Colorado Fall Color
The Sneffels Range
I just wrapped up 10 fantastic days in the San Juan Mountains, the last four leading the 2011 the Scenic Aperture Colorado Fall Color Workshop. The San Juan Mountains are located in Southwest Colorado, basically running north and south between Durango and Telluride. This area contains some of the most spectacular Colorado mountain scenery, especially when the rugged peaks are cloaked with iridescent yellow aspens each autumn.
The first few days were unusually warm which I suppose was at least part of the reason the aspens turned a bit late this year. As the week wore on, the temperatures dropped to the low 30′s at night and the aspens leaves really turned up the wattage. By the end of our time there, the color was a bit past its prime in the Silverton area, but just reaching full stride to the north near Ridgway and the Sneffels Range.
Typically, each day we woke up to crystal clear, cloudless skies but by mid-afternoon clouds moved in with rain showers. This daily routine provided us with great variety and most afternoon shoots were enhanced with dark dramatic skies which contrasted perfectly with the intense color at the base of the mountains.
Crystal Lake
Crystal Lake near Ouray, CO is a popular spot right off Highway 550. We made two stops; once at sunset and once at sunrise. Depending on your point of view, the lake provides a mirror like surface reflecting either the Red Mountains to the south or the nearby aspens to the west. To the right is one of my favorite shots of the week. This was taken at sunset. There was a bit of wind this evening so the surface of the water had some ripples. I used a 8 stop variable neutral density filter and a very slow shutter speed to smooth the reflections of the trees and the rocky lake shore. The Crystal Lake area also provided limitless material for detail shots in the nearby aspen grove. We spent considerable time climbing around in the hills along the lake looking for the perfect composition of white tree trunk, yellow leaves, and dark rocks. There just was not enough time in the day . . .
Another of our favorite spots was overlooking the Double RL Ranch with the Sneffels Range as a backdrop.”RL” stands for Ralph Lauren and yes, this is his ranch. They were cutting hay in the valley (I’m sure it was not Ralph down there) on our first stop. We came back a second time just after a short rain storm to find the valley illuminated in sun with very dramatic clouds at the peaks.
Double RL Ranch
The Sneffels Range of the San Juan mountains has to be one of, if not the most spectacular mountain vistas anywhere in the world. It streaches east and west and receives dramatic cross-light at sunrise and sunset each day. We spent hours scouting out the best points to capture the snow dusted peaks with just the right amount of orange scrub oak and iridescent yellow aspens in to make a great foreground composition. One cannot capture the magnitude of this range in one frame. Panoramas work well here and I made several. The one at the bottom of this post is one of my favorites.
As usual, this workshop was not only fun and exhilarating, it was also exhausting. We got up early and stayed out late. It was hot, it was cold, we got dirty, and we got rained on. We worked hard. For our trouble we were rewarded with innumerable spectacular photo ops. It seemed like the next great shot always presented itself if we just stayed out a bit longer, got up a bit earlier, or drove or walked a bit further. And as a result, I’ve adopted a new slogan; “The harder you work, the luckier you get”. Gary Player, the golf pro, is the originator but it applies just as well to photography as it does to golf.
A Perfect Ending
Our new slogan proved to be true on our last morning shoot. The skies were heavy and dark after overnight rain. We were revisiting the location of our very first shoot hoping for a nice sunrise. It didn’t look good. I was tired and ready to head back early. It was then we noticed a very small opening in the clouds. If we’re lucky, we thought, the sun would peek through that opening and illuminate the mountains for a few moments and we would get one more shot. We decided to wait a few minutes and then it happened. We got lucky! Hence the new slogan. The sun broke through that opening just as it was raining to the west in front of the mountains. At first just one end of a small rainbow was visible. However, as the light intensified, we were rewarded with an incredible full rainbow for our wait. Had I not left the EF16-35mm in the car, I would have the whole thing – but that is a lesson for another day. Regardless, it was a perfect ending to a perfect week in the mountains.
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Sneffels Range - San Juan Mountains
As a nature photographer, autumn is my favorite time of the year. For a few weeks every year, the landscape lights up with brilliant fall color that never ceases to capture my attention.