Lunar Eclipse
January
After several weeks of planning, we travelled to Bryce Canyon in western Utah to photograph the total lunar eclipse. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and we were under 90% cloud cover. So we hurriedly changed our plans and drove back east to the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado looking for clear skies. By the time we finally found a clear location, the moon was high above the horizon and the photos were not impressive. After 4 days and nearly 1700 miles, the lesson learned is that weather is THE primary factor in planning night sky photo trips.
Supermoon
March
On a much shorter trip, I shot the Supermoon from locations close to home. This time, the weather was much more cooperative.
April
On another trip to photograph the full moon, I travelled to the Devil’s Backbone formation near Loveland, Colorado. Unfortunately, the area west of the formation is all private land, and photo opportunities are limited.
Dowdy Lake & Nokhu Crags
May
On this trip, I drove to the Red Feather Lakes area north of Fort Collins to photograph the springtime arc of the Milky Way above Dowdy Lake. Although I usually look for dark skies, this time the light pollution from Fort Collins added some interesting color to the image.
Located just west of the Continental Divide at Cameron Pass, the Nokhu Crags in the Never Summer Mountains provided the foreground for some good Milky Way photos against dark skies.
Four Corners
July
In early July, Arches National Park has very hot weather and large crowds of visitors from around the country and around the world. Fortunately, the area around Turret Arch and the Windows is more peaceful at night, and I was able to make some good images of the Milky Way.
The area around Kayenta, AZ, contains several interesting rock formations, including Agathla Peak (El Capitan), a large, prominent volcanic plug. The Milky Way arching above this formation added interest to the scene.
San Juan Wildflowers
July
In late July, I made one of my annual treks to the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado to photograph wildflowers. The timing of this effort is always a gamble, and this year the bloom was later than usual by about two weeks. The heavy snows last winter left many of the Forest Service roads still blocked with snow, but I was able to find some good flowers in Porphyry Basin and near the top of Stony Pass.
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Snowy Range
July
I made a brief trip to the Snowy Range in southern Wyoming to photograph the Milky Way above Brooklyn Lake.
Lightning & Night Sky
August
August is monsoon season along the Colorado Front Range and Eastern Plains, and these storms often produce some spectacular lightning shows. One of the bolts struck close enough to my shooting location to chase me indoors, and another storm offered moonlit clouds with lightning inside the cloud and stars above.
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The August full moon, known as the Sturgeon Moon, provided good shooting opportunities near home.
Westcliffe
August
We made a brief, relaxing trip to the Wet Mountain Valley and the town of Westcliffe, the only Colorado community certified by the International Dark Sky Association. We drove just outside of Westcliffe to find truly dark skies.
On the drive back to town after shooting the stars, our headlights discovered a person lying motionless in the middle of the dirt road about four miles from town. Our call to 911 resulted in two police vehicles and an ambulance arriving on the scene within minutes. We never did learn the story behind this mystery.
Beartooth Highway
September
Our next trip took us through six states, over 2000 miles, and included Dinosaur National Monument, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Yellowstone National Park, Beartooth Highway, Spearfish Canyon and the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway. The highlight of the trip was the mountain scenery on the Beartooth Highway along the Montana-Wyoming border.
On the trip through the Spearfish Canyon, we stopped at Roughlock Falls.
Grand Teton National Park
September
Late September is the traditional time for Autumn color along the Grand Teton range, so I made a brief trip to this iconic location to try my luck. I was able to find some good color...
...but the highlights of the trip were a sky full of pre-dawn stars above the moonlit Grand Teton peaks...
...and the Milky Way soaring above Jackson Lake.
San Juan Mountains Fall Color
The latest trip was to the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado to shoot more fall color. Just like the wildflowers, the timing of fall color is always a gamble. And this year, the change was slightly later than usual, but it was still quite good.
The Milky Way also put on a good show in the dark sky above the reflective surface of Lost Lake.
To see more photos from these trips, please visit the location galleries Dowdy Lake & Crags, Four Corners, San Juan Wildflowers, Snowy Range, Westcliffe, Beartooth Highway, Grand Teton, and San Juan Mountains and the subject galleries Night Sky and Lightning.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
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Again this Fall, I followed the peak color transition as it moved from north to south, travelling from southern Wyoming to southern Colorado.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Snowy Range, Wyoming, Laramie River, Crested Butte, and Cortez location galleries. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
The search for peak fall color began along the Battle Pass Scenic Byway (WY 70) in southern Wyoming. This highway is locally known as “Aspen Alley.” On the same trip, we travelled along the Laramie River, enjoying the peak fall color.
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Continuing south, I visited the area around Crested Butte, and was pleased with the fall display.
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The final Fall trip was to the southwest corner of Colorado, between Cortez and Telluride, where we found the best color of the season.
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In addition to the fall color display, this season was my first attempt at capturing the Perseid meteor shower. I camped for two nights during the meteor shower peak and captured over twenty bright meteor trails as they streaked across the northern sky.
I also captured some new images of the Milky Way from dark sky locations.
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To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Snowy Range, Wyoming, Laramie River, Crested Butte, and Cortez location galleries.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
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In mid-June 2018, we took a two-week vacation trip to the Northern and Western edges of Oregon. On the way home from our 2017 trip to Redwoods and Crater Lake, we compiled a list of places and attractions in Oregon that merited a return visit, and on this trip we were able to complete some of those visits.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Oregon 2018-06 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
First on our “bucket list” was the Columbia River Gorge.
The “Mighty Columbia” has carved a ninety mile long steep-sided gorge that separates the states of Oregon and Washington. On the Oregon side, the basalt rock walls are quite vertical with impressively tall waterfalls. We were able to visit several of them, but there were several others that were not yet accessible due to the continuing clean-up efforts following the Eagle Creek fire in September-November 2017.
During our travels along the river, we stopped to watch the kiteboarders and wind surfers taking advantage of the strong winds through the Gorge. These athletes were doing amazing feats and making it look easy.
We also spent some time in the City of Portland. One of the sights there was the huge craft fair known as Saturday Market (which actually is held on both Saturday and Sunday). This fair attracts hundreds of vendors and thousands of customers every weekend. The original architecture along the Willamette River was constructed of cast iron to withstand river flooding.
We also visited the Lan Su Chinese Garden, which is a Zen-like island of tranquility in the heart of the city.
Our final destination in Portland was the International Test Rose Garden. Although there are literally thousands of bushes and millions of blossoms, the Father’s Day crowds did not lend themselves to wide-angle scenics. Instead, I focused on close-up photos of individual blooms. Many of the flowers are almost structural when viewed from a few inches away.
Our final destination on this trip was the Oregon Coast. The coastal sea stacks are quite different from the bluffs and buttes of Utah, although the same types of erosional forces are responsible for both.
We were able to cross several items off of our Oregon bucket list, but there are still more places to see. We’ll be back.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Oregon 2018-06 gallery here. As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Capitol Reef 2018-05 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
On my way West, I camped overnight at Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP and photographed the Milky Way above the canyon. The skies at this National Park are so dark that it was difficult to get any starlight to illuminate the canyon walls. But the starry arc of the Milky Way stood out in bright relief.
The next day, I continued West to the main section of Capitol Reef National Park. The only campground in this part of the Park was already full, which turned out to be OK, since the campsites there are too close together for my taste. Instead of “KOA camping,” I stayed in a B&B on Notom Road, just outside the park. During the hot daylight hours, I drove the full length of the Scenic Road and took several shots of the very impressive bluffs of the Waterpocket Fold. It’s easy to see why these rock walls made this area one of the last to be fully explored in the lower 48 states.
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My chosen nightscape shooting location in this part of the park was the Chimney Rock trailhead, where I shot a stacked composite panorama of the Milky Way.
My final stop on this outing was Cathedral Valley, in the less-visited northern part of the Park. With the exception of one primitive campground, the camping in this part of the park is all dispersed.
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The night skies in this deserted part of the park are especially dark, and a panorama above the Temple of the Sun showed the Milky Way at its best.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Capitol Reef 2018-05 gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>My return to Utah for this lunar cycle was primarily determined by the weather. Storms were taking place in Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota, while clear skies were predicted further south.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Valley of the Gods 2018-04 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
During the day, the Valley of the Gods contains an impressive collection of 1000-foot buttes and free-standing spires.
After dark, the Valley has relatively dark skies that allow the stars to steal the show.
Although the Valley is a primitive location with no water or facilities, it compensates for these inconveniences with interesting geology, solitude, and bright, clear skies. To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Valley of the Gods 2018-04 location gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
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To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Valley of the Gods 2018-01 location gallery. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
For nearly a week before the trip, I studied maps, read internet articles and used smart phone apps to plan the trip and the specific timing of the eclipse. I arrived a couple days before the eclipse to scout locations in person, and to shoot the starry skies above the buttes.
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Since the moon was nearly full during the nights just before the eclipse, I also made some moonrise shots above the rock formations.
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During the eclipse I took several lunar “close-ups” to show the changes in color and the details of the moon’s surface
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Finally, during the daylight hours, I re-visited the scenic areas throughout the valley.
This trip pointed out the benefits of careful advanced planning for celestial events. Using the Photo Pills app on my phone allowed me to be in the right place at the right time to capture this heavenly event.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Valley of the Gods 2018-01 gallery.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>This year, I made three trips to the Colorado high country to photograph the fall colors, with some additional opportunities to capture some starry nightscapes. My plan was to follow the fall color change from North to South, catching the peak color in each area.
To see more photos from these trips, please visit the Colorado Fall Foliage 2017-10 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
I started this Fall season in Colorado’s northern mountains around Steamboat Springs. I camped along Buffalo Pass Road and took several photos of the Milky Way, but the light pollution from the town of Steamboat Springs washed out some of the dark sky. As I was shooting, a car drove by and illuminated the aspens along the road, leading to a very different photo.
Headlights and Starlight |
I moved on to Hahn’s Peak Lake, where the weather closed in, and then to Rocky Mountain National Park. RMNP was more crowded than I expected for mid-September, but the crowds were gone when I shot the Milky Way above Bear Lake and Sprague Lake. Shooting in different directions gave different amounts of light pollution from Estes Park, and different colors in the night sky
Bear Lake Milky Way |
Sprague Lake Milky Way |
On my second trip, the fall color was better in the central mountains around Crested Butte.
I also found a couple wildlife subjects. Driving down from Lake Irwin, I was surrounded by a family of moose, the bull, cow and two calves, but only the bull was willing to pose for me. Just outside of Gothic, I saw a fox carrying his lunch along the road, and he was kind enough to drop his meal and give me a smile.
My third trip was to the southern mountains between Ridgway and Cortez, where the fall color was on full display.
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Part of this trip was a drive on Last Dollar Road between Ridgway and Telluride. There is a sign at the north end of this road warning about very slick mud when wet, but I have driven this road many times without any problems. But this trip was different. After an overnight snow and early morning melting, the road surface was wet with frozen soil below, and about a mile of the steep downhill slope was as slick as grease. My sole focus as I fish-tailed down this section was making it down alive.
The fall color display in the Colorado mountains is always a pleasure to behold. To see more photos from these trips, please visit the Colorado Fall Foliage 2017-10 location gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
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To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Wyoming Solar Eclipse 2017-08 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
At first, I was not going to shoot this once-in-a-lifetime event. But as I heard and read more about the uniqueness of it, along with the tools and techniques needed, I started to get the urge. After some last-minute scrambling to get solar glasses and solar filters for the lenses, I drove up to central Wyoming to a rural location just south of Casper and near the centerline of the path of totality.
Campgrounds in the area were already filled by people who had done a much better job of planning in advance. I stopped along a back road to practice finding the sun through the 400mm lens and the solar filter, which turned out to be harder than it appears. I was putting away the equipment when I was joined by a local landowner, who told me I was on private property. I apologized and ask where I could find some public land where I could camp for several days. He explained that it is difficult to identify public lands because the public and private lands are very intermixed, the atlas does not show land ownership, and there is no requirement to post private property in Wyoming. After several minutes of friendly conversation, he told me he knew where I could camp, and led me onto his property to a shaded campsite next to a creek, where he and his family had camped while building his cabin. Over the next three days, I had 160 acres to myself to practice eclipse techniques and shoot some very dark Milky Way skies. One the day of the eclipse, I set up two cameras, one for a timelapse of the phases of the pre-eclipse, plus totality, and the other for close-up of the sun just before and after totality.
I also took advantage of the very dark skies in that area of Wyoming to shoot several different Milky Way scenes.
This trip was an exercise in good fortune: the solar filter and solar glasses arrived just in time, I was lucky enough to encounter a welcoming landowner and stay on his property, and there were clear skies and moderate temperatures for the entire trip. I had time to practice camera settings and had some down time to relax. Overall, an enjoyable and productive outing.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Wyoming Solar Eclipse 2017-08 gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>In mid-July, I spent a few days in the southern and northern mountains shooting the annual wildflower spectacle. I was also able to capture a few good night sky photos.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Colorado Wildflowers 2017-07 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
The first destination was the San Juan Mountains. The flowers around the Blue Lakes were just before peak condition, although there was still ice on the Upper Blue Lake.
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The flowers at Stony Pass were in excellent condition
A week later, I visited the northern mountains and found some very good stands of wildflowers
While in the northern mountains, I also made several photos of the night sky
This was a good year for wildflowers in the Colorado high country, with plentiful moisture and favorable weather. It is always a pleasure to visit and soak in the beauty. To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Colorado Wildflowers 2017-07 location gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>Our long-distance photo trip for 2017 was to the Redwoods parks of northern California and the southwestern corner of Oregon, including Crater Lake National Park.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Redwoods 2017-06 and Southwest Oregon 2017-06 location galleries here and here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
Our first destination was the Redwood state and national parks in northern California. Our itinerary took us through Wyoming, Idaho and western Oregon to the tiny hamlet of Klamath, California on the Yurok Indian reservation. From there, we visited several parks to see groves of massive redwoods. These trees are nothing like the trees in other areas, including the Sequoia trees further south.
Just north of the parks in Crescent City, we found some poppies that are an attractive alternative to the wildflowers of the Rockies
From the Redwoods, we drove north to Crater Lake National Park.
Although the park was open, half of the Rim Drive was still snow-bound and the holiday crowds often overwhelmed the roads and parking lots. Even with the crowds and closed trails, the park did offer some very scenic views, including starry night skies above Wizard Island.
Because we visited the park during the July Fourth weekend, the crowds were more than we wanted, so we opted to look instead for waterfalls along the Umpqua River and covered bridges in the Cottage Grove area
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Our visits to the Redwood groves and the area around Cottage Grove left us looking forward to return visits for more exploration and more photos .
To see additional photos from this trip, please visit the Redwoods 2017-06 and Southwest Oregon 2017-06 location galleries here and here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>Valley of the Gods Panorama
This trip to Bears Ears National Monument in the southeast corner of Utah was focused on nightscapes and Indian ruins. This area of Utah is extremely rich in historical artifacts, including some spectacular granaries and dwellings. Almost every canyon contains evidence of extensive native habitation dating back to 1200AD. This part of the state also has truly dark night skies.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Utah 2017-05 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
Two of the more well-known Indian ruins are located relatively close to each other in Road Canyon and Mule Canyon.
Valley of the Gods is a scenic backcountry area in southeastern Utah, near Mexican Hat. It is a hidden gem with scenery similar to that of nearby Monument Valley. Valley of the Gods has isolated buttes, towering pinnacles and wide open spaces that seem to go on forever. Valley of the Gods offers scenery similar to Monument Valley without the tribal restrictions; it is located on BLM land and is open for hiking, backpacking and camping.
Valley of the Gods has some of the darkest skies in the nation, which allow the stars and Milky Way to be very visible.
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Adjoining the Bears Ears monument is the Natural Bridges National Monument. The three bridges in this monument are a testament to the power of water in creating interesting sandstone bridges. These bridges take on a very different appearance after dark.
Finally, I visited the San Rafael Reef area, with its towering bluffs that once presented significant obstacles to westward migration through this region
This area of the Colorado Plateau continues to offer amazing photo opportunities, and draws me back time after time. To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Utah 2017-05 gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>Storm Clouds Above the San Juans
Have you ever had one of those trips where poor weather seemed to follow you everywhere you went?
My trip to the San Juan Mountains this April was one of those trips. My primary objective for this outing was to shoot the starry skies above the mountains around Ouray, Colorado. Unfortunately, it rained or snowed every night of the trip. So I switched my attention to snowy landscapes, and finally went further south in search of better weather.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Four Corners 2017-04 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
For the first two days of the trip, the rain continued off-and-on throughout the day, with snow at the higher elevations. During the brief clear periods, I was able to get a couple shots of old mining structures along the Million Dollar Highway south of Ouray, and one panorama of the Uncompahgre River drainage.
Joke Mine |
Cumberland Mill |
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After two days of clouds and gray light, I checked the weather radar and decided to go further south to the northwest corner of New Mexico, where I hoped to find clearer skies. After a white knuckle drive over the snow-packed Red Mountain Pass, I found improved weather and dry roads. I continued south of Farmington to the Bisti Wilderness. Once I got to this trail-less, unsigned wilderness area, I used a GPS to hike to an area of strange hoodoos. The soft mudstone layer in these dry washes is protected by slightly harder sandstone, leading to some very precarious balanced rocks. I shot some of the formations in mid-day light, before the clouds closed in for another night of rain.
The same can be said of this trip that is often quoted about baseball games: “You win some and you lose some. And some are rained out.”
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Four Corners 2017-04 gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
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After several months without any photo travel, I decided to visit the southeast corner of Utah and the northwest corner of New Mexico to photograph the red rocks and night skies.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Utah 2017-03 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
I started my visit by driving along the Colorado River on the Colorado Riverway Scenic Parkway just outside Moab, Utah. This drive at river level gives a dramatic view of the bluffs and buttes carved by the river.
Colorado Riverway Stars 6992 |
From Moab, it's a short drive to Canyonlands National Park, where you view the canyons carved by the Green River and Colorado River from the mesa above. The canyons are immense and cover hundreds of square miles of fantastic shapes.
Canyonlands NP has very dark skies, which makes it possible to get an excellent view of the starry firmament.
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From Canyonlands, I drove southeast to Shiprock & Bisti Wilderness. Shiprock in northwest New Mexico is an ancient volcanic spire that is sacred to the Navajo. It can be seen for over 50 miles in all directions. Bisti Wilderness is a remote area of dry washes and strange hoodoos just south of Farmington, NM. I plan to visit this area again after dark to capture stary skies above these strange formations.
My final step on this trip was a drive through Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Here, the Colorado River has carved massive canyons before being bottled up by the Glen Canyon Dam to form Lake Powell. The juxtaposition of red rock canyons and snow-covered mountains is striking.
The Colorado Plateau continues to offer great vistas and pleasant surprises. To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Utah 2017-03 gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>This fall season, I decided to try something a little different. I took three trips within four weeks to different sections of the Colorado high country, following the fall color as it peaked through the mountains.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Colorado Fall Color 2016-10 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
I started with a brief visit to the northern mountains around Steamboat Springs and the Mount Zirkel Wilderness. The fall foliage around Hahn’s Peak Lake was very colorful, and the night skies were very dark.
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The foliage along the road to Buffalo Pass is usually very impressive, and this year was no exception.
My next stop was the San Juan Mountains between Ridgway and Hermosa. This visit coincided with peak fall foliage throughout the area, with some of the best color in several years.
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The area around Ophir was especially colorful on this visit
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I finished the visits with a trip to the central mountains around Crested Butte, where I encountered a taste of winter mixed with the fall color
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This trip showed a full range of fall color, from early-season mixed greens and yellows to late-season fall color with snow.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Colorado Fall Color 2016-10 gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>We took a Thanksgiving vacation to Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota. This trip included the Norbeck Scenic Byway through the Black Hills and a side trip to Badlands National Park.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Black Hills 2016-11 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
On the first night in the park, I got a chance to try out my new Vixen star tracker to shoot the night sky. This device allows the camera to follow the rotation of the earth and keeps the stars as points of light, even with a telephoto lens and two minute exposures. The results show real promise.
We were able to get some close-up shots of bighorn sheep and bison, and in some cases the animals were almost too close for comfort.
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The geologic formations in the Badlands are truly fantastic, with layers of different colors and incredible eroded shapes.
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Finally, we took a short side trip to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, one of the most patriotic locations in the western U.S.
This trip provided a pleasant holiday getaway with several good photo opportunities.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Black Hills 2016-11 location gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Snowy Range 2016-08 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
This sequence shows the changes in Milky Way appearance as the sky gets darker and the stars show more brightly
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The night sky continues to keep me out late shooting the stars. It’s a fascinating subject.
Bright Milky Way |
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Snowy Range 2016-08 location gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>To see more photos from this trip, please visit the San Juan Wildflowers 2016-08 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
I started this trip above Crested Butte at Paradise Divide. After setting up camp and taking a few shots of flowers and sunset, a hiker came to the car and asked if I had any water and if I could give him a ride into town. Turns out he had hiked from Lake Irwin (20 miles) and the driver who was supposed to pick him up had not arrived. The hiker had broken his water bottle along the trail and appeared to be suffering from exhaustion and dehydration, so I made room in the car, gave him a bottle of Gatorade and drove down Slate River road in the dark to Crested Butte, where we were met by his sister. Then I drove that same narrow shelf road back up to Paradise Divide in the dark, went to bed, and then got up at midnight to shoot the stars. This encounter certainly made for an interesting night.
The areas around Paradise Divide and Emerald Lake always seem to have an abundance of wildflowers and great scenic opportunities that keep me coming back year after year.
Cinnamon Mountain |
Lupines & Mule Ears |
Cloudy Milky Way |
After reading about the wildflower and scenic opportunities at Blue Lakes near Ridgway, I decided to have a look for myself. The hike to the Lower Blue Lake is quite steep in spots, but the climb is certainly worth the effort and the views and the flowers got even better between Lower Blue Lake and the Middle lake.
During the hike back to the trailhead, the skies darkened and it started to rain lightly. Thank goodness I take rain protection on my hikes. After a short while, thunder echoed off the mountainsides, the rain got heavier and it started to hail. This wet weather continued the entire 4 miles back to the trailhead.
On this trip, I also visited Stony Pass outside of Silverton and the American Basin on the Alpine Loop, but the photo opportunities in both areas were limited by overcast skies and rain storms.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the San Juan Wildflowers 2016-08 location gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Rabbit Ears Pass & Turquoise Lake 2016-07 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
The area around Dumont Lake between Muddy Pass and Rabbit Ears Pass consistently has a great wildflower display, and this year was no exception:
Turquoise Lake outside Leadville is an excellent location for shooting the Milky Way
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Although the timing of this trip was slightly late for this area, the flowers were still quite beautiful. And three days in the high country is always a pleasure.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Rabbit Ears Pass & Turquoise Lake 2016-07 location gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
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These photos, along with the work of eleven other artists, will remain on exhibit until May 29th, 2016. For more information on the exhibit, please visit the CAC website here.
]]>To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Badlands NP 2016-03 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
The Badlands National Park, located just south of Wall, South Dakota in the high plains just east of the Black Hills, consists of more than 244,000 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires, and the largest protected mixed grass prairie in the United States. The Badlands contain miles of bizarre, colorful spires and pinnacles, massive buttes and deep gorges. Erosion of the Badlands reveals sedimentary layers of different colors: purple and yellow (shale), tan and gray (sand and gravel), red and orange (iron oxides) and white (volcanic ash).
The night skies in Badlands were not as dark as I expected, with several small towns generating areas of light pollution along the horizon, but the Milky Way was still impressive above the spires and pinnacles.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Badlands NP 2016-03 gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Yosemite & Sequoia 2015-10 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
During our drive across Nevada, we were met with a significant thunderstorm. Out on the desert, you can see a storm coming from quite a distance, and this one looked serious. The rain was heavy enough to cause the roadside ditches to flow with several inches of water – in the desert.
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In Yosemite Valley, we visited the oft-photographed favorites.
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Yosemite Falls |
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For most of our short visit, the skies were clear, with few clouds to make the sunsets interesting. But we were able to capture some good evening color on the valley walls.
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From Yosemite, we visited Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Kings Canyon was open, but the only road into the Clarks Grove area was still closed due to mop-up efforts following the Rough forest fire. But the Grant Grove of sequoia trees was open, and it gave us our first good look at these huge trees.
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We continued into Sequoia NP where we were even more impressed with these cinnamon-colored giants.
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We were glad to finally see these iconic locations, and equally glad to get back home after long drives across Nevada and Utah. Of the two parks, we found Sequoia more interesting and more peaceful. We will make an effort to return, possibly when there is snow on the trees, or in the Spring when the dogwoods are in bloom.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Yosemite & Sequoia 2015-10 gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>In addition to many great fall displays, this trip included an opportunity to photograph the total eclipse of the Supermoon. To read about that experience, please click here.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the San Juan Mountains 2015-09 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
This trip started in the Elk Mountains at McClure Pass and continued south through the West Elk range to the famous aspen groves of Kebler Pass
I camped at Lost Lake campground and watched as a small fox caught his dinner then curled up for a nap.
The Cimarron Mountains put on a spectacular color display around Silver Jack Reservoir
The San Juans showed excellent color everywhere from Ridgway to Cortez and Durango.
As usual, the mountain skies always put on a great show
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the San Juan Mountains 2015-09 location gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>My annual fall foliage visit to the San Juan Mountains coincided with a rare celestial event, a total eclipse of the Moon while it was at its closest distance (perigee) to Earth during its orbit. A “supermoon” is especially impressive because it is approximately 10% larger than the average moon and about 15% brighter. Coupled with the total eclipse, the whole event was truly dramatic.
To kick off my San Juans Fall foliage trip, I went to McClure Pass. After checking the Photographers Ephemeris for the timing and direction of the moonrise, I selected McClure Pass for its unobstructed view of the eastern sky and the view of nearby mountains. After claiming a camping spot at nearby McClure Pass campground, I drove up a side road to get prepared for what I assumed would be a solitary vigil. But as the afternoon turned into evening, more people joined me to watch the spectacle and my solitary location turned into an eclipse watching party.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Supermoon Total Eclipse gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
Just Before Totality |
During Totality |
Just After Totality |
When I returned from the trip, I combined three of the eclipse photos into a composite that shows the moon passing through totality of the eclipse.
Supermoon eclipses are quite rare, and the next one will not occur for another 18 years. So I am grateful that I was able to get a clear view of this one, and to share it with several new friends.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.]]>To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Park Range 2015-09 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
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Steamboat Lake |
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To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Park Range 2015-09 gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>This trip also included several other iconic locations in Northern Arizona: Horseshoe Bend, Monument Valley, and Canyon de Chelly. Each of these locations offered views of the dramatic canyons and bluffs of the American Southwest.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Grand Canyon North Rim 2015-08 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
The North Rim offers several viewpoints of the canyon, including Cape Royal, Point Imperial, and Bright Angel Point. These overlooks are especially dramatic at sunrise and sunset, when the low-angled light brings out the texture and color of the canyon walls
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Cape Royal |
Horseshoe Bend just outside of Page, AZ, is a stunning bend in the Colorado River, with sheer canyon walls of over 1000 feet.
My attempt to visit the Lower Antelope Canyon was thwarted by Mother Nature when she decided to put on a thunderstorm nearby. The Navajo guides wisely decided that the possibility of a flash flood in the narrow slot canyon outweighed the need for photos. That location will have to wait for another visit. But the rainstorm yielded a different kind of photo opportunity.
My next destination was Monument Valley, a Navajo Tribal Park that has been the setting of numerous Western movies.
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Sunset Beams Above Merrick Butte |
My final destination on this trip was Canyon de Chelly, which has overlooks on both the north and south rims. Like Mesa Verde in southwest Colorado, this canyon was the long-time home of ancestral tribes, who left behind several well-preserved ruins. The Navajo continue to occupy this canyon.
One of the more spectacular sights in the canyon is Spider Rock, which according to Navajo legend is the home of Spider Woman.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Grand Canyon North Rim 2015-08 gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>To see more photos from this trip, please visit the American Basin 2015-07 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
Spring comes late to American Basin, high in the San Juan Mountains just off of the famous Alpine Loop road. But when it finally arrives, the flowers in the basin can be spectacular.
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While camping overnight in the American Basin, I captured a moonlight shot of the mountains and a sky full of stars and wind-blown clouds.
The high basins around Ouray were also in great condition, with flowers in profusion
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To see more photos from this trip, please visit the American Basin 2015-07 gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>In mid-July I visited the Crested Butte area in search of wildflowers and Milky Way reflections, and found both.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Crested Butte 2015-07 location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
The small pond at the top of Paradise Divide offers great opportunities for reflections at sunrise and sunset. It also offers great reflections of the night sky. This small pond is one of my favorite locations in the Crested Butte area.
Crested Butte has been named as the Wildflower Capital of Colorado, and in most years the title is well-deserved. The forest service roads into the West Elk Mountains and the area around Emerald Lake offer a wide variety of flowers, and they were in good shape on this trip
There was a challenge on this trip that I have not encountered before. On Friday afternoon, the camping spots around Paradise Divide filled quickly. This was a marked contrast to mid-week, when I camped there completely alone. In addition, there was a great deal of gunfire quite near the camp sites. After several hundred (!!) rounds had been fired, I called 911 to request a visit by the sheriff's deputy. They told me that recreational shooting is allowed on public land, regardless of the proximity to campers or other users, but agreed to come and check the situation. Since the shooters were on the other side of a ridge, the deputy could not require them to stop.
This experience has put travelling in the backcountry in a whole new light for me, and I will choose my campsites with more care (and more distance from towns).
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Crested Butte 2015-07 location gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>Our base of operations was the town of Pinedale, Wyoming, which bills itself as the gateway to the “Winds”. It is the only town of any size on the western slope of the Winds between Jackson and Rock Springs.
The objective of our trip was to photograph the spring wildflowers, and we were able to find several good examples.
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We also visited Green River Lakes, the source of the Green River.
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To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Wind River Range gallery here.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
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This trip felt different than the first two, since these popular parks were more crowded and resulted in a less engaging experience. To get a more “natural” feeling, I also visited Capitol Reef NP and Dinosaur National Monument, both of which are much less visited.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Utah NP location gallery here. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
The weather forecast for this trip called for clear skies, so I was planning to make photos of the Milky Way above the canyons. However, Mother Nature had other plans. There was light snow falling as I drove east over Vail Pass, and heavy rain as I continued across the Colorado Western Slope. After camping at a BLM campground overnight, I awoke to rain on the first morning and was reminded that a prolonged, steady rain can make the 4Runner feel quite small. However, the stormy conditions gave rise to interesting clouds and storm light.
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Later in the afternoon, I visited Arches NP and noticed that there were small groups of wildflowers scattered across the sandy soil in front of some of the rock formations. This was another fleeting benefit of the rains.
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A strong storm passed through the park, after which the low-angled sunlight and dark clouds made for an interesting contrast.
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The next morning was rainy again, so there were no Milky Way photo opportunities. After driving through Canyonlands and feeling a little discouraged, I decided to look for someplace less crowded and headed to Capitol Reef NP. The drive on US24 parallels the San Rafael Reef, an interesting wrinkle in the earth which is quite different from Arches and Canyonlands. My destination was the Cathedral Valley in the little-visited north end of Capitol Reef. I stopped at the park visitor center to ask about the road into the Valley, but the ranger said that they did not know of any visitors to that area in the past two weeks. Fortunately, the road was in good shape and the rains held off during my visit. I was able to drive to the Temple of the Sun in the southern part of the Valley, and camped near the formation to shoot a cloudy Milky Way and a bright sunrise.
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There were no other visitors at the site, and it felt like there were no other living souls within 30 miles. This was the complete opposite of Arches and Canyonlands.
I drove north out of the Valley on a rough road over Thousand Lakes Mountain, and then north on the highways to Vernal, UT, where lightning and a roaring thunderstorm changed my plan from camping to motel. After a dry night and a hot breakfast, I visited Dinosaur National Monument. This park has so few visitors that the Visitor Center was locked up tight on a mid-May morning. The rain continued to follow me, and I waited for the fog to lift out of the Yampa and Green river valleys.
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Although I was not able to make some of the Milky Way photos that I had planned, this was still a productive outing.
As always, I would appreciate your feedback in the comment section below.
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Our introduction to the Canyon was a walk along the Rim Trail.
We were able to visit several of the named viewpoints along the rim, all of which have a spectacular views of the vast canyon. These views are especially good during the "golden hours" at sunrise and sunset. The canyon walls take on different colors with the changes in light direction and intensity.
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We were lucky to have a rain storm during our visit, which resulted in dramatic storm light over the canyon from Yavapai Point.
The vast size of the canyon is difficult to capture in two-dimensional photos, but adding people to the photo can help to give a sense of the enormous dimensions.
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To see more images from this trip, please visit the Grand Canyon South Rim gallery at http://www.zenfolio.com/mikebucher/e/p973474920
Our plan is to visit the North Rim later in the summer to capture the dramatic potential of the monsoon season.
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
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The first several days of my trip coincided with spring break and I was surprised to find many of the campgrounds full, with campers enjoying the mild mid-March weather. Fortunately, one of the advantages of camping during photo trips is the ability to adapt to unexpected challenges, such as finding a place to spend the night.
For me, one of the attractions of the high desert is the variety of wispy cloud formations. This trip offered several examples:
Arches NP, South Window |
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Canyonlands Green River Overlook |
Castle Rock, Priest & Nuns |
Mesa Arch in the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands is a very popular location, with crowds of photographers almost every morning. I have not yet made my best image of this iconic landmark, which means I need to make more visits.
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But the Milky Way above the arch was impressive.
Dead Horse Point is a spectacular viewpoint of a canyon carved over 1000 feet deep by the Colorado River, and is especially beautiful at sunrise.
The Four Corners area of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico has a large number of well-preserved Indian ruins, including the House on Fire grainery perched under a large sandstone overhang that appears to be flames.
In this same area is a large valley filled with imposing monoliths, the Valley of the Gods. This area is reminiscent of Western movies of the 40's and 50's.
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Finally, the Dolores Valley offers attractive views of imposing bluffs from the river level.
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As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
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To see more photos from these trips, please visit the Arches Fall and Canyonlands Fall galleries. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
Arches NP contains a large number of named rock formations, including:
Balanced Rock |
Turret Arch |
Courthouse Towers |
Delicate Arch |
CanyonLands NP and nearby Dead Horse Point State Park offer dramatic views of the immense valleys carved into the Colorado Plateau by the Colorado and Green Rivers
Although not a national or state park, the Colorado River canyon upstream of Moab contains spectacular red rock bluffs and spires.
Castle Rock |
Colorado River Bluff |
Fisher Towers |
Colorado River Cloud Reflections |
As always, I would appreciate your adding a comment in the section below.
]]>To see more photos from these trips, please visit the San Juan Fall 2014 gallery. Click on any image below to see a larger version.
On the first trip, we used Ouray as a base of operations, with trips to Dallas Divide, the Million Dollar Highway, Last Dollar Road, and the Durango area.
![]() Dallas Divide with a mix of Fall colors |
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![]() Aspens in transition near Rico |
Historic Trout Lake Trestle |
Snowfall & Aspens on Million Dollar Highway |
On the second trip, I camped at McClure Pass and near Ridgway and took side trips to Dallas Divide (with better color this time), Last Dollar Road, Priest Lakes, and Kebler Pass.
![]() Moonrise and sunset light from McClure Pass |
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![]() Fall splendor below "The Dyke" formation near Kebler Pass |
I also visited the Hermosa Cliffs and the Animas River valley between Molas Pass and Durango, with very satisfying results. The overcast conditions gave an air of mystery to the rock formations, and the diffused light made the fall colors more vibrant.
![]() Hermosa Cliffs with Fall color and low-lying clouds |
![]() Amimas River valley with hillsides covered with Fall color |
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![]() Hermosa Cliffs shrouded in clouds |
As always, I would appreciate your leaving a comment in the section below.
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To see more of the photos from this trip, please visit the gallery at http://www.mikebucherphotography.com/p187726469
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There were also moose in the area, and very dark skies with almost no light pollution, which allowed good shots of the Milky Way.
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It got quite cold overnight, which made for good frost shots on the flowers.
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To see more of the photos from this trip, please visit the gallery at http://www.mikebucherphotography.com/p618542504
]]>This late-July visit to the Crested Butte area featured good wildflowers and high country camping. As usual, the areas around Paradise Divide (West Maroon Trail and Emerald Lake) yielded the best wildflower and scenic photos.
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This area draws me back each summer, and these photos illustrate why.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Crested Butte 2 gallery at http://www.mikebucherphotography.com/p644867722
Zion NP and Bryce Canyon NP are relatively close together in southwestern Utah, and both show the beauty and power of natural erosion, but they are very different viewing experiences. In Zion, one views the power of the Virgin River from the bottom of the canyon with sheer cliff faces rising over one thousand feet above.
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Bryce Canyon is higher in elevation, and shows a different geological layer of sandstone. This canyon is largely the result of freeze-thaw erosion, which creates "hoodoos" instead of canyons. This canyon gives spectacular views from both the rim and the bottom.
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Both parks have very dark skies with little light pollution, and offer excellent opportunities for night photography.
Capitol Reef gives another view of the geology of the Colorado Plateau, showing the western edge of Waterpocket Fold. This giant wrinkle in the earth made east-west travel difficult for early pioneers and made this area one of the last in the lower 48 states to be settled.
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To see more photos from this trip, please visit the Southern Utah location galleries at:
Zion - http://www.mikebucherphotography.com/p519802608
Bryce Canyon - http://www.mikebucherphotography.com/p800781180
Capitol Reef - http://www.mikebucherphotography.com/p893597911
As always, your comments and feedback would be greatly appreciated.
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This May I again made the all-day drive to Grand Tetons National Park to photograph the snow-covered peaks and some wildlife, as well as more shots of the Milky Way.
Early the first morning, I set out along the main park road to shoot the dawn light on the Teton Range.
At this time of the year, the herds of elk, bison, and moose are migrating from their winter home on the National Elk Refuge to their summer ranges in Jackson Hole and the surrounding mountains. This gave several opportunities to photograph these animals at close range.
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I went out on three successive nights to shoot the Milky Way, which can be quite tiring due to sleep deprivation. And even in early May, the nighttime temperatures can be pretty cold. But the resulting photos were quite gratifying.
On my final evening, I stayed late into the twilight to capture the crescent moon setting over the Grand Teton peak. This was a fitting end to this visit.
To see more photos from this trip, please visit the gallery at http://www.mikebucherphotography.com/p301020810. As always, I would appreciate your comments and feedback.
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On our first day we had heavy overcast skies, with poor conditions for landscape photography. Hoping we could find better conditions, we drove south to Shiprock, AZ. Unfortunately, the conditions deteriorated further and we drove into a blinding dust storm. We drove south of town and made a couple photos of the Ship Rock formation despite the conditions. We’ll need to visit this area again in better conditions to capture the beauty of this landmark.
The next morning, I got an early start (4:00 AM) to shoot the Milky Way from Park Point in the Mesa Verde park. The low clouds were backlighted by the towns of Mancos and Durango adding color to the photos, and the pre-dawn twilight gave a light blue color to the sky.
After returning to Cortez for a little more sleep, we returned to the park to shoot the ruins on top of the mesa, which are even older than the cliff dwellings.
Continuing into the park, we visited two of the more completely restored cliff dwellings: Spruce Tree House and Cliff Palace. Both of these multi-story complexes are dramatic examples of the design and building skills of native peoples whose only tools were stone axes.
We continued our trip driving north through the Dolores Canyon, where the river has worn through hundreds of feet of sandstone to create spectacular bluffs.
We wrapped up this trip with a visit to the Colorado National Monument just outside of Grand Junction as the daylight faded.
This trip increased our appreciation of the red rock country of the southwest, and we will be taking more trips to this part of the southwest in the near future.
To see more photos from this trip, please check out the Mesa Verde gallery at http://www.mikebucherphotography.com/p879464228
]]>I left Fort Collins on January 20th for a brief visit to Grand Teton National Park to photograph the Teton Range covered with snow. During the long drive around the north slope of the Wind River Range, I started to be concerned about the lack of snow. The roads were clear and the hillsides were bare, including the colorful Painted Valley just outside Dubois, WY.
That all changed as I got closer to Togwotee Pass, which was snow-packed and icy. The drive from Dubois to Jackson took much longer than expected, and I drove much of the way in the dark.
On the 21st, I drove to Glacier Overlook to wait for sunrise. The temperature was well below zero in the pre-dawn darkness, which made waiting difficult, but the sunrise was worth the effort. It took 45 minutes for my hands and feet to warm up after I got back in the Jeep. |
I tried to drive to the Mormon Row barns, but Antelope Flats Road was not plowed beyond the first residence, and I forgot my snowshoes, so I could not get to that location. I went as far north in the park as the north end of Jackson Lake, stopping to walk out onto the frozen lake on snowmobile tracks. On the way back, I stopped at Colter Bay Village (completely buried in 4 feet of snow) and Jackson Lake Lodge (closed for the season).
Just below Jackson Lake Dam, the turbulent water of the Snake River was creating clouds of water vapor which quickly froze on the trees along the bank. The resulting "ghost trees" were pretty spectacular.
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Later in the evening, I drove to Teton Point Overview to shoot a night sky filled with stars above the Tetons. At this time of year, the brightest part of the Milky Way was not visible, but the sheer abundance of stars was impressive.
On the 22nd, the forecast was for more cloud cover, so I drove to Teton Point Overlook to shoot the sunrise. More clouds above the mountains held the promise of more interesting shots. With clouds to the east, the sunlight hit the mountaintops later, so this time I waited in the Jeep. At about 9AM, the clouds gathered and made a more dramatic background with the peaks still in sunshine.
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On the 23rd, I returned to Fort Collins via the southern route through the broad Green River valley between the Wind River and Wyoming ranges.
Along the way, I happened upon an isolated, abandoned cabin that seemed to embody the cold conditions and the wide-open valley.
To see more photos from this trip, please check out the Grand Teton Winter gallery at http://www.mikebucherphotography.com/f513743166
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