Posts Tagged aspen
May 9, 2011 – Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Mountains, Picture of the Day on May 9, 2011
Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake
Monday, May 9, 2011
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=650
Hey everyone! This is the last post that you’ll see for a couple days, just so you know. So you’d better enjoy it. This is, of course, the Maroon Bells (and Maroon Lake), near Aspen, Colorado. You’ve all seen this before, so no reason to talk about it too much, right?
Okay then, have a great day!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, 18-55mm kit lens. 1/320s, f/5.6, ISO 100. Focal length: 55mm.
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January 12, 2011 – Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Fall Color, Mountains, Picture of the Day on January 12, 2011
Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=649
We’re reaching way back into the archives today. Although, oddly enough, this is the second picture in a row from Colorado. I just noticed that. Huh, oh well. This shot was, obviously, shot in the fall. The day that I took this was the only day I had in Aspen. We had stayed in town the night before, but shortly after this was taken, we started driving back to my parents’ house in Colorado Springs. (Notice a common theme here? Right, yes, the theme is: my parents live in Colorado Springs. Thus, I sometimes find myself in Colorado. On those occasions, I, um, take pictures.)
This was my second time at this viewpoint. Well, technically, it was my third, but for now, we’ll call it the second. The FIRST time I was there was a year or two earlier, right at the beginning of the summer. Or maybe it was even the beginning of May. Not that important. What WAS important was that I slept in my car in the parking lot (I was laid off, so I didn’t want to spend the money on a hotel), but right at sunrise, there was a super nice reflection from the lake, with the sun shining right up the valley, illuminating the peaks. It was great. So this time around, even though it was three months later in the year, I decided to try the same thing. So, I got up before sunrise and drove out there. Then, the sun came up. Then, I realized that the whole “sun shining right down the valley” thing had a lot to do with the fact that it was May. That in September, the sun rose at a different spot on the horizon, and thus, I’d have to wait a few hours for it to finally rise over the valley wall. Whoops. So I ended up hanging out for awhile waiting for it. Fortunately, I had a book.
But, that’s not when I took this picture. I took a lot of pictures then, yes, and I’ve even posted a few of them here already. But then I headed back to town, where my wife was asleep in the hotel room. Well, I mean, she was asleep when I left, but she was actually starting to get a bit worried, since I told her I’d be back in half an hour or so, and it was now approaching 5 hours since I had left. Whoops. I could have called, except that, right, I was in the mountains, and had no coverage.
So, that was fun. Eventually, we got some breakfast and such, and then we headed back out here. (Thus, my third time here.) By then, they had instituted the no-cars-allowed policy (for most of the day, the only option is to take a shuttle in), but that was fine. My wife and I rode on in, and I got another set of pictures from the viewpoint. The afternoon breezes had kicked up though, so there was no more nice still reflection like early in the morning. That’s okay though, it was a nice view in its own right.
Okay, that’s it for today. Also, that’s also probably it for this week, since I’m really busy at work the next couple days. I mean, sure, there’s a chance I’ll put something else up here, but I’m not planning on it. But hey, optimism is awesome, right?
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, 18-55mm kit lens. 1/200s, f/7.1, ISO 100. Focal length: 31mm.
Popularity: 41%
January 26, 2010 – Aspens
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Fall Color, Picture of the Day on January 26, 2010
Aspens in the Fall
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=654
I know, I know, I promised that I’d write something meaty today. Well.. have you considered vegetarianism? I ran out of time and content both today, so you’ll just have to keep waiting for another soliloquy. To make matters worse, I’m going to be on jury duty the next couple days, so unless I feel like tossing something up later on when I get home (umm, yeah, unlikely), this is all you’ll get until at least Friday. At least I’m setting you up properly for disappointment instead of springing it on you and leaving you sitting there wondering if something happened to me. Because I know you’d do that too, you’re always looking out for my back. That’s why we get along so well. I’m glad we’re friends. C’mere, gimme a big hug. Awwwwww.
These are some aspen trees, in Colorado. This has always been one of my personal favorites, I think because of all the little details in there. I love shots with a lot of little details, which also helps explain why it bothers me so much when pictures are just a little bit out of focus. And THAT helps explain why it’s not uncommon for me to over-sharpen a lot of my pictures. I tend to err way on the side of too much sharpening, which a lot of times makes a crappy result. But that’s okay, it’s something I’m working on. One of these days, when I actually sit down to learn how to use photoshop, I’ve promised myself that I’ll cut back on the sharpening a whole bunch, and instead spend all of my time playing around with levels and curves. I mean, that’s what all you photoshoppers do, right? Hmm, if I only knew…
One of these days I’m thinking about having a week dedicated to pics from you, my dear readers. I haven’t decided when, and I haven’t decided what a good theme would be, and I haven’t even decided yet if it’s a good idea. When I see super-cool-awesome pictures from other people, I sometimes feel bad, like “oh man, I could NEVER take a picture like that. I might as well just give up”, so I’m afraid doing so would send me into a tailspin that would take my whole weekend to recover from. So maybe I’ll make it a rule that you’re only allowed to submit crappy pictures. Yeah, actually, I kind of like that. It’ll be a “send me your best crappy picture” kind of thing. I can’t wait! Anybody have any thoughts on that? Possible themes? Let me know – either comment here, on my Facebook page, or just email me at dave (at) davefry (dot) net. We’ll see how this goes.
See you guys on (maybe) Friday!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Quantaray 70-300 mm lens. 1/250s, f/7.1, ISO 100. Focal length: 50mm.
Popularity: 10%
November 30, 2009 – Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Fall Color, Mountains, Picture of the Day on November 30, 2009
Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake
Monday, November 30, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=641
Hey everyone, welcome back from Thanksgiving! I hope you were all able to give heartfelt thanks for all the good stuff in your life, and passive-aggressively attack those who are guilty for everything else. I was, and man, it was awesome.
So, first off, I do feel like it’s worth mentioning that no, I have not posted this picture before. I have, however, posted at least a couple that are really similar. That’s just the way it goes around here. When I go places, I take a lot of pictures, that are all just a little bit different. The differences are usually subtle enough that you won’t notice them unless you’re looking at two versions right next to each other. But what usually happens is that half of the subtle differences that I like better are in one version, and half in the other, so I can’t in good conscience pick one over the other. So I usually keep both hanging around. That’s exactly how it happens that all 10 if the top 10 most highly-rated pictures of Colorado in Rate Dave’s Photos are pictures of the Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake taken on the same day. This one’s not QUITE that similar, (it’s vertical, whereas the ones I’ve posted here before were horizontal), but the point still stands.
If you actually read the text here on potd.com closely (I’m not sure how many of you actually do), you probably noticed that I failed to post a picture last Tuesday as I had promised. It’s a long story as to why, but it involved running out of time and almost missing a flight. But, before things got quite so desperate, I had planned on posting this picture. Mostly because I figured it was a safe one to go ahead and post with a minimal write-up. So since I was already mentally committed to using it, I figured I’d go ahead and use it today.
This is of course a view of the Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake, just outside of Aspen, Colorado. I think I’ve actually posted three Maroon Bells pictures before, so if you’re interested in seeing those, search for “Maroon Bells” in the search box on the upper right. I would normally link to them here, but I’m feeling a bit lazy today.
But, since I actually do have time to do a write-up today, I’ll go ahead and say something about it. And here we go.
There are a lot of different kinds of photo opportunities. There are the subtle ones, where something catches your eye in the middle of an ordinary day. And there’s the ones where due to some unique circumstance, like a crazy storm rolling through or a nice sunset, something ordinary is turned into something extraordinary. There’s mood shots, where for whatever reason the scene in front of you does a perfect job of encapsulating the aura of a place and thus makes a good story. The list goes on and on. But somewhere in that list is the lookout point. A well-marked spot where the general consensus is that the view kicks ass. Doesn’t really matter the time of day, time of year, or weather. It’s just an awesome viewpoint that makes for a great picture. That’s what this place is. The natural elements are all there in such a way as to make it idiot-proof to get an awesome shot. I’m not really sure where I’m going with this, but I do want to make sure I somehow work it into this paragraph that you should take the time to try out a lot of different stuff in such a situation. Try taking it horizontally, try it vertically, try it with all sorts of different layouts of foreground. Try it with everything. Because you’re using digital (you’re using digital, right?), so who cares how many you take? And for god’s sake, don’t delete them on the camera before you’ve had a chance to see them on the big screen! The ONLY excuse for that is if your card is full and you need to take more pictures. But it’s WAY too easy to miss something on the little tiny camera screen that will turn an image that you think is only ho-hum into something fantastic. It very often happens that the real winners, my favorite shots of the day, are not the ones I expected to be so when I was taking them.
Okay, lunch time. I’ve rambled at you enough for one day. Thanks for coming back after almost a whole week of no posts! I promise I’ll do it again soon.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, 18-55 mm kit lens. 1/320s, f/7.1, ISO 100. Focal length: 25mm.
Popularity: 9%
October 12, 2009 – Aspens in Autumn
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Fall Color, Picture of the Day on October 12, 2009
Aspens in autumn
Monday, October 12, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=680
Hey everyone, it’s fall now! I mean, it’s actually been fall for a little while already, but it really feels like it now. Probably because I took the wife and kid out for a hike yesterday though a bunch of color. Not this color, no. I haven’t gone through the pictures yet, I’ll try to post one tomorrow.
These are aspens, from Colorado. They usually turn around the end of September, and they go golden yellow, like these here. It’s a beautiful sight, well worth a trip out there if you can time it right. (But, they are only at their peak for a weekend or two, so that’s a lot harder than it sounds, especially when you consider that the weather may just suck, in which case you’re out of luck.) They can be really magical though, especially in the late afternoon golden sunshine, when a little breeze rolls through and sets all those little leaves quaking, which makes the trees look like they’re shimmering and sparkling. Good stuff.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Quantaray 70-300mm lens. 1/320s, f/5.6, ISO 100. Focal length: 248mm.
Popularity: 8%
September 14, 2009 Part 2 – Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Fall Color, Mountains, Picture of the Day on September 14, 2009
Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake
Monday, September 14, 2009. 2 of 2.
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=638
Hey everyone. This is the first time I’ve actually posted two pictures in one day. I’m not really sure what led me to do a 2nd post today, but as long as I was sitting there on my couch staring at the wall, I figured I’d toss up a picture aimed at those fans of the Picture of the Day who are on the other side of the world. Yes, I’m talking to you, Petah Tiqva, Israel.
This is another picture of the Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake near Aspen, Colorado. And no, I haven’t posted this one before. Yes, I’ve posted at least a couple that are very very similar to this one. But not this one. The biggest difference between this one and one in particular that I posted awhile ago is the people at the far right edge of the frame. I had found a framing of the view that I liked, and the light was perfect. But those people JUST WOULDN’T MOVE. It was maddening, really. There were people lined up along the whole shore giving them the stink eye, but they were totally oblivious. They were just chilling out, right there, right in the middle of everyone’s view. I tried to crop them out, but that didn’t feel right, because it ended up cutting a lot of those rocks in the foreground in half, so it broke up the picture’s story. Very frustrating.
Thankfully though, they did end up moving after about 10 or 20 minutes. So I was able to get the shot I wanted in the end, all was well, high fives all around. But still, annoying. Keep that in mind if you’re ever hanging out in a really pretty place where there are a lot of folks setting up pictures. Definitely don’t hold back from checking out the stuff you want to see, but try to at least keep moving. Don’t find a nice central spot in everybody’s way and then just hang out there. Garrrr.
Anyway, off to bed for me, see you guys tomorrow at the normal time.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, 18-55 mm kit lens. 1/250s, f/5.6, ISO 100. Focal length: 22mm.
Popularity: 6%
August 20, 2009 – Aspens
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Fall Color, Picture of the Day on August 20, 2009
Aspens
Thursday, August 20, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=664
Hey everyone. I realized last night that other than last Friday, it had been awhile since I had posted anything from Colorado, so I decided that today I’d dig one out of the archives. Everyone knows (well, they should anyway) how much I love fall colors, especially aspens. So it was a real treat to go out to Colorado a few years back right during aspen season to go for a quick drive around the state. The weather worked out perfectly, it was great. I didn’t get as many super cool pictures as I wanted, but oh well, that’s the way it goes. This one was taken about halfway up to Independence Pass from Aspen. There’s a bunch of nice aspen groves right along the highway, and the quality of the light that filters down through the canopy is just sublime. I could sit there for hours just listening to the breeze rustling through the leaves. Love it.
On to other topics.. Have you ever had one of those days where you were just absolutely jaw-droppingly blown out of the water by someone’s pictures? That happened to me today. Our friends Eric and Lisa just got back from a two week trip through Banff, Glacier, Waterton, and Yoho national parks, and OH MY GOD WOW. TONS of really fantastic shots. If you’ve got a couple hours to kill and want to see some truly inspiring landscapes, you owe it to yourself to check out the collection. It’s here, on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25802548@N00/collections/72157621966294961/
Approximate map: http://bit.ly/ScJod
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, 18-55 mm kit lens. 1/200s, f/6.3, ISO 100. Focal length: 22mm.
Popularity: 4%
August 14, 2009 – Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Fall Color, Mountains, Picture of the Day on August 14, 2009
Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake
Friday, August 14, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=648
I’m in an all-day meeting at work today, so no time for a writeup. But here’s another photo of the Maroon Bells near Aspen to keep you busy.
Have an utterly fantastic weekend!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, 18-55 mm kit lens. 1/200s, f/7.1, ISO 100. Focal length: 34mm.
Popularity: 5%
June 3, 2009 – Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake
Posted by Dave in - Best of Dave's POTD -, Colorado, Fall Color, Mountains, Picture of the Day on June 3, 2009
Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake
June 3, 2009.
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=639
I promised this one a couple weeks ago, so I’ll go ahead and get it out of the way. Once again, this is a view of the Maroon Bells (and Maroon Lake) from just outside Aspen, Colorado. This was taken at the end of September. The Aspens usually are at their peak for just a couple of weeks, so it can be tricky to get the timing and the weather just right.
As I mentioned in the last post with a picture of the bells, I had to hang out for about 4 hours to get this picture. It took that long for the sun to finally rise high enough over the neighboring ridge to illuminate the aspens up there on the hillside. (Actually, that came a bit earlier, but I was waiting for the sun to make it all the way to my end of the lake, so that those rocks in the foreground were illuminated too.) But, once the sun was there, I only had about 20 minutes to take the pictures before the breeze started kicking up, and the reflection disappeared.
You’ll undoubtedly see more pictures from this particular day over time. Both because I have basically 3 batches of pictures (one from early dawn, one from around this time, and one from when I came back later with Julie) as well as because there’s several different themes to explore. (I have ton of pics from this spot, some using the reflection, some not, but I also have some pics from other nice vantage points.) But, I promise, none this week.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, 18-55 mm kit lens. 1/320s, f/5.6, ISO 100. Focal length: 22 mm.
Popularity: 4%
May 21, 2009 – Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake
Posted by Dave in - Best of Dave's POTD -, Colorado, Mountains, Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on May 21, 2009
Maroon Bells and Maroon Lake at dawn
May 21, 2009.
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=635
So far, I’ve been trying to only post pictures that I haven’t already posted somewhere else on my profile. But.. whatever.
You’ve probably seen a picture from this viewpoint before, ESPECIALLY if you’ve ever looked at a Colorado calendar, or anything like that. In some ways, this is *the* representative Colorado view. I’ve seen it everywhere from postcards to grocery store discount cards. It’s f’ing everywhere.
This is a view of the Maroon Bells, looking over Maroon Lake. The viewpoint is near Aspen, about 20 minutes outside of town. In summer months, it’s pretty popular, to the point that after a certain time, they won’t even allow you to drive in anymore, instead they run busses from about 10 minutes down the road. Pretty wild.
I’ve actually visited this spot twoce, once was quite awhile ago when I was on a 3 week roadtrip through Montana, Colorado, and points in between. On that trip, I didn’t have a set itinerary, and ended up in Aspen for a night totally on a whim. I didn’t have a hotel lined up, so instead I just parked at the viewpoint and slept in my car. I woke up at sunrise, and shortly after, the sun was shining right up the valley, which let me get some nice pics of the reflection in the lake and such.
This time (2006), Julie and I had flown down to Colorado just for a long weekend, to drive around in the hills a bit to see the aspens. Since we had pretty limited time, we actually did plan out our route, which included a night in Aspen, this time staying in an honest-to-god hotel, with walls and a toilet and everything. Remembering my luck last time with the sunrise pics, I decided to do that again. So I woke up at around 5am, and headed over. Julie of course gave the response you’d expect from a wife who has been asked if she wants to wake up before dawn and sit there for a couple hours while you take pictures, so she stayed in the hotel and slept in.
Unfortunately, this was a very different time of year (last time was at the beginning of summer, this one was solidly into the fall), and therefore, the sun followed a much different path across the sky. So, instead of shining straight up the valley, illuminating the scene within an hour or two of coming over the horizon, it was rising behind one of the high ridges, which meant that Maroon Lake was in the shade until about 4 hours after sunrise. So, I got a few pictures like this one soon after the sun started rising, then I sat there and waited.. And waited… And waited… Eventually, I was able to get the pictures I wanted though, perhaps I’ll include one from later that morning in the picture of the day sometime next week. I ended up rolling back into the hotel at around 11:30 am, about 5 hours after I’d left, and about 3 hours later than I told Julie I’d be back.
Of course, there was no cell phone coverage in the valley, and besides that fact, Julie’s phone was dead and I didn’t know the number to the hotel, so when I came back several hours later than I said I would, Julie was understandably concerned. But, as it turns out, all is fair in love, war, and photography. To make it up to her, I actually came back to this spot later that afternoon, and brought her with me. By then they had closed the road, so the only way in was to ride the shuttle, but that’s fine. It’s really interesting to see though how the quality of the light and the general feeling of the scene changed throughout the day. I’ll show you some of the other pics if you’d like. One interesting difference: The air tends to be perfectly still in the early morning and late afternoon, which allows you to get these perfect reflections. During most of the day, there are almost always little breezes that keep the surface unsettled. And that held true today as well, right as I was leaving in the morning, the wind was starting to pick up a bit, so the reflections disappeared.
Okay, that’s enough text for today.
Map for this one: http://tinyurl.com/p8yon7
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, 18-55 mm kit lens. 1/500s, f/4.0, ISO 400. Focal length: 28mm.
Popularity: 6%