Sunset Flowers

With all the rain from this spring the prairie is flourishing with sunflowers and cactus flowers. This is the first attempt at capturing the flowers. This along with the lightning is an evolving process but I am intrigued.

Walking Stick Cactus silhouetted by the sunset. 

Walking Stick cactus with flowers.

Walking Stick cactus flowers.

Sunflower in the sunset.

Sunflowers being silhouetted by the sunset.

A Storm Rolling Through Pueblo West

Once again, as it has done for the last month and a half, a storm rolled in over Pueblo West. Tonight I finally got out and got some decent pictures of it. Shooting sky's and especially longer exposure night shots is not something I do very often, so bear with me, as there is definitely a learning curve, and I will get better with time and practice, I promise!

Looking south-east North Purcell.

Same direction 15 minutes later.

Looking south-west from North Purcell.

Looking west from North Purcell.

Same storm 30 minutes after the previous picture was taken looking south-east, same place the rainbow picture was taken.

Looking south-east still.

Looking south-east still.

The People of Pueblo

Pueblo is known as The Home of Heroes because of the four Medal of Honor Recipients that are from Pueblo. While this a fact that cannot and should not be disputed, it is also representative of Pueblo as a community.  Home of Heroes, everyday heroes, heroes that get up everyday, head to work to provide for themselves, their families and contribute to the community. I intentionally left out our firemen and police officers because they are a different kind of hero that receives recognition in a different way. This portrait series is about lesser known and appreciated heroes, business owners, business professionals and the everyday working person. We have them all, and the following is just a small cross-section of the diverse working population of the everyday heroes of Pueblo.

Mike is the owner/operator of Mike's Top Tire Spot on 4th Street.

Tonya is the owner/operator of Slug & Chug food-truck.

Phyllis is the owner/operator of Tumbleweed Books on Union.

Dawn is the owner/operator of Karmic Konnection on Union.

John works in the wind energy industry.

Kevin is the Chief Information Officer at Pueblo Bank and Trust.

Kelli and Olivia are nurses at Parkview Medical Center.

Naul is a sanitation worker with Waste Connections.

Jason is a service technician at American Furniture Warehouse.

Jullian, Deven, Noah and Christian arecar wash attendants at the Octopus Car Wash on Elizabeth.

Donny, Jarred and Jeff are sales associates at Vapor Source on Elizabeth.

Yago is a bartender at The Downtown Bar at City Center Plaza.

Michelle is an attendant at a Heritage Organics, a recreational marijuana store in Pueblo West.

Michael is a liquor store attendant at Warehouse Liquor.

Sam is a tattoo artist at Tattoos Unlimited on Union.

Strengthening The Chain

Today the restaurant chain got stronger here in Pueblo as Dunkin' Donuts opened their doors for business. With a ribbon cutting ceremony with members of the Pueblo Chamber of Commerce Dunkin' Donuts is back after a 20 year hiatus. Located in the former Del Taco building on the corner of Elizabeth and Highway 50, Dunkin' Donuts is in a prime spot for pulling in morning commuters headed to work or school and will be opening another store on Northern Avenue later this summer.

People steadily poured into Dunkin' Donuts since 7am.