TimelessVast prairie views
Skies promise stormy weather
Now the same as then

Recently I had the privilege of being invited to this working ranch in the Colorado high country (around 10,000 ft. elevation). I was invited to help vaccinate the calves against respiratory problems but I quickly decided the best contribution this city slicker could make was by creating images. 

The image is titled "Timeless" and the caption is:

Vast prairie views
Skies promise stormy weather
Now the same as then

The ranch has a rich history, and the large white building that is the primary subject of the image was once a hotel and stagecoach stop/relay station. The upper floor consists of several rooms where passengers could rest (maybe overnight or at least while the horses were being changed and refreshed). The log building behind it was the original homestead when the settlers originally came here in the 1800's. 

And you can tell it was a pretty elegant place because the outhouse has two separate doors.

The dirt road extends into the distance and it's easy for me to imagine the stagecoach coming up the road trailed by a cloud of dust.

The truck is of much more recent vintage, being only about 60 years old. It looks a little run down but I understand there's a high performance Corvette engine under the hood. One of the ranch's brands is on its door.

This ranch has been in one family since settlement, and there are many interesting facts and tales that I learned. One member of the family who lived here was Antoinette Perry, a performer. Not only does she have a street named after her in New York but the Tony Awards are also named for her. And another was a founder of Cities Service and Diamond Shamrock, which is now one of the ranch's many brands.

Through this long exposure with a sepia treatment I was trying to a nostalgic image that expresses the duration of this place across time, which required perseverance against constant threats such as weather as represented by the threatening sky in the image. The exposure time was 4 minutes and 30 seconds using 16 stops of neutral density filters and a circular polarizer. 

There was a significant thunderstorm a little later in the day.