As we trundle through a long spring that has felt much more like winter in Rocky, warm weather has me eagerly looking forward to summertime adventures in Rocky Mountain National Park. Mornings like this one on Trail Ridge are epic and I cant help to daydream about this summers possibilities. Technicial Details: Canon EOS 1Ds III, 17mm TS-E F4 LWe finally had what seems like our first spate of warm weather this spring. Temperatures in the 70’s had me daydreaming about possibilities and adventures planned as the high country finally begins its thaw out.
The summer season in Rocky Mountain National Park is always too short. Just when you feel like your hitting your stride, cold weather settles back in and one’s left to contemplate all the places you did not have enough time to visit.
Therein lies the beauty of being on the cusp of summer. The possibilities and adventures are endless. I wont even scratch the surface of the adventures I conjure up in my head, but the excitement and anticipation is palatable.
Who knows what this summer will bring. Which lake in Rocky will I be out this summer as an epic sunrise unfolds over the beautiful peaks of the park?. I cant wait to find out. For now it’s time to take the dog out for a walk on another pleasant morning. That’s because if you didn’t hear, we’ve got heavy snow moving in again tonight!.
Is this Alaska or Rocky Mountain National Park?. It’s quickly nearing the end of April in Rocky but you wouldn’t know it by looking at this image of Moraine Park. Moraine Park is covered in over a foot of new snow and the Big Thompson river is completely iced over. Technical Details: Canon EOS 1Ds III, 17mm F4 TS-E LNormally I would expect for the Big Thompson river to be flowing at a steady pace this time of year. The winter melt off in the high country would have begun and the streams around Rocky would be thawing and filling with this winters snowmelt. The end of April is a transitional season, the end of April this year seems to have us transitioning back towards January.
Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park desperately need all the moisture they can get. April has helped to get the area nearer to normal levels. Bear Lake recorded 32 inches of fresh snow at the end of last week. All this moisture should go a long way to help mitigate the fire danger and provide a beautiful display of wildflowers through June, July and August for us photographers.
Finding running or open water anywhere in the park last week was a challenge. In fact it was mostly impossible. The best I could do is find some areas of open ice along the Big Thompson in Moraine Park to reflect this beautiful sunrise after trudging through the a few feet of snow in Moraine Park to get to this bend.
The warm weather, thawed lakes and snow free trails are just around the bend. I just need to keep reminding myself of this fact and keep the winter gear handy for a little while longer.
Sprague Lake reflects the steely blue colors of sunrise on its icy an thawing surface. Rocky Mountain National Park has been a personal photography project of mine or the last fourteen years. Projects, To-Do lists and staying in shape make it easier to take advantage of perfect conditions such as these. Technicial Details: Canon EOS 1Ds III, 24mm TS-E F3.5 L IIIt’s that time of year again. The time to start making plans for summer vacations and weekend trips to beautiful locations. It’s time to shake off the winter doldrums and dust off your camera gear and to start getting back out in the field to photograph again. It’s time to get motivated again and taking advantage of the upcoming season to add to your portfolio. Below are three simple and easy ideas that will help to improve your motivation and success rate this year.
1. Start A Project: Most photographers I know dream of travelling the world and heading to exotic locations to create images of the worlds most dramatic and beautiful locations. It sounds amazing and a lucky few may even get to pursue this endeavor. The reality is most of us will not be able to break out the black American Express card and start booking flights to Fiji or Bora Bora.
For most of us, we have limited time and resources available. Whether your a professional landscape photographer or a weekend warrior our time and resources are precious and limited. Starting a project and building a portfolio of work from that project is a great way to circumvent this problem. Not to sound like an economist as opposed to a photographer, but there are real efficiencies built into creating a specific body of work.
Projects allow a photographer to manage cost and expenses while maximizing their time and resources building a specific body of work. The more time you spend working on a specific project, the more you become and expert in that subject. Building on your knowledge of your subject while immersed in a project allows you to target locations, set goals, and intimately understand the workings of the subject and area. Like a rolling stone, the momentum of a project builds upon itself to produce superior results.
2. Make A To-Do List: I realize this is supposed to be a landscape photography blog, not time management 101 but hear me out. It’s contrary to how most believe landscape photography works but I believe its important even for photographers in the field.
Many believe that nature photographers wander around aimlessly until something strikes their fancy. While we have all used this technique to varying degrees and some probably have even had some moderate success doing so, I’d be willing to bet more often than not this technique ends with lots of missed opportunities and time spent out of location.
Having a subject To-Do list allows you to keep your eye on the prize and stay focused. I usually keep a list in the note section of my phone that’s easily accessible. The list acts as a way for me to quickly jog my memory and settle on a destination for a shoot.
It’s a loose list and its not meant to be the be all and end all, but it helps me to avoid ‘paralysis by analysis’ syndrome in the field. Indecisiveness causes delay, delays will often cause you to be out of position or rushed when the magic starts to unfold. Having a To-Do list of subjects or locations will let you quickly work through indecisiveness and increase your chance for success.
3. Get In Shape: I cant tell you how often on online forums I read about landscape photographers obsessing over the weight of their gear. There are pages of discussions online about the benefits of compact lightweight tripods. Most of these center on expensive tripods made of the latest state of the art composite materials which cost an arm and a leg to purchase.
A good tripod is certainly an asset and weight is a real issue that photographers need to be addressed. But lets be honest, the most beneficial way to cut down on weight in the field is probably staring right back at you when looking in the mirror. Losing a few pounds here and there will not only make you feel better, but being physically fit in the field with most certainly improve your photography.
Landscape photography involves early mornings and late nights in the fields. It most often involves hiking long distances over difficult terrain. Much of the time in the field may not be spent in ideal weather conditions either. To find dramatic lighting, photographers often have to work and function along the edges of lighting and weather conditions.
Working under these conditions can be challenging both physically and mentally. Being physically prepared to work under these circumstances is a benefit to your photography. Instead of being tired or worn down in the field, being fit will allow you to concentrate on your surroundings and more importantly your photography.
I find staying ‘field ready’ essential to my photography. It allows me to arrive on time to my destinations without feeling rushed. I can quickly recover from the physical challenge and spend time studying my subject and concentrating on my photography instead of trying to catch my breath and keep the sweat out of my eyes. You don’t need to start running ten miles a day to see the benefits of being physically fit. Small steps towards achieving this goal will immediately make a big difference in your photography.
I find these three steps beneficial to my landscape photography. What I find most beneficial about these three steps is that they are all free of charge. You wont need to spend thousands of dollars to see results. Enact these three steps even in small stages and I believe you will quickly see positive results to your photography.
Hallet Peak basks in the warm light of sunrise as snow and wind blow over the peak. Hallet Peak is one of the most recognizable features in Rocky Mountain National Park. Hallet make for a great subject for photography in the park. Technical Details: Canon EOS 1Ds III, 70-300mm F4-5.6 LIf push came to shove and I had to pick a favorite peak or mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park, I’d have to pick Hallet Peak. Picking a favorite peak is kind of like being asked which one of your children is your favorite. All of Rocky Mountain National Park is filled with spectacular peaks, playing favorites seems trivial.
Even so, Hallet Peak has a magical quality to it. Standing at 12,713 feet above sea level, it’s elevation is unremarkable compared to Colorado’s famous fourteen thousand foot peaks as well as Rocky’s own Longs Peak.
Hallet Peak, named after the early settler and rancher William L. Hallet makes up for it shorter stature with it’s physical location in the park. Hallet Peak resides in one of the most beautiful areas of not only Rocky Mountain National Park, but all of Colorado.
The blocky and tomahawk like shape of Hallet is stunning when viewed from the east side of the park. It’s even more impressive when viewed from the shores of one of the numerous alpine lakes that line Hallet’s base.
Regardless, Hallet calls to me like a siren. My camera trained on her striated granite features more times than I can count. Last week, I again found myself photographing Hallet from the flanks of the Bierstadt Moraine. And like and old friend, she delivered again.
Two small pines sit burried in a late season snowstorm at Emerald Lake. Spring is here in Rocky Mountain National Park in name only. Mother Nature set a reminder that the cold and snow is not quite finished in the park. Of course this weather made for a great few days of photography. Technicial Details: Canon EOS 1Ds III, 70-300mm F4-5.6 LSpring began in Rocky Mountain National Park in date only last week. It was anything but spring like as a powerful late season storm brought heavy snow which was followed by very cold air from our neighbors to the north.
I should know better, but every March a few days of mild weather makes me dream of the rapidly approaching summer season. Visions of warm days, bubbling streams, glass like alpine lakes and sunshine dance fill my thoughts. This latest storm quickly put a damper on those thoughts and a quick reset back to reality.
Last year at this time the lakes in Rocky where actually beginning to thaw and open up. Well, what a difference a year makes. I figured I’d take advantage of the winter like conditions and head up to Emerald Lake.
The area around Emerald Lake is a favorite of mine as stunted and twisted tree’s can be found around the lake. Snow and wind accompanied me on the hike up to Emerald. There would be no sunrise this morning, just clouds and blowing snow. In other words, a perfect spring day for a hike in the park.
I spent the morning photographing the stunted trees around Emerald Lake in the snow. It’s always a bit surreal walking around the frozen surface of a lake. It allows viewpoints and access one cant achieve when the lake is thawed but in the back of your mind your aware your standing in the middle of a frozen body of water.
The conditions were perfect for photographing the trees. The snow and blowing snow created a beautiful Hi-key affect that allowed endless compositions of my favorite subjects. So while I may have been bemoaning the weather the conditions allowed for a great few days of photography. I just enjoyed myself and the weather. Heck I’ll be shooting reflections of Hallet Peak in Emerald Lake in no time.
A muted but still colorful sunrise colors the sky over Glacier Gorge and a Krummholz tree. The conditions in Rocky during the month of March are ever changing which can make photography in the park both difficult and dynamic. Technicial Details: Canon EOS 1Ds III, 24mm TS-E F3.5 L IIMarch in the Rocky Mountains is a very dynamic month. In many ways, I find March to be one of the hardest months to successfully photograph. While most areas of the country are anticipating the start of spring like weather and mild days ahead, the Rockies instead ramp up winter for good measure.
With March being one of Rocky Mountain National Park’s wettest months, typically means nice dumps of snow and moisture. We of course desperately need the moisture but the combination of snow and winds that accompany each passing system can make it difficult to be out in the field photographing.
I look at the month of March as a tease. A few mild, warm and sunny days sprinkled in for good measure with a ragging blizzards and cold blustery northerly winds tossed in as reminder that winter still has a few good rounds left in her. In other words, March wants you to know it’s not quite time to unpack the Hawaiian shirts and flip flops just yet.
The weather this March in Rocky Mountain National Park has been mostly following along course. We’ve not seen a blizzard with heavy snow as of yet, and the park is desperately below the typical snowpack measurements, but March remains raw and ever changing.
With the lakes still frozen over and the streams just beginning to reveal moving water beneath the ice and thaw, I headed out looking for subjects that remain interesting regardless of the season. With a new storm system quickly descending on the park, I hiked up to a favorite location in Glacier Gorge.
The skies were cloudy and snow was moving in over the high peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park. I was hoping that the small break in the cloud cover on the eastern horizon would hold through sunrise and cause a kaleidoscope of colors as the cloud cover became illuminated by the sunrise.
A kaleidoscope of color was not to be this March morning in Glacier Gorge. There was however, just enough muted color in the sky over Glacier Gorge for a short time to make for a dynamic image of this krummholz tree.
This morning typifies this time of year in Rocky. Muted colors, cloud cover and snow partially covering the landscape as more begins to fall on the high peaks. A pair of Stellar Jays squawking at me as the sun rises over the Front Range of Colorado. It may be one of the more difficult and least inspiring times to photograph, but there are few other places I would rather be.
Snow falls hard on the willows and aspen boles of Horseshoe Park. These are some my favorite conditons to photograph Rocky Mountain National Park. The possibilities are endless for photography on days like these. Technicial Details: Canon Eos 1Ds III, 70-300mm F4-5.6 LDramatic sunrises and sunsets are hard to beat when it comes to photography. It’s hard to top the anticipation and excitement that comes from the experience of being in the right place at the right time and capturing the colors and intensity of an epic sunrise or sunset. I have to admit however, I enjoy being out in less ideal weather conditions just as much as I do the ideal ones.
Saturday was just such one of those days in Rocky Mountain National Park. The weather forecast called for blizzard like conditions during the day with high winds and heavy snow. Sounded like a perfect March day in Rocky to me.
Photographing in snow I really enjoy, high winds with blowing snow, not so much. These kinds of conditions open up so many different viewpoints and locations that would likely go ignored during more ideal conditions. It appeared there would be a short window in the morning where there would be moderate snow before the front moved east and the winds really started picking up.
I arrived at the Beaver Meadows entrance to Rocky about an hour before sunrise. It was snowing hard but the park was quiet and serene. My vehicle cut first tracks through the snow along the yet unplowed roads in the park. The plan was simple this morning. Cruise the roads along Moraine and Horseshoe Park attempting to capture Rocky without the drama of a spectacular sunrise, but instead the serenity of a March snowstorm. A lone ponderosa pine weathers the near whiteout conditions in Moraine Park. Technicial Details: Canon EOS 1Ds III, 70-300mm F4-5.6 L
It didn’t take long before I was being pounded by heavy wet flakes of snow, capturing images of evergreens and aspens in some of my favorite conditions. It’s days like these that I’m thankful that I shoot with a weather sealed body. It’s a chore in itself to keep your equipment clean and your lens elements dry but even if my body was not weather sealed, I still be out attempting to photograph in these wet conditions.
After about two hours of photographing in Moraine and Horseshoe Park, the winds really started to pick up and the snow was blowing hard. The conditions quickly got to the point where photography was becoming increasingly difficult. It was time to call it a day and start drying out my now soaked camera and lenses.
As far as I’m concerned it was another perfect morning in Rocky Mountain National Park and I’m just as pleased with my images from this morning as I am from mornings when I’m photographing more dramatic lighting in more ideal conditions. Got to love March in Rocky!.
Snow start to fall hard on these Ponderosa trees of Walker Ranch. The conditions quickly deteriorated this day, but I was able to sneak away with an image that typified the experience for me on this day at Walker Ranch. Technicial Details: Canon EOS 1Ds III, 70-300 F4-5.6 LLocated west of Eldorado Canyon State Park lies Walker Ranch. Situated on Boulder County open space property, Walker Ranch is the site of a former homestead from the turn of the century. Portions of the property skirt the banks of South Boulder creek which makes for great hiking and fishing.
The area around Walker Ranch is going through a transition of sorts. In 2000, the Walker Ranch fire burned through much of the property and it’s forest. In 2013, the Flagstaff fire again burned inside portions of the Walker Ranch area. Many of the tree’s inside of Walker Ranch have been affected by these two most recent fires.
Even with the recent burns in the area, Walker Ranch is still a spectacular location for photography. Our long dry spell seems to have temporarily abated in the last couple of weeks. Snow has become a common occurrence once again in and around Boulder.
During a recent snowstorm, I took the opportunity to head up to Walker Ranch to see what subjects I could find. It was snowing hard, and the wind had really begun to pickup as I headed out in search of images. I found this group of Ponderosa pines weathering the storm.
Though it was snowing hard, it was quiet and peaceful as I photographed. Not another soul was to be found. The parking lots were empty and people remained in the comforts of the inside returning this popular location back to a place of wildness and solitude.
I was only able to photograph for a short time. The winds and blowing snow soon made it to difficult to keep the front of my lens snow free. I packed up and headed back to the car. Though I’m a photographer, experiences like these are never about recording images to a memory card. For me, it’s the experience of committing special days like this to my memory.
In a scene that is reminiscent of an Albert Bierstadt painting, high winds and snow create drama over Hallet Peak. Bierstadt’s dramatic paintings were often panned by critics as being unreal. However, conditions like these make it easy to see what Albert Bierstadt was seeking to convey. Technicial Details: Canon EOS 1Ds III, 70-300mm F4-5.6 LEvery so often, the light, wind and snow come together just perfectly enough to create a scene that looks otherworldly. A strong storm was moving in over Rocky Mountain National Park this past Saturday that provided the perfect conditions to produce what I refer to a Bierstadt lighting. Clouds swirled over Hallet Peak as the intense first rays of sunshine filtered through the blowing snow off the Continental Divide.
The light was changing quickly and only lasted a short time before the sun began to be blocked out by the passing of ever more clouds in the sky. I chose to isolate Hallet Peak from it’s neighboring peaks to highlight the drama going on in the sky and around Hallet. Isolating Hallet Peak allowed for me to showcase the drama unfolding this morning. The resulting image of Hallet this morning seemed to take on an owed to Albert Bierstadt.
Albert Bierstadt’s name is familiar to many visitors to Rocky Mountain National Park as well as Colorado. Bierstadt Lake only a mile or so from where this image was photographed is named in this nineteenth century painter in his honor. Bierstadt travelled the west painting dramatic canvases of the high peaks and breathtaking mountain vistas. Bierstadt travelled to Estes Park during his second journey through the west in 1863.
If you have ever viewed one of Albert Bierstadt’s paintings in person, they are quite a site to behold. Bierstadt often painted on very large canvases. The Hudson River School painter emboldened the scenes before him and often took liberties in exaggerating the scale of the mountains and the drama and weather surrounding them.
In many ways, Bierstadt’s dramatic style is mirrored by today’s landscape photographers. Like many of today landscape photographers, Bierstadt’s style was often panned by critics as being unreal and over the top. Modern day landscape photographers often here similar critiques. On mornings such as this one, it’s easy to see what inspired Bierstadt’s love of the west and his desire to showcase it’s dramatic beauty.
14,259 ft Longs Peak summit is raked by winds and blowing snow and a typcial winter morning in Rocky Mountain National Park. It’s easy to want to stay inside during the winter months, but there are endless possibilities for rewarding photography experiences in Rocky for those willing to brave the elemens. Technicial Details: Canon EOS 1Ds III, 70-300mm F4-5.6 IS LIt’s the middle of winter and sometimes it can be difficult motivating oneself to head out into the elements to create images. It’s easy to want to hit the snooze button on your alarm and stay in the comfort of a warm bed. Winter photography can be challenging but rewarding. Here are three suggestions for getting out and the elements and successfully photographing Rocky Mountain National Park in winter.
The Tahosa Valley and the Twin Sisters: Located along Highway 7, the Tahosa Valley and the Twin Sisters formation offer some of the most impressive views of Longs Peak and Mount Meeker, the two tallest peak in Rocky Mountain National Park. Hike up the Twin Sisters trailhead for impressive views of Longs Peak and it’s famous eastern face known as the Diamond.
Trail Ridge Road and The Mummy Range: The Mummy Range has a southeast facing orientation. This southeasterly orientation is ideal for capturing the winter sun which rises in the southeast this time of year. A short hike up a closed Trail Ridge Road from Many Park’s curve will result in spectacular viewpoints of Mount Chapin, Mount Chiquita and Yipsilon Mountain. It’s common to find clouds floating over the peaks of the Mummy Range which will only help to aid in capturing even more stunning light at sunrise.
Bear Lake Area: Nearly everybody favorite spot in Rocky Mountain National Park for winter activities of all sorts. There are endless possibilities for winter photography in this area. Slap on some snowshoes or cross country skies and impressive viewpoints of the backside of Longs Peak, or towering blocky summit of Hallet Peak lend themselves to your camera and lens. Dream Lake is a popular location even in the middle of winter. Images of Hallet Peak from Dream Lake are just as impressive in winter as is summer, but Dream Lake also attracts photographers looking to photograph abstract images of its icy surface. Because Hallet and Flattop mountain have a northeast orientation, late winter will provide fuller and more complete lighting of this iconic location.
