F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction (New Weird) Author

Photography

Garden of the Gods Hike

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Garden of the Gods Park, Colorado Springs, CO (© F. P. Dorchak 2017)
Garden of the Gods Park, Colorado Springs, CO (© F. P. Dorchak 2017)

I took a beautiful hike through Garden of the Gods (GoG) park yesterday evening, after my gym workout. I was going to stay and do my cardio at the gym, by my wife, whom I met at the gym, suggested I take a break from all my gnarly shit and just enjoy the evening–and I’m glad I did (sometimes I need her to tell me to take a goddamned break…). I took my Nikon with me and got some really cool shots! I spent about an hour-and-a-half hiking through it, and it was great—fewer people. Better shots without people in them—though one woman, admittedly, would have made an incredible shot, but the moment passed as soon as it’d presented itself. She had been wearing an incredibly bright, radiant blue one-piece tube-skirt (or whatever they’re called) and was walking toward me in the middle of a narrow section of red rocks, her blonde head down. It was so incongruous! Contrasting! It would have made a fantastic shot! But, I couldn’t get the camera up quick enough, and the moment had passed. You couldn’t see her face, which made it even better.

Anyway, I took my favorite hike, which is around the west side of the park, on the single track. It traverses all kinds of rocky terrain and goes up and down. I love it. Love the rocks, love the squirreliness of the trail. The view. Saw a Scrub Jay (I think they’re called), a rabbit, and a whole herd of some 11 or 12 deer. I’ll try to post some of the images where I can, but I’m using new software (Adobe Lightroom) and there’s a bit of a learning curve. I may just try to upload a few onto Facebook. That’s probably the easiest thing to do. We’ll see. I’m really behind on my short story work, so….

 

White Rock – Garden of the Gods – and Time

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White Rock, Garden of the Gods? (© F. P. Dorchak, 2017)
White Rock, Garden of the Gods? (© F. P. Dorchak, 2017)

I think this might be White Rock, in the Garden of the Gods. As I’ve mentioned, I haven’t kept good notes from that January 1st, 2017 day I went out and took these. But I like the perspective from which I took it. It has such a neat, prehistoric look and feel to it. Many times when I go someplace—any place, really, it just depends if my mind “goes there”—I always wonder what that location looked like millions of years ago…and what it will look like in the far future.

Damn, am I ever really in the moment?

But what if considering the past and the future is being “in the moment”? If that moment is really only a perspective, if that “spacious moment”…that “spacious present” some Great Thinkers talk about really is all that…would not that mean that “present moments” really expand out into other moments? Cross and permeate chronologies? And if there really is no Time…the forward chronological progression of successive moments…that it’s all a Human Perception as I believe it is…than wouldn’t this make sense? That the moment is far more voluminous than we give it credit for? It’s a concept that actually expands in ways we have little perception…or maybe we can, if we allow ourselves to be open about it?

Yeah. If I’m not thinking about writing, I’m thinking about weird shit.

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Happy Monday!

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Here's to YOU, Work Day Monday! (© F. P. Dorchak, 2017)
Here’s to YOU, Work Day Monday! (© F. P. Dorchak, 2017)

On January 1st (2017, for you future readers…), I’d gone out and done my first solo photo shoot with my Nikon D3400. I had a blast, though the pun is that it was très windy (as it is now, as I write this at 3:30 in the a.m.—I hear the howling of the dead and feel the house being pounded by winds—or souls!—that I hope do not knock down anymore sections of fence, dammit…) and me and my 200 pounds were blown about quite a bit (nearly lost my World Gym baseball cap). But that was that front moving in that slammed us with frigid temps and snow. Yay, Winter! Anyway, as I was taking shots, this one shot got me chuckling out loud! I had not taken notes, which I’ll do next time, so I’m not exactly sure which rock formation this is, but I figure it’s either North Gateway Rock or the Tower of Babel. I could be wrong on both counts (I’ve been wrong before), but those are my guesses. Anywho…does it remind you of anything?

Yeah, it looks like I was being flipped off by Nature!

So, this is for you, Work Day Monday! Take that!

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Happy New Year!

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Garden of the Gods, Kissing Camels Formation (© F. P. Dorchak, November 25, 2016)
Garden of the Gods, Kissing Camels Formation (© F. P. Dorchak, November 25, 2016)

Happy NEW Year, everyone!

I’m not one to make resolutions, because it’s just not how I operate. I always try to do the best, and be the best person I can be…it’s an ongoing, moment-to-moment thing with me. So, while I welcome the new year, a new set of numbers to keep track of this first few weeks, where the habitual “2016” will invariably creep into date-writing, it’s just going to be another glorious year in which to live and make my way…along with the rest of earth’s population.

But I do sincerely hope we can all be a bit kinder and more loving to our fellow souls and environment. Oh, and I will be taking more pictures this year. Can that be construed as a “resolution”? I dunno…but I do plan on doing so….

Above is a shot of the Kissing Camels formation at Garden of the Gods city-owned park. I love that park, frequently walk/hike through or around it, and will no doubt be including a lot of shots from it. I just love the rocks! The above was taken on November 25, 2016, at a 1/1000-second exposure, f/5.6, 230mm zoom.

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