Mayflower Gulch

Monday, August 30, 2010

http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1047

Hello, dear readers! It’s Monday again! Woooooo!!!!! What, not feeling the enthusiasm?? Yeah, me neither. Sigh. I went out of town this last weekend though, that was cool. Headed up to Whistler, and did a little bit of hiking. That’s not where this picture is from though. More on that in a bit.

I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this already or not, but I have a new (ish) rule of thumb: I refuse to look at my pictures on the big screen until at least a couple days have passed since I took them. Sounds like a weird self-imposed rule, right? Well, see, there’s a reason I had to do it. I’m always excited at the pictures I’m taking. For whatever reason, they always seem to look FANTASTIC on the little screen on my camera. So I take a few, and I get stoked that I got THE SHOT, and that forever after I’ll be finally satisfied that I captured the perfect image, and that I’ll get home and be able to retire the camera forever. But… it never quite works out that way. Ignoring for a minute the fact that taking pictures is just like a drug (you can never get enough! Even when you get the shot you dreamed of, it never satisfies you – you immediately start dreaming about your next hit.), for whatever reason when you look at them on the big screen, they’re never quite as sharp as you thought, or the color’s not quite right, or there’s a blemish that you didn’t see before, or you just missed the most interesting part of the mountain, whatever. And that just crushes my soul. It sucks the excitement for the pictures right out of me. I mean, these issues are usually very minor, and usually aren’t even noticeable at web-size. But, instead of going to bed riding the glow of “I got some AWESOME shots today!” I end up going to bed really sad, and then I don’t want to look at them again for weeks. On the other hand, if I just enjoy the euphoric high for the rest of the day or whatever, and wait until it fades away naturally, then I can approach the photographic results with a more level head. I’ve told myself I’ve had this rule for awhile, but I’ve only really gotten serious about enforcing it lately, the last few weeks or so. And it’s been working out GREAT! So, long story short, I’m not going to be looking at my pictures from this weekend for at least another day or two.

So, in the meantime, you get a picture from Colorado, from last summer. This was taken with my wide angle lens (Tokina 11-16) in a spot called Mayflower Gulch. It’s a really short trail (a mile-ish?), because I only had a tiny bit of time that day. The trailhead is a little ways south of Copper Mountain along highway 91 (which I believe has the nickname “Top of the Rockies Highway”). I think the trail keeps on going (or there’s probably several trail choices once you get to the gulch) but I didn’t have time for any of that. I was able to get to a nice setting, and that had to be good enough for me. My buddy Trevor (who lives up in Summit County) took me out there, after I asked for a short trail that would let me get some nice pics. This choice worked out perfectly!

Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens. 1/250s, f/9.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 12mm.

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