Crunch Time

This time of year one has many options when photographing in Rocky Mountain National Park. With the seasons transitioning from summer to fall one can chose to photograph summer like scenes as well as scenes more representative of autumn. Of course the trick this time of year is doing so before the weather sets in and alters ones plans. Last week I was able to photograph this summer like sunrise at Ouzel Lake in Wild Basin, while at the same time photographing some early fall color as well. Technical Details: Nikon D810, Nikkor 16-35mm F4 ED VR lens
This time of year one has many options when photographing in Rocky Mountain National Park. With the seasons transitioning from summer to fall one can chose to photograph summer like scenes as well as scenes more representative of autumn. Of course the trick this time of year is doing so before the weather sets in and alters ones plans. Last week I was able to photograph this summer like sunrise at Ouzel Lake in Wild Basin, while at the same time photographing some early fall color as well. Technical Details: Nikon D810, Nikkor 16-35mm F4 ED VR lens

It’s happening one again. The seasons of change are sweeping over Rocky Mountain National Park and our summer season is transitioning towards autumn. Whether it be the sounds of a bull elk bugle in a meadow or sets of aspen leaves turning golden yellow it’s becoming more apparent by the day that summer in Rocky Mountain National Park is nearing it’s conclusion.

For photographers this is both and exciting time of year as well as a hectic time of year. For many landscape photographers, fall is their favorite time of years. The changing seasons, the vibrant fall color, shorter and cooler days all tend to energize and inspire landscape photographers to get out and create images.

While this transition season is an exciting and inspiring time of year, it’s also hectic. Speaking for myself I find that I am both trying to extend the summer season and anticipate the coming fall season. Access to Rocky’s backcountry is still easy before snow and freezing temperatures set in allowing for me to continue to work on summer like images and access much of the park. At the same time I’m keeping an eye on the subtle and not so subtle changes associated with the onset of fall. It’s certainly great to have a lot of options at hand, but it creates stress in that decisions need to be made on what subjects to photograph.

On the hike out of Ouzel Lake I was able to find quite a bit of fall color in the forests of Wild Basin like this group of aspen trees. Technical Details: Nikon D810, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 VR ED lens
On the hike out of Ouzel Lake I was able to find quite a bit of fall color in the forests of Wild Basin like this group of aspen trees. Technical Details: Nikon D810, Nikkor 24-120mm F4 VR ED lens

One would think that having lots of options would be a good thing, and for the most part it is. What makes the decisions difficult is not having options, but trying to time and guess just how long one will have these options available. Timing is everything this time of year and one early season snowstorm or cold snap can quickly alter both your options and your plans.

A cold snap, wind storm, or snow can strip the leaves from the trees, cover the trails in snow and cause the surface of the lakes to freeze. In one fell swoop both your options to photograph summer like scenes as well as autumn scenes and fall color can vanish for the year. This urgency to beat out the unknown is what makes the transitional season from summer to autumn so tricky to time out and photograph.

Worrying aside, right now is about as good as it gets to photograph in Rocky Mountain National Park. Leaves are starting to change on aspen trees, streams are flowing freely and access to Rocky’s backcountry as well as Trail Ridge Road is unfettered. It’s time to take advantage of this great time of year and make the most of the photographic opportunities.

I’ll keep one eye to my cameras viewfinder and the other on the weather reports and fall color reports. As always it will be hectic, stressful, fun and a productive time to photograph in Rocky. But as they say in sports, it’s crunch time.

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