Tag: iPhone Photos

Miscellaneous Travel Scenes, Colorado, July 2020

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.

An iPhone pano of fast moving vehicles along US 50 in Colorado.

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.

Blue Mesa Reservoir, Colorado. iPhone Photograph.

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.

A view along the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River, Colorado. iPhone Photograph.

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.

A large eye like feature on a large exposed tree root. iPhone Photograph.

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.

A portion of the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River. iPhone Photograph.

That’s it for now,

Ken

 

Indiana Covered Bridges – October 2019 – Last Post in this Series

This is a continuation of my visits to Indiana covered bridges in October, 2019.  I am including multiple bridges in this post, due to the limited photographic opportunities at these bridges.

The Edna Collins Bridge (follow the link to read more about the haunting of this bridge) is a short bridge along a narrow paved roadway.  I parked on the side of the road, after getting out to check to be sure it was safe to pull onto the steeply dipping shoulder.

Edna Collins Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/200s, ISO 800, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

There was no way to get down into the creek to shoot a side view.  The bridge is aligned approximately east-west, so shooting from the west side in the late afternoon was best.

Leaving Edna Collins, I drove to Crooks Bridge.  There is much confusion about the history of this bridge.  Follow the embedded link to read about it.  This seemed to be a popular bridge on one of the Covered Bridge Festival routes, as there was a fair amount of tourist traffic that I had to contend with as I looked for ways to shoot it.  My shots from one end at an angle to the bridge, resulted in a very tilted look that I could not adequately correct.  I also attempted to shoot from a low water, concrete crossing beside the bridge, but I could not get anything worth sharing from that perspective, looking into the afternoon sunlight.  Finally, I walked down the steep slope on the northwest corner of the bridge into the creek bed, from which I got this shot:

Crooks Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 17mm, f/11, 1/400s, ISO 2500, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

From Crooks Bridge, I continued to McAllister Bridge.   I parked at a pull off area and began to walk around the bridge checking out various view points before getting out my camera gear.  On my way back to the vehicle to get my gear, another car pulled up and a couple of ladies emerged and began walking towards the bridge.  As they passed me one said, “Houston”.  It was obvious that she had seen my Texas license plate.  I thought that she was asking, if I was from Houston, but she was actually telling me that she was from Houston and went on to say she was visiting relatives in the area.  I had lived in Katy, in the western portion of the greater Houston area and of course she knew about Katy.  Such a small world.

Shooting options at McAllister were limited.  I could see no way to get any interesting shots and I ended up with common views.  This image, shot from the edge of the roadway, looking up at the front and side of the bridge, is the most interesting perspective that I got.

McAllister Covered Bridge. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 125, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

Continuing on my way, I stopped at Neet Bridge, but I could see no way to get interesting shots today, so I continued to Roseville.  I experienced the same at Roseville, but I did make a few images with my iPhone, drove across the bridge, just because I was there, turning around and crossing it again to head towards Harry Evans Bridge.

Roseville Covered Bridge. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

Many of the covered bridges have the “Cross this bridge at a walk” warning, but I saw no vehicles heeding this advice.  Most went much faster than I can walk and I can walk fast.

It was getting late in the day and the settings for the last few bridges that I visited were not interesting, so I did not bother getting out my DSLR and shot with my iPhone.  Some of these might be more interesting to shoot later in the fall or winter.

Harry Evans Covered Bridge. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.
Harry Evans Covered Bridge. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

By the time I got to the Zacke Cox Bridge, it was very late in the afternoon and time to begin the drive back to my wife’s cousin’s house.

Zacke Cox Covered Bridge. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik modules.

This is the last of the October, 2019 covered bridges posts.  Maybe I will get back to this area in the fall of 2020 and have opportunities  to see more of the covered bridges.

Until next time,

Ken