Crested Butte Mountain Summer

Crested Butte Mountain SummerWildflowers bloom below Crested Butte Mountain. Crested Butte, Colorado is the wildflower capital of Colorado and hosts a week-long wildflower festival every summer.

Crested Butte just broke 300" of snowfall for the season. We're not done yet either. These "Atmospheric Rivers" have been great for building our snowpack. And it's not just here. Park City, Utah has gotten over 500". Some ski areas in California are over 700". We do need the moisture to reverse this 20-year drought we've been in.

Big snowfalls are also really good for our summer wildflowers. Although it may take a little longer for the ground to clear and the flowers to bloom, the stage is set for a very colorful summer in the Rockies. I guess that's why Crested Butte has been declared "The Wildflower Capital of Colorado".

"Crested Butte Mountain Summer" was created in 2011. I don't really remember the previous winter but I'm guessing the snow was abundant. It's a little unusual for this many species to all bloom at the same time. It's more normal for them to bloom in stages. Especially in the meadow pictured above. The variety of colors and the sky are what got me out of the car on this day. Having a dramatic sky in a landscape photograph is a requirement for me. I also love the way the scene is illuminated. The peak of Crested Butte Mountain has nice, bright light, the flowers in the foreground are not in direct sunlight but they are brighter than the middle ground where there's nothing going on. Since our eyes are naturally drawn to the brighter parts of a scene it's important for our subject to have adequate illumination. Landscape photographers can spend hours waiting for the lighting of their scenes to develop. Sometimes it doesn't happen. This scene developed perfectly for me. There's not a thing I would change! I hope you enjoy "Crested Butte Mountain Summer".