Crested Butte Flowers
I am not sure what took me so long, but I finally made it over to Crested Butte in time to witness the mountain flowers in bloom. Needless to say, the four hour drive over was well worth it and I will be returning in the future!
Monument to Crested Butte
I love the drive from Monument to Crested Butte, especially once you get to Woodland Park, CO. From then on the trip becomes so inviting from a landscape photography perspective.
Roadside Snaps!
Pulling over on the side of the road was sketchy at times. Regardless, around every corner I had my head on a swivel constantly looking for a composition.
Behind The Scenes
Before I could even get into town, there I was again….roadside with my camera. It wasn’t the best conditions for shooting a color image, so I broke out my graduated neutral density filters to cut some of the intensity out of the sky and squeezed away!
A “Fixer Upper” with a view!
If these walls could talk, oh…., the stories they could tell…!
An evening in the Lupine.
The approaching evening found me still learning my way around Crested Butte. Following the advice of a local fisherman, I found myself on a “road that many people don’t know about.” I took the kind gentleman at his word, locked in the 4x4 and followed his advice. I am sure glad I did!
The area was surrounded by Lupine, Aspen Sunflowers, Indian Paintbrush, Blue Flax, Fleabane, Larkspur, Arrowleaf Balsamroot, Scarlet Gilia, and Frasera speciosa, aka the Monument Plant.
A cornucopia of flowers overlooking the valley down below.
The evening found me laying in my 5-billion star hotel pondering the morning and where I’d try to shoot. I had an idea for a sun-kissed peak with the Lupine fading off into the distance. Only the morning would tell if I’d be able to get the shot.
The Daring Aspen
The next morning found me gazing out at the surrounding landscape as if I had just stepped foot onto another planet. Here I was surrounded by mountains in the distance, engulfed in a sea of Lupine and waiting on the day’s sunrise. Hard to beat the quiet perfection of this moment.
BTS on Morning #1: Sun Kissed Peak and morning Lupine. Nikon D750 perched atop my 3 Legged Thing.
The skies were a bit more clear than I’d have liked, tho to be honest, it feels strange complaining that the weather was “too good.” Yeah, I’d rather have had a bit more interest in the skies, as far as sun-lit high altitude clouds go, but this sure beat a gloomy and rainy morning!
The Indian Paintbrush were showing out on this particular morning…!
Looking around, it was quite obvious that finding a subject to shoot was going to be easy. The hard part was being able to catch my unknowing subjects in a good light as the harshness of mid-day was quickly approaching! The two images above of the Indian Paintbrush were taken mere minutes apart from each other.
I did not carry a light-box or any lighting with me, so I was subject to the morning’s wind and lighting conditions. To me, the lighting is best in the hours where the sun’s angle is low, morning and evening. The problem you end up with, when shooting in a lower light, is exposure time often needs to be extended or ISO needs to be increased. Extending exposure time, with a flower potentially swaying in the breeze, introduces the opportunity for motion blur. Increasing the ISO on you camera potentially increases noise in images. It’s all a balance.
White (distant), Blue (middle), and Purple (front) Lupine in one image.
While wandering through the Lupine, I noticed a few different color variants. I’d imagine somewhere around 95% of the Lupine were predominantly blue, another 4.8% were pink/purple with the remaining 0.2% being a solid white.
Purple Lupine basking in the sun.
The Bride.
Lupine in blue awaiting the new day’s sun.
Foreground: Lupine - Background: Indian Paintbrush
The Columbine in White
Not to be outdone was the Columbine. Tho a bit harder to find than the Lupine, the Columbine definitely holds its own when it comes to pure beauty. It is on the top of the list of my favorite flowers to find when I am out.
The Columbine in Blue
Not to be outdone by the “more popular flowers” was the Blue Flax.
Blue Flax
The People and critters I met while out in the meadows around The Butte were quite surprising. I managed to catch a few images of some of the wildlife. I even snapped an image of the ever illusive Wild Painter in it’s natural habitat.
The deer can often be seen grazing in the Lupine
Marmot on the lookout.I don’t think it trusted me.
A painter’s perspective. Do you see him?
Some of my favorite images to shoot were images that had a mixture of different flowers in them.
Aspen Sunflowers mingling with the Lupine
Wild Rose overlooking the Slade River
Arrowleaf Balsamroot takes it’s vibrant place backed by none other than the beautiful Lupine.
Standing out among the Lupine
Oh, the views!
Twins: Geyer Larkspur
While out hiking, I expected to come across the deer every now and then. I was a bit more surprised when I came across the random group of Marmots and quite surprised at coming across an artist painting in the middle of a field out in the back-country. None of that compares the the surprise I had when I ran across a pair of Adirondack chairs with a view!
What a spot to sit and relax!
A brief isolated thunderstorm passed to the south as I was headed back into town,
The Rainbow and the Butte
The rain clouds passed over just in time for sunset…!
I arrived to the location seen below approximately 1.5 hours prior to sunset in an attempt to scope out a decent foreground. I knew I wanted Mt Crested Butte in the background with the day’s last light reflecting off of it.
I ended up choosing the foreground seen below which did not take me long to find it. Once found, it was time to sit and wait on the sun to get into position. Then, they found me…
After swatting mosquitoes for well over an hour, I finally had the shot. It ended up not being all I had hoped it would be, but it is far better than what almost happened as just prior to the final image being taken there were clouds blocking the sun on the horizon.
Sunset on Mt Crested Butte
All-in-all, the trip to Crested Butte was well worth it. I had to spent quite a bit of time learning my way around, so it will be nice when I return to have a better idea where things are.
Speaking of returning, I will be there in the first week of Aug. I can’t wait!
