Autumn Colors

Perfectly Autumn

Perfectly AutumnOld Barn Amongst Autumn Trees Glen Arbor, Michigan Every year I travel to Michigan to spend a long weekend with my favorite college buddies. We call it "Tundig" and it's a sort of mini-reunion. We spend the weekend in Northern Michigan eating, drinking, cooking, hiking, photographing, swimming, sleeping and just having a great time. Traditionally it occurred during the University of Michigan autumn break and that means that I get to see the amazing fall colors in full bloom. On this particular day my friends and I decided to go wine tasting. Yes, Michigan does actually have wineries, specializing in mostly white or exotic type wines (like cherry wine). While driving to the wineries we passed by this beautiful barn hidden amongst the trees. I immediately asked my friend to pull over so I could snap a few photos. I loved the way the barn, the beautiful autumn colors, and the blue sky all came together here. Nikon D80 w/Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5: 50mm, f/10, 1/60 sec, ISO 800

Crystal Sparkles

Sunrise on Aspen trees Uncompahgre National Forest, Colorado My coworker, Ana, had spent some time in Colorado in the past and had some ideas on where we should scout for photos. When we arrived in the San Juan Mountains we spent a few days driving along dirt roads in search of beautiful mountain scenes. We had some time to kill one day and wanted to see what the colors were like in Ouray and made our way there. Along the way we passed beautiful strands of trees and every 2 seconds I wanted to get out and shoot but sun was high in the sky and most of the scenes were meh. We came upon an alpine lake and got out to take iPhone photos when I realized the high mountain peaks nearby were providing some protection from the harsh light. It was just starting to spotlight a strand of trees high up in the mountain and I thought "damn, I need to capture this." I literally sprinted back to the car because I knew the light wouldn't last long. I grabbed the bazooka lens and my camera and raced back a few steps to get a better line at the hills. Sure enough the light hit some of these aspens and made them glow like crystals. I couldn't help myself. Nikon D850 w/Sigma 150-600mm: 180mm, f/11, 1/250 sec, ISO 400

Last Aspen Light

Sunset on the Aspen Trees Colorado In the summer of 2019, Sammi and I visited my coworker Ana in Slovenia. A few weeks later she came out to California for manager training and before she went back she asked if I would join her in Colorado for a fall colors photo trip. I've been wanting to photograph the fall colors in Colorado and happily agreed to join her. Our car broke down in Crested Butte. I'm so thankful that the car broke down when we were in town and not 5 minutes earlier when we were in the middle of no where. In the end we lost a day of photography but ended up with a bigger, more bad-ass car. That car was much more suited to drive the dirt roads towards Telluride, Colorado. We arrived at this spot earlier in the afternoon and instantly fell in love. There was a beautiful grove of Aspen trees with the San Juan mountains behind it. We drove on, scouted some more, photographed some intimate scenes inside a forest, and then came back here for dusk. Even though the sun had gone down many minutes earlier, there was still enough light on the trees to cast a beautiful glow on all of the Aspens. I pulled out the big lens and kept taking photos as long as I could. Then we stayed even longer and waited for it to get dark so we could shoot the Milky Way. D850 w/Nikkor 80-200: 155mm, f/9, 0.6 sec, ISO 800

Lined Up to Fall

Poplar Tree Farm Oregon There are lots of beautiful places in the Columbia River Gorge — far too many to photograph in one weekend. Despite our short time in the area, we decided to drive 6 hours round-trip to see a field of trees. Not just any field of trees, but a man-made tree farm that’s going to be replaced and turned into a cow farm! The trees, whilst still here, are pretty neat to see! We arrived and found we were 2 weeks too early for the fall colors. The leaves still had a little bit of green tinge to them. We had hoped that some leaves would be on the ground, that they’d be beautifully orange, and perfect fall color. Oh well! I loved the way they were all lined up in a perfect line. Depending on how you stood you could make them appear more or less lined up, with a giant hole or arch-way in the center, which you can just manage to see here. This is a 95 megapixel beast of an image, created by taking a number of photos at 155mm and stitching them together. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8: 155mm, f/10, 1/8 sec, ISO 100

Spotlit

Sunrise on Aspen trees Uncompahgre National Forest, Colorado As I prepared for my Colorado fall colors trip with my coworker Ana, I asked my friend David if I should bring the "bazooka" lens (my ultra-telephoto). He looked at me as if I was an idiot for asking. *OF COURSE* I should bring it. I'm glad I did because some of my favorite photos were taken with the super telephoto lens. This one included. Ana and I spent a couple days in Breckenridge and Crested Butte before spending the rest of our time in the San Juan mountains. On this particular morning we had scouted a county road for fall colors. We had seen a pretty epic view the night before but it really needed clouds in the sky to make it work. On this particular sunrise there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We photographed the grand scene but it was just missing something, so I put the wide angle lens away and waited for the sun to strike the Aspen trees. As it came up I could see this particular grove of Aspen trees was able to be baked in warm beautiful light, so I grabbed that super telephoto lens and waited for the light to hit it. I loved how it spotlit the yellow Aspen trees. I photographed this for about 30 minutes and watched as the light changed every minute, lighting more and more of the trees, until the whole scene was blown out by too much light. D850 w/Sigma 150-600mm: 480mm, f/9, 1/100 sec, ISO 500

Ohio Maize

Aspen Trees Crested Butte, Colorado My coworker Ana and I spent about a week photographing the fall colors in Colorado. After photographing sunrise in Breckenridge we set off for Crusted Butte, by way of a small city called Gunnison. Although we had seen some fall colors near Breckenridge it wasn't until this drive that the colors started to go crazy. After a grocery stop in Gunnison we took off up Ohio Creek pass. The views of the trees, river basin and trees was breathtaking. We stopped so often that the hour long drive started turning into a multi-hour trip. Most of the drive was fairly open, with views of the entire valley basin but eventually we came upon a beautiful grove of Aspen trees that walled us into a little forest. Clouds had come out, bathing the trees with beautiful soft light. When I saw the light hitting the sides of these Aspens, with the orange and yellow ferns below I pulled over and snapped a bunch of photos. D850 w/Nikkor 80-200mm: 185mm, f/9, 1/80 sec, ISO 500

Crested Layers

Sunset on Aspen Trees Crested Butte, Colorado My coworker Ana and I set out for almost a week of photography in Colorado. Our second stop of the trip took us to Crested Butte, where we knew the fall colors were nearly peaking and one of our coworkers lived. Of course it turned out he was out of town and we were on our own. It might have been helpful if he had been around because no sooner had we pulled into town, our rental car broke down. We had noticed it leaking fluid a few hours earlier and prayed we wouldn't be left stranded in the middle of no where. There must have been some higher being looking out for us that kept the car running until we were in a safe place with cell-phone service. Of course it took nearly 36 hours to get a replacement car and we missed probably the best light of the trip stuck in the hotel, but hey, we got a new vehicle and were back on the road! We got our new car with just enough time to head out for sunset. We raced to a few spots we wanted to visit and watched sunset from a nice valley looking back at Crested Butte. I flew the drone for a bit. On our way back to town I noticed the layers of trees here and had to stop and pull over. Although the sun was below the mountains, it was still casting some nice glow on the trees and I loved how it accentuated the fall colors here. D850 w/Sigma 150-600mm: 180mm, f/13, 1/4 sec, ISO 500

Breckenrise

Sunrise over Mt. Powell Breckenridge, Colorado My coworker Ana is another landscape photographer like myself. She lives in Slovenia and has some of the most amazing photographs ever taken of her country. She visited the USA for manager training and realized that the end of the trip was perfect for photographing fall colors in Colorado and asked if I would join her. I've long wanted to shoot Colorado fall and this was a perfect excuse. We flew into Denver, picked up the rental car and spent our first night near Breckenridge. Our photographer friend, Nick Selway, had moved to Brek to open a photo gallery and met up with us for sunrise. He knew the perfect spot to take us for sunrise so we hopped in his car and drove about 20 minutes outside of town. I was the pessimist for the day -- the clouds looked too thick to light up. Nick, on the other hand, kept screaming "this is going to be great! Just you wait!" And sure enough when the sun rose over the hills behind us, the clouds over the mountains lit up with a beautiful orange. A dusting of snow fell overnight and capped the mountain peaks for just that extra bit of goodness. D850 w/Nikkor 80-200: 200mm, f/11, 1/30 sec, ISO 320

Keblers Last Light

Sunset on Aspen Trees Colorado I'd always wanted to photograph the fall colors in Colorado and when my coworker, Ana, asked if I would join her, I quickly said yes and booked the trip. We met up with Nick Selway in Breckenridge, then drove to Crested Butte by way of Ohio Pass. One of the most well known areas to photograph fall colors near Crested Butte is the "Kebler Pass" area. As soon as we turned onto highway 12 we could see why. The entire area was pathed in yellow and orange leaves (ok, some green as the peak-colors hadn't quite hit). We came to an S-curve with a gorgeous view of the entire valley and I immediately pulled over and grabbed the long lens. We had taken so long driving up Ohio Pass that we were starting to rush for sunset. The sun was starting to set behind the Beckwith Mountains and I noticed how it was starting to light up a hillside of colorful trees. When it hit the tops of the trees it bathed them in a beautiful glow. I kept shooting for so long that Ana had to scream at me to get back in the car so we could find a spot to photograph sunset. D850 w/Sigma 150-600mm: 250mm, f/11, 1/80 sec, ISO 125

Million Dollar View

Milky Way over Telluride San Juan National Forest, Colorado This fall I spent a week exploring Colorado with my coworker Ana. We started in Denver, drove to Breckenridge (met up with Nick Selway), had our car break down in Crested Butte, and eventually made our way to the San Juan mountains before flying back home. The majority of the trip was spent near the San Juans and we had clear skies every single day. Clear skies are great -- except when you want to photograph grand vistas and need clouds in the sky to make something interesting. I spent most of the time making the best of the light and photographed intimate scenes. There was one reason for shooting grand scenes though -- Milky Way photos. On a clear night, face south and the Milky Way will rise over the mountains. As much as I hated having to lose a day on the trip for our broken-down car, there were some positives: our replacement vehicle was a beast of a Ford Expedition that handled the rough terrain of Last Dollar Road like a champ. The extra clearance proved handy multiple times. Towards the end of the road, as we neared Telluride, we came across this viewpoint of the San Juan mountains with a beautiful patch of aspen trees changing color in front of them. We waited for the sun to sink well below the horizon and for the Milky Way to come out, snapped some photos, and then raced back to the hotel to get some dinner before everything closed down. D850 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8: Foreground: 60mm, f/9, 0.6 sec, ISO 640 Sky: 24mm, f/2.8, 15sec, ISO 6400

Autumn Zen

Japanese Maple Tree Portland, Oregon One of the most iconic photos of Portland is of the famous Japanese Maple Tree at the Japanese Garden. People photograph it at all times of the year but it looks most stunning in autumn when the leaves turn orange and red and make for an absolutely stunning scene. Unfortunately I arrived a little too early and the Japanese Maple hadn’t quite turned orange. A little trick in photoshop fixed that. I’ll have to go back another year and photograph this when it's really orangey red! I always laugh when I see this tree because photos of this, taken using ultra-wide lenses, make the tree appear fairly large. How tall would you say this tree was? 20-25 feet maybe? If you thought that, you’d be wrong. The tree is maybe FOUR or FIVE feet tall! We were all hunched over in between some branches trying to take turns shooting the tree. It would have been quite a peaceful time too, had Alan not spend the entire time grumbling about how he had to pay $15 to take a photo of a five foot tall tree. Surprisingly, with all his kvetching, he spent the most time photographing the tree. I guess he needed to get his money’s worth. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 17mm, f/16, 0.8 sec, ISO 250

Aspens Last Glow

Last light on Aspen trees San Juan National Forest, Colorado This fall I spent a week exploring Colorado with my coworker Ana. We started in Denver, drove to Breckenridge (met up with Nick Selway), had our car break down in Crested Butte, and eventually made our way to the San Juan mountains before flying back home. The majority of the trip was spent near the San Juans and we had clear skies every single day. Clear skies are great -- except when you want to photograph grand vistas and need clouds in the sky to make something interesting. I spent most of the time making the best of the light and photographed intimate scenes. There was one reason for shooting grand scenes though -- Milky Way photos. On a clear night, face south and the Milky Way will rise over the mountains. As much as I hated having to lose a day on the trip for our broken-down car, there were some positives: our replacement vehicle was a beast of a Ford Expedition that handled the rough terrain of Last Dollar Road like a champ. The extra clearance proved handy multiple times. Towards the end of the road, as we neared Telluride, we came across this viewpoint of the San Juan mountains with a beautiful patch of aspen trees changing color in front of them. We waited for the sun to sink well below the horizon and for the Milky Way to come out, snapped some photos, and then raced back to the hotel to get some dinner before everything closed down. D850 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8: Foreground: 60mm, f/9, 0.6 sec, ISO 640 Sky: 24mm, f/2.8, 15sec, ISO 6400 After Ana and I spent a few days in Breckenridge and Crested Butte we made our way over to the San Juan mountains. We used the town of Ridgway as our "home base", which has a hotel or two, some decent food, and is central to all of the mountains and trees. Typically the San Juan mountains are photographed using wider angle compositions -- there's stunning mountains all over that look beautiful with the color aspen trees. These scenes, however, need clouds to make the scenes interesting. Without clouds you either come home with no portfolio photos or you have to adapt. I put away the wide angle lenses and looked to my telephoto lenses to make beautiful photos. We had spent the entire day driving up and down different county roads scouting the different scenes and looking for great groves of trees. Ana had photographed this particular spot in a previous trip because of a criss-crossing fence she really liked. As we drove in at sunset we saw the last light glowing on the yellow Aspen trees and I pulled over and grabbed the long lens to get the last light on the trees before it died. We stayed another hour and photographed the Milky Way and went home happy campers. D850 w/Nikkor 80-200mm: 100mm f/7.1, 13 sec, ISO 320

Redwood Feast

Soft Light on Dogwoods and Sequoia Trees Sequoia National Park, California Over the years my photography has brought me to a number of National Parks. At one point I started collecting magnets of each park I've been to. The collection is growing quite nicely but there were 2 parks that were missing that I really should have visited long ago: Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. They're just a few hours away but in my 12 years in Northern California, I had never been! Willie and I drove down on a Thursday and spent 2 days prancing around the parks in search of beautiful trees. It was harder than we thought because a dry summer meant that many of the leaves went from green to dead overnight. The reds and yellows we were in search for were hard to find. We found this particular grove of trees on our first day scouting and knew this would be one of our favorite spots to come back to. The pink dogwood was a perfect color to contrast with the beautiful red Sequoia trees behind it. To top it all off, I loved how the Sequoia trees "glow" in golden hour light, reflecting some of the indirect sunset light that sneaks it way through the forest. Nikon D850 w/Sigma 150-600mm: 310mm, f/16, 2.0 sec, ISO 400

Change is in the Air

My first trip to Colorado for the fall colors included a *lot* of camera equipment. In additional to my usual set of 3 lenses (super wide, normal, and telephoto), I also brought the super-telephoto (aka the "bazooka") and the drone. I ended up using all of them on the trip. While exploring the San Juan mountains we were met with tough weather conditions: clear blue skies the entire time. Normally this might be OK but it's not OK when you want to photograph grand scenes with lots of sky. This particular sunset was one of those clear-sky nights. Without much to photograph I tossed the drone in the air to see if I could find any scenes that didn't need sky in them. This particular grove of Aspen trees was in the midst of changing colors; you can still make out some green leaves, while others were changing too beautiful yellows. I flew the drone above the trees, pointed the camera down, and then snapped away until I found this somewhat circular pattern of trees that caught my attention. DJI Mavic 2 Pro: 10.26mm, f/4.0, 1/80 sec, ISO 100

Minoritree

Lone Aspen Tree Breckenridge, Colorado Ana and I drove from Denver to Breckenridge and checked into our hotel. Years ago I had become friends with Nick Selway, an amazing landscape photographer in Hawaii and he had taken me on several occasions out to photograph the lava flows on the Big Island. Nick moved to Brek and opened a gallery there, so obviously I reached out to him to see if we could say. Not only did Nick say hi, but he took us out to show us some of his secret spots. If you're ever near Breckenridge, look up Nick, stop into his gallery, and hang out. Nick wanted to meet *really* early in the morning, but I convinced him it'd be *too* dark at that hour and we should get a little more sleep. We met up and he drove us out to a spot to watch sunrise. A bit of snow had fallen on the mountain peaks the night before and a few clouds lit up, making quite the beautiful scene: fall colors, snowy mountains, and colorful sky. Once the sun came up I knew it was time to switch gears and look for more intimate scenes. As we drove around we came across this patch of forest that had burned in a previous fire. This particular lone Aspen tree was blooming with color, set amongst dead or pine trees. A little bit of light snuck through the forest and caused the tree to glow. I made Nick pull over so we could photograph it before it was gone. D850 w/Sigma 150-600: 240mm, f/11, 1/13 sec, ISO 250

The Quadricolor Grove

Soft Light and fall colors in the Sequoia Redwood forest Sequoia National Park, California Despite living in Northern California for over 12 years now, I had never taken the 4 hour drive over to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. When Willie proposed hopping over there to see if we could capture some fall colors, I immediately said "YES!" There's something magical about the Redwood tree. As I've been staring at these photos and comparing them to other photos I've taken of trees I've come to the conclusion that it's not *just* their warm red color. The thing that sets them apart is actually their bark. More specifically, the long vertical, rolls of bark that surround the tree. There aren't small patterns that become distracting. Instead, it's a more continuous, yet bulbous elegance. I had been hunting the entire trip for a nice scene in which a Dogwood tree sat in front of a giant redwood. We found it here, at Kings Canyon National Park and I came back to this scene a number of times, waiting for the light in the background to soften enough to not be blown out. I loved the way the yellow dogwood contrasted with the green pine and the red Sequoia behind it. Nikon D850 w/Sigma 150-600mm: 340mm, f/16, 1/13 sec, ISO 800

Keblers Last Light

Sunset on Aspen trees Crested Butte, Colorado This fall I spent a week exploring Colorado with my coworker Ana. We started in Denver, drove to Breckenridge (met up with Nick Selway), had our car break down in Crested Butte, and eventually made our way to the San Juan mountains before flying back home. The majority of the trip was spent near the San Juans and we had clear skies every single day. Clear skies are great -- except when you want to photograph grand vistas and need clouds in the sky to make something interesting. I spent most of the time making the best of the light and photographed intimate scenes. There was one reason for shooting grand scenes though -- Milky Way photos. On a clear night, face south and the Milky Way will rise over the mountains. As much as I hated having to lose a day on the trip for our broken-down car, there were some positives: our replacement vehicle was a beast of a Ford Expedition that handled the rough terrain of Last Dollar Road like a champ. The extra clearance proved handy multiple times. Towards the end of the road, as we neared Telluride, we came across this viewpoint of the San Juan mountains with a beautiful patch of aspen trees changing color in front of them. We waited for the sun to sink well below the horizon and for the Milky Way to come out, snapped some photos, and then raced back to the hotel to get some dinner before everything closed down. D850 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8: Foreground: 60mm, f/9, 0.6 sec, ISO 640 Sky: 24mm, f/2.8, 15sec, ISO 6400 I'd always wanted to photograph the fall colors in Colorado and when my coworker, Ana, asked if I would join her, I quickly said yes and booked the trip. We met up with Nick Selway in Breckenridge, then drove to Crested Butte by way of Ohio Pass. One of the most well known areas to photograph fall colors near Crested Butte is the "Kebler Pass" area. As soon as we turned onto highway 12 we could see why. The entire area was pathed in yellow and orange leaves (ok, some green as the peak-colors hadn't quite hit). We came to an S-curve with a gorgeous view of the entire valley and I immediately pulled over and grabbed the long lens. We had taken so long driving up Ohio Pass that we were starting to rush for sunset. The sun was starting to set behind the Beckwith Mountains and I noticed how it was starting to light up a hillside of colorful trees. When it hit the tops of the trees it bathed them in a beautiful glow. I kept shooting for so long that Ana had to scream at me to get back in the car so we could find a spot to photograph sunset. D850 w/Sigma 150-600mm: 250mm, f/11, 1/80 sec, ISO 125

Stuck in Crested Butte

Sunset Mt. Crested Butte Crested Butte, Colorado My trip to Colorado for fall colors had started out great. I quickly met up with my coworker, Ana, who was visiting from Slovenia and we had a great morning catching up and shooting with fellow photographer Nick Selway, shot sunset outside of Crested Butte and then promptly had our rental car break down a mile from our hotel. I spent nearly 9 hours the next morning on the phone with Avis, dealing with total incompetence after total incompetence. But finally a tow truck driver from Grand Junction was amazing and drove 8 hours round trip to deliver a replacement vehicle and pick up our broken down one. Thank this man! But this meant we lost a sunrise and a full day of scouting. The replacement arrived just in time for sunset but without scouting during the day we were completely blind in where to go. We basically drove in a direction and prayed we'd come upon a nice scene. Eventually we came to a pullout and we decided to pull over because there was a little stream running nearby and we could see Mt. Crested Butte in the background. I knew to capture this scene well I needed to launch the drone so I could get high enough to see the aspen trees, the river and Crested Butte all at once. There was about a 2 minute window where enough of the horizon opened up to let the clouds light up with a touch of light on Mt. Crested Butte and thankfully I had the drone in the air to capture it. DJI Mavic Pro 2: 10.26mm, f/5, 1/20 sec, ISO 400

Sneffels Milk

Milky Way over Mt. Sneffels Uncompahgre National Forest, Colorado Growing up in the east coast I always loved fall. My parents house is surrounded by trees that would make a mess for my brothers and I to have to clean up. Of course that meant we got to rake big piles of leaves for us to jump into too! Yet when I got into photography I somehow never made a trip to Colorado to photograph the fall colors. The finally changed when my coworker Ana invited me to join her in 2019. We flew into Denver, stopped at Breckenridge, had our car break down in Crested Butte and then finally made it to the San Juan mountains. Fall colors were nearly peaking with the Aspen trees lighting up with beautiful yellow and orange. Unfortunately there wasn't a cloud in the sky our entire trip. David had taught me to make due with the conditions we had. Cloudless skies meant that epic grand scenes were off the table, so I looked for more abstract scenes I could zoom in on. Ana and I had spent the afternoon and evening looking for scenes along this particular county road. Just as the sun went down we found ourselves at this particular spot and nearly packed up when the other photographers did, but I had an idea: what if we stayed another hour and let the Milky Way come up. The view faced perfectly south and I knew the Milky Way would rise perfectly over Mt. Sneffels. We had bread and peanut-butter for dinner so of course we waited and this is what unfolded before our eyes. When the moon came out it also provided just a touch of light onto the Aspen trees to make them glow. D850 w/Nikkor 24-70mm: 62mm, f/2.8, 8.0 sec, ISO 800

Red Ribbon

Soft Light and fall colors in the Sequoia Redwood forest Sequoia National Park, California Growing up in the East Coast I'm pretty familiar with fall colors. It's one of the few things I actually miss about the east coast (well, maybe that people actually have *yards* too) ... and fireflies. I miss those guys). When Willie asked if I wanted to go to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks for a fall colors photo-trip, I was immediately interested! After delaying the trip a few times, waiting for the colors to change, we finally found our opportunity, skipped work, and drove down for a quick 2 day trip. It turns out that the dry summer we had wasn't so conducive to the trees. They had gone from completely green a few days earlier, to mostly dead, brown, and leafless. We scouted this particular area earlier in the day but had left with low expectations. By chance we ended up back here after pulling off to explore a patch of color we had seen. We had scouted this area earlier but had come in from a different angle and had completely missed the yellow and orange leaves mixed in with the beautiful Sequoia trees. Despite the leaves looking a little dead, we were still excited to catch the yellow leaves mixed in with the red Sequoia trees -- which at this hour were starting to glow from the side light of the setting sun. I named this "Red Ribbon" because I loved the way the red trees mixed in with the rest of the forest, turning just a bunch of yellow leaves into a magical present for us! Nikon D850 w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8: 86mm, f/11, 1/6 sec, ISO 800

Standing Apart

Sunrise on Aspen trees Breckenridge, Colorado My coworker Ana and I spent nearly a week photographing the fall colors in Colorado. She was in town from Slovenia and decided to extend her trip while I tagged along. The first part of our trip was spent near Breckenridge. A few years ago I had met Nick Selway who was living in Hawaii at the time and photographing the volcanoes and their hot lava. He moved to Brek to open a gallery so I reached out to him and he took us for a beautiful morning of photography. After photographing a colorful sunrise over some snow-capped peaks we set off to find more intimate scenes before the sun ruined everything. One of the things I've learned from photographing with David Thompson is to always follow the light and make due with what's being given. Although the sun was up, it wasn't hitting all of the hillsides with direct light, so we spent about 2 hours searching for intimate scenes with the telephoto lens. We came around the bend and saw this group of Aspen trees starting to erupt in yellow and orange color. When I saw the one lone tree I screamed to Nick to pull over and grab our cameras. A fire had devastated the area a few years earlier and only a few trees survived but they popped with color before the sun bathed them in blinding light. D850 w/Sigma 150-600mm: 240mm, f/11, 1/15 sec, ISO 250

Hit the Butte

Sunset over Crested Butte Colorado After Ana and I left Breckenridge we made our way to Crested Butte. We photographed sunset at Kebler Pass and noticed a green liquid coming out of the car. I hoped it was just dripping from the air conditioner but a deeper part of me knew something was wrong with the car. I prayed it was fine until we got to Crested Butte. Sure enough, literally just as we pulled into civilization, the car lurched forward, made a weird sound and then .... seemed fine. I wasn't so sure but prayed we could get another mile to the hotel. The rental car died a half mile later. I was able to back it into a gas station and there we sat with Avis waiting and waiting to get to our hotel. Eventually we hailed the lone Uber, made our way to our room, and spent hours on the phone with Avis. A full day out of commission we had a replacement car and were eager to shoot sunrise somewhere. We knew of a few areas that might have some color with Crested Butte in the background and we made our way out here. The foreground scene didn't inspire me so I sat all nice and warm in the car and flew the drone. I loved how the light kissed the top of Crested Butte as the sun came up. DJI Mavic Pro 2 10.26mm, f/5, 1/80 sec, ISO 100

Sanjurise

Sunrise over Sneffels Range Uncompahgre National Forest, Colorado Over the last decade as a passionate photographer I've seen *lots* of photos of the fall colors in Colorado and it was so great to finally see them in 2019. The trip started in Breckenridge, moved to Crested Butte, and ended in the San Juan Mountains near Ridgway. Ana and I spent several days driving up and down the county roads looking for patches of trees with color that faced the big looming mountain peaks behind. There's no shortage of spots and we didn't even find some of the more popular ones (partially because we were looking to make our own). On the last morning there we visited this spot and stopped when we saw the curving ranch driveway heading towards the mountains with some aspen trees behind it. Unfortunately for us the sky was cloudless, so we plopped our cameras down, hopped back in the car, and used our phones to trigger the cameras remotely. The beautiful photo you see here is a photoshop creation, merged from a sunrise many months earlier in a completely different place, and made to look natural'ish. Nikon D850 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8: 32mm, f/11, 1/4 sec, ISO 400