Autumn afternoon in the mountains near Telluride, Colorado, yesterday afternoon
I had planned to go to the Alabama Hills or Death Valley for last Sunday’s lunar eclipse, but high clouds streamed in from the Pacific and threatened to block the view. So at the last minute Claudia and I decided to go further south, toward clear skies that were visible on satellite photos. We ended up in Joshua Tree National Park – along with many, many other people who seemed to think this was a good place to view the eclipse.
They were right of course – it was a great place. And the skies cooperated for the most part. I captured a sequence that I think will work, but I haven’t had a chance to process it yet, because the next morning we started driving to Colorado. We loved our autumn visit last year, and just had to go back. Colorado welcomed us with some nice clouds on our first afternoon; I’ve included one image from that evening above.
We’ll be here for another week, then will be heading back to our favorite aspen haunts in the eastern Sierra. I guess I can’t get enough aspens! I’ll post more photos when I can.
— Michael Frye
Related Posts: This Sunday’s Lunar Eclipse; Aspen Pilgrimage
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Michael Frye is a professional photographer specializing in landscapes and nature. He is the author or principal photographer of The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite, Yosemite Meditations, Yosemite Meditations for Women, Yosemite Meditations for Adventurers, and Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters. He has also written three eBooks: Light & Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom, Exposure for Outdoor Photography, and Landscapes in Lightroom 5: The Essential Step-by-Step Guide. Michael has written numerous magazine articles on the art and technique of photography, and his images have been published in over thirty countries around the world. Michael has lived either in or near Yosemite National Park since 1983, currently residing just outside the park in Mariposa, California.
Michael,
Welcome back autumn in the to the Centennial State!
I was up in Aspen last week to photograph the Maroon Bells and hit it at just about peak color change at that altitude and latitude. The aspens on the road back to the Bells had all essentially dropped their leaves. Due to a very wet spring and summer the yellow leaves in that shady canyon had developed black/brown spots from a fungus and fell off early. However, in the opening around Maroon Lake with the Bells in the background, the slopes were resplendent with yellow, gold and a few clones of salmon colored aspens. The sky was quintessential Colorado steel blue but there was a paucity of clouds. I guess you can’t have everything perfect.
Shooting this iconic area is a challenge in that so many of the pictures all look the same (not to mention the numbers of us photographers jockeying for the best vantage points!). I tried to vary angles, focal lengths and views in an attempt to capture something different. I was not totally satisfied but these 5 came out fairly well, at least by my amateur standards.
http://mountainmemories.zenfolio.com/p206125741
I had not been in this area of the state for over a decade and it is still spectacular even though one must go by shuttle bus back to the lake and the Bells.
Hope you and Claudia catch some great shots!
Jim
Thanks Jim! It looks like you got to photograph the Maroon Bells at close to peak color, which is great. I’ve avoided that circus, but maybe one of these days…
Michael,
It can, indeed, be a circus but much less so if one avoids weekends. Of course, weekends anywhere in Colorado during aspen season implies traffic jams. Usually, like you did to get your great picture, I take to the 4WD trails to avoid the crowds, go during the weekdays to avoid the traffic and enjoy the solitude of the aspen forests.
Hope you post more of your CO photos!
Well it’s not just the weekends. We’ve encountered a lot of people out in quite remote places requiring long drives on dirt roads, even during the week.