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.

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.

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.

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…

Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

As you can see, the fall colors in the high elevations are beginning to change nicely – this was from Saturday morning.  The lower elevations still have a lot of green – if I had to predict, I think this upcoming week will be a lot better with next weekend possibly being the best.  Monday’s predicted cold front could add some nice snow on the mountains and could speed the change up a bit.  I’m getting excited for the fall colors!

Sky Pond, with Lake of Glass in the distance, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

Our original plan was to spend the night in this beautiful setting, but Park rules don’t allow back-country camping in this area.  There is a single back-country campsite about two miles from here, but it had been booked long ago.  So, we hiked up, waited for a sunset that never developed, and then hiked out with the last three miles by headlamp in the dark.  Although we couldn’t spend the night, it was still a great trip!

By the way, the waterfall in yesterday’s post, Timberline Falls, is just below the distant lake, Lake of Glass.

I have come the conclusion that hiking in the dark is not that much fun – you miss out on the scenery as you stare at the dirt and rocks in your light-beam five feet in front of you for boring mile after mile – I begin to feel like I’m driving.  And, even through it seems like you are going fast, we have found we are a bit slower in the dark.  But, had there been a great sunset, it would have been so worth it.  Actually, it was worth it anyways.

Sharktooths rising above Sky Pond, RMNP, Colorado.

To this far side of the lake was about a five mile steady climbing hike to almost 11,000 feet.  Just as I was feeling pretty good about how quickly we made it to this high country destination, I noticed 4 people repelling off one of the Sharthtooths!  Gheeze, our hike was probably barely a warm up for them.

The top photo was .8 of a second at f/14 and ISO 100 and a polarizer and two stop graduated neutral density filter.  The bottom image was a blend of two photos, one for the sky, one for the rest.

Timberline Falls, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

This cool waterfall is on the hike to Sky Pond – more on the hike tommorow.

Bull Elk, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

The are lots of elk here!   In my opinion, this a a better place for photographing elk then even Yellowstone or Jasper.  And the rutting behavior is sure fascinating to watch.  Large bulls round up a groups of cows, only to be repeatedly challenged by other bulls, sometimes losing their cows, other times not.  The process is repeated all day long, played to the amazing bugle sounds ringing out from each of these magnificent animals.

This guy almost crossed right here where he is looking – it would have been an amazing setting with the stream and mountains in the background!  Instead, he walked right towards me and crossed so close I couldn’t include him in the frame with my 100-400 at 100!  Who would have thought I would have needed my wide-angle lens for these guys.

Estes Park, Colorado.

Many of my favorite towns are the gateway communities into National Parks – heck I live in one.  Estes Park, Colorado is no exception,  in fact, I think it might be the nicest community we have ever visited!

Estes Park, Colorado.

Estes Park has a big geographic advantage over many communities being located at the base of the Rocky Mountains, but there is much more to it.  The main street through downtown (Elkhorn Avenue) is lined with trees and flowers, along with numerous park benches and drinking fountains.  There isn’t any on street parking available on Elkhorn Ave, but there are plenty of public parking lots and an efficient shuttle service – keeping cars off the Main Street through downtown greatly improves the aesthetics, and it sure makes it easier to photograph!

Lots of cute little businesses front Elkhorn Ave., and the nearby Riverwalk path.  The Riverwalk follows a scenic creek that meanders through town roughly parallel to Elkhorn Ave., and includes a nice walking path and numerous little parks and lots of little stores and restaurants.  And to top it off, there is a large elk population right in town, including some large bulls!

A park along the riverwalk, Estes Park, Colorado.

Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

This was the result of a early morning hike in the dark -I think it was definitely worth it!

Janine was given a bit of a bad time for not being up for our first morning here in Colorado at Mount Evans – all in fun of course.  To be fair, my super model has been there every morning and evening since, I thought I should add some photo proof!

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

I used a two stop hard edge graduated neutral density filter for both images.  The top image was captured at ISO 100 and f/11 for .5 second.  The bottom one was ISO 100, f/16 for .8 second.  I stopped down a bit more for the lower image since my subject was much closer – I needed more depth of field.

Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

This was at sunrise yesterday (Sunday)  – what a beautiful little lake!

Bull Elk at sunset, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

We finally made it into Rocky Mountain National Park last night – this place is great!  We arrived just in time to enjoy this wonderful sunset.  I had no idea there is so much elk activity here – this is as good as Jasper/Banff or Yellowstone, two areas I love.  My time spent with elk in those National Parks really helped me anticipate this guys movement so that I could be in the right spot in case there was a sunset – it sure all came together!  I also have some sunset photos with the whole harem of elk.

It is going to be nice to be in one place for a week or so.  We have only driven the first few miles of the Park road – I’m really looking forward to driving and hiking more of the park.

This was captured with my 24-105 at 58mm along with a 3 stop hard edged graduated neutral density filter.