Sangre de Cristo Mountains

 

One of my goals for last year was to work a little harder on my landscape photography, especially during our trip to Colorado. Looking through my photos makes me even more aware how important it is to use the early morning hours or, like with this picture, shoot during the time around sunset and even after sunset.

The shot was made during our stay at Great Sand Dunes National Park, just at the southern park boundaries along a county road. The sun was still up but hidden behind a cloud and it just kissed the 14,000 feet tall peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The Rabbitbrush got enough light to make it stand out from the desert and provided a nice foreground for this scene that lasted only a couple minutes.

Tracks in the sand... 2014

 

The year comes to an end and as always in late December I spend some time cleaning and organizing my photo library. There are always photos that have never seen the public light but they are important to me, and as far I’m concerned deserve to be shown somewhere.

One of the best landscape shootings in 2014 happened on top of the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado one early morning in September. If you missed that story feel free to click HERE and see some of the magic that unfolded during sunrise.

The photo I show you today was made during the ascent to the ridge of the sand dunes. My tracks in the sand left an interesting pattern that inspired me to push the shutter button…

Colorado wildlife: The Sage Thrasher - a first sighting for us

 

Traveling through bird habitats that are different than what we have here around the Mississippi Valley will necessarily lead to new encounters. The dry sagebrush plaines in the San Luis Valley, not far from Great Sand Dunes National Park, are the ideal place for the Sage Thrasher. There they can find insects, other invertebrates, and berries on the ground and in vegetation.

We saw them on fences, wooden posts, and in the bushes along small irrigation channels in this high-elevation desert. Needless to say that this was a first sighting for us and it took me a while to identify this bird. The Sage Thrasher is the smallest of the thrashers. Generic studies suggest that they are more closely related to the mockingbirds than true thrashers (source: iBird Pro app).

Colorado landscapes: San Luis

 

I like the rotten charm of the old buildings in the west and the story they may tell about a time that is long gone. It is sad to realize that there are often no resources to preserve more of them and that they might be lost forever soon. I think it is our job as photographers to keep at least the memories alive by shooting these buildings, even if they are in a state of decay. We discovered this old general store in San Luis, the oldest town in Colorado, on our way from the Great Sand Dunes to our next destination, which I will reveal shortly. So please stay tuned…

Colorado landscapes: Great Sand Dunes - being on top..., priceless!

 

You can run around with your camera all day long in Great Sand Dunes National Park but nothing, and I mean nothing, beats the experience of being up on top of the dunes when the sun creeps over the ridge of the Sangre de Christo Mountains in the morning. It is easy to forget to push the shutter release button because of the spectacular light on the dunes that unfolds right in front of you. It takes about an hour to hike and climb up the 700 feet from the valley bottom to the top of the first ridge and the altitude of about 2,700m (~8,730 ft) may put you out of breath at times, but the rewards for this endeavor are priceless.

Colorado landscapes: Great Sand Dunes - Medano Creek

 

Water plays an essential role for the life in and around the Great Sand Dunes. The dunefield is edged by two creeks. Subsurface flow from these streams feeds wetlands that are habitat for an amazing variety of life in the midst of a sandy desert. (source: National Park brochure) Medano Creek between the Sangre de Christo Mountains and the dunes had been dry during the summer, according to an internet source, but at our arrival, shortly after some rain in the area, the creek had water again flowing down the valley. The shallow stream is a nice place to chill out during a hot day and especially the kids enjoyed playing in this big “sand box”.

One evening some overcast didn’t look very promising for good light on the dunes but I went out anyway for a little hike with our dog Cooper. You never know for sure how things may develop in nature and that’s why I had the tripod and camera over my shoulder. Suddenly the magic unfolded. The setting sun, already hidden by the sand dunes, appeared from behind the clouds and revealed some spectacular colors. The light bounced back from the clouds and got reflected by Medano Creek. And there was the photo, with the creek as my subject!

Colorado landscapes: Great Sand Dunes - a place to beat the light pollution

 

A few months ago I read the book NIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY - From Snapshots to Great Shots by Gabriel Biderman and Tim Cooper. If you try to learn about all aspects of this kind of photography this book is highly recommended. Easy to understand, even for a not-native English speaker like me, very good illustrations and photos, and a just straight forward and simple teaching style made the book a great pleasure to read and a wonderful source of information for me. Needles to say that I was eager to apply some of the new knowledge to my photography during our vacation in southern Colorado. Here is my little story about the first try…

There was only a very short period when we could expect to photograph the Milky Way up in the nightly sky and that was right at the beginning of our Colorado trip, just during our stay in the Great Sand Dunes National Park. For the rest of the time we had waxing moon. As good as this was for shooting mountains illuminated by the moon, it doesn’t help to make an image of the Milky Way.

Watching the sky at night in the Great Sand Dunes made me again aware how much light pollution we face even in a state like Iowa, that is not as densely populated , like for example Central Europe or the big cities here in the US.

The best results in order to capture the Milky Way, or at least parts of it, were achieved by using the Carl Zeiss Distagon T*, 35 mm / f2 ZF, wide open, f2, and an exposure time of 10 seconds. In order to stay below 10 seconds I had to dial in ISO 1100, which is kind of a stretch on my good old NIKON D300s in regards of noise and image quality. Any time longer than 9.5 sec. creates star trails instead of seeing the stars as dots and it would have made the Milky Way real “milky”.

Several mistakes have been made during this shooting session in the dark right beside our tent and I felt like a golf player that is the first time on a golf course. But hey, I really love this stuff and I learned my first lesson in the field. Can’t wait to try it again!! :-)

Colorado landscapes: Great Sand Dunes

 

We tried to reach our first destination, the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado, still before dark. We were running already late after the second day of travel, but while approaching the National Park the low sun and the dramatic clouds made for such a great vista that we had to stop for some photos. I rather pitch up the tent in the dark than missing an opportunity like that ;-) .

These huge dunes are North America’s tallest and they are nestled against the Sangre de Christo Mountains. From our campsite at Pinyon Flats, at an altitude of about 2500 m (~8200 ft), we had a great view to the dunes just in front of us. The highest peaks of the dunes are about 230 m (755 ft) above the surrounding flats. We spent three days in this area and the best times for photography are definitely the early mornings and late evenings.

This couple hiked down from the dunes one morning (tent camping in the dunes is allowed with a permit) and I really like the shot because it gives a sense of scale. The flowers and grass tell the story about the life in the dunes and that they are not just “a pile of sand” but part of a natural system with high mountains, strong winds, streams, and wetlands. There is more to come, so please stay tuned…