Month: March 2020

What Now?

With a statewide stay-at-home order in effect here in Colorado, I wont be making any trips up to Rocky Mountain National Park or Boulder in the foreseeable future. The current pandemic is restricting mobility but will allow many photographers to explore their own backyards. I photographed this image here in my hometown of Erie, Colorado yesterday morning. Behind the windmill is Rocky Mountain National Park 40 or so miles west of my location. Mount Alice,Meeker,Longs Peak and Mt. Lady Washington can all be seen catching the warm light of sunrise. Technical Details: Nikon Z7, Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8 AF-VR FL lens

In the words of the great philosopher Ron Burgundy, ‘Well that escalated quickly’. In our current reality, keeping up with the latest closures, restrictions and advisements is becoming a full time job in and of itself.

First it was maintaining space and social distancing while out in public. Next it was a closure of Rocky Mountain National Park by the National Park Service and then the town of Estes Park. Finally, Boulder County issued a stay-at-home order along with other counties here in Colorado. The coup de grace finally coming when the governor of Colorado extended the stay-at-home order to extend to the entire state of Colorado in response to the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus.

Late last week I was hoping I would still be able to access Rocky Mountain National Park and the foothills of Boulder along with its great open space properties. Photography tours were out of the question but I figured I could continue to photograph, hike and get out in nature and enjoy solitude as I always do.

With the stay-at-home order extending throughout the state of Colorado thats not going to be happening anytime soon. So what am I going to do to pass time, stay busy, enjoy the outdoors and prevent my photography skills from getting rusty?. Thats fairly easy, I’ll photograph the areas in my hometown of Erie which I can walk, hike or bike to. Luckily for me, I live right along open space.

Coal Creek runs right behind my house and acts as great conduit for nature. Birds, Prairie Dog colonies, coyotes, foxes and some great sight-lines of the mountains including Rocky Mountain National Park will help to keep me occupied and outside during this difficult time.

So for the near future, look for most of posts either on my social media accounts or here on my blog to be images close to my house and easily accessible via walking or biking. While I cant wait to get out and get back into Rocky Mountain National Park or the parks of Boulder, photographing in my backyard, something I often dont have a lot of time for, will now become a fun project to dive into. We’ll see how it goes and I would suggest other photographers now restricted to their local municipalities to do the same. It may not be as glamorous as one of our iconic national parks, but it will keep you occupied, outside and your skills sharp.

New Reality

As of this writing, Rocky Mountain National Park is still open for business. While the impacts from the Corona Virus (Covid-19) have been debilatating here in Colorado, I’ll still attempt to keep some normalcy in my routine and will get out as long as I can to enjoy nature and continue to photograph that beauty. Even amongst all the grim news of this new reality, mornings like yesterdays in RMNP still allow for reprive and renewal. Technical Details: Nikon Z7, Nikkor 24-70mm F4 S lens

There has been quite a lot going on since my last post to the blog. The now well known Corona virus or Covid-19 as its known was picking up steam in Asia and starting to affect Europe. While I had been following developments since early January, much of what was going on seemed far off and distance. While I knew with our interconnected world, the virus would eventually appear in the United States, it was hard to know what the impact would be on the United States as well as Colorado.

Here I sit on March 18th, 2020 and the impact of Covid-19 is more than most of us could have imagined. Major cites in the United States are on lockdown and travel has been curtailed in most locations. Currently for Colorado, and more specifically Rocky Mountain National Park the impacts have been severe but not yet crippling.

With restaurants and bars closed with the exception of pickup only, and most of my fellow Coloradans working from home or furloughed, the prudent thing to do limit contact with others in public places and follow the CDC guidelines for our newest catch phrase regarding ‘Social Distancing’. Life has been greatly altered and the apprehension and anxiety that goes with having daily life turned upside down is palatable.

The current situation makes landscape and wildlife photography seem unimportant in the grand scheme of things. While this may have merit on many levels, the truth is being out in nature is still just as important as it ever has been. Trying to adhere to some form of a daily routine is important to allow for normalcy and furthermore, at some point in the future we will move forward from our current situation.

With Rocky Mountain National Park still open with recommendations that social distancing and CDC guidelines be adhered to, I will continue to photograph Rocky Mountain National Park as long as access is possible. It’s a nice distraction to the wave of news that many are exposed to far too long as we isolate in our homes and apartments waiting for the next ball to drop.

So I’ll keep photographing Rocky Mountain National Park as long as I can as we move through this crisis. Photography tours and workshops are still possible during this time but precautions and space will be needed to do so. The situation is constantly evolving so this may change in the near future and it’s possible access and travel could be further restricted.

I’ll keep the blog updated and for some reason if I cant photograph Rocky Mountain National Park or the areas around Boulder in the near future due to restricted access or closings, I’ll find something to photograph and post to the blog.

Lets keep our fingers crossed that we can get through this difficult time quickly and with as little collateral damage as possible to our personal and work lives. As always, nature is still there doing her thing with little regard to what humans are doing or thinking. She still acts as a great reprieve and renewal and even during these difficult times we should attempt to keep some normalcy in our current new reality. Stay safe out there.