Colorado Springs was founded by General William Jackson Palmer in 1871. Charles Elliot Perkins purchased the Garden of the Gods in 1879.  He opened the Garden of the Gods to the public so all could enjoy.  At his death in 1907 he deeded the land to the City of  Colorado Springs with the stipulation that it be a city park and be free to the public.  The park officially opened in 1909.  This gallery celebrates the Garden of the Gods 100th year as a city park on October 17, 2009. four of the black & white photos in this gallery were from a book my grandfather, Arthur C. Niedermiller had.  The book is (Our Own Country A Complete Picturesque America) by James Cox published about 1894. I hope you enjoy these photos of the Garden.

New Video Below 11/23/2010

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Books & Maps

Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods : Two Worlds, One Vision [Hardcover]

Col­orado Guide, 5th Edi­tion Updated: The Best-Selling Guide to the Cen­ten­nial State [Bar­gain Price] [Paper­back] This is my favorite Col­orado Guide!!

Colorado Road & Recreation Atlas

Map of the Garden of The Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado

[forecast]

Hoodoos are a strange geological rock formation found mainly in Bryce Canyon National Park, Colorado and the Badlands of South Dakota. Their formation consist of  different layers of hard and soft sedimentary rock. Generally the hard layers being on top, erosion of the softer layers of rock gives them their strange unusual chimney or mushroom  shapes. The size of the Hoodoos in the gallery range from a couple feet  to about 50 feet and are located in Woodman Valley Park in Colorado Springs.  One of formations in the area is called the Dutch Wedding Rock, which is not accessable due to being on private land. Hoodoos in Bryce Canyon National Park can be more than 100 feet tall.

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The photos in this slide show were processed in HDR. For more information on HDR or High Dynamic-Range photography and the program I use, Photomatix Pro 3.1, click on the links below!  Photomatix Pro 3.1 is a standalone program and also has plugins for Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.

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Map of the Hoodoos of Colorado Springs. Click on the markers below to view more information.

If you live in Colorado and are a SCUBA diver, then Cozumel is the place for you. No Colorado cold water diving here.  It’s less than 4 hours on a direct flight from Denver. Our resort of choice is the Iberostar Cozumel. In my opinion the Iberostar Cozumel is the best resort for divers. Most dive sites are between 5 to 10 minutes by boat. Dressel Divers  is the on site dive operation. Both the resort and the dive operation have a very smooth running operation. This is our 7th trip to Cozumel and our 5th at the Iberostar Resort. The Resort has great food and friendly staff. With up to 200 feet visibility you cannot beat the diving in Cozumel to that of any other location in the Caribbean. This is an all-inclusive resort. All food, drinks and most activities are included,  like 14′ Hobby Cat sail boats, sea kayaks, wind surfing and much more. The spa and diving are extra. Thanks to Mike Sánchez, our dive guide, for the great week of diving and thanks to all our other friends at Dressel Divers, Cozumel, a PADI 5 star dive operation. The underwater camera I use is the 8 MP Sea&Sea DX8000G . This camera is easy to operate and does a pretty good job even without an external flash. All the underwater photos in this gallery were shot with this camera and no external flash.  For all land shots I use the Nikon D80.

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For the Best Price in SCUBA equipment Click on the banner Below!

Cape Ann is located on the coast some 43 miles northeast of  Boston,  Massachusetts. It includes the towns of Rockport and Gloucester and is home of  The Second Annual Lobsta Fest and Seafood Extravaganza! The photos in this gallery were also shot in Essex, Magnolia and Manchester by the Sea. Autumn in Massachusetts may be the best in the country. Some of my favorite locations on Cape Ann are Plum Cove, Lanes Cove, Rockport Harbor, Gloucester Harbor, Rocky Neck, Atlantic Road, Halibut Point, Buswell Pond, Annisquam, Lobster Cove and Hoop Pole Cove. All of these locations afford excellent photo opportunities. I would love to photograph Cape Ann in the winter but,  the weather is too unpredictable. So I will have to leave the winter photos for my brother-in-law, Todd Harrington, of  Plum Cove Photography, who lives in Gloucester.

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Many of the photos in this Slideshoe were processed in HDR. For more information on HDR or High Dynamic-Range photography and the program I use, Photomatix Pro 3.1, click on the links below!. Photomatix Pro 3.1 is a standalone program and also has Plugins for Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.

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Map of Cape Ann Massachachusetts. Click on the markers below to view more information.

Massachusetts is rich in history and old cemeteries. To visit and photograph the Old Burying Grounds of Massachusetts in Autumn is incredible. The old maple trees are huge and beautiful, with bright fall colors of yellows, oranges and reds. The last trip to Massachusetts we went out looking for dead relatives for our genealogy project. You see both my wife and  I have ancestors in the area that date back to the first settlers of this great country.  Finding grave stones of many of our ancestors is a thrill and trying to imagine what life was like back then. I would like to sit down to dinner with our ancestors to visit with them to find out what they were like. The photos in this gallery were shot in the town cemeteries of Ipswich, Harvard, Shirley, Essex, Groton, Newburyport and Lexington.  It’s a step back in time.  It’s a chance to understand what our Founding Father’s sacrificed for us.

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Map of Massachusetts

Cape Ann is located 43 miles northeast of  Boston,  Massachusetts. It includes the  towns of Rockport and Gloucester. Gloucester is America’s first seaport established in 1623, some 7 years before Boston. A nor’easter is a circular storm were the winds come from the northeast with the worst having hurricane force winds. The photos in this gallery were shot after a small nor’easter storm with gale force winds. I can only imagine how bad a really big storm would be, like the  storm of September 1991, which was made into a movie about the Andrea Gail in The Perfect Storm. The  seaport of Gloucester has lost more than 5000 fishermen in the last 386 years.

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Map of the Cape Ann Massachusetts

Part 2 of the photo gallery

(Car show update)

The car show will be held this year on Sept 11,12 2010 !!

The Cruise Above the Clouds Car Show on Saturday September 12 brought to Woodland Park Colorado by the Teller County Classic, Custom and Special Interest Car Club. The show featured over 200 Classic Cars, Hot Rods and Muscle Cars. This was an incredible car show. In the afternoon they went on the Poker Run to Cripple Creek Colorado. The car show continued on Sunday in Cripple Creek Colorado. Each photo in this Gallery starts off as 3 separate photographs at 3 different exposures and combined with a process called HDR or High Dynamic-Range photography. This allows one to see the detail in the shadows and highlights. It also has the ability to create some pretty cool special effects. Part 2 of the Car Show with more photos coming soon!

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Cruise Above the Clouds Car Show Part 2

Visit part 1

For more information on HDR or High Dynamic-Range photography and the program I use, Photomatix Pro 3.1, click on the links below!.  Photomatix Pro 3.1 is a standalone program and also has Plugins for Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.

Books Videos & Software

Master Photo Workshops DVD: HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography Made Easy by Tony Sweet

Photo-Shop-Cafe CD-Rom: HDR &Photoshop CS3 by Colin Smith

Photo-Shop-Cafe DVD-ROM: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 for Digital Photographers by Colin Smith

Search our websites!

Map of Woodland Park Colorado

(Car show update)

The car show will be held this year on Sept 11,12 2010 !!

The photos in this gallery were shot at the Cruise Above the Clouds Car Show on Saturday September 12 brought to Woodland Park Colorado by the Teller County Classic, Custom and Special Interest Car Club.  The show featured over 200 Classic Cars, Hot Rods and Muscle Cars. This was an incredible car show. In the afternoon they went on the Poker Run to Cripple Creek Colorado. The car show continued on Sunday in Cripple Creek Colorado.  Each photo in this Gallery starts off as 3 separate photographs at 3 different exposures and combined with a process called HDR or High Dynamic-Range photography. This allows one to see the detail in the shadows and highlights. It also has the ability to create some pretty cool special effects. Part 2 of the Car Show with more photos coming soon!

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Cruise Above the Clouds Car Show Part 1

Now Up Part 2

For more information on HDR or High Dynamic-Range photography and the program I use, Photomatix Pro 3.1, click on the links below!. Photomatix Pro 3.1 is a standalone program and also has Plugins for Adobe Photoshop  and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.

Master Photo Workshops DVD: HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography Made Easy by Tony Sweet

Photo-Shop-Cafe CD-Rom: HDR &Photoshop CS3 by Colin Smith

Photo-Shop-Cafe DVD-ROM: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 for Digital Photographers by Colin Smith

Search our websites!

Map of Woodland Park Colorado

This gallery has photos from Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Cozumel, St. Lucia and Canada. There are Critters such as fox, coyotes, elk, deer, seals, birds, frogs, bugs, bears, llamas, alpacas and much more.

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All of the slideshows in this website were edited and created with Adobe Lightroom 2.

For more information on Lightroom 2 click below.

Independence Pass is located between Twin Lakes on the east and Aspen Colorado on the west, on Colorado Hwy. 82.  The pass is a steep, winding, paved road with some parts without guard rails. One short section on the Aspen side  narrows down to one lane. It rises to a height of about 12095 feet above sea level.  At that point you reach the Continental Divide which is above the tree line with spectacular vistas of both sides of the divide .  This makes for an incredible drive especially in the fall with the golden aspen trees. Just remember, this pass is closed in the Winter and may close earlier in the Fall because of weather.  The sights along this road starting from the east side include the town of  Twin Lakes, Independence Pass, the ghost town ruins of Independence, the Grotto and the Devil’s Punchbowl. This road is one not to miss. The photos in this gallery were shot at the Devil’s Punchbowl, the Grotto and Twin Lakes.

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Map of Independence Pass Colorado