The Soft Light of Spring

The Soft Light of SpringNew, fresh, aspen leaves catch soft light in a Colorado forest near Crested Butte.

We haven't had much of a winter in Colorado this year. It's been unseasonably warm with less than half our normal snowfall. This has some of us hoping for an early, wetter spring.

Sometimes spring arrives screaming in blazing sunlight, blue skies, and green grass and leaves, but I prefer the days when spring whispers in softer, quieter hues. When fresh aspen leaves sprout, they are a delicious lime green and almost transparent. These margarita-colored youngsters glow with any available light, even in deep shade. They only look like this for a few days, so I have to work quickly when the light calls me. I have several favorite groves that sprout at different times, so I may get a couple of weeks with soft, spring light before the leaves become dark green and opaque. 

"The Soft Light of Spring" was found in a grove very near my condo in Crested Butte, Colorado. This grove overlooks the East River Valley along the drive to the former mining town of Gothic. The Rocky Mountain Biological Lab now occupies the town of Gothic. To capture the feeling of soft light that impressed me with this scene, I used the lens that lives on my Nikon D800. The Nikon 24-120mm f4 lens has the greatest range, is tack-sharp, and is easy to hold, even though I always use a tripod for my landscape photos. The focal length was 105mm, adding a little compression to the depth of the forest. My aperture was f8, which narrowed the depth of focus a little. This combination creates a subtle effect of softness since the trees and leaves become less in focus as your eyes travel through the image. The illumination came from bright, overcast skies, my favorite light for intimate forest and flower photos. 

Processing the RAW file is a bit tricky. I ended up reducing contrast and increasing the exposure a tad to present the scene as I experienced it. A slight vignette is used to keep the viewer's eyes in the scene. I hope "The Soft Light of Spring" evokes the same feeling I had when you see it. 

With forecasted temperatures in the mid-60s this week, spring, sadly, may not be a long wait!

Elk Avenue Big Snow

Elk Aveune Big SnowSnow came quickly and in abundance early in the winter of 2007-2008 in Crested Butte, Colorado blanketing the colorful, Victorian era shops with tons of fresh white powder.

Today we're getting the first big snowstorm of our winter season. It's about two months late, but we're thrilled to see it. 

It's amazing the transformation our little town makes under fresh, deep powder. It becomes like a movie set. In fact, it has been just that a few times back in the day. Walking down Elk Avenue, our main street, feels like walking into a fairy tale. It was especially so during the winter of 2007-2008. We had nearly 400 inches of snowfall that winter. The snowbanks between the street and sidewalk provided a safe, quiet haven as you walked by the colorful shops and restaurants. Besides being a magical experience, it provided some pretty great photos. Several of my most popular images were captured that winter. They continue to excite the magic eighteen years later.

Photographers and artists get excited for our big snowstorms because they create a big change in our everyday scenery. That change does not last very long, though. Even before it quits snowing, the plows and shovels come out to help us get around, walk without falling, and find a place to park, spoiling the freshly fallen powder. But the opportunity for new, different photos is awesome and puts us all to work at the crack of dawn.

Everyone else gets excited because it means that we may have great wildflowers next summer, and the rivers and lakes will fill up, sending precious water down the rivers to millions of our friends and neighbors.

I like this particular photo and composition because it shows almost a complete block of buildings buried under fresh, deep snow. The Old Town Hall building with the bell tower, and being the tallest, at the right end of the lineup, anchors the composition and provides a place for your eyes to land. Compositionally, it's all about finding good lighting on a great subject, then leading your eye through the image. The line of the snowbank against the shops provides a bit of a leading line as well. This photograph was taken about 20 minutes before sunrise so the light is nice and soft. It was followed by a yummy breakfast at Paradise Cafe. And, that's why I like "Elk Avenue Big Snow".

New Year's Eve Celebration

New Years Eve CelebrationEach New Year's Eve Crested Butte Mountain Resort celebrates the end of the year with a torchlight parade, the Bat Signal, and fireworks.

It's New Year's Eve again! 

I was hoping to update this older photo of our base village with the torchlight parade and fireworks tonight, but it's not going to happen.

So many things have to come together at the same time for this scene to work. We have to have good snow cover, which is the big problem this year. We have lots of patches of brown grass and a dirt parking lot that need to be covered with snow. The temperatures have to be warm enough to endure a 30-minute exposure standing in the elements. Speaking of the elements, it can't be snowing. The only consistent great thing about creating this image is that they don't wait until midnight to celebrate. The whole thing happens before 6:30 pm. 

So, this year, with our warm temps but little snow, I'll be enjoying my living room fire and a movie. I'm not complaining. I have gotten to photograph this celebration about 6-8 times with perfect conditions during my tenure here. The image above, however, is my most recent and favorite. If it were to happen tonight, the only real difference would be that the illumination of the peak does not happen anymore. We called it "The Bat Signal".  So, not much would be different if we had great conditions. We're praying for snow! 

I hope you all have a very Happy New Year and enjoy my "New Year's Eve Celebration" photo until it can be updated.

The Gateway to Solitude

The Gateway to SolitudeBright white aspen trunks are surrounded by golden leaves near the Dyke Trail below the Raggeds Wilderness Area in western Colorado.

I love photographing aspen trees. Even though they're clones and supposedly genetically identical, they can be very different from other trees not very far away. Some aspen trees have grey or greenish trunks, some are bright white. I'm not sure why.

This particular grove of trees is one of my very favorite to photograph because the trunks are tall, straight, and bright white. These subjects also occupy a hillside below one of Colorado's most photographed autumn locations, the Ruby Range along Kebler Pass Road. I have captured many images of the Ruby Range and the dike formation in all seasons, but I also enjoy discovering more intimate landscapes within the larger views.

I prefer to photograph aspen trees in bright, diffused light like I find on overcast fall days. To my eyes, direct sunlight creates too much contrast and distracting shadows that hide the natural beauty of the forest and the individual trees. This soft light accentuates the white tree trunks and helps to saturate the color in the golden leaves and understory. This soft light also helps create a quiet, intimate feel to the scene. While the diffused, overcast light creates an intimate feeling in a small landscape, it has the opposite effect on a grander landscape featuring a lot of sky. As one of my mentors, Alan Rokach, said, "The best light for photography is the light you have." Thankfully, this landscape is close enough to my home that I get to visit it in many different light conditions.

I hope you enjoy "The Gateway to Solitude".

Anthracite Morning

Antracite MorningA passing cloud helps frame the Anthracite Range in Gunnison County, Colorado with morning sunlight on a beautiful autumn day.

The Anthracite Range is one of my favorite subjects. It's not far from my home and just over Ohio Pass. This "sleeper" photo was not exactly what I was hoping for while creating photos that morning. I recently discovered this outtake while searching for a different image.

My plan was to capture a panoramic view of the Anthracite Range with the fence and fall-colored grasses in the foreground. Passing clouds were proving to be a challenge with lighting my subject, however. So, while waiting for the light I wanted, I captured this photo almost out of boredom. Then, I forgot about it. This happened on October 3 of 2015. Ten years later, almost to the day, I was looking for a different older image and stumbled upon this one with the deep shadowed foreground. The dramatic lighting really made the Anthracites pop. I decided to do a little editing and finish what I had started accidentally 10 years earlier.

This version of "Anthracite Morning" ended up being much more dramatic than what I was hoping for that day. I'm really happy that I did not delete the file. The imposing shadow, the lingering clouds, and the dramatic sky all add to the mood of the photo. The scene has not changed over the past 10 years, but I guess that I have. My desire to share a more moody, dramatic image of the Anthracites has developed over time. I still like my originals, but I'm writing about this one today. A psychiatrist might have a good time with this story, but I'm just enjoying the trip. I hope you do too!

Fall Takes Flight

Fall Takes FlightWhile waiting for some clouds to move along, a slight breeze sent a million aspen leaves airborn over the East River Valley near Crested Butte, Colorado. Pure magic!

A few weeks ago, I drove out toward Gothic, Colorado, in search of fall colors and especially hoping for a new, colorful panorama of Whiterock Mountain overlooking the East River valley. The sky was filled with fast-moving clouds and spotty sunshine, adding to the challenge of the mission.

After finding a suitable pull-out, I prepared my camera, lens, and tripod for the panoramic image I had in my mind. Once I got set up, all I had to do was wait for the spots of sunshine to illuminate the colorful aspen forest and the peak of the mountain. This could take some time! 

A few minutes after I got set up, another car pulled up behind mine, and a couple got out and started walking toward me. The man looked toward his partner and said, "I think I know this guy". As it turned out, he had taken a photo tour I had led years earlier with the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival. We talked shop, all the time waiting and watching the clouds and sunlight move across the scene. After about 45 minutes, a slight breeze blew down the valley and lifted about a million golden aspen leaves into the air around us. All three of us snapped photos as the leaves gently sailed down the valley. Once the scene passed, one of them said, "Did that really happen"? We all got to capture a magical moment. Even though it was not what we stopped for or were hoping for, it was magical nonetheless.

"Fall Takes Flight" is my version of the magic. If the clouds had not shaded most of the scene, the yellow aspen leaves would not have been visible. What we were hoping for was exactly the opposite of what was needed for magic to happen. These ironic moments happen frequently while chasing nature and landscape images. What we go out hoping for is seldom what we come home with. Maybe that's why I keep doing this!

First Snow On Kebler Pass

First Snow PanoramaThe first snow of the season leaves yellow aspen leaves the only color in the grove.

Today is this kind of day. Grey skies with light snow falling on what remains of our colorful aspen forests signal a change of seasons. 

While changing seasons can bring on feelings of melancholy, they can also bring excitement. Watching the landscape change from an extraordinarily colorful palette to a monochrome view causes a shift in my perspective. How I view the world around me changes from chasing splashes of color to finding compositions in shapes, shadows, and a sculpted landscape. 

This grove of aspen trees is always one of the last to shed its leaves. I'm not sure why, but I have more than a few versions of this scene captured over the years. I like the panorama format for this scene because it helps remove a lot of dreary sky and brown foreground while focusing on the golden subjects.

This scene was captured on film with a Hasselblad XPan panorama camera and its 90mm lens. Today I would use my Nikon D850 with its trusty 24-120mm lens, capturing 7 or 8 overlapping frames and then stitching them together in Adobe Camera Raw software. While the technology and equipment have changed over time, the vision and message of the image remain the same. I can't remember ever selling this photograph. I believe the only copy is hanging in my hallway. I hope you enjoy "First Snow on Kebler Pass". It won't be long before all the colors will be gone!

Historic Beckwith Ranch Panorama

Historic Beckwith Ranch PanoramaThe historic Beckwith Ranch in morning light with snow-covered Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the distance, bathed in morning light.

A few days ago I passed by the Historic Beckwith Ranch near Westcliffe, Colorado. I drive by this site a couple of times every year on my way to Oklahoma to visit family. For my past 20 or 30 visits, there has always been a problem with creating a photograph. Either there was a construction vehicle in the drive, the sky was overcast, there was road construction, etc. There was always something to quell the excitement of getting photos of this iconic landmark.

But Tuesday was different. There were no vehicles. There was fresh snow on the Sangre de Cristos. There was a perfectly Colorado Blue sky. There was no horrible traffic. The grass was green and not brown.

So, I pulled off the highway to capture a few photos. 

The first thing one notices about the site is the huge contrast between the white buildings and the landscape. White buildings are a bonus since our eyes are naturally drawn to the brighter, more contrasty parts of a scene. The second thing one notices is that the subjects on the site create a long, skinny, horizontal line across the foreground. The scene seems to demand a panoramic approach. Once you start thinking about the majestic Sangre de Cristo Range in the distance with a topping of fresh snow, the decision seems to be made before you even set up a tripod. 

I set up my bomber Really Right Stuff tripod because I use it for every landscape photo, and it was also extremely windy last Tuesday. I also used an RRS panorama rig to keep the camera level as I made several photographs that I would eventually stitch together to form the panorama. Finding a place to physically set up the tripod was a challenge since the roadway has no shoulders and the land slopes down toward the ranch fairly steeply. Also, avoiding the fence and the power lines between me and my subject was pretty challenging. But I did find a spot that included a bonus tree on the left side of the frame. The exposure was simple. ISO 100, 1/100 second at f16 using the "sunny 16 rule" I learned in college shooting film. I made 4 panoramas using different focal lengths to give me some options when I put the images together, and this is my favorite of the 4. The fence does not encroach on the image. There's just enough sky to give the mountains a little breathing room. And, the power lines do not show. My camera was my trusty Nikon D850, and the lens was the 24-120mm f4 by Nikon. 

It only took 20 years to get the photo from my mind into the camera, but I think it was worth the effort. I hope you do too!

Sunlight Finds Frost

Sunlight Finds FrostDelicate frost decorates fallen aspen leaves as autumn makes way for winter's chill.

I like to photograph the collision of the seasons. There's something very ephemeral about that time that motivates me to get out the door and find what I can before I can't. 

When the breeze brings the golden aspen leaves to the ground, their color doesn't last very long. It's only a day, or maybe even hours, before the yellow gives way to dark brown or even black once they hit the ground.  A photographer has to be on top of things to capture their color before it looks more like death. I think the contrast between the green undergrowth and the golden leaves looks a lot more interesting than with the darker leaves, even though the darker ones contrast better with the frost. The mixture works for me too.

Once I arrived and found this composition, I only had a couple of minutes before the frost turned to dewdrops as the sun spread its warmth across the ground. Really ephemeral! As a landscape photographer, I don't spend enough time looking down for these micro-compositions, so when I find one I love, it's truly special. I hope you find "Sunlight Finds Frost" as special as I do.

Pasque Paradise

Pasque ParadisePasque flowers bloom on the forest floor near Crested Butte, Colorado.

Pasque flowers are among the first to bloom near my home. In dryer areas they can bloom as early as mid-April when the snows melt and leaves the forest floor a little damp. They can continue to bloom well into June in areas that receive more snow or are shaded under a forest canopy.

My favorite group to photograph bloom in June under a very shady canopy of conifer trees. You can see the proliferation of pine needles around the flowers in the photo. Pasque flowers offer a stark color contrast to the brown of the forest floor. They are also kind of fun to watch as patches of sunshine break through the canopy above. It only takes a minute or two of direct sunlight to get them to open their petals to the warmth of the light. You can see the closed and open difference in the photo. That's what I like about "Pasque Paradise". It tells a little story about a beautiful bit of nature. 

These flowers only grow to a few inches tall so to photograph them with respect a photographer has to get down on their level. My "wet belly" days are drawing to a close but I still enjoy chasing these little beauties. They seem to be a wonderful subject for Easter weekend. I hope you like them too.

Painter Boy Columbine

Painter Boy ColumbineA Colorado Blue Columbine, the state flower, blooms beside the hulk of an abandoned blue truck at the Painter Boy Mine in Gunnison County, Colorado.

Right after I moved to Colorado, I spent lots of time exploring the backcountry around my home in Crested Butte. There were a handful of backroads that I would travel in my diesel VW Rabbit. Most of these roads were more appropriate for a Jeep or other 4 wheel drive vehicle, which I did not own. Thanks to the very short wheelbase, my Rabbit survived the journeys. Many days I was lucky to make it home.

About five and a half miles from my home was the Painter Boy mine site. It was a spot where hearty miners searched for gold, silver, and lead. I'm not sure how successful they were, but they left behind an old International truck and a little bit of building. In the late afternoon, the truck made a cool silhouette against Crested Butte Mountain in the distance. Today, there's only a tiny bit of truck left at the site. The building is long gone. The owners of the property have it pretty well closed off to visitors.

Painter Boy Mine ViewThe old International truck at the abandoned Painter Boy Mine near Crested Butte, Colorado is silhouetted below Crested Butte Mountain in the distance.

While exploring the scene, I noticed the single Colorado Blue Columbine growing below the front fender of the remains of the truck. The contrasts of nature vs. industry, soft vs. hard, new vs. old, and alive vs. dead were just too much to pass up. Even though the shadows made exposure difficult, I was able to record the scene above. For the contrasts stated, this has always been a favorite scene of mine, even though it has generated no commercial value. I don't remember ever selling a single print of this photograph. That's the way art seems to work. The creations of the artist frequently don't align with market forces and we are left with personal images that matter only to us. I have many, but there's still time for "Painter Boy Columbine" to turn the corner!

Mystery Falls - Elko Park

Mystery Falls - Elko ParkA small waterfall seems to flow from solid rock in Elko Park, Colorado, Gunnison County.

It was the summer of 1992. I was still exploring the abundant backcountry around Crested Butte, Colorado, with my trusty 4 x 5 Wista field camera when I wandered into Elko Park with my new Nissan Pathfinder.  Those were the days! 

I could see a small stream but couldn't see its source, so I found a precarious parking spot and started to hike upstream. I had not walked far when I discovered the source of the stream seemed to flow from a large block of stone. The water seemed to gush from a hole in the boulder. I was intrigued. As it turned out, there was a long, deep ledge along the face of the stone that created a shelf for the water. It was pretty cool. But "Mystery Falls - Elko Park" was better-left a visual mystery. So, I photographed the scene leaving the source of the flow a mystery. I think it makes a more interesting photograph and becomes more intriguing. 

Satisfied with my new discovery, I hiked back to my Pathfinder only to discover that I had a flat tire. My vehicle was parked on a 20-30 degree slope, making a tire change precarious at best and probably extremely dangerous. Did I mention that there was no one else around? For probably miles? There was yet another discovery to be made. The rod that turns the jack was missing from my new car. I had to use a screwdriver that forced me to place myself very close to, and below, my tilted car, using a screwdriver to slowly lift it onto three wheels. Needless to say, I survived, and I eventually parted ways with my Pathfinder after 248,000 miles. 

This is one of many transparencies that have been hidden my archives for decades. A deep dive into those files happened this week, resulting in me finding some lost treasures. I hope you like "Mystery Falls - Elko Park" as much as I do. I hope I don't like it just because of the difficulty it was creating it.

A Visit to San Miguel de Allende

San Miguel de Allende SunsetA curved street leads to the Parroquia San Miguel just after sunset.

Years ago, I was invited to join a group of photographers from the Kansas City area on a trip to San Miguel de Allende in the mountains of central Mexico. Little did I know it would be the trip of a lifetime. Besides photographing historic San Miguel, we had some day-trips to  Guanajuato City and the historic silver mining district of Pozos.

Worshippers Enter on their Knees at Santario Atotonilco.The Santuario Atotonilco near San Miguel de Allende in central Mexico is a World Heritage Site that welcomes worshippers entering on their knees. Since moving to Colorado, I have focused most of my photography on capturing the epic western mountain landscapes around my home. The Mexico trip gave me the opportunity to re-explore my photojournalist roots by doing street photography.

The photo at left shows worshippers entering the Santuario Atontonilco, a few miles from San Miguel. How long they had been on their knees was a mystery to me since this scene unfolded and was over in a matter of a few minutes. It was apparently a common occurrence since the sister never stopped sweeping. This Sanctuary was on a list of "most endangered monuments" when we visited, due to the deteriorating condition of the frescoes covering the ceiling and walls. It's now a World Heritage Site.

The beautiful, but dark sanctuary offered its own beauty. Cleaning the Santuario AtotonilcoA sister tips up the benches in the ornate and historic Santuario Atotonilco near San Miguel de Allende in central Mexico. While the sister tipped the benches to sweep, I was able to capture the light and forms of the chapel. It was very quiet. 

The technology available in 2007, when this trip was made, was in its infancy. Many of my photos from the trip suffered from technical shortcomings, which can be overcome by today's software. Noise reduction in dark chapels as well as sharpness issues, can be corrected 18 years later. Reediting these photos has brought new life to older photos.

Lunch Among the LemonsTwo musicians entertain lunch guests at the Posada Carmina patio in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. One odd thing about this trip...we kept running into other photographers we knew. That's not something you expect 3,000 miles from home. As it turned out, the late Nancy Rotenberg was leading a workshop there at the time. I knew Nancy, having provided photo lab support to her wildflower workshops in Crested Butte over the years. National Geographic also had a group workshop in the area. There were photographers everywhere! 

Street photography is all about being present and attentive to what is going on around you. Thankfully, most of the folks on the streets where we were photographing were either used to being photo subjects or they were just friendly. The photos worked either way. I'm not sure these images could be made today. November FlowersFlowers and a pretty smile decorate a balcony in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Like I said at the start...trip of a lifetime. 

Laughing Girls of Guanajuato CityTwo girls share some laughter on the steps of the Basilica Colegiata de Nuestra Senora de Guanajuato. "Laughing Girls at the Basilica" is probably my very favorite photo from the trip. I captured a single frame before they became shy. This image was from a day trip to Guanajuato City, the state capital. The entire city is a World Heritage Site, and we could have spent the entire week there without running out of subject matter. There is an overlook of the city which was truly amazing for a guy who loves panoramas. I'll have to share that one later, but the population density was incredible for a photographer living in rural Colorado.

"Teach Me to Pray" (below) runs a close second in my favorites list. It was just a quick look inside the church with great timing that led to this image. It was made with a brand new Canon G9 camera purchased just for this trip. That camera, it turned out, was absolutely lousy for its intended purpose. It was not sharp. It suffered from a lot of noise in the dark, shadow areas of the photos. 

Its only benefit was that it was small enough to fit in my pocket. We live and we learn!

Teach Me To PrayA mother and young son stop by the sanctuary in Pozos, Mexico for a time of prayers.

Thanks for letting me share this, rather long, post. Revisiting these images has been a gratifying way to relive a great trip with friends.