Fault line

Crack in the ice and trapped bubbles on Emerald Lake. I took many images of the cracks and structures in the ice the beautiful morning I was here. When surrounded by grand peaks and vistas don't forget the small details!

fault line. Buy a print. On flickr. On Facebook. On G+.
handheld Nikon D600. Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 at 44mm, f/8.0, 1/25s, ISO 100.

Deer

Mule deer on Mount Galbraith in the early morning.


Munching. Nikon D300, Nikkor 55-200 mm f4.0-5.6 VR at 200 mm, f/8.0, 1/800s (sunny 16 rule), ISO 200
Google+ post (image above links to flickr)

I often see lots of wildlife early in the morning such as these deer but don't really have the appropriate gear to get them closer. I did like this little group though with the one in the center noticing me.

Sunrise at Mount Galbraith

Mount Galbraith is a basically unknown open space park just west of Golden. It's accessed right off Golden Gate Canyon road. The morning these images were created last weekend, I was originally planning to go up in the mountains, but a combination of factors made me rethink that. The extremely high avalanche danger made me a little apprehensive about the location I had chosen and the roads leading there were extremely slick after the big Friday snow storm. So I chose to stay in a little longer and drive up to Mount Galbraith where I had taken some nice cloudy sunset images before (see here, here, and here) and where I had discovered a very nice tree that overlooked Golden, Denver and the plains that for sure would be offer some nice opportunities at sunrise. It's rare to need snowshoes in the foothills, but this day I needed them.


Sunrise over the plains. Buy a print.
High resolution composite from 16 images.
Individual shot technical data: Nikon D300, Nikkor 35 mm f1.8 DX, f/13, 1/125s, ISO 200
Same image on flickr. Same on Google+.

This is the tree and down below you can see Golden and North Table Mountain. You should really check it out large by clicking on it.

I also made a panorama at this same spot:


Wideness. Buy a print.
High resolution composite from 10 images.
Individual shots: Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 mm f2.8 at 11 mm, f/13, 1/100s, ISO 200

Again, seeing this large is the only way.

This is the tree from the other, sunlit side.


Glowing. Buy a print.
High resolution composite from 8 images.
Individual shot technical data: Nikon D300, Nikkor 35 mm f1.8 DX, f/13, 1/60s, ISO 200

I saw a lot of deer from which I will post some pictures later. Now I focus just on the landscapes.

This image was taken on the other side of Mount Galbraith long after the sun had come up but the shadows were still very very cool.


Hot and Cold. Buy a print.
Technical data: Single shot Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 mm f2.8 at 15 mm, f/10, 1/200s, ISO 200
Google+ post. Same image on flickr.

The hills you see in the back are I think those in White Ranch open space park and Golden Gate Canyon state park. I really like the very strong hot/cold contrast you get here between the shadows and the sunlit areas. This is really what it looked like to me. I lifted the shadows out of the darkness by using a graduated neutral density filter but to your eyes the shadows looked this crazy blue in contrast with the warm, sunlit areas.

On the back of Mount Galbraith there is also a large area of burnt trees from an area that burned last spring. These offer some interesting opportunities but are hard to frame effectively.

Dance of the skeletons. Buy a print.
High resolution composite from 8 images.
Individual shots: Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16 mm f2.8 at 11 mm, f/11, 1/80s, ISO 200

Hope you enjoyed these as much as I enjoyed my morning that time.

Butler Gulch evening

I went on a quick snowshoe last week with my friend from Switzerland, Jean-David. We went for a quick trip to Butler Gulch, which is at the same trailhead as Jones Pass road, near Berthoud Falls and Berthoud Pass. Here is Jean-David sans snowshoes, getting ready for the hike up.



Even though I expected it to be blown bare most of the way, there was more than enough snow to have done it on skis/snowboards. We only had snowshoes with us though.

We went up to the bowl at the end of the trail and climbed a glacial knob that sits in the middle of it to look out over the valley. Up above treeline, the snow was less deep and we would have had to plan our route more carefully were we on skis. The sun was low over the mountains and bathed the bowl in nice yellow light that well contrasted with the blue snow. Here is a picture of my backpack in its natural state:



It's a f-stop Tilopa BC that I recently got and that I am extremely happy with. I'll perhaps review it later. Colby Brown recommended f-stop gear for the sort of backcountry trips I do with my camera gear and he is absolutely right. They make some of the only camera bags that are actually good backpacks and that can carry the non-photo gear that you need on backcountry trips, such as extra layers, food, water, shovels, tents, stoves, etc. It will do it all without compromising on the camera/tripod front. Highly recommended. Anyway on this knoll I created a few images.


Butler Gulch evening. Buy a print.
Composite of nine images from Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 at 35mm, f/16,1/160s, ISO 200.
Same image on flickr.
Post on this image at Google+.

This image will print as high as your wall with impeccable detail. In large prints, the sunlit area will come alive. On the downscaled image, the sunlit area somehow turns orange. This is because the yellow from the sunlight is mixed in with the red of the rocks I guess.


A bowl of sugar. Buy a print.
Stitch from 9 handheld images horizontally arranged. Individual images from Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 at 11mm, f/16,1/60s, ISO 200.
Same image on flickr.



Primordial. Buy a print.
Single image from Nikon D300, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 at 11mm, f/16,1/60s, ISO 200.
Same image at flickr.

At this point my fingers were starting to freeze a little too much so we decided to turn around and after crashing down through the glades instead of over the trail, drove over to the traditional stop at Tommyknocker brewery in Idaho Springs to eat some well deserved nachos:


From my iPhone.

I have a great backlog of images I promised, so more later.