These images are of the Crystal Mill (really a power plant) located near Crystal City, Colorado. This has been photographed so often that it’s perilously close to being a photo cliche. (Some claim that this is the most photographed object in Colorado; given the relative difficulty of driving to the Mill, I’m dubious). Still, it is quite photogenic. I was too early for fall color when I made these images, but was fortunate to have very warm afternoon light. There was a forest fire in a neighboring county, and the smoke added a unique color to the light. (Click on the images for a larger version).
This is slightly different than the “standard” composition for this image. A little less dramatic, but I like how the water leads the eye into the photo.
I captured this image of the Crystal Club in Crystal City, Colorado, earlier this summer. Crystal City is a effectively a ghost town (the “residents” occupy a handful of cabins during the summer). Though the road to Crystal City is a bit rough (read: do not attempt to visit in your two-wheel drive) it’s worth the drive. The scenery is spectacular, and the townspeople friendly. (My favorite detail: if you purchases a soda in from the general store, you must walk across the street and retrieve it from the creek). One word of advice if you visit Crystal: a few doors down from the now-abandoned Crystal club is the Crystal bookstore. Since the bookstore is one of only two businesses in the town, you’ll doubtless go in. Resist the urge to buy “Crystal . . . What Really Happened” from the store. Though the idea of buying a book about the history of Crystal, from a Crystal Resident, in Crystal, might sound appealing, save your money. I like badly-written history books more than most, but the quality of the writing is astonishingly bad and the content mostly dull minutia. (The blurb on the linked website will give you an idea of the quality of the prose.) Pass.
Probably because of the many different, saturated colors and the broad range of tones, this image lends itself to a variety of different interpretations. Here are are some of the variations that I tried before settling on the image above. Click on a thumbnail for a larger version:
Upon editing this image I see a number of things that I’d like to try (and try to do better — the yellow in the flower is a bit burned out). But one of the joys and frustrations of nature photography is that subjects are not available at the photographer’s whim. Maybe next spring . . .
One again I’m playing catchup with a backlog of photos. These are the final batch of images from a shoot in Rocky Mountain National Park this summer. I really like the composition of the image above. The images below are good to, though perhaps not quite as dynamic. As always, click on the images to see a larger version.
At first I wasn’t crazy about this image of a bighorn looking over a precipice. But somehow the image grew on me. Let me know what you think of this image in the comments.
I am torn about this elk silhouette as well. On the one hand, I like the colors and the fact that this isn’t just a boring, “straight” portrait of an elk. On the other hand, it somehow seems a bit too sentimental. Kind of like a painting-on-a-mirror that one might buy at a low-end souvenir store.
Finally, here are two more bighorn images. These guys were in absolutely gorgeous late evening light. Unfortunately, all they wanted to do was rest in the sun. Still, I don’t see bighorn all that often, so I was happy to make these images. I just wish this ram would have rurned his head a bit to camera right.
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I have posted a new gallery of images from Bosque del Apache, one of my favorite places on the planet to photograph.
It was a rare foggy morning in Denver this morning. I couldn’t resist taking a photographic detour through city park on my way to the office.
© Dennis Dooley
I spend last weekend in San Francisco with my wife. During my trip, I was fortunate to run across Dennis Dooley’s booth at an outdoor arts fair. Dooley has made a living for the past twenty years by selling prints at fairs and as a licensed San Francisco street artist, and claims to have the oldest active street artist license in the city. Dooley has a wonderful eye for composition, and his street photography fantastic. Check out his galleries and pay particular attention to his Urban B&W and Urban Color portfolios.
I purchased a print of the image above as a sort of fine art photography souvenir, and used all my willpower to not to purchase a half-dozen other images. Dooley has some other striking images (images, frankly, that are stronger than the one I purchased) but don’t fit with the aesthetic of my house. Here’s one of my favorites
© Dennis Dooley
Rather than link to Dooley’s other great images, I recommend that you click through to his site and enjoy for yourself.
These are three very different landscape images that I shot in Rocky Mountain National Park this summer. The image above is a tight shot of a lodge-pole pine stand. This image is a bit serendipitous. I was standing around with my supertelephoto waiting for a pica to come out from under a rock when I noticed the cool-looking light playing on the trees across the valley. A few moments to find a pleasing arrangement of trees and light (and a little work on the black and white conversion in Photoshop) and voila. Though it’s not readily apparent in this images, several of the trees in this photo were killed by pine beetles. It will be a very different park in a few years without the lodge poles . As always click for a larger version/slide show.
This is a blended exposure of a sunrise near the Gore Range Overlook. I like the stacked ridges in this image.
This is the Gore Range from the Gore Range Overlook. Pretty, but I’m am ambivalent about the composition.
