Tag: Nikon D850

Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge – Sunset, Day 1

After scouting the area near my campsite, I decided to return to Little Baldy for sunset photography.  I arrive on the upper slope of Little Baldy early, as is my usual practice, to look around again and pick compositions prior to sunset.  As I was looking over the area, a herd of people from a parking lot visible in the distance, came up the eastern slope.  They were all heading for the summit to watch the sunset.  It was a Sunday evening and this is apparently a weekend favorite sunset viewing site for visitors.  I had not anticipated this, since I had seen so few people in this area earlier in the day.  We landscape photographers usually prefer no people in our photos.

After the crowd ascended to the crest of Little Baldy, I worked my way to the western slope, rather than going to the highest point, where I knew the crowd would congregate.

Little Baldy 1

Fortunately, most of those on the summit stayed below the peak on the eastern side and were not visible most of the time I was shooting.

Little Baldy 2
Wichita Mountains
Cacti Ridge
Red Grass, Red Rocks and Cacti
Red Rocks Delight
Wichita Mountains Sunset

As I was shooting the final images of this shoot, one couple did appear near the top of Little Baldy and I included them in some shots, but they were moving too much for me to get non-blurry images.  So I have no images of the actual peak of Little Baldy with the best of golden hour light to share.

Until the next time,

Ken

Rural Decay and Photography

The first day’s drive towards home was long and I had taken considerable time in the morning, stopping to shoot images in route between Hotchkiss and Gunnison.  I could not spare much more time for in route photo stops, but I knew there were a number of abandoned structures along the remaining route that I might want to stop to photograph, if conditions were suitable.

Abandoned Church

I’ve driven past this abandoned country church many times.  I always wanted to photograph it, but usually it was mid-day, with harsh light and clear sky, when I was passing by.  It was maybe mid-afternoon when I spotted it today, the light was not great, but at least there were big, fluffy clouds to add interest in the sky.  I decided today was maybe the best conditions that I would ever have to photograph here.

Abandoned Church, Monochrome

There is another small town in New Mexico with numerous abandoned structures, where I have stopped a couple of times to photograph, usually under harsh mid-day light.  Today it was late day, just before sunset, when I was in that neighborhood, so I had to stop to see what I could do with more favorable light.

Abandoned School 1
Abandoned School 2
Weathered Door of Abandoned School
Sunset School

I think these are the best photos of these abandoned schools that I have gotten to date.  It was just a matter of fortunate timing to be here as the sun was setting.

A few miles down the road, we noted a full, golden moon on the horizon.  If I had only hung around that small town, I might have had opportunities to get photos of those old abandoned structures with the golden moon in the shots.  We still had a few miles to our night’s lodging and in our haste to get there, I had again blown a good photographic opportunity, one that I will probably never have again.

Until next time,

Ken

 

 

Colorado Route 92 to US 50

We left Hotchkiss headed towards home, driving CO92 to US 50 on the first leg of this journey.

Don’t Fence Me In

This is a scenic drive following a creek and its canyon that feeds into the Gunnison River, then tracks near the Gunnison River as it flow towards the Blue Mesa Reservoir.

Canyon and Sky
Canyon and Wildflowers
Indian Paint Brush
Wildflowers

At one of the large pull outs along this route, a group of motorcyclist pulled in.  One of them asked me to take a group photo on one of their phones.  Afterwards, I asked permission to get a group photo for my blog.  I was assured that none of them were in a witness protection program or had ex-spouses searching for them.

Riders of the Western Range

It turned out that most of this group are from DFW, Texas and the young couple on the right are from Tupelo, Mississippi, with the female an alumni of my college (Ole Miss).

Their handles, from left to right, are:  Jax, Bab, Blackout, Wheezy, Bronco, Sparky, Tinkle, Demon Dawg, and Helkat.

Thank you all for allowing me to include your group photo in my blog,

Ken

Colorado Mountains at Sunset

Dinner plans were complicated by a number of our choice restaurants being closed for various reasons, requiring some driving about looking for alternatives. As we drove between two local towns, I made mental notes of possible locations for sunset photography.  After dinner in Hotchkiss, I returned to one of those location for sunset photography.

Mountains and Clouds
Clouds, Mountains and Valley
Mountain Peaks at Sunset
The Cloud
Colorado Sunset Clouds

As I returned to Hotchkiss, I noted an almost full, silvery moon rising above the clouds.  The moonrise was hidden by the clouds, when I was shooting.  It was too late to find a good vantage point from which to include the moon in my late day images.  That was disappointing.  If I had hung out at my sunset shooting location a few more minutes, maybe I would have had an opportunity to get the moon in my images.  Never the less, I thought I had a good sunset photo session.

Ken

Dallas Divide – Sunset Photos

We spent a portion of our second day in the Ridgway area driving over Owl Creek  Pass, making a loop over the pass from Ridgway, down to US 50, through Montrose and back to Ridgway for dinner.

I planned better today, going for an earlier dinner to allow time afterwards to drive along CO62 prior to sunset to shoot mountain scenes at sunset.

Serene Evening
Golden Mountains
Dallas Divide Sunset Peaks

Until next time,

Ken

Salvaging the Day

After a day of browsing and walking around in Ouray and Telluride, quaint, old Colorado tourist towns, we had dinner in Ridgway.  I had hoped to be able to rush up the highway toward or over the Dallas Divide from Ridgway, after dinner for sunset photography,  but we were a little late getting out and the service was slow at our restaurant.  By the time we finished dinner, it was too late to go anywhere.  Arriving back at our lodging and resigned to having lost my opportunity for sunset photography today, I hoisted my camera backpack, grabbed my tripod and camera and began to walk into the lodge. Then I noted golden sunset light on the nearest mountaintops.  So I jogged down the road past the inn to get past other buildings, power lines and trees to try to get into a location to shoot the rapidly changing scene before the light faded away.

Eventide
Eventide 2
Day’s Final Performance
Finale
Moon, Sunset Clouds and Fading Mountain Light
Day’s End

As the sunset light faded away, I walked back towards the inn, stopping to photograph grass and wildflowers in the dim evening light.

Grass and Wildflowers
Grass 1
Grass 2
Progression
Fuzzy, old head

What will tomorrow bring?

Until then,

Ken

Telluride, CO, August 2022

After a morning of browsing and shopping in Ouray, we traveled over the Dallas Divide to Telluride, another quaint, old Colorado town that is popular with summer tourist and winter skiers.

In route along Colorado 62, I kept an eye out for potential photography sites, hoping to return for sunset photos.  I stopped at one location to get a few shots of the afternoon storm clouds building over the mountain tops.

Afternoon Storm Clouds 1
Afternoon Storm Clouds 2
Afternoon Storm Clouds 3

In Telluride, I only used my iPhone to shoot a few images in the old town.

Holding it Together
Storm Clouds, Telluride, CO 1
Storm Clouds, Telluride, CO 2
Watchful

There must be a story behind this mural painted on the side of a Telluride building, but I don’t know it.

Storm Clouds,Telluride, CO 3
Building Plaque, Telluride, CO

Butch Cassidy reportedly took over $24,000 in the robbery of the San Miguel Valley Bank.  That was quite a bit of money in those days, equivalent to about $857,000 in 2022 money.  Butch should have retired after this haul.

So much for this quick visit to Telluride.

Until next time,

Ken

U.S. 550, August 2022

The drive from Durango, Colorado via US 550 to Silverton and Ouray has to be one of the best road trip drives in the U.S. with magnificent mountain views, many sharp switchbacks with slow speed required to safely navigate those sharp curves.  The road is often on the very edge of steep drop offs.

There are prominent red top mountain peaks that can be seen for miles along this roadway.  Somewhere between Durango and Ouray, I pulled off at a dirt road going into the forest to get a few shots of red top mountains with the typical afternoon storm clouds gathering above them.

Red Top
Red Top and Clouds
Red Peak and Clouds
Red Pate

Until next time,

Ken

Abandoned Truck in Colorado Mountains

After photographing an abandoned mine mill near Animas Forks, CO, we drove back along a 4 wheel drive road towards Animas Forks, keeping an eye out for an abandoned truck we had been told about.

We soon spotted the truck a short distance up a spur road.

Final Resting Place
Below Peak
No Delivery Today
Forlorn
RIP

Wildflowers and clouds seem to be trying to comfort this old, rusting, abandoned truck in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains.

Later,

Ken

 

Old Mill

Determined to find an old abandoned truck, that we had been told about, along a 4 wheel drive road, we continued on past Animas Forks.

We had been told that the old truck was just beside the road about a quarter of a mile past Animas Forks.  Yet we drove much farther than a quarter of a mile, passing the old mill we had been told about, too.

At some point past the old, abandoned mill, we decided that we had either missed the truck or that it was much farther along the roadway than we had been told.  We turned back and stopped to photograph the old mill.  As I was getting my camera out, the retired photographer, who had told us about the truck, drove up and informed me that he had been mistaken about the abandoned truck being right next to the road.  Instead, it was up on a hill at the end of a short spur road.  He even pointed to the truck that was barely visible in the distance.

I shot a few photos of the old mill, before back tracking to the old truck.

Mill Reflection
Abandoned Mine Mill
Old Mine Mill 1
Old Mine Mill 2

Next abandoned truck,

Ken