Tag: Scouting Photography

Rio Grande National Forest, September 20, 2020, Part 1

My son and DIL left early this morning to drive back to their home in the Denver area, since both had to report back to work on Monday.  They would return the following Friday, so I would be on my own until then.

I set out driving on FSR 380, hoping to find another good campsite farther to the west and stopping at opportune times to shoot a few photographs.

My first stop this morning was at the end of FSR 243, where I had seen indications of waterfalls or large stream cascades on a creek that crosses at the end of this road.

Google Earth Screen Shot.

The image above is a screen shot taken from Google Earth of the end of FSR 243 and the stream, which a newer version of Google Earth labels Treasure Creek. There was a strong water flow along this stream at the time this satellite image was taken.  There was not so much water flowing, when I explored this area and maybe had the water flow been much less, when the satellite image was made, I might not have paid it much attention.

There is an official trail into a wilderness area that starts on the south side of the roadway, but no trail to the north, which is the way I wanted to explore.  There was a faint trace of a trail, created by hunters and their horses, on the northwestern edge of the creek. So I hiked along that side of the creek.  The climb was steep and not knowing what I would find, I decide to travel light with no camera gear and no backpack.  I took one small bottle of water, figuring I would not travel very far from my vehicle.

I soon saw that the creek would be picturesque in many places, but getting to the best vantage points for photographing the creek would be challenging due to the steepness of the gully in which the creek ran and numerous back and forth creek crossings, balancing on rocks and/or logs.  I decided that I should make many scouting iPhone photos to be sure I captured some of this scenery, since I soon convinced myself that coming back with heavy camera gear, a tripod and backpack might not be safe to do alone and might be more strenuous of an undertaking than I wanted to do.

Light dappled creek details. iPhone photograph.
Mountain Creek. iPhone photograph.
Mossy rocks and flowing water. iPhone photograph.
Rushing Creek and Mossy Rocks. iPhone photograph.
Small Waterfall Details. iPhone photograph.
Glimmering Water Abstract. iPhone photograph.

This stream presented so many compositional possibilities that I spent a considerable amount of time checking out many little details and points of interest along it.  I also extracted some of the flowing water details to make abstracts with the light refracting into rainbow like colors and other highlights.

An abstract of a portion of a small waterfall. iPhone photograph.

I made so many images along this stream that even presenting a selected subset of them will require multiple blog post to avoid overwhelming readers of this blog.

Colorful Moss on Rocks. iPhone photograph.

The moss covered rocks ranged from deep green to a golden yellow with the sunlight bring out the colors even in late morning; although, the iPhone does not handle strong light contrast well, so some portions of the images have blown out pixels.  One would have to be there in person to really appreciate the magical feeling created by the sound and color along this stream.

Creek Cascades. iPhone photograph.
Cascade and Mossy Rocks. iPhone photograph.

Along the ridge above the creek I found a few tree stumps or portions of fallen, weathered trees with interesting texture and patterns.

Weathered Tree Stump. iPhone photograph.
Weathered Tree Stump. iPhone photograph.

After working my way slowly along the creek for awhile, I saw a wispy waterfall in the distance.

Below the Falls. iPhone photograph.

Encouraged by this sight, I was determined to continue this journey for awhile longer.

More on that in subsequent posts.

Thanks for following and be safe,

Ken

Rio Grande National Forest, September 19, 2020

On Saturday, September 19, 2020 we photographed just off of a roadway not too far from Platoro Reservoir. I made a few shots with the reservoir and mountainside behind.  This one is my favorite:

Aspen, Platoro Reservoir and Mountain. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/400s, f/16, ISO 125.

It takes considerable thought making compositions within a forest.  Even though there is natural beauty all around, it is not as easy as one might think to make an interesting photograph with so much around that can be distracting or unappealing in an image and, after a while, one begins to think that the compositions are too common and repetitive.

Contrast. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/60s, f/16, ISO 100.

I found the contrast of the small evergreens among the tall, rugged Aspens interesting.

Fall Decor. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/125s, f/16, ISO 800.
Fall Forest. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/400s, f/16, ISO 800.

And again I found boulders with fallen Aspen leaves decorating them in the forest.

Forest Boulders. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/125s, f/16, ISO 100.
Aspens and Boulder. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/320s, f/11, ISO 800.

Near the roadway I found a number of Aspens that had started growing horizontally, maybe from some early life damage, but that had turned to grow upward toward the sky.

Directional Correction. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/160s, f/16, ISO 400.

As I later discovered, it was not unusual to find such curved shapes in the Aspen trunks.  I’m sure there must be a logical explanation for this unusual growth pattern.

I spotted a small shimmering Aspen tree that really stood out against the darker surroundings.  I included the small tree as a highlight in a wide angle image.  When reviewing that photograph, I decided to crop the image, making it more apparent that the small tree was the primary object of interest .

Shimmering Aspen. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/500s, f/11, ISO 400.

I made a few close up images of the yellow Aspen leaves late in the day.  I had brought only a wide angle lens on this shoot.  The wide angle close ups always include much more than I wanted in the images, so I cropped them during editing to pick out the portions that I was trying to capture.

Aspen Leaves. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/125s, f/4, ISO 400.
Aspen Leaves. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/320s, f/2.8, ISO 400.

It was late in the day and the sun was rapidly sinking in the sky, but I managed to get a few images with weak back light, then a few more with dispersed light. The three presented here are the ones that I like best.

Aspen Leaves. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/640s, f/2.8, ISO 400.

More later,

Ken

Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado, September 18, 2020, Part 2

Continuing to drive farther along FSR 250, checking out the scenery and possible campsites, I pulled off the road, when I saw this view of a red top mountain.

A Red Top Mountain. iPhone photograph.

I made a mental note of this location, hoping to return here again, when I had more time to shoot with my DSLR.

Shortly after taking this photo, I came to Stunner Campground at the intersection of FSR 250 and FSR 380.  I was surprised to find that it was not only open, but free and no one else was there.

I pulled into the first campsite that just happened to be a  level, pull through site that would be perfect for my son and DIL’s small camper trailer.  This campsite came with a pair of hiking boots (image below).  I then staked out the next campsite just a bit more down the loop for my vehicle.

Abandoned or Forgotten Boots. iPhone photograph.

 

Stunner Campground Campsite. iPhone photograph.

Just up the hillside, on one side of my campsite, were tailings from an old mine or exploratory mine.

A few other campers began to arrive in the campground a little later with a few staying and a few driving on.

Since I had plenty of time before my son arrived, I did a lot of walking in and around the campground, scouting for potential photographic opportunities.

Stunner Campground, Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado. iPhone photograph.

There were many large rocks and boulders scattered around the campground.  The rocks usually had splotches of lichen growing on them in interesting patterns.

Lichen on Rock. iPhone photograph.
Lichen on Rock. iPhone photograph.
Lichen on Rock. iPhone photograph.

I worked my down towards the Alamosa River that ran beside the campground.

Mine Tailings and the Alamosa River at Stunner Campground. iPhone photograph.

The photo above was taken from atop mine tailings, looking down towards the river and across to a mountainside.  Notice that there are patches of good fall color, but most of the trees are still green or just showing signs of changing.

The beetle killed evergreen trees really spoil the scenery now all around the Rocky Mountains, but there are trees that either are resistant or maybe just not yet attacked by the beetles.

The soil in this area is mineral rich, resulting in an orange-red color in the water, staining the rocks and anything else in the water.  The water is acidic from the naturally occurring minerals and the mine tailing contribute even more to the natural elements in the water.

Mine Tailings above the Alamosa River. iPhone photograph.

There were numerous other indications of old mining operations around the campground and I even saw newish claim stakes in one location.

Stunner Campground View. iPhone photograph.

That little Aspen tree in the photo above really caught my eye, so I had to photograph it with a green evergreen tree as background.  I tried other compositions and close up views, but this one is most pleasing to me.

Mineral stained driftwood along the Alamosa River. iPhone photograph.
Alamosa River at Stunner Campground. iPhone photograph.

When my son arrived, he said the fall color in this area was the best he had seen on his trip from the Denver area and that there was much smoke from forest fires visible during most of the drive.  There seemed to be little, if any indication of smoke in this area.

We drove around a little after they arrived to decide where to go for a morning shoot the next day.

This is open range country, so there were cows wandering around the forest.  A small herd of cattle moved into the campground during the night, sleeping in the open, grassy meadow of the campground.

Early morning frost and curious cattle in Stunner Campground. iPhone photograph.

The darker spots in the grass of the photo above are places where the frost did not form, because an animal was laying there during the night.

Much more on this trip to follow,

Ken

 

Rio Grande National Forest, Colorado, September 18, 2020, Part 1

At sometime during my second day in Colorado, my son and his wife decided that due to the smoke from numerous large forest fires in Colorado, it would be best to come south to meet me in the Rio Grande National Forest.  So I needed to find a suitable campsite for all of us and scout the forest roads for potential photographic opportunities.

Thus Friday morning I continued to drive along Forest Service Road 250 and spurs off of FSR 250, looking for good campsites, stopping above Platoro Reservoir to shoot a few DSLR photos.

Platoro Reservoir. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/8s, f/11, ISO 64.

Much snow fell in this area during the early fall storm with much remaining on the mountain peaks and a few patches in shady, lower elevations.

Fall Rocks. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm, 1/15s, f/16, ISO 64.

Walking up a hillside, I found large boulders with colorful lichen interspersed with the Aspens.

Scared. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/3s, f/16, ISO 64.

Aspen tree trunks often have interesting features, but this one, adjacent to one group of boulders, had a major scar.

Forest Boulders. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 24mm, 1/3s, f/16, ISO 64.

Another view of two large, lichen covered boulders in the Aspen grove is above.

My main task today was to find another campsite, so I soon moved on to continue that search.

More later,

Ken

 

 

Pre-Sunset and Night Photo Preparation, Southeastern Colorado, July 31, 2020

We returned to our vehicles, after our hike up to a saddle in a volcanic dike, to have dinner and prepare for sunset and set up for night photography.  The weather was threatening with heavy clouds being blown in by strong winds from the northwest.

Late Day Storm iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I’ve always liked the way the light changes just before a storm.  We were a little concerned about the prospects for sunset and night photography, but the weather report showed decreasing chances of rain as the evening progressed and only a slight chance of overnight rain.

English Valley Campsite iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

The sky was mostly covered with thick clouds in all directions.

English Valley Campsite iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

After a modest dinner, we gathered our gear and hiked up onto the volcanic ridge to the south and picked our spots for sunset and night images.  We used applications on our iPhones to determine when the moon would rise and set, so we that we could program our remote shutter releases to shoot in that time interval.  We also knew where the moon would be in the sky, so we could decide which direction we wanted to shoot to take best advantage of the moon for lighting the landscape.

Night shooting setup iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

One can see that the cloud cover is still heavy, but it seems to be clearing, with the clouds blowing to the southeast.

Cloudy sky. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

The image above is to the south of my selected location.

Sunset sky view. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

Looking back to the northwest from my position, the clouds are much thinner now.  Our vehicles are just visible in the center left of this image.

Anchored leg of tripod for extended night shooting. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

After a few sunset images, I finalized my night composition and made sure the tripod was stable and added a few rocks around one leg for additional security.  One can see that the standing room is tight and requires care in moving around here.

That’s all for now.  I will have the sunset and night image results in the next post.

Ken

 

Scouting Photographs, BLM Land, Southeastern Colorado, July 30, 2020

After driving around sightseeing and scouting in an extended area in Southeastern Colorado, we returned to our campsite on BLM land north of Del Norte to prepare for sunset and/or night time photography.

Readers will recall seeing this photograph of the end of a volcanic peak north of the road that we were camped along:

English Valley Sunset, Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 19mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 3200

I kept wondering what the view was like in the saddle behind that peak.  The steep slope had made me reluctant to hike up there, but today I decided I had to check out the view from that saddle.  So I attacked the slope, trying to take the easiest route, but still I had to climb steep portions.

Here is an iPhone panorama from the saddle.

English Valley Panoramic View iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I think this view would be good for star trails, but there is infrastructure (not visible in this small image) in the far distance that would have lights showing up in night shots.

The image below is looking more to the southwest.  Again not too bad a view.  One can see my son, pondering the photographic possibilities from here, in the orange shirt just to the lower right of the main ridge peak, .

Scouting for night shots. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

Another view to the west to northwest is below.

Scouting for night shots. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

This last image shows how steep the slope is that one has to climb to get up here.  Our vehicles are just barely visible in the right center of this image.

After some discussion, we decided it was not worth the effort to make the trek back up here for night shots, then have to trudge up early in the morning to retrieve our cameras, hike back down and get to another location for sunrise photos.

On the way back to our vehicles I paused to check out the roadway for use in additional leading line photographs from a location more to the west of the other photos taken the day before, which used this roadway as a leading line.

Roadway. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

Stay tuned to see how the night photography worked out.

Ken

 

 

La Garita Arch, Colorado, July 2020

Leaving Cathedral Campground, we headed to an area to the north of Del Norte, Colorado that my son had explored sometime earlier this year.  Our first stop was at La Garita Arch, a natural arch in an ancient volcanic dike on BLM land.

La Garita Arch, Southeastern Colorado, iPhone, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

We were here well before sunset, so I made a few iPhone photographs, while awaiting the golden sunset hour.

Panorama at La Garita Arch, Colorado. iPhone, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

Hiking up a hillside to the west of the arch, looking for a good place from which to shoot, I noted many cacti of various kinds scattered around, intermingled with some colorful, lichen covered rocks.

Cacti, iPhone, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

It required some attention to where one stepped to avoid putting a foot onto one of these.

The arch is not an easy one to photograph and the shadow of the hillside to the west of the arch moves quickly up the incline to the arch as the sun sinks into the sky, limiting the late day light on the arch.

La Garita Arch. Nikon D850, Nikon 14-24mm @ 14mm @ 24mm, f/11, 1/6s, ISO 64.

Of the many shots I took, the one above is the best.

We had hoped to camp nearby the arch, but the only real campsite here was already taken.  So we moved on to another area, where we hoped to get other late day images before the sun completely set.

More on that next,

Ken

Cathedral Creek Trail, Scouting Photographs, July 2020

I left Teal Campground, heading towards Del Norte, Colorado, expecting to meet up with my son somewhere in that area, after he drove down from Denver to spend a few more days with me in the southeastern portion of Colorado.

When I got back into a cell phone coverage area, I got a message from my son suggesting that we meet at Cathedral Campground north of US 160 between South Fork and Del Norte.

After driving miles on narrow, rough forest service roads, I arrived at Cathedral Campground, found a suitable campsite with an open site, which I claimed for my son, across the campground loop from my site.  It would be several hours before my son arrived, so I decided to hike a portion of a trail that went up the mountainside along Cathedral Creek to scout for possible sunset and/or sunrise photography locations.

Embargo Creek Crossing at Cathedral Campground. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I immediately had to cross Embargo Creek, which ran along the east side of the camping area.   A short distance along the trail, it intersected Cathedral Creek and continued to follow the creek uphill.

Cliffside alone Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

After hiking a fair distance, there were views of cliffs along each side of the trail.  So I began to look for good, unobstructed views of the rock outcrops and estimate the potential for getting late day or early morning light on those cliff sides.

A cliff along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

All of the views from the trail were obstructed to some extent by trees.

A cliff along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I could see the possibility of hiking through woods to maybe get beyond some of the near trail obstructions, usually requiring a creek crossing and/or new route finding off of the official trail.

Cliff view, Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

 

Cliffside, Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

The views to the west, like that above, might be good for sunrise photography.

An obscured view of a cliffside along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

There were many beetle killed trees, which spoiled the views, along the trail.

Cliffside, Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

It was a partly cloudy afternoon with more clouds building up, as is normal in the late afternoons in the mountains.  A late afternoon thunderstorm would not be good to be out in here.

Cathedral Creek, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

There were a number of creek crossings along the trail.  This one was the prettiest.  I took the above photo, while standing on rocks in the creek and the one below after crossing the creek.

Cathedral Creek, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I made an iPhone video of the creek at this crossing and it can be viewed here.

I failed to bring along my hiking stick, so I had to balance on logs and/or rocks at a number of creek crossings.  At one such crossing, I had to stoop over, putting my left hand on a small log for balance as I crossed.  After getting across, I noticed a young couple watching from just up the trail.  They congratulated me upon my safe crossing.  I decided that I needed to find a suitable stick along the trail to use as a hiking stick to balance myself at the crossings on the way back down the trail.

The couple told me there were views of cliffs a little further up the trail, but the views were from just below the cliffs and the views were all obstructed by dead trees.

I continued up the trail for a while longer, before deciding to turn back.

An obscured vies of a cliffside along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
An obscured view of a cliffside along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.
A cliff along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I can see that one might cross the creek, hike to the west through brushy areas and maybe get beyond the major obstructions.  But these views were a long way up the trail from the campground.  The best views were to the west, which meant hiking up the trail in the early morning dark to be at one of these locations for sunrise.  The trail ran between two mountain ridges, so it was likely that the rock outcrops to the west might not get the golden hour sunlight.

The views to the east of the trail were not as good and the golden hour sunset light would be limited, at best, and one would have to hike back down the trail in the dark after a sunset shoot.

Wildflowers along Cathedral Creek Trail. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

There were a few scattered wildflowers near the creek.

An unidentified moth, iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I spotted this colorful moth spreading its wings on a plant beside the trail.  I tried to identify it, but I could find none that looked like this on a number of websites.  I submitted this photo to one site that supposedly would help identify moths and butterflies, but it has been weeks since posting and I’ve gotten no response.

As usual, the hike down took much less time than the hike up the trail and this time I used a stick that I picked up along the trail as an aid in balancing at the creek crossings, making those crossings much easier and faster.

I checked my GPS device upon arriving back at my campsite to get an estimate of the change in elevation from my campsite to the highest point I hiked to on the trail.  The elevation of my campsite was  9400 feet and the highest elevation I had recorded on the trail was 10,114 feet.  So I had climbed up at least 714 feet in elevation.

My son arrived soon after I returned to my campsite and after a short discussion about the photographic possibilities here, we decided to move on to another area north of Del Norte that my son had explored during an earlier visit to southeastern Colorado.

More on that later,

Ken

 

Williams Creek Trail, Colorado, July 2020

During my second day at Teal, after reserving my site for another night, I drove further up the road to Cimarrona Campground.

Just past Teal Campground, I stopped to photograph an old ranch building in a valley below the mountain side to the east.

Scene adjacent to Teal Campground, Colorado. Nikon D850, 1/320s, f/11, ISO 1250, 80-400mm @ 80mm. Edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Modules.

Continuing to Cimarrona, I found this campground is significantly different than Teal.  Here there were Aspen trees, rather than Ponderosa Pines, the campsites seemed to be closer together and the campground more confined by the Aspens.  There were no good views from this campground, but I expect it would be quite nice in the fall, when the Aspens turn their golden yellow.

I continued on to Palisades (the horse campground) Campground at the end of forest service road 640.  There is a parking area in this campground for Williams Creek Trailhead.  Williams Creek trail goes far up into the mountains, eventually connecting to the Continental Divide Trail.

During my trip planning, I had noted the possibility of finding waterfalls along Williams Creek, which feeds into the Williams Creek Reservoir.  In viewing the trail via Google Earth, I could see that, while I might see falls or cascades from the trail, the view would probably be from so far away, that it would be impossible to get good photos of falls or the creek from the trail.  There appeared to be some possibility of walking along the creek for some distance; but eventually it looked impossible or difficult to follow the creek to the possible falls.

I decided to hike up the trail to check it out.  I could tell from the map that the trail was fairly steep in some places and I did not want to carry a heavy load, so I did not take my DSLR and heavy camera gear.  I did wear my Camelbak with a full water reservoir, a few snacks and items that would be useful in case of inclement weather or an unexpected event.

Gnarly Fallen Tree Trunk. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

This fallen tree trunk was so twisted that I had to take time to photograph it along the way up the trail.

A typical view along Williams Creek Trail. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

This is a typical view of the trail.  It was much steeper in some places and flatter or downhill in others; but the trail was mostly uphill.  I could hear the creek flowing in the distance much of the time, but not see it very often.

A view from Williams Creek Trail, Palisades Campground, Colorado. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

I finally got to a place where I could see one of the features that I had spotted via Google Earth.  I was correct in surmising that the trail was so far above the creek that it would be impossible to get a good photo of the falls or cascades from the trail.  In the photo above the little white areas in the lower left are cascades or small falls in the creek.

While at this point another hiker came down the trail and said this was the best view point for this feature.  He said there was another view a short distance up the trail, but it was not as good.  I hiked up to check out that view and found that he was correct.  So I came back here and zoomed in on the creek with my iPhone.

Williams Creek as seen from far above on Williams Creek Trail. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

This is the result and not very satisfying.  I cannot even judge the scale of these water features from this distance or this photo.  This feature on the creek is not the best one that I spotted on Google Earth, but it was evident that it would not be possible to get to the better possible falls or even get a good view from this trail.

It had been cloudy all the time I was hiking and I could hear thunder far in the distance.  The thunder finally got loud enough that I knew it was time to head back down the trail.  Since it was mostly downhill on the way back, it took much less time to hike back to the parking lot in Palisades Campground than it did to hike up.

Approaching Storm. iPhone Photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

One can see the heavy clouds of the coming storm in the photo above.  I made it back down to my vehicle and back to my campsite just before it began to rain lightly.  I’m sure it was raining heavier in the higher elevations.

I’m still hoping to get good sunset light this evening at Teal Campground.

Stay tuned to see how that worked out,

Ken

 

Teal Campground July 2020, Sunset Day 1

As sunset time approached during my first day at Teal Campground, I could see no breaks in the clouds in any direction and the clouds to the west were very thick and heavy.  Light rain sprinkled intermittently.  I decided there was no need to take my DSLR out this evening and to just check out more of the area for possible sunrise compositions.

I walked towards a rail fence line on the western edge of the campground, thinking that area and the mountains to the north and west might get good sunlight the next morning.

As I was taking a few iPhone shots of possible sunrise compositions, I began to notice just a hint of late day light begin to show up on the distant mountainsides, in spite of the 360 degree, very heavy cloud cover.

I thought about hastening back to my vehicle to get my DSLR gear, but I figured that any good light would be so fleeting that it would be gone before I could do so and it would be best to at least get a shot or two with my iPhone, rather than miss the sunset entirely.

So I waited and watched as the sunset light got better and better, moving across the mountainsides in the north and to the east.

Golden Hour in Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

Now it was definitely too late to get out the DSLR, but had I rushed back to my vehicle as soon as I saw the possibility of a golden hour, I would have had time to get a few images with a better camera.

Golden Hour in Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.
Golden Hour in Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photograph, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO Nik Modules.

I know others have had this same experience and I this is not the first time this has happened to me.  I always think, “Never again”, but it happens again, anyway.

After the golden hour, the clouds began to glow, too.  The iPhone camera is just not good enough to handle the dynamic range of a glowing sky at sunset, but I made a few images and managed to salvage this one:

Sunset at Teal Campground, Colorado. iPhone photo, edited in Adobe Lightroom and DxO modules.

Having missed this opportunity to shoot sunset here with my DSLR, I decided that I had to stay over another night and hope to get a good sunset again.

Take care and stay safe,

Ken