Hartman Rocks, Gunnison, Colorado

Janine is now done with our remaining portions of new Colorado photos!

Along with the sections I mentioned last week, we now have new sections for Crested Butte / Gunnision and from the North and South rims of the Black Canyon of Gunnision National Park.

For this photo I used my 24-105 at 65, f/16 at 1/3 of a second and a two stop soft edge graduated neutral density filter.

San Juan Mountain, Colorado

Another day, and another new section on the website – photos of Ouray and the San Juan Mountains.

These are some of my favorite images from Colorado as it was where we had the best fall colors by far.  Not to mention, the town of Ouray is about as picturesque as it gets.

Rock Cut at the top of Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

Janine has been working very hard to update our website with our new photos from this past fall, and we now have the first of what should be many updates over the next couple of weeks, and that is a new section of Rocky Mountain National Park photos, along with a sub gallery of Estes Park photos.

San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Another fall photo from Colorado!

This was captured at 1/5 of a second at f/14 and ISO 400.  I used 400 because of the wind – I wanted to maximize the shutter speed, to minimize the movent in the brush.  This as with my 24-105 at 50mm.

Here are more photos of the San Juan Mountains in Colorado.

Sunrise, Moraine Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

We are done converting and adjusting our photos from our end of summer and fall travels, and we should be updating our website soon, including a new section on Colorado.  Until then, I thought I would share a few more photos from that trip.

Sharp eyed viewers might spot the bull elk.

I promised to start adding the settings for each photo, and then proceeded to forget on the very next post.  This was 6 seconds at f/18 and iso 100.  I don’t remember, but I’m guessing I used a two stop soft edge graduated neutral density filter.

See more Rocky Mountain National Park pictures.

Mule deer buck, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

This guy was huge!  Rocky Mountain National Park is sure a great place to watch and photograph elk and deer.  This was from our Fall visit.

Here are more Colorado photos.

Janine at Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

I was very surprised to see my name and blog  being mentioned by Amazon on Twitter last week, I clicked on the link and saw that for $1 per month, you can have my blog sent directly to your Kindle Wireless Reading Device - now that is pretty cool!  Check it out:   Photo blog – Niebrugge Images on Amazon

I then remembered submitting my blog to Amazon about a year ago and having to wait for approval.    If they emailed back, I missed it, and completely forgot about it.  I don’t remember the details, but I get some percentage of that dollar, probably not enough to retire on.    It wasn’t about the money, I viewed it as another nice new way to subscribe to the blog.

This summer we sat next to a nice lady on one of our flights who showed us her Kindle, those things are really cool – and very easy on the eyes, nothing like a computer screen  Now admittedly, my blog relies far more on colorful photos then words, and I don’t know how those will translate to the black and white screen.  But, they do offer a free 14 day trial so there is nothing to lose.  If you do get a Kindle for Christmas, check it out, and let me know how it works!

Alberta Falls, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

I haven’t mention it here before, but along with a handful of Alaska photo tours, I am now also offering private one-on-one workshops and tours.  With a private tour the instruction will be tailored specifically towards your needs and interests.  It can be anything from working on composition and exposures in the field, to using Photoshop in the office, or maybe a combination of topics.  I will travel anywhere for these workshops, they can be here in Seward, your town, or at a favorite destination.  Click on the link above for details.

I didn’t even think of promoting this option on my recent post of Christmas ideas for Photographers, but fortunately others are way ahead of me on that idea.  In just the last couple of days we have sold 5 days of private tours for next summer as Christmas gifts.  So if you still haven’t come up with that last minute gift…

Hartman Rocks Mountain Biking Trails, Gunnison, Colorado.

Typically on the blog I’m posting photos captured the day before, but I must admit, with all the Fall color photos I have been posting lately, I have fallen a bit behind.  Most of the autumn photos were captured over just two days, but it has taken a few more to share them.  We have actually been in Moab, Utah since this past weekend, and beginning tomorrow, I will begin posting photos from this area.

A week ago, I alluded to the mountain biking at Hartman Rocks Recreation Area, but never had a chance to follow up.  We have been fortunate enough to ride some great trails, like the Slickrock trail here in Moab, or our favorite, the McDowell Mountain Regional Park trails near Phoenix, but we now have a new favorite – these trails, well, rock!  They were so much fun!  Especially Rocky Ridge and Becks – they were really smooth single track trails, with lots of rises, dips and banked turns that allow you to go as fast as you can peddle.  I felt like I was 12 again – well, that isn’t all that unusual.  If you find yourself in the Gunnison area, check them out.

Here are more Crested Butte and Gunnison Colorado pictures.

Ouray, Colorado

There are a lot of wonderful, historic, Western towns that have been beautifully restored, but none have the mountain setting that Ouray does!  The top photo is looking North, the bottom one, South.

Ouray, Colorado

Take a look at more of our Colorado photos and pictures.

A waterfall near Ouray, Colorado.

I had to wade out and stand in this creek to get this perspective – it was cold!

Here are more Colorado photos!

Dallas Divide, Colorado.

Here is a little tip that I often forget;  digital cameras capture some amazingly rich colors in dark light.  This photo for example was taken at least 15 minutes before sunrise – it was a 20 second exposure at f/11.  The images I captured of this scene with the first warm light of day hitting the hillside are nice and colorful, but look very different, and not nearly as rich as this image captured in very dark conditions.  By the way, I didn’t add any saturation with Photoshop.

The Fall images I have been posting this week were all captured by driving down relatively quite little dirt roads, some after a bit of walking around.  This is where I prefer spending time and photographing.  This photo on the other hand was actually captured from a large, popular pullout along a busy highway.  I said all along I wasn’t going to stop here, but it is just to nice to pass up, so yesterday morning I joined the crowds at this spot.

The other photographers gathered around here waited another 15 minutes before firing up their cameras, and probably thought I was a bit off shooting away in the dark like I was.  Well, I am a bit off, but this time it might have paid off.

Take a look at more of our Colorado pictures.

San Juan Mountains, Colorado.

Well we received a lot of rain last night, which meant snow for the mountains.  What a treat – they sure look better with fresh snow!

Unfortunately, we also were hit by some very hard winds today.  Not only were the leaves being blown off the trees, we saw entire trees knocked down onto the highway.  We even saw a stop sign blown over.  Needless to say, thanks to the high winds, the window of opportunity for fall colors may have been even smaller then I anticipated.

San Juan Mountains, Colorado.

We have many more pictures of the San Juan Mountains.

Sneffels Range, San Juan Mountains, Colorado.

Now we are talking!  I think we have found the amazing colors Colorado is known for.

Yesterday we moved to Ouray, Colorado – what a beautiful town!  I’m sure I will be posting photos of it eventually.  But, the trees around here are far healthier, looking great, and at or near peak.  The next few days should be a whirlwind – stormy weather is in the forecast, we need to cover as much ground as possible as this might be a wonderful, but small window of opportunity.

See more photos of our Colorado travels.

Hartman Rocks, Gunnison, Colorado

We found this spot while out mountain biking earlier yesterday, and had to come back for sunset.  By the way, this area has some of the best mountain biking anywhere, but maybe more on that tomorrow.

See more Gunnison Colorado photos.

- Janine riding the Upper Loop, Crested Butte, Colorado.

The Upper and Lower Loops in Crested Butte are great trails.  They run parallel a nice little stream, and wind through some great stands of pine and aspen as they climb up the valley.  It was a great place to ride and photograph!  At 9,000 feet, I’m glad we are acclimatized to the elevation – no wonder everyone looks so fit around here!

Check out more mountain biking pictures.

A small patch of color along Highway 92, Colorado.

Finding nice patches of color has been a bit difficult, I think most photographers are hoping it improves next week.  This was the best patch of color I have seen in awhile.

Crested Butte, Colorado.

Crested Butte is a really cool little ski town!  The old buildings in the main part of town have been carefully restored and colorfully painted – it is like this on both sides of the street for a number of blocks.  This town has a ton of character, and the surrounding area offers endless outdoor activities.

I had an extra bit of curiosity for seeing this place.  You see, my family has lived in the San Diego area for a number of generations, but when I was fairly young, my parents had decided to leave the Southern California rat race for the quiet life of a small town.  We ended up moving to Copper Center Alaska which is where I grew up, but at one point, they had strongly considered relocating to Crested Butte (or Bend, Oregon).  I can’t help but wonder a bit how life would be different had I grown up here.  I’m guessing I would have done a lot more downhill skiing, and a lot less whitewater rafting, although there is some good whitewater around here, so I guess I’ll never know.  Not that I have any regrets – Alaska was an awesome place to grow up!

Fall Color Update:  I know I have a number of Colorado readers, and with the weekend approaching, thought I better give a bit of a fall color update.  Really things have stalled out.  The recent stormy weather has left many stands of trees completely leafless, and turned the remaining yellow leaves dingy brown.  On the positive side, there are still large areas of green that I think could still turn bright yellow, and the clearing weather could really help them along as things seem to change fast.   But, this weekend doesn’t look as promising as I thought it would.  There are some great patches of color here and there, but I can’t really point to an area and say it is peaking right now, and we have done a lot of looking.

See more Crested Butte, Colorado photos.

Janine at a viewpoint in Black Canyon Gunnison National Park, Colorado.

Last week we were in one of the busiest National Parks, Rocky Mountain National Park.  Last night we visited one most people probably never have heard of, Black Canyon of Gunnison Natonal Park, but we weren’t at all disappointed, it is a beautiful Park!  It consists primarily of Black Canyon.  Black Canyon is very dramatic, at places over 2,700 feet deep, with solid rock walls full of interesting shapes, patterns and textures – a photographers dream!  We plan on returning and spending a bit more time at this little gem.

Painted Wall, Black Canyon Gunnison National Park, Colorado.

For the image of Painted Wall, I used a 3 stop graduated neutral density filter, and a blend of two different exposures.

By the way, thanks for all the great location suggestions and advice I have received from readers of my last few posts – I really appreciate it!

Here are more pictures of the Black Canyon of Gunnision National Park, Colorado.

Red Aspen during a snow storm, Monarch Pass, Colorado.

I  love finding the occasional patch of red aspen – they really stand out in the sea of yellow.

When we passed through Monarch Pass a couple of days ago the colors were amazing.  We went back yesterday  to find most of them had past, I’m sure thanks to the stormy weather.  Lots of areas around here are still green, and the stormy weather didn’t hurt those trees, so I think there will be lots of fall to come!

Here are many more fall photos of Colorado.