LAST COLOR BEFORE THE STORM ©2010

This image was made several days ago while camping near the San Juan's to the south. I had photographed this landscape several weeks earlier, but the color was just starting to show. This time it was just over the top, but still quite striking.

I just managed to complete my image before a storm front moved in over the mountains to the south, and it dumped several inches of fresh snow on the San Juan's that night.

This is a classic example of an S-curve which leads the viewer's eye into the image.

To view a larger images, left click on the photograph with your mouse.

THE REAL MOUNTAINS ©2010

We were camping up near this area last week and I made several short trips into the lower San Juan's. There is fresh snow on the mountains which fell during the previous night.

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These are the real mountains and there are at least two in the background which are over fourteen thousand feet. They call these "fourteeners" out here, and there are people who try to climb them all. One fellow fell to his death this past summer and I am told that it has become a regular occurrence. Falls and rock slides cause most of the deaths. Don't let anyone tell you that these are easy climbs.

This looked like an interesting image waiting to be captured, so it joined my collection of Colorado landscapes.

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To see a larger view, left click on the image.

CANYON TRAIL ©2010

Escalante Canyon is located thirty miles north of Montrose, CO and it makes for a great day trip.

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In our opinion, this canyon is about as close as you can get to Canyonlands NP on a small-scale basis. The red-rock cliffs can tower several hundred feet above you, and the red sandstone is just as bright here as anywhere else across the Colorado Plateau.

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The purpose of my day trip was to photograph cottonwood trees in full color and the adventure produced great results. The image that was posted yesterday on the following entry is wall-to-wall color. But it is tough to beat the yellow cottonwood standing next to a towering red cliff.

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Left click on the mouse to enlarge the above image.

WALL-TO-WALL COLOR ©2010

A couple of weeks ago I took a trip up to Escalante Canyon. The cottonwoods were in full color and the lighting was perfect. It was a bright cloudy day with back lighting. You must left click on the image to even come close to experiencing what I captured here.

Behind this thicket of small trees was a bright red vertical cliff of sandstone which added to the tone of the image you see here.

This was a wonderful fall, and I managed to capture it at many levels, from nine thousand feet to about four thousand here at the bottom of the canyon. One could spend about a month moving from one elevation level to another to capture these images. As the aspens ran their course, the cottonwoods began their round.

-Left click on image to enjoy a larger view of the cottonwood forest.

CHANGING OF THE COLOR ©2010

This image was made at about the eight thousand foot level of the Cimarron Range in SW Colorado.

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I spotted the concept immediately and went to work. I used the cattails and other foilage in the foreground for starters and then concentrated on the reflections and the bright yellow aspens in the background. It all framed up nicely, and then I waited for a few minutes for the ripples on the pond to settle down a bit, and once all the elements were in place, I made my exposure.

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Oh yes, I almost always use a polarizing filter to cut down on unwanted reflections. Notice, I said unwanted, not wanted. The reflections in the pond were just perfect; yet controlled. I also waited for some of the fast-moving clouds to pass over the area to allow direct sunlight to fall directly on the aspens.

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If you would like to view a larger image, left click on the photograph.