Tag: English Valley

English Valley, Colorado, Aug 1, 2020

After retrieving our cameras from the night shoot location, we drove back to the previous mornings location, hoping to be there a little earlier this morning to take advantage of the golden hour sunrise light.

Boulders and Volcanic Dike. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 20mm, f/11, 1/3s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

I hiked back up the slope to the same place I had initially set up the previous morning, using large boulders as foreground for my first composition.  This morning I was here before the sunrise light illuminated the volcanic ridge at the crest of the slope.

As the light moved down the slope, I moved around seeking other compositions.

Morning Shadow. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 19mm, f/11, 1/8s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and DxO Nik modules.

This morning I was able to get good light on the boulders and across the slope below the ridge and across the valley with long, early morning shadows.

English Valley Sunrise Scene. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 20mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64, edited in Adobe LR and DxO Nik modules.

These three shots were the best of the morning and I was much more satisfied with this mornings final shoot in this location, before getting on the road for the long drive home.

This wraps up the highlights of my July 2020 visit to Colorado.  Stay tuned for my September visit to the Rio Grande National Forest for fall photography.

Stay well and safe,

Ken

English Valley Sunset, Colorado, July 2020

From La Garita Arch we drove to an area called “English Valley”.  We parked at a turn around at the end of a sometimes barely discernible road at a high area overlooking a valley to the south.

The sun was rapidly sinking in the sky, so we quickly found spots to try to capture the late day sunset sky above the valley.

Sunset Scene, English Valley, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 0.5s, ISO 64.

We were fortunate to have good clouds to the south and we could see a little rain falling in the distance.

As the light changed, I moved to other locations and turned a little more to the east.

Sunset Scene, English Valley, Colorado.Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm (before crop), f/11, 0.5s, ISO 64.

The moon had risen early and became visible as the clouds moved around.

Sunset Scene, English Valley, Colorado. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm (before crop), f/11, 0.5s, ISO 64.

One can see how the light in the clouds migrated as the clouds themselves blew across the scene.

The last image in this post was chosen for Flickr’s Explore page, but I like the first image in this post better, although the light on the valley is better in the last image.

We thought about staying the night at this location, but decided to go to another area, where my son said we would have better chances of good sunrise subjects to shoot.

More later,

Ken