McDonald Observatory Sunset 2

Another great sunset image with the McDonald Observatory and the Davis Mountains in west Texas in view. The high and dry peaks of the Davis Mountains make for some of the darkest and clearest night skies in the region and provide excellent conditions for astronomical studies but also have some nice sunsets and sunrise. We capture this sunset while we were waiting for the stars to appear. It seem like the sky was never going to get dark but once it did it was very dark. The McDonald Observatory is an astronomical observatory located near the community of Fort Davis in Jeff Davis County, Texas, United States. The observatory is managed by the University of Texas. The facility is located on Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, with additional facilities on Mount Fowlkes, about 8 miles away. . Included in this image is a close up of the Otto Struve Telescope on top of the summit of Mt. Locke, dedicated in 1939. It was the first large telescope built at the observatory and next to it is the The Harlan J. Smith Telescope that was completed in 1968. Today at the McDonald Observatory is reasearch into a wide variety of topics, including planetary systems, stars and stellar spectroscopy, astronomy and many other topics.

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McDonald Observatory Sunset Glow : Prints Available

McDonald Observatory at sunset as the clouds light up with these colorful pinks and oranges over the tops of the two observatory in the skies over the Davis Mountains.

Sunset Over McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis Mountains

Sunset Over McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis Mountains – Sunset at the McDonald Observatory in the Fort Davis Mountains in west Texas. While we were waiting for the stars to appear we captured this colorful sunset over the mountains and the two observatory telescopes. In the image is the Otto Struve Telescope on top of The summit of Mt. Locke, dedicated in 1939. It was the first large telescope built at the observatory and next to it is the The Harlan J. Smith Telescope that was completed in 1968. This image shows the Davis Mountains with two of the the McDonald observatory as the sun was setting over the mountains near Fort Davis. The observatory is run by UT and is located in one of the darkest area of Texas. This observatory is used for astronomical research of the planets and stars and stellar along with other interest.

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McDonald Observatory Sunset : Prints Available

 McDonald Observatory Sunset –  We captured this wonderful sunset image of the McDonald Observatory near Fort Davis in Jeff Davis County, Texas, United States. We loved this with the Davis Mountains sunset with two of the McDonald observatory sitting on top of Mount Locke just after sunsets. The dark skies in this area is why the McDonald Observatory is located here and on top of this mountain you have two telescope domes the Otto Struve and the Harlan J. Smith in view. This area of west Texas in the Davis mountains is known for having some of the darkest skies around it why it was located here and is run by UT. This observatory is used for astronomical research of the planets and stars and stellar along with other interest.  Down below they host regular star parties using smaller telescopes but be sure to make reservation as it is on only on certain days and it may be limited in how many people are allowed.  

McDonald Observatory Sunset 2

Bluebonnet Sunrise on the River

Bluebonnet Sunrise on the River – We capture this image early one morning at sunrise as the sun rose along the Colorado river with this field of Texas blue bonnets. The Texas bluebonnet or also called the Lupinus Texensis were wonderful this morning. I am not a morning person but this morning we were up at 5am and drove an hour to this special spot to capture this field of bluebonnets at sunrise along the river. After trying 3 days in a row the sky finally looked like it was going to be the one so we dashed out to this morning hoping to capture the image at dark thirty in the morning and got there just as the sky was starting to lighten up. We quickly got setup and waited for the sun to pop up over the hill side. The buebonnet or lupine are distinct to this area and is also the Texas state flower. High quality prints are available just click on the image to go the print order page. http://www.beecreekphoto.com/blog/bluebonnets-and-texas-longhorns/

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Golden Blue Bonnet Sunrise : Prints Available

Golden Blue Bonnet Sunrise – Captured this at sunrise as the sun came up it cast this golden glow over the clouds and river with just a hint of light on the bluebonnets.  We thought it made a nice texas landscape image of this great field of blueblonnet at the lake in the texas hill country. Springtime in Texas is my favorite time because of the wildflowers we can all thank Lady Bird for help in making spring special every year.

Heavenly Bluebonnet Sunset

Heavenly Bluebonnet Sunset – We pulled this Texas bluebonnet image from the archive where we captured an amazing sunset that day we only have our memories of this place as it gone for good now. This field was full of bluebonnets as far as you could see is gone for ever, it is now the new site of the PEC corporate office just north of Marble Falls that is next to the famous bluebonnet farm house that every one has images of. However a photo of bluebonnets is always a bluebonnets image which is always a good day. In Texas we love our bluebonnets here.

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Heavenly Bluebonnet Sunset : Prints Available

Heavenly Bluebonnet Sunset – Just came across this image of the field of bluebonnets we took several years ago next to the old farm house in Marble Falls. Unfortunately this field is gone forever now as they are building the New PEC office there. I had not put this out here but since it the last memory of this bluebonnet landscape next to the old farm house it deserve to be seen. Love the sky which was a swirl of clouds at sunset and the sky picked up the reds and pinks colors and cast a nice glow over this bluebonnet landscape as the sun set.  

Big Bend National Park Bluebonnets

In this image in Big Bend National Park and state park out in west Texas and we found a few Bluebonnets patches along the side of the road. There were not many and appeared to be in clumps but what we did notice is they were taller than any other lupine we had ever seen before in Texas. The big bend bluebonnets grow to be 3-4 ft high and are a much deeper blue than other lupine wildflowers. In 1901 the Texas legislature made the bluebonnet the Texas State flower. However, in 1971 the Texas legislature made all Texas lupines as the state flower which include the Big Bend variety. The bluebonnet in Big Bend National Park and Big Bend State Park are a different variety of flowers from the rest of texas wildflowers the are taller and my drought toleriant and have a deeper blue color. http://www.beecreekphoto.com/blog/texas-bluebonnet-sunrise/

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Bluebonnets in Big Bend : Prints Available

Bluebonnets are all along the roadside in Big Bend National Park. These are some of the tallest and deep blue bluebonnets. They are some sort of hybrid wildflowers that will only grow on in this desert area.

http://www.beecreekphoto.com/blog/texas-bluebonnet-sunrise/

Bluebonnets and Texas longhorns

Here is one of our favs from past images with longhorns family in the bluebonnets. This image we captured with 2 adults and one baby longhorn who was just too cute with its small horns starting to grow. The bluebonnets were good this year and you could find them everywhere even on this cattle ranch in the Texas Hill Country. The Texas Longhorn is a breed of cattle known for its characteristic horns which can grow very long especially in steers and cows. They are descendants of the first cattle in the New World, brought by Christopher Columbus and the Spanish colonists, and have a high drought-stress tolerance. Texas Longhorns are known for their diverse coloring, and can be any color or mix of colors, but dark red and white color mixes are the most dominant.

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Texas Longhorns and Bluebonnets : Prints Available

Texas Longhorns and Bluebonnets – We capture this image with this family of Texas Longhorn and her calf plus friend who stopped to pose for this picture in the bluebonnets. The mother is on the right and when we came the first time she took her calf as far away as possible from us. The second visit I guess did it. We loved all the different version of horns and this calf with his little horns were just too adorable in this field of bluebonnets.

Bluebonnet Farmhouse Lightning Storm

Bluebonnet Farmhouse Lightning Storm- I capture this the other evening while taking images of the bluebonnets at the farmhouse just west of Austin as a storm to the north was approaching slowly. As the storm continue this direction you could see a good amount of lightning in the cloud. Most reasonable people would of gotten in the car left the area, but this was probably a once in a lifetime to capture the storm cloud over this old farmhouse. This old farmhouse in the Texas Hill country is one of the most popular spots to capture wildflower images every year. You will see cars line up along side the road trying to capture an image from here. So after dark the storm cloud was still headed this way, so I pulled my camera and tripod back out and started taking pictures as this great storm cloud hovered over this old abandon farm house in the Texas hill country as lightning was striking inside the cloud. We were not sure we capture the strike but as it turns out we did.

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Stormy Skies Over Bluebonnets : Prints Available

Stormy Skies Over Bluebonnets – We capture this over this wonderful field of bluebonnets at this old farm house out in the Texas Hill country.  We had been photographing the sun set when one of the guys spotted lightning and in the distance storm cloud which was now  in view and we put the gear back out and hoped for a good capture of the lightning.  We got lucky and we were able to capture it over this field of bluebonnets.with the old farm house just as lightning was striking, This was a composite of two images photos.      

Big Bend ranch state park from above

When we were down at Big Bend Ranch state park this spring we got approval to fly our drone in the state park and captured some awesome images of the landscape from above. This is one of the images showing the amazing landscape along the edge of the park on the river road, Hwy 170 and the Rio Grand river between Texas and Mexico.

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Stunning Landscape Rio Grande River : Prints Available

Captured this aerial view of Big Bend State Park with the Rio Grande river along with the river road and the US, and Mexican mountain range in view.

Bluebonnets from Big Bend State Park

Bluebonnet patch from the Big Bend State park along the River Road, Hwy 170. These lupines in the Big Bend State park area are different than the ones we find in the rest of Texas. They are taller, darker blue, more drought tolerant, and bloom in Feb/March. In this image in Big Bend National Park and state park out in west Texas and we found a few bluebonnets patches mostly along the side of the road. Big Bend State Park is a massive park that run along the Rio Grande River with Mexico on the other side. http://www.beecreekphoto.com/blog/bigbend-national-park-bluebonnets/

http://www.beecreekphoto.com/blog/bigbend-national-park-bluebonnets/

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Bluebonnets Along River Road : Prints Available

Bluebonnets landscape along Big Bend Ranch State Park River road, Hwy 170. It was a nice scenic view from here with the road and mountains as a backdrop. These bluebonnets are a hybrid that allow them to grow in the desert region and they are darker and taller than any you will find in other places of Texas. Unfortunately they seem to only grow along the roads and many times they have to cut the grass along the road to prevent fires so they were cut in a lot of places.

http://www.beecreekphoto.com/blog/bigbend-national-park-bluebonnets/