One of my regrets, during my travels, is not taking enough time to stop and photograph interesting things along my route from point A to point B. My reasons for this neglect are primarily related to a time schedule and that the light conditions are usually not optimal for landscape photography. This no doubt results in passing up opportunities that I may never get again to photograph some scenes.
Yet sometimes I do force myself to stop and try to get photographs of scenes that catch my eye in passing, in spite of conditions being poor for getting really impactful photographs. This post is dedicated to such images.
I traveled along US 50 between Montrose and Gunnison, Colorado on my way to Thirty Mile Campground in the Rio Grande National Forest in July, 2020. It was a mostly overcast morning and the clouds and ground fog were compelling enough for me to stop to try to get a few images along this route. Most of the resulting photographs were not what I strove to get, but a few I liked. Making one panoramic image with my iPhone, I noted an interesting effect. Fast moving vehicles, combined with my panning of the camera, resulted in a compression of the vehicles. Looking closely at the photo below, one will note that the lead vehicle’s front end and back end are the only portions in the image, with the center completely missing.
I have driven past the Blue Mesa Reservoir and Curecanti National Recreation Area numerous times and I have never before taken time to get even one photograph in this area. On this trip, I almost passed by again without stopping. The photo below makes me glad that I took time to stop.
From US 50 I headed south along CO 149, which is a scenic drive along the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River between Gunnison and Lake City. There were a number of convenient pull outs just a little north of Lake City with scenic views of the river. I initially passed each one, looking for an ideal spot to stop, finally turning around to stop at several of those pull outs. Unfortunately, it was difficult to get clear shots of the river without much clutter in the shots at most of the stops and the light conditions were harsh; but knowing I might never pass here when the light was optimum, I made a few iPhone images, anyway.
At one pull out there was a really large tree root running across the ground. I photographed that root from a number of view points, but none worked out well. However, I did find one feature on the root that made a nice close up image.
At another stop there was a good view of the river framed by weathered and lichen covered rocks along the river bank. This location might be a good place for a sunset shot, if I ever have an opportunity to be here as such a time.
That’s it for now,
Ken
