Badlands National Park

Badlands #1

This fall, Vickie and I had planned a visit to the North Shore of Lake Superior to attempt to photograph some fall color.  As our departure date got closer, the weather forecasts were becoming increasingly unfavorable, with some forecasts including the possibility of up to a foot of snow.  So, the night before our planned departure, we changed our plans to head to the Black Hills in South Dakota instead.  

On our way back home, we stopped in Badlands N.P. for an afternoon.  I'd always read about how difficult Badlands was to achieve interesting photography in, and so the amount of time that I've spent there in the past has been pretty limited.  But during our brief visit there, we were treated to some nice clouds (fast moving- due to extremely windy and cold conditions!).

Tech info- Canon 40D, 18-55 IS lens, 3 image stitch. 

Badlands #2

Some signs posted along the road into the park warned us not to get near any prairie dogs, because they have been found to be carrying fleas with bubonic plague, so I spent perhaps somewhat less time than usual squatting low over my camera and tripod trying to capture compositional elements in the foreground- but here is one exception.  I was lucky to catch this shot before the fast-moving clouds dimmed the light on this group of wildflowers (or weeds?).

Canon 40D, 18-55mm IS, polarizer.

Badlands #3

I'm considering spending some time this winter processing the above image as a black & white.  All of the photos in this post were taken in the more western part of the loop road through the park, because by the time we worked our way to the eastern section, the light was gone.  Which is a good reason for us to make sure that we come back to this park again someday- when we have much more time to spend!

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Dunes #1-  Clouds over dunes

After a morning of photographing on the dunes, I was hungry for some lunch.  As I headed out of the park to get some food at a nearby restaurant, I was greeted with this view in my rearview mirror of some nice clouds settling over the dunes, so I stopped to grab a few photos.  (I still have a half a roll of exposed Velvia medium format left in my Hasselblad from this spot, that I still need to get developed soon!)

Tech info- Canon 40D, 18-55 IS lens, polarizer (all images in this post)

Dunes #2-  Wildflowers & Dunes

Need your help!  

I've been looking over these images for several weeks trying to decide which, if any, might be suitable for donating to the upcoming Lawson United Methodist Church Auction.  I plan to pick out an image of the mountain wildflowers from my previous blog posts, but I'm not sure how popular any of these images from the Dunes might or might not be.  So, if anyone viewing this post can identify to me an image (identified by the number under the image) that they think might sell well at the Church auction, I'd appreciate the feedback!  You can leave a comment on this blog.

                   

  Dunes #3

Dunes #4

Part of the reason that I'm having more trouble than usual deciding whether I like these images is that several of them are more abstract than most of my usual stuff. 

Dunes #5

               

Dunes #6

Dunes #7

Dunes #8

One comment- you can see from the relative size of the person in the lower left hand corner of this shot how large these dunes are.  As a matter of fact, I believe that the largest dune in the park is claimed to be about 700 feet tall.  I know this, the angle of repose of the sand, plus the elevation, makes for a tough climb!

I hope you enjoyed viewing these images.  Perhaps they will make some of my viewers want to visit this park someday!

Wildflowers of the San Juan Mountains (Part 4- Clear Lake)

 Wildflowers- Clear Lake

Tech Info (all images):  Canon 40D, 18-55 IS lens.

     Clear Lake is reached by a 4 wheel drive road that splits off the South Fork Mineral Creek Road just off Highway 550 near Silverton.  According to my map, the lake is at an elevation of about 13,100 ft.  On the afternoon that I visited, it was windy and rainy and the shore of the lake itself was lined with families that were fishing, so I didn't find the lake itself to be particularly worthy of posting photos.  The surrounding basin, however, had some nice patches of wildflowers, as you can see above and below. 

 As you can tell from the sky in the above photo, it was on the verge of raining during my stay at Clear Lake.  Since I remembered that high elevations like this are not wise spots to be standing in the event of lightning strikes (especially not leaning over a conductive tripod!), my visit to this spot was fairly brief.

 Paintbrush- Clear Lake

 bluebells after rain shower

Clear Lake is fairly close to Ice Lake Basin (at least as the crow flies), and also at similar elevation.  It sure is easier to achieve several thousand feet of elevation gain by riding in a four wheel drive Jeep than it is to hike it on foot!

Wildflowers of the San Juan Mountains - Part 3 (Gold King Basin Area)

Fireweed at Gold King Basin
     Gold King Basin lies on the Telluride side of Ophir Pass.  Despite the fact that it is not frequently mentioned as one of the most prolific producers of wildflowers in the area, during my visit there I found it to have one of the better stands of wildflowers.  I suspect that this may be due to its tendency to shade heavy snowpacks for much of the day, and perhaps this spot was  one of the later areas to melt out during this unusually hot and dry summer, hence the better stand of wildflowers that remained relatively late in the season.

Tech Info- (all images)  Canon 40D, 18-55 IS lens.

 I found the wildflowers to be abundant at this spot- the biggest difficulty in photographing them was keeping from sliding down the relatively steep inclines of the sidewalls of this basin.  More than once I got all set up, only to slide down the hill before I tripped the shutter!

 Paintbrush- Gold King Basin

 During my visit to Gold King Basin, I had the entire basin all to myself.  No worries about people walking into the frame of my photo as I was preparing to shoot.  Sometimes I really enjoy photographing in seclusion- just me, the mountains, and the flowers.  However, at my next stop (Alta Lakes), I did run into several photographers who had not been to Gold King Basin yet, and I was happy to recommend it to them as a worthwhile spot for finding stands of wildflowers.

Pond at Alta Lakes
      Alta Lakes are located only a short distance from Gold King Basin (or perhaps I should say vice-versa, as there were quite a few people busy fishing and camping at Alta Lakes during my visit there.)  I've seen a nice image taken at one of the Alta Lakes, with a clear blue sky and a mountain peak reflecting in the clear blue water.  During my visit there, it was windy and the sky was overcast, but I found the nice group of flowers above beside one of the small ponds, leading me to capture the above image.

Wildflowers of the San Juan Mountains (Part 2- Imogene Pass)

 Wildflowers below Imogene Pass

   I had reserved a spot on a tour to Governor Basin, but no one else signed up for this tour, and Brandi at Switzerland of America 4x4 tours in Ouray recommended that I try their tour to Imogene Pass instead.  Since I'd been well satisfied with the previous tour I did with them, I agreed.  Despite the fact that Imogene Pass has seldom been mentioned among the list of best spots for wildflowers in the area, this turned out to be one of the better spots that I saw on my trip.  The driver and guide, Michael, took us on a small side trail just off of the main trail to Imogene Pass that had some nice flower displays, as pictured above.

 Indian Paintbrush below Imogene Pass

Larkspur below Imogene Pass

Group of Paintbrush

Paintbrush and Columbine- below Imogene Pass

Bluebells and other (unidentified) wildflowers below Imogene Pass

Wildflowers below Imogene Pass


   Thanks again to Brandi, Michael (tour guide) and the rest of the fine folks at Switzerland of America in Ouray for a great tour!  I'd highly recommend them- and they are nice folks too!


Stay tuned for my next post, which will cover my (long) hike to Ice Lake Basin.