A landscape photographer's tour
Aspen
Keith's travels in Colorado - April-May 2006
Aspen 2
I was up fairly early and headed up Castle Creek. Unfortunately at this time of the year you can't get up to Maroon Bells or Independence pass, so a couple of other interesting locations were out.
OK, I could have cycled, or walked 12 miles, but that just wasn't going to happen :-)
Aspens - how the place got its name
- The sun is just illuminating the background trees, which I've deliberately kept out of focus. I exposed for the background so that none of the image clips. For a print, it would be important to get the contrast and brightness of the foreground trees right. By being careful with exposure and working at 16 bit, there is plenty of detail to bring out in the darker areas.
There had been a very light fall of snow and the early morning light looked very cold
Heading up Castle Creek road
At last a chance to use the 24mm shift lens...
Taken (hand held) by pointing the camera parallel to the trees and shifting the lens upwards to get the composition I wanted.
Aspens in the morning sun
- If I'd used a normal wide angle lens I'd have had to tilt the camera upwards which would make the trees lean over - they are on a fairly steep slope. Not a problem at all to use the shift lens like this (manual focus and meter for the shot before shifting). One other thing is to move so that one of the trees blocks out direct sunlight.
Aspen has built itself a reputation for free-thinking and being a bit different (it helps if you have money ;-)
Who needs signs to tell you what to do?
There are several other prohibited things listed above the sign...
After several trips driving round the US I've decided that Dodge produce the best range of ugly vehicles when viewed in your rear view mirror.
The example below should give an idea what I mean.
An unpleasant looking vehicle from Dodge.
Grace, elegance, styling - who needs it :-)
Tomorrow... off north to Steamboat Springs for a few days I think.
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