We arrived at Sprague Lake at about 8AM. As expected, the lake was a frozen block of ice. Because the temperature was in the low 30′s however, the skies were as clear as I had ever seen them. I spent a lot of time trying to capture the streaks of light the sun was creating as it was peaking through the over-hanging branches of the resident pine trees.

Our next stop was Bear Lake. The trail to get to the lake was ice packed snow so it made the short walk more harrowing than need be, but as always, Hallets Peak didn’t disappoint.

Our last stop at the park was along Trail Ridge Road, at the overlook of Upper Beaver Meadow. It was here that we found the Steller’s Jay and his regal headdress. I put the big hardware on the camera and was able to snap off several shots of this elegant bird has he flew from branch to branch looking for some breakfast.

Our journey nearly complete, we had one more stop – Le Peep in Longmont. I’ve already waxed eloquent about the food there. Suffice it to say it didn’t disaapoint. It all added up to a great Black Friday for the entire family.