October Snow in the San Juans

I decided to take my first trip to the San Juan Mountains of Colorado in October 2008. Heading south on US Hwy. 550 through Montrose and Ridgway to Ouray, I found the trip to be scenic, even with the intermittent rain and overcast skies. This section of US 550 winds through the Uncompahgre River canyon, and the rock formations are a beautiful purplish red color which really pops out at you when moistened by rain.

As the canyon opened up to reveal Abrams Mountain towering over the town of Ouray, I felt I had made a good choice of destination, even if I could see little of the surrounding mountains.

The rain picked up strength as darkness fell, and when I awoke the morning of the 6th, there was a definite chill in the air. But the rain had stopped, and the clouds were beginning to move away from mountaintops that were now blanketed in fresh snow.

My hopes lifted with the clouds...this was exactly the kind of mountain backdrop I was hoping to find for my photos! I drove up the Camp Bird Road just outside of Ouray. After only a couple of miles, I was at an elevation where the previous night’s moisture had fallen as snow, which now blanketed both the aspens and the spruce trees...a winter wonderland in autumn. It was one of those “you had to be there” moments, but hopefully this image will give you some idea.

Still on my “to do” list is to return to the San Juans in late summer, which is wildflower season in the higher elevations.

You can see this image in a larger view at my website: http://geraldblank.smugmug.com/Waterfalls/Waterfalls/20528941_3nZG9d#!i=1625950781&k=CPSbZkP

Winter at Ross Peak

I live in Florida now, but living in Montana had its perks. For me, one of them was the fact that I could drive home from work, change clothes, and be at a Bridger Mountain trailhead in fifteen minutes.

The wintry mountain scene below is what one sees a quarter mile west of the Truman Gulch trailhead. Ross Peak is the one in the middle of this panoramic view.

The trail forks a short way in, and I would occasionally choose the lesser-traveled north fork, which leads steeply upward to a ridge looking directly toward Ross Peak. That ridge is visible on the right side of the photo.

Though I do not miss the long winters of the northern Rockies, I do miss the Truman Gulch trail. The area in this photo features many wildflowers in the summer months, which I will share with you closer to springtime.

To see this panoramic shot in a larger view, please visit: http://geraldblank.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Montana-Scenics/20499061_vR9rbP#!i=1623394774&k=wgqZC9z

Twilight Drilling Rig Reflected In Pond

Recently, I was asked by a client if my collection of drilling rig photos from North Dakota and Montana could be put on my website so they could order prints...so I spent a good part of this past weekend going through my image files.

I enjoyed taking the photo below, which shows Nabors Drilling rig 152 drilling a well for Samson Resources in Divide County, ND. It was taken in April, and just enough of the ice had melted off the pothole near the rig to mirror the rays of the setting sun.

I thought the reflected sunset would be a great shot—but shortly after sunset, the western sky lit up in the bright colors of twilight. So I captured a twilight image, and that is the one that I ended up selling multiple prints from.

I should add that I was just getting my feet wet in digital photography at the time, and the camera I was using was an inexpensive Kodak EasyShare, vintage 2005. I make this point because most of what makes a great image is being in the right place at the right time. The Internet has proven this out by the thousands of amazingly beautiful shots one can see on photo sharing sites—many taken with low-end cameras.

You can view this image in a larger size on my website at: http://geraldblank.smugmug.com/Commercial/Oilfield/21042695_4DDJ4b#!i=1674525018&k=xspP3Dx

Evening at Palace Butte

When I used to live near Bozeman, Montana, a place I visited often was Hyalite Canyon, just south of town. One evening late in the summer of 2009, I drove into the canyon until the Forest Service access road ended at the Hyalite trailhead.

By that time, there was no more sunlight in the canyon, but west of the canyon, the setting sun bathed Palace Butte and the nearby peaks in a warm glow. It was a great view, so I set up my tripod and captured several photos.

Recently, I was looking at the Palace Butte photos again and realized that darkening the sky in Photoshop would really bring the viewer's attention to the sunlit glow on Palace Butte...which was what I wanted to share all along. So here is the result. I hope you enjoy it.

You can see it in a larger view at my web site: http://geraldblank.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Montana-Scenics/20499061_vR9rbP#!i=1623345489&k=kwKX7MG

Dawn of a New Year

A great image of a sunrise is a little harder to capture than a good sunset. With sunsets, one can generally has more time to be aware of unusually nice colors or cloud formations developing in the western sky, and is therefore more likely to capture that perfect moment in time.

One summer morning in North Dakota, I arose before dawn to travel to the Little Missouri National Grassland. But when I walked out my door I found myself looking at an eastern sky colored in amazingly vivid hues of blue and pink. I threw my gear into the car and raced to the nearest clear view of the horizon I could think of: the banks of the Little Muddy River at the southeast corner of Williston.

By this time the colors in the sky were peaking in intensity, and a rich golden pre-dawn glow began to appear. I captured about a dozen images before the sun cleared the horizon, heralding the promise of another new day.

This New Year's Day brought that morning to mind. Though I spent the remainder of that day capturing other images of North Dakota, the sunrise picture, for me, was the “keeper”.

To view the image in a larger size, visit: http://geraldblank.smugmug.com/Landscapes/North-Dakota-Scenery/20425952_L7nF9w#1627733788_F4L9L6c