Landscapes | Tony's Takes Photography

Early morning at Schwabacher Landing

July 21, 2021 by Tony Leave a Comment

There are three, iconic spots in Grand Teton National Park for taking pictures of the Tetons. I had hoped to photograph sunrises and sunsets at all three during our recent visit, just as I had done before.

However, oppressive wildfire smoke dominated the skies, oftentimes almost entirely preventing seeing the mountains unless you were right up to them. Last Thursday evening a light rain shower served to tamp down the smoke so I hoped Friday morning would give me at least one chance – and it did.

It was a tough call as to which of the three spots to go to (the other two being Mormon Row and Oxbow Bend). I opted for Schwabacher Landing because it is the closest of the three to those majestic peaks, thus helping to mitigate the effects of the lingering smoke.

Plus, there is something about early morning at this spot that I just love. Not many folks go there early and it is a nice walk along the banks of the pond with lots of spots to just soak in the view and take pictures.

River rushes by fireweed

July 19, 2021 by Tony Leave a Comment

I’m back! Not that you knew I was gone thanks to the magic of scheduling posts ahead of time but I just returned from a week of much-needed R&R in Yellowstone and the Tetons. It was an absolute fantastic trip despite the unusually warm weather and smoke from wildfires and I captured a good number of cool images.

As we have been to the area many times, we did mix it up a bit, checking out some new sights / sites including where this image was taken – Upper Mesa Falls in Caribou-Targhee National Forest in Idaho.

If you are ever in the area, it is well worth visiting. The waterfalls were impressive but this was my favorite shot as it uses a technique I have been wanting to try out.

Getting the flowers to stay sharp while using a slow shutter speed to portray the speed of the water rushing by is not easy. It of course requires zero wind as you need the flowers to stay perfectly still and for the first time I was able to pull it off. This was taken from a busy boardwalk so I had to handhold the camera versus using a tripod which made it even tougher.

Ideally, I would have been able to secure the camera solidly and go even slower with the shutter speed further blurring the waters but as-is, I am pretty pleased with the shot.

Much more to come from this trip in the days ahead, including a bear or two or more. 😉

Sunrise from 14,000 feet

July 17, 2021 by Tony Leave a Comment

Well, technically I was below the 14er mark when I snapped this shot but I was on my way up to those altitudes. 😉

Taken on the road up Mount Evans, the sunrise was quite the spectacle. As the sun rose over the horizon, it lit up the one, lone cloud in the sky. The haze on the horizon had an orange glow and closer in, it shrouded the lower mountains making them look like shadows.

Just another, typically beautiful morning in the Colorado high country.

Wildflowers in the San Juan Mountains

July 10, 2021 by Tony Leave a Comment

During our recent visit to southwestern Colorado, we were a few weeks too early to really catch any extraordinary wildflowers. There were, however, a few spots that required a stop and pictures to be taken.

Along Last Dollar Road not far from where the homestead from the movie True Grit is, the balsamroot was blooming in beautiful yellow. Clear blue skies lie above and in the distance, the rugged mountain peaks dominate the horizon.

Black and white remnants of Colorado’s mining history

June 27, 2021 by Tony Leave a Comment

Mining played a tremendous role in the Centennial State and still does to this day. This image shows a trestle above the old Idarado Mine on Red Mountain Pass south of Ouray.

Surrounded by a ghost town now, the mine used to produce lead, silver, zinc, gold and copper. During World War II, the lead and zinc was critical to the war effort. Shut down in 1979, the site has undergone reclamation to repair the damage caused by the mining operations. This trestle remains, part of a system that carried the ore to the bottom of the hill for processing.

My grandfather in fact was a coal miner west of Trinidad until those mines were all shut down. Working the mines was incredibly difficult, back-breaking labor that claimed many lives during their operation and afterwards (i.e. black lung in the case of coal mining).

It is hard to imagine working under those conditions, let alone at 10,000+ foot altitude.

When we visited this site a couple weeks ago, it was mid-morning without a cloud in the sky so coming up with a decent composition was kind of tough. Putting the sun bursting through the trestle and a conversion to black and white make for a kind of neat shot.

Father’s Day sunrise offers a golden glow

June 21, 2021 by Tony Leave a Comment

This was the view as I started my photo excursion yesterday and clearly it was a pretty nice one. While there weren’t a bunch of clouds to be lit up, the golden glow of the rising sun covered the landscape and created a nice reflection on the lake’s waters.

The one sad part is that much of what went into making this so golden was haze from wildfire smoke. This summer is, unfortunately, shaping up to be a bad one for blazes. 🙁

Chimney Rock in black and white

June 17, 2021 by Tony Leave a Comment

This morning I shared a wider shot taken at this iconic Colorado location. As I mentioned then, clear blue skies did not allow for a particularly dramatic image. For this capture, I was zoomed in considerably more and a conversion to monochrome gives the image some “pop.”

Chimney Rock towering above Deb’s Meadow

June 17, 2021 by Tony Leave a Comment

Alright, movie buffs, do you recognize this iconic location?

Near the top of Owl Creek Pass above Ridgway, Colorado you will find this spot, made famous in the 1969 movie, True Grit, with John Wayne. Here, the shootout between the movie’s hero, Rooster Cockburn and four bad guys began with Wayne uttering the famous line, “Fill your hands, you son of a bitch!”

It is a beautiful location with the Cimarron Ridge of the San Juan Mountains and the 10,958-foot-high Chimney Rock towering above the surrounding landscape.

We just returned from five days of R & R in this area and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. Mother Nature did not really cooperate with extraordinary heat and very dry conditions with, literally, zero clouds above the entire time.

Those conditions did not lend themselves to good portrayals of the extraordinary landscape and geologic features. We visited Deb’s Meadow on the first day, scouting the location, with the intent to return at sunrise or sunset later in the trip when there was some sort of dramatic clouds above. Sadly, that was not to be but, hey, it was better than being at work! 😉

Hot air balloons on the Colorado Front Range

June 9, 2021 by Tony Leave a Comment

A couple of quick snaps from this past weekend of hot air balloons I spotted. Balloons are a common sight on calm days and it is easy to see why – who wouldn’t want to fly with the Rocky Mountains serving as a backdrop?

One image, taken Saturday, shows some thunderstorms brewing far off in the distance over the mountains. The second, taken on Sunday, shows a different balloon that seems to mimic the landscape behind.

A hot air balloon on the Colorado Front Range with the Rocky Mountains in the background. (© Tony's Takes) — A hot air balloon on the Colorado Front Range with the Rocky Mountains in the background. (© Tony’s Takes)

Sunday’s colorful sunrise

June 6, 2021 by Tony Leave a Comment

Back from a fantastic weekend camping in northern Colorado. As I emerged from the RV this morning, this was the scene I was greeted with. Definitely can’t complain about that!

Over the last couple of days I have gotten some cool pics, including one which I have tried for years (literally) to get. I look forward to sharing them with you through the week.