Graceful Flow
Middle Creek tumbles gracefully over Middle Creek Falls late in the summer outside of Crested Butte, Colorado.

I have waterfalls on the brain. That’s not a bad thing though and I have a good reason for it. I head out tomorrow for an extended trip to Oregon. My plan is to visit upwards of one hundred falls all across the state. Sure I will hit the Columbia Gorge, but I am also seeking out some of the more obscure falls as well. It has been many years since I was last out there and am looking forward to adding to my waterfall portfolio. Let’s hope for cloudy and rainy conditions!

This waterfall is closer to home and one that I look forward to revisiting this summer. Middle Creek Falls can be found above Lost Lake Slough outside of Crested Butte. It is a gorgeous hike up from the lower lake to Lost Lake proper. These falls are tucked away in the woods not too far from there. I have been there in the spring when the falls take on a different look with raging water crashing down the mountainside. This visit was in early September when the water had a steady flow which gracefully flowed over the falls.

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Springtime Sunrise Spectacle
The clouds behind the Beckwith Mountains glow with the light of the rising sun beyond a valley filled with vibrant green aspens outside of Crested Butte, Colorado.

I was surprised this morning to run across this series of sunrise shots from last spring that hadn’t been processed yet. How could I forget this awesome sunrise!? I spent five days outside of Crested Butte late last May on my maiden trip with my new camper. I always love shooting in this area just after the snow has melted enough to be able to travel on most of the roads. The aspen trees and foliage are bursting with fresh vibrant greens and there is always the possibility for a spring storm to increase the chances of having dramatic skies. Such was the case this morning. A storm front was moving in from the west and when I arrived early this morning the skies were pretty overcast. I parked at one of my favorite locations along Kebler Pass Road west of town and waited to see what would happen. Sure enough the clouds began to break a bit as sunrise neared and started to take on a pinkish, orange cast. Soon they were glowing behind the snow covered Beckwith Peaks. The soft dawn light illuminated the valley filled with bright green aspens and made for a spectacular scene. What a start to the day! Shortly after noon the rain set in and I awoke the following morning to a blanket of fresh snow.

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The Sprouting Wall
The North Fork of the Virgin River flows past a rock wall covered with vibrant green foliage in the Narrows in Zion National Park.

I spent quite a few days in the Narrows at Zion National Park this past fall. The first day was spent with my good friend and fellow photographer Luke Tingley. Now, there are a few of things you need to know about Luke. First of all he is the same age as my son which puts him at twenty some years younger than I am. He is also damn near a foot taller than I am and in slightly(!) better physical condition. He is also more anal than I am. What little time he has to follow his passion for nature photography is carefully planned. He has a shot in mind and that is what he is going to get!

So here we are getting our waders on and gear ready for the hike up the Narrows. He tells me his plan. He is going to “bomb” up to the end and scope things out before coming back downstream for one of the shots he has in mind in prime light. He tells me I can try to keep up with him or I can just do my own thing. He always tells me that. We set out upstream and I sprinted along behind him, somehow never falling down while jumping between the rocks. We made it to Orderville Canyon (about halfway) and he can see am I kind of lagging. Obviously I am holding him back! I give in and tell him to go ahead and am left to do my own thing.

I continued up the river at my own pace taking time to shoot whatever caught my eye. As I wandered through the Wall Street section I was attracted to this scene. I found the contrast of the swiftly moving water against the wall covered in vibrant greenery to be quite interesting and found a composition that moved your eye through the scene. Now that I think about it, I am glad that I was the slow poke.

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Sunset over the Pier

The setting sun glows on the horizon off the end of a pier in Road Bay, Anguilla.

I only went out shooting at sunset a couple of times on my last trip to Anguilla since I would generally reserve that time to have a relaxing dinner with my folks. We were going to Roy’s Bayside Grill on Road Bay this evening, so I decided to take my gear and walk down the beach just as the sun was setting. The bay was particularly peaceful with very little activity so I decided to set up on the pier and frame the sun right in the center. After taking a few test shots and playing with the composition a bit, I was all set. There were a fair amount of clouds to the west but the sun would break through occasionally as it descended towards the horizon. I was busy snapping away as sunset neared and just then, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a boat weaving its way through the others anchored in the bay. It came screaming towards the pier and swung around only to park right in front of me. I couldn’t believe it! I figured that was the end of shooting with sunset only a few minutes away. They tied their lines up and a few people got off. I assumed they would stay tied up there, but next thing you know they were off and sped away. I looked back at my sequence of shots and noticed they were only there for three minutes! I took this shot just as they got of of sight and the sun just reached the horizon. So much for a peaceful sunset!

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Rugged Route
Oh Be Joyful Creek winds and tumbles its way down a series of waterfalls outside of Crested Butte, Colorado.

This is another image from a trip last summer to the Crested Butte area. Oh Be Joyful Creek is so much fun to shoot. The creek twists and turns its way down the mountainside in a multitude of waterfalls and cascades. Give me a nice overcast or rainy day and I could be there for hours! It took a bit of jumping and climbing around to get into position so I could frame up this waterfall and its curving flow with the other falls in the background. The water was flowing at a pretty good clip, so a real long exposure wasn’t necessary to blur the water a bit leaving some texture. I look forward to getting back over there this summer.

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Furious Flow
Oh Be Joyful Creek flows over a waterfall on its mad dash down the mountainside to meet up with the Slate River outside Crested Butte, Colorado.

I am in the middle of planning a trip out to the Pacific Northwest so I have waterfalls on my mind. In looking back at some images, I ran across this image that had yet to be processed from a trip over to Crested Butte last summer. I have done some shooting along Oh Be Joyful Creek a couple of times and it is always an experience. First of all it is an experience just getting to it. The creek flows into the Slate River not far outside of Crested Butte. The one small problem is that when you drive out Slate River Road, the creek is on the other side. You have to first drive through the river before you can even get to the creek! The amount of water will vary of course by season and whether a rain storm just passed through. There are times it is just not possible to get across. After you have made it to the other side and driven through a campground the road quickly becomes a four wheel drive trail. It climbs quickly along the rocky mountainside to where you can first park to explore the creek. From there it is best to dawn some waders because you are going to end up in the water. The creek starts high up on the side of the Ruby Range in the Elk Mountains and drops 2,000 feet in the roughly six miles down to the river. Much of the time it crashes through rocky canyons so getting around for a shot is sometimes a challenge. Add a little rain in there to wet the rocks and you are in for some fun!

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Seaside Serenity
Early morning clouds reflect in the turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea off the island of Anguilla, BWI.

My sunrise shoot at one of my favorite locations in Anguilla turned out to be a bust this morning due to a large cloud bank off to the east. They tried to break up enough to let the sun shine through but it just wasn’t happening. There was no reason to rush off, so I played around for a while looking for things to shoot. After a while, the sun came out and what clouds remained glowed with a soft pink light. Their reflection in the water caught my eye so I set about finding an interesting composition. This coral along the shore made for a nice anchor and the angle of the shoreline mimicked the clouds in the sky. I used a neutral density filter to slow down the exposure and smooth out the water making for a very serene image.

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Sundance on the Three Apostles
The setting sun illuminates the Three Apostles that are reflected in a beaver pond in Clear Creek Canyon outside of Buena Vista, Colorado.

I was thinking ahead to summer this weekend and what locations I might like to visit and it reminded me of a camping trip I took last July. I had studied the maps around my area and my goal was to explore more places close to home that could provide good photo opportunities. I had seen some pictures from Harrison Flats which is along the Continental Divide just to the west of my house and decided it would be a good candidate. I packed up the camper and headed up Clear Creek Canyon road to spend a couple of nights.

After a couple of grueling hours of slowly driving up some of the worst washboard around, I set up camp close to the Lake Ann trail head. I finished getting the camper set up just in time for the normal afternoon summer storm to roll through. I sat for an hour and read waiting out the insistent rain. As the skies began to clear, I grabbed my gear and headed down the trail which follows the South Fork of Clear Creek. I knew I didn’t really have enough time to get up to Harrison Flats so I concentrated on trying to find a composition using the creek. There was a lot of brush covering most of the creek but I did come across this area that was filled with beaver ponds. I slogged around and managed to find this location in time to get setup for sunset. The clouds moved quickly from the west and at times the sun was totally obscured. It even insisted on sprinkling on me occasionally as I waited. Fortunately the clouds broke up enough to let the last rays of sun dance across the Three Apostles. The winds subsided and the surface of the beaver pond settled down to allow for a perfect reflection. A beautiful mountain sunset.

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Here Comes the Sun
The horizon glows in pink dawn light over a rocky beach at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, Florida.

As promised in my “Light up the Sky” post a couple of weeks ago, here is the shot I got earlier that morning. This was taken six minutes before the other shot, just as the sun came over the horizon. The heavy cloud cover glowed with an intense pink hue that spread softly onto the clouds overhead. As the minutes passed, the sun climbed higher until it was able to spread the golden light behind the clouds as seen in the previous image. A half an hour later and the skies were grey. It is sunrises like this that keep you getting up at silly hours of the night!

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Left Turn
Light playing off of sand dunes and the shadows that are cast create an interesting curving pattern in White Sands National Monument, New Mexico.

I stopped in White Sands National Monument in New Mexico as I worked my way back home from my trip down south. I left Big Bend National Park a day early because strong winds had moved in and filled the skies with dust. Looking at the forecast for the White Sands area, it looked much more promising with light winds and partly cloudy skies. When I arrived I found the forecast to be true although looking out towards the dunes you could see a haze. The gal at the front desk of the hotel told me that the high winds had come through there a couple of days before and it was just now settling down. On top of that, what clouds there were seemed to be dissipating fast. Grand scenic shots seemed out of the question. I decided that my best bet was just to focus on details. So I wandered around the dunes for a couple of days searching for interesting compositions. I have to say that at first I couldn’t get in the right frame of mind. After telling myself to slow down I was finally able to start seeing it. I spent almost an hour shooting this area of the dunes. The patterns were amazing.

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