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Happy 106th Birthday RMNP!

106 years ago today President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Rocky Mountain National Park act creating what we now know as Rocky Mountain National Park. RMNP celebrated its 106th birthday with a celebration of light and snow over its beautiful landscape. From a vantage point along Trail Ridge, I photographed the Mummy Range this morning in all its splendor as one of the best sunrises this winter unfolded in front of my camera. Technical Details: Nikon Z7, Nikkor 24-70mm F4 lens

106 years ago today, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Rocky Mountain National Park Act protecting and creating Rocky Mountain National Park. It was the culmination of years of hard work and dedication by people like Enos Mills who fought so hard to make sure the place we now call Rocky Mountain National Park would be protected and accessible for generations of people to visit and enjoy.

With snow falling on the park last night, I was up and out the door early hoping to capture something interesting with my camera. I’d be lying to you if I said we have had lots of good opportunities for sunrise and sunsets this winter with lots of fresh snow on the mountains. Truth is, Colorado and the Front Range have been very dry since the fall and decent snow has been few and far between the past few months. Hopefully the pattern is changing as we are desperately in need of some moisture here in Colorado. Selfishly, snow and unsettled weather also makes for a lot more interesting photography as well.

Snow was falling lightly as I passed through the Beaver Meadows entry long before dawn. I was hoping for a possible inversion or some breaks in the cloud cover around sunrise. About 2 inches of snow had fallen over night, just enough to coat the pines and landscape with something other than the mostly brown grass we’ve been plaque with since the autumn. I checked the cloud layer as I always do trying to figure out just how high up the inversion was and whether I would be able to possibly get above it either by driving Trail Ridge Road to the winter closure point at Many Parks Curve, or throw on spikes and hike up Flattop Mountain.

With the thermometer on my truck in the single digits, I took the easy way out and headed up to Many Parks Curve as opposed to hiking up Flattop Mountain to see if I could get a better feel for how high up the inversion was.

As is always the case when there is an inversion in Rocky Mountain National Park, it’s like two different worlds above the clouds vs. below the clouds. Below the inversion layer the Ponderosa Pines along Deer Mountain were covered in frost and snow. It was the best of both worlds on RMNP’s 106th Birthday. Technical Details: Nikon Z7, Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8 S lens
When I arrived at Many Parks, it was socked in with fog. I parked the truck and took a look around. While walking around the overlook checking out the frosty landscape, the Mummy Range started coming into view through the fog and clouds. This of course meant the inversion layer was right at about 9400 ft or so. I had about 40 minutes to sunrise at this point so quickly packed up and started hiking up Trail Ridge Road.

I have a few spots along Trail Ridge Road when its closed in winter that I like to shoot the Mummy Range from. I settled on one about .5 miles up from the gate and watched as I could see a burst of color begin to form to the east. There were lots of clouds in the sky and fog below in Hidden Valley so it wasn’t a for sure bet that I would see any color or sunlight over the Mummy Range.

Perched up on a high hillside trying to stay warm I watched as the inversion stayed low enough so as not to block the mountains and the skies over Chiquita, Chapin, Ypsilon and Fairchild started to glow pink and magenta. The light show lasted all of 5 or 6 minutes before the clouds obscured the sun again and I packed up and headed back down to find other subjects to photograph.

106 years after its creation, the area that we now know of as Rocky Mountain National Park continues to give. Even on its own birthday, it would be hard to ask for a much better place in all of Colorado to get out and photograph sunrise on this cold January morning. Happy Birthday Rocky Mountain National Park and as always, thanks for all the great memories and experiences over the years!.

Nature First


Working as both a professional photographer and photography guide in Rocky Mountain National has great rewards. I get to spend much of my time out in the natural and wilderness areas of Rocky Mountain National Park hiking, photographing and most importantly, showing other photographers and visitors to Rocky Mountain National Park, the pristine beauty of this 400 square mile protected land.

Thankfully, for people such as John Muir and Enos Mills we have this place no known as Rocky Mountain National Park accessible and preserved for my generation and future generations. The foresight of those who have preserved these natural areas has now been passed on to future generations and it is now our stewardship to continue to protect, preserve and educate others on the importance of wilderness and wild places. I’ve been photographing Rocky Mountain National Park since 1998.

In that time I have seen tremendous changes not only to Rocky Mountain National Park, but to all the National Park and natural areas I visit. In that time, Rocky has gone from about 3 million visitors a year to nearly 5 million visitors a year. Most of those visitors come to Rocky in a 7 month period, so the increase in visitation is readily apparent throughout the park.

As a photographer and guide, I struggle with my impact and my businesses impact on a place I greatly love. In recent years I have made an attempt to educate my photography tour clients on Leave No Trace principles, impact to sensitive locations and leaving things better than you find them. I make every attempt to visit locations in the park at times when impact will be minimized. For the most part, most of my clients are as aware and concerned with their impact on wild places as I am. I find it just as important to help clients understand the importance of Leave No Trace principles as it is to help them along their photographic journey.

The Leave No Trace orginization has done a great job to help educate visitors on the proper protocols to adhere to when visiting sensitive wilderness and wild areas. With that said, a group of photographers here in Colorado have decide to take it a step further and come up with additional principles for photographers to be mindful of when out in the places we not only photograph, but love.

My friends Scott Bacon and Erik Stensland enlisted the help of a handful of other photographers here in Colorado and they created both the Nature First Organization as well as the 7 principles of Nature First.

These 7 principles the Nature First group created came through long discussions and meetings. They are designed not to scold photographers or prevent from photographers from going to the places they love, but instead to remind photographers to be mindful when out in wild places as well as to help educate others who may not be aware of their impact on sensitive areas.

Moving forward with both my photography, as well as guiding photographers in RMNP, I will be adhering to both Leave No Trace guidelines as well as the 7 principles Nature First has created.

To be perfectly clear, I strongly believe these public lands were designed to be cherished and visited by all. They act as places that refresh and renew the soul. It’s important that we continue to use and access these gifts our predecessors had the foresight to protect for future generations.

At this stage, It’s become vitally important that we not love them to death or create situations where access is limited or restricted. Thats not the answer, but it will always be the easiest solution when our impact overwhelms both the land and those responsible for protecting the land. Nature First helps to not only educate fellow landscape photographers, but more importantly, keeps us from becoming the problem when visiting places we love.

Edward Abbey once wrote the following about protecting wilderness, “A man could be a lover and defender of the wilderness without ever in his lifetime leaving the boundaries of asphalt, powerlines, and right-angled surfaces. We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it. We need a refuge even though we may never need to set foot in it.” Abbey’s word as important today as when he wrote them over sixty years ago.

Nature First has done a great job bringing this to the forefront of the landscape and wildlife photography community. I strongly recommend you visit the Nature First website to not only educate yourself on the seven principles, but also become a member.

THE NATURE FIRST PRINCIPLES

1.Prioritize the well-being of nature over photography.

2.Educate yourself about the places you photograph.

3.Reflect on the possible impact of your actions.

4.Use discretion if sharing locations.

5.Know and follow rules and regulations.

6.Always follow Leave No Trace principles and strive to leave places better than you found them.

7.Actively promote and educate others about these principles

Sunrise On Lake Estes

With snow squalls blowing over Rocky and the wind howling, I headed east of downtown to Lake Estes to photograph sunrise this morning. With open water, geese and some beautiful light at sunrise, Lake Estes was just the elixir I needed after what seems like lots of bland sunrises and weather so far this January. Technical Details: Nikon Z7, Nikkor 24-70mm F4 S lens

In what seems like has been few and far between, we finally had a really nice sunrise this morning in Estes Park. The weather so far this January has been mostly mild and tame. While up on the Continental Divide in Rocky Mountain National Park there has been some snow this month, its mostly been wind or clear blue skies. For January, the weather has been awesome. Mild, sunny and we’ve been absent the arctic cold snaps that typically make an appearance or two this month.

I’ve been watching the weather intently these past few weeks looking for something interesting to happen. A nice dumping of snow, a dramatic sunrise, any of that would work. For whatever reason things just have not come to fruition.

Like a baseball player mired in a slump, you always know if you just keep heading out eventually your luck will change. So while I’ve been getting skunked at sunrise of late, I’ve used the time to work on other projects in the park that are more conducive to flat, diffused lighting. In particular I’ve been documenting the remaining man made structures still remaining in Rocky. While I’ve recently added a gallery depicting some of this work, this is a project I continue to enjoy when conditions are not optimal for landscape photography. You can find this new gallery and project at this link. Man, Nature and Rocky Mountain National Park

The prospects for sunrise this morning looked pretty good in RMNP. As I headed into the park long before sunrise, things did not look as good as I though they might. The mountains were shrouded in snow and the wind was howling. Snow was falling, but not enough to cover anything. If we had a sunrise it certainly looked like the clouds and squalls floating over Rocky Mountain National Park would likely obscure any light and color. Besides, even if I wanted to photograph the mountains, they were covered in clouds.

I headed down to Lake Estes east of Rocky and downtown Estes Park to see what would happen. It looked pretty dicey, but about 15 minutes before sunrise the skies to the east of Estes Park exploded in color. Lake Estes is only about half frozen right now so the open water helped to exacerbate the beautiful sunrise.

So while I was looking forward to photographing inside of Rocky Mountain National Park, the consolation prize along the shores of Lake Estes wasn’t bad either. More importantly, here’s to hoping the weather pattern is about to change and start to make things a lot more interesting.

Saint Catherine’s Chapel On The Rock

Over the past year or so, I’ve been making a concerted effort to photograph more images in Rocky Mountain National Park that may include man made features. One of the most beautiful locations which include a man made object, is Saint Catherine’s Chapel On The Rock. Saint Catherine’s is located on the St. Malo Retreat center complex, but has Rocky Mountain National Park as a backdrop. 13,916 ft Mount Meeker towers behind Saint Catherine’s and this time of year the lighting on Mount Meeker’s southeast face is nothing short of electric. Technical Details: Nikon Z7, Nikkor 24-70mm F4 S lens

It’s been a quiet couple of weeks here in Rocky Mountain National Park. After what seemed like a very active weather pattern from October through November, December has been very quiet. While there have been a few small systems that have moved through RMNP this month, most of the weather other than some light accumulation of snow have been wind events on the east side of the park.

Looking at the long term forecast for the rest of December it appears the pattern will continue to give us more of the same. Of course long term forecasts aren’t all the accurate so we can still keep our fingers crossed for some more fresh snow to blanket Rocky.

Even with it being quiet on the weather front, there have been some very nice sunrise and sunsets as there often is this time of year. While we may not end up with much in the way of snow on the east side of RMNP, those wind events often produce lenticular cloud formations. These of course make for beautiful sunrise and sunset colors once the sun illuminates the bottom of the lenticular cloud.

As we head into the holidays and the new year here in Colorado, I’ve been trying to get out and photograph as much as possible with the conditions look interesting. One of the subjects I’ve been working on with regards to my portfolio of Rocky Mountain National Park is images that include the hand of man in them.

While many landscape photographers go to great lengths not to include man made objects, buildings, trails, etc., I’ve been slowly adding to my extensive collection of Rocky Mountain National Park images by making attempts to actively photograph buildings, trails, and other interesting views that may include man made objects.

With Christmas almost upon it seems as good a time as ever to photograph Saint Catherine’s Chapel on The Rock. This beautiful church which sits along Highway 7 between Allenspark and Estes Park is a spectacular location. Not only is the church a beautiful stone church, but its perched on top of a rock with Rocky Mountain National Park as a backdrop.

While the church is not technically inside Rocky Mountain National Park, Saint Catherine’s On The Rock is oriented in such a position that it’s also a location with one of the best views of Mount Meeker. Many people mistake Mount Meeker for Longs Peak from this location, but the stunning backdrop to Saint Catherine’s is the southeast face of 13,916 ft Mount Meeker. While Mount Meeker is just short of 14er status, its still a very impressive mountain and one that ranks as the 68th tallest peak in the state of Colorado.

The lighting this time of year on the southeast face of Mount Meeker is nothing short of electric. There’s pretty much nothing to obstruct the sunrise on the side of Mount Meeker this time of year so that as soon as the sun begins to rise over the high plains of Colorado below, Meeker starts to glow. Place Saint Catherine’s Chapel on the Rock in front of Mount Meeker and you have all the ingredients for some beautiful light as well as a composition.

So I’ll continue to work on making images of Saint Catherine’s, with the goal being to photograph the area after our next snowstorm covers the landscape in fresh powder, this is a location that landscape photographers visiting Rocky Mountain National Park should not overlook.

Flagstaff Mountain Yucca

Spring Yucca on Flagstaff Mountain, Boulder, Colorado, OSMP
Yucca plants make for great photographic subjects. It can be difficult finding a Yucca plant with it's pointy and sharp leaves arrainged in a manner that allows a composition that's not too busy. After scouting out dozens of Yucca plants along the hillside of Flagstaff Mountain in Boulder, I finally settled upon this Yucca. This particular plant was open enough, and free enough from encroaching leaves to allow for a clean view of the inside of the plant. Technicial Details: Canon EOS 1Ds III, 24-105mm F4 IS
Yucca plants are symbolic of the dry landscape of the American West. They are hardy plants that can survive in climates that are dry and experience great temperature swings. On the Front Range of Colorado, and in particular many of the hillsides around Boulder and on Open Space properties they are quite prevalent.

Native peoples have utilized Yucca plants for all sorts of helpful purposes. From cooking skewers to fibers for baskets and clothing, the Yucca plant provides a hearty staple. For photographers, Yucca plants make for equally interesting subjects in their many forms.

This particular Yucca was located on a hillside of Flagstaff Mountain in Boulder. The flower bloom on the Yucca plants this year has been quite spectacular in this section of Colorado. For the most part, the bloom has peaked, but I still figured I’d explore this hillsides to see if I could find anything of interest to photograph.

I eventually settled on this composition of these Yucca leaves fanning outward from the flower stalk. It was actually quite a challenge to find a clean composition. I attempted a similar composition on over a half a dozen other plants before finally finding this particular plant.

Successful Morning At Lake Haiyaha

Lake Haiyaha sunrise image at Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
First light just begins to illuminate Hallet peak from Lake Haiyaha in Rocky Mountain National Park. All the elements came together for me this morning and enabled me to capture some beautiful morning light. Technical Details: Canon Eos 1ds III, 17-40mm F4 L
Lake Haiyaha in Rocky Mountain National Park was named by Native Americans and means ‘lake of many rocks’. Any hiker or photographer who has traversed the 2 miles or so from the Bear Lake trailhead will quickly understand the rational behind the naming of the lake which sits at the base of Hallet Peak. Boulders and rocks abound along the shores and outlet of Lake Haiyaha. Depending on the time of year, the amount of rainfall, and to what degree the snow melt is occurring, access and photography around the lake is in a constant change of flux. Lake Haiyaha’s rocky shores make for great leading lines and foregrounds in a photograph. Even better, Lake Haiyaha tends to be much less visited and photographed then the other lakes near and around the Bear Lake trailhead such as Nymph and Dream.

I visit Lake Haiyaha often and have photographed along its rocky shores many times. The lighting at this location becomes more favorable as summer wanes and the sun begins to move back towards the south from its northern most point at the summer solstice. Lake Haiyaha sits at the base of southeastern flank of Hallet peak. Because of it’s southeastern orientation, photography of Hallet peak is more favorable when the sun begins retreating towards the south later in the summer and fall months.

I woke up this morning at 3:00 AM to see what the conditions looked like outside. More often than not, summer mornings in Colorado break with bluebird skies and not a cloud to be found for hundreds of miles. My heart skipped a beat when I peaked out my window and viewed the nearly full moon breaking through pretty thick mix of cloud cover. I quickly got my gear together and jumped in my truck and headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park. Having clouds in the sky is only half the battle in trying to capture a dramatic landscape image in the park. For it all to come together successfully a few things need to happen.

First of all you need the clouds to remain in the sky. Easy enough concept right?. Many times, the clouds will dissipate right before sunrise as the atmospheric conditions change. If the clouds don’t dissipate, they then need to be positioned above what ever landmark it is you want to shoot. I cant tell you how many times I’ve had great clouds in the sky, but nowhere near the subject I am shooting. It’s like my photography subject is emitting reverse polarity on the clouds and causing them to scoot away from where I need them to be in my frame, this can be a very frustrating proposition. Lastly you need what I call a ‘sucker hole’. A ‘sucker hole’ is a small break in the cloud cover or along the horizon where the sun will be rising or setting. It’s aptly named a ‘sucker hole’ for good reason. Many a photographer has been ‘suckered’ into waiting for the light with the hope that the sun will peak through the break in the cloud cover and illuminate your subject with brilliant light and cloud cover. More often than not, the light never comes, and the ‘sucker hole’ lives up to its name.

This morning at Lake Haiyaha, it all came together quite nicely. While the cloud cover thinned as sunrise approached, there was still enough clouds in the sky above Hallet peak that as long as the sunrise was not blocked by additional clouds cover over the eastern plains, things were looking good. Furthermore, it was quite windy at Dream Lake when I passed the trail junction on the hike in but this sheltered area of Haiyaha kept the wind at bay and the reflection intact. I used my 17-40mm lens at 17mm to capture as much of the sky an foreground as I could. I could have easily used a 14mm lens this morning and gone wider but did not have one in my backpack. As the sun began to rise and illuminate the cloud cover overhead in a pink, red and magenta hue, the rocks along the shore of Haiyaha reflected the glow in the sky making for an intense palette of colors on the rocks and peaks. Fighting off the swarms of mosquitoes who also found the windless sheltered area to their liking, and trying to keep them off the front of my lens, I was able to make a handful of images in the quickly changing lighting conditions. It all came together quite well for me this morning. Its morning like these that keep me jumping out of bed when the alarm goes off at 3:00 AM. There never a sure thing in photography, but when conditions look favorable it’s better not to hit the snooze button.

Flatirons Redux

Flatirons Sunrise from Boulder, Colorado
Clouds from Colorado's active monsoon season party ways as the first rays of the day breach a hole in the cloud cover to the east. The active and wet monsoon season is making for some great lighting conditons. Technicial Details: Canon Eos 1dsIII, 24mm TS-EF3.5 L II
I try to avoid returning to the same locations on consecutive days if possible. That’s not to say I do return to the same location over and over again in an attempt to capture a scene under varying lighting conditions. You only have so many sunrises and sunsets, so I try to keep the line moving. I had previous commitments on Saturday and Sunday that prevented me from heading up into the high country or to Rocky Mountain National Park in search of images so I stayed local in Boulder.

We continue to have a very wet summer here on the Front Range of Colorado, and the monsoon has really kicked in full force. Most afternoons we are getting very strong thunderstorms and rain. This has made for some great sunrises the past few weeks. Clouds from the previous nights thunderstorms have been hanging around at dawn accompanied by good size breaks in the clouds on the eastern horizon out over the high plains. This particular sunrise of the Flatirons from Chautauqua park was particularly nice. Further north, over Rocky Mountain National Park the sunrise looked to be even more intense. Hopefully some other photographers captured that display, I was glad to be able to sneak in this image.

Spring in Colorado?

Yuccas and Ponderosa Pines
Yuccas and Ponderosa Pines are coated with fresh snow in May. I photographed this scene this week on Flagstaff Mountain in Boulder, Colorado. Technicial Details: Canon 5D Mark II, 17-40mm F4L
At the risk of boring everyone to death, I will avoid digressing more on how we have yet to see springtime here on the Front Range of Colorado. I will only say that in the last week I have been able to photograph lots of wintry type scenes on and around Flagstaff Mountain in Boulder. It’s fairly safe to assume that by mid May, most of my photography has shifted from winter like scenes, to views of Golden Banner blooming in Chautauqua meadow amongst the green grasses. Enough of the belly aching, regardless of the fact I am looking forward to warm sunny days, I’m quite pleased with the end results. I’ll let the image speak for our weather this week.

Opening Day

Yarrow blooms from within a Juniper Skeleton. I photographed this shot in the area just outside of Canyonlands National Park in Utah. Technical Details: Canon 5D Mark II 24-105mm F IS
Opening Day, for Baseball that is. This has to be my favorite day of the year. It signals an end to what always feels like too long of a Winter. It signifies that Springs is here, and Summer will here even sooner. Each day stays lighter longer, and the Sun begins to feel warm and comforting again. Of course for every Baseball fan, hope springs eternal on this day. Every team starts off 0-0, and every team still has hope.

For Photographers, the time around Opening Day also signals a change. New opportunities will soon present themselves. Snow draped pine trees and peaks will soon begin melting. Leaves will start to bud on Aspen trees and Maples. Grasses in the Meadows will begin turning from brown to green, and sooner than later will begin to yield the first wildflowers of the year. It’s also a time to pull out the map book, do some research and start planning where our Summer photo expeditions will take us. Hope does indeed spring eternal on this day. Excitement builds not only for what the Baseball season holds, but for what new opportunities, trips, circumstances and places the budding new photography season holds. Lets go Yankees!.